Having driven my 91 L98 for two years and now getting some seat time in the 95 LT1 there is definitely a different seat of the pants feel between the two at full throttle. The low end torque of the L98 is very impressive and love how it pushes me into the seat back. In comparison the LT1 has a more refined full throttle feeling and pulls uniformly at any RPM you jump into the right pedal.

While it's nice having that extra 55hp the bottom line is both are so much fun in their own way. Only downer for me is when I was first looking to buy a C4 was originally wanting a manual, but first time sitting in one knew it was not to be because my big feet and narrow foot area would never work.

 

How big a feet ya got? I've got a pair of 13 extra wides and work the manual just fine.

 

Me too

 

With a few "breathing" enhancements I had close to 300chp from my prior '88 and it not only lit up the tires but pulled well to 6k RPM...what a hoot on the strip as well as street...

 

Some shoes are better suited for driving a C4 manual. Big clunky soles that are wide "Doc Martins" or along those lines make it more difficult.

 

I think your spot on with your comments. I had a 89 manual for years, and recently got into a 96 manual LT4 car, two totally different feelings when you mash the throttle down, the one thing i noticed right away with my 96, is it didnt run out of air as quick, and it keeps pulling strong in the upper RPM range.

Chris

 

The perception is that the L98 makes a lot more torque than the LT1/4, but it doesn't. They both have within 10lb/ft of each other at their torque peaks (depending on exactly which year of the L98, they can be tied). The LT1 also has no extra torque off idle. The only place it has a torque advantage is within a narrow band around 3000rpm, where the long intake runners are resonating at the correct frequency to reinforce intake flow. In this one narrow area, the L98 has more torque than the LT engines. But everywhere else, the LTs are stronger. What you're really feeling in the L98 is the lack of torque at all other RPMs, which makes the little peak at 3000rpm feel exciting. But in the real world, the LT engines are the faster and more flexible engines both for street and track, because they have much flatter torque curves that extend much higher in RPM (especially the LT4). The length of the TPI runners just kills torque and power above 4000rpm, because the resonance then shifts to being out of phase with the intake valves and it impedes air flow.

 

X2.

Like the VAG 1.8t
Nice little "squirt" from about 2500-4000. Feels great with turbo lag below it and no air above.

 

Hi Matt,

I think your spot on with the feeling you get for a few seconds with the L98 car, The LT engine pulls hard for a longer duration. Ya gotta love the classic look and feel of the C4 platform, ive always felt the cars were way underrated for the performance, especially since the newest C4 is going on 25 yrs old!


Chris

 

There's an analogy to selling stereos for cars or homes. Those inside the trade call it "boom and tizz." Make a shitty driver and EQ it so it has a boosted output in the bass and treble. It's all exciting sounding to customers upon first listen: "oooh, listen to all the bass and high-frequency detail!" They focus on the boom and tizz because they don't notice missing middle frequencies (or the fact that the quality of the bass and treble is only fit for a dumpster). It's the same as when people get all hyped up over "the L98 torque." In this analogy, that torque peak is just like the boosted bass and treble. Bose has made a literal fortune off this strategy. Eventually some people realize it's irritating and fatiguing and stop listening to music. If they're lucky, someone shows them what a system with higher-quality drivers and a more accurate EQ sounds like. A coupe hours later, they notice that they've lost track of time listening to music and they're late for dinner! That's the LT1...

I come at this honestly from experience autocrossing and street driving a 92 Camaro with 305 TPI and five-speed (I threw a couple track days in for good measure). That car handled great but I was under no illusion that it had anything other than a tractor motor under the hood. It was horribly let down by the engine. I should have moved that out of Stock class so I could upgrade the intake, among other things. It deserved better. The L98 C4s are the same, IMO: an immensely capable chassis let down by a tractor motor, but they're just an intake away from gaining an extra 1000rpm of flexibility and power.

 

If GM had put the L98 in the '88^ Silverado...and upgraded the F & Y bodies to the short runner intake in '88...they would have been rock stars in the respective markets.

Instead, they clung on to the LTR intake in their sports cars, stuck TBI into the trucks (...AND some of the sports cars )

 

The "boom and tizz" of the TPI intake sold a lot of cars back in those days. To see some of the posts in this forum, it still would!

 

Trust me, I realize the LT1 is faster and it shows that power all the way through the RPM range, but even knowing that the L98 still has as I said a great seat of the pants feeling.

 

I hear that. Good analogy. Then you go to the drag track and watch 5.0 Mustangs giving 'Vettes a real hard time.

My wife's Cayenne has a Bose system that meets your description to a "T". It has a "lot" of bass and highs when you first turn it on. Unfortunately, it's far from the right kind of bass and the "highs" -probably coming form a paper tweeter, are annoying and irritating. Boooo. It was probably a $1500 option when new.

 

Where the L98 shines is in Autocross contests, or stoplight to stoplight. Back in the day, the Corvette was banned from SCCA racing in 1989 due to it dominating those events whenever they were entered. This lead to the Corvette Challenge racing series. Check it out!

 

This is mostly true, but back in the day a Ferrari 328 only had 260hp, too. Times have just changed...and for the much, much better.

 

It didn't shine b/c of the L98, though. Auto-x is ALL about handling. Tires, suspension and brakes.