LT1/L98 block
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,775
Likes: 125
From: Birmingham AL
LT1 has reverse flow cooling and provisions for the gear driven water pump and Optispark. I'm sure there is more, that's all I can think of for now. A Miniram from TPIS gives the L98 some of the same characteristics as an LT1 as far as looks and airflow.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 16,836
Likes: 337
From: Database Error Indiana
Thanks guys. I knew the heads were different, due to the reverse flow, but was unsure on the block. Not doing a motor for myself. A friend asked about getting an LT 1 built and I was unsure if the block was LT1 specific. 
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 5,214
Likes: 65
From: Queensland, AUSTRALIA
Originally Posted by Siveck
...A Miniram from TPIS gives the L98 some of the same characteristics as an LT1 as far as looks and airflow.
Originally Posted by STL94LT1
I would love a 427/454 LT1. 
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 9,715
Likes: 27
From: Kempner Texas
Originally Posted by STL94LT1
I wish us LTx guys had an alternative block to use. I would love a 427/454 LT1.
Pull the LT1 setup, install a 454 SB using the 7165 ECM, distributor, sensors, etc. and call it a day.
I'm thinking of doing just that with my 96 LT1. How hard can it be?!
Jake
Advanced
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 65
Likes: 0
From: Norfolk Virgiinia
Originally Posted by JAKE
Why then can't we just go the other way?
Pull the LT1 setup, install a 454 SB using the 7165 ECM, distributor, sensors, etc. and call it a day.
I'm thinking of doing just that with my 96 LT1. How hard can it be?!
Jake
Pull the LT1 setup, install a 454 SB using the 7165 ECM, distributor, sensors, etc. and call it a day.
I'm thinking of doing just that with my 96 LT1. How hard can it be?!
Jake
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Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 30,846
Likes: 293
From: Boston, Dallas, Detroit, SoCal, back to Boston MA
Switching from reverse-cooling to regular is easy enough to deal with. You'd need a distribitor that gives out the same signals as the opti.
Keep in mind that large bore blocks don't have cooling between the bores. Also w/o reverse cooling you can't run the compression so high, so efficiency is losted.
396ci ( or even cheap 383ci ) LTX's make a lot of power. You can make a 421 LTX but that's with a really long stroke, and a really bad rod to stroke ratio.
How much power are you looking to make?
Keep in mind that large bore blocks don't have cooling between the bores. Also w/o reverse cooling you can't run the compression so high, so efficiency is losted.
396ci ( or even cheap 383ci ) LTX's make a lot of power. You can make a 421 LTX but that's with a really long stroke, and a really bad rod to stroke ratio.
How much power are you looking to make?
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 5,214
Likes: 65
From: Queensland, AUSTRALIA
Originally Posted by BrianCunningham
... You can make a 421 LTX but that's with a really long stroke, and a really bad rod to stroke ratio.
At one stage i was told its not do-able, which i know is garbage.
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 40,156
Likes: 45
From: San Pedro CA
The electronics on the later C4s make this kinda swap nothing but hell... you would loose ABS and ASR... the CCM would have a cow which could effect electronic climate controls and such.
Personally, I would build a 383 and put a blower on it.
Oh, and if you live in a state that follows EPA/CARB, you would be in deep ****... the EPA rules expressly permit replacing an engine with same year or NEWER, but never older. And truck engines are not legal, because they had different standards for so very long.
Personally, I would build a 383 and put a blower on it.
Oh, and if you live in a state that follows EPA/CARB, you would be in deep ****... the EPA rules expressly permit replacing an engine with same year or NEWER, but never older. And truck engines are not legal, because they had different standards for so very long.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 9,715
Likes: 27
From: Kempner Texas
Emissions aside for the moment. Bill Mitchell sells a 454 SB short block with 10.2 CR for around $4,500
Virtually all the parts off my 415 will swap over except, perhaps, the oil pan (due to the longer stroke crank). I've got the ECM and wiring harness, etc. off my 86.
All I'd need to do is strip my 415 of its power parts, re-install them in/on the 454 (retro-hydraulic roller cam and valve train parts, headers, water pump, etc.) then move to a free flowing set of heads, and plop down my MiniRam.
The wiring differences are, to me, the biggest challenge but I suspect someone has done it before.
The more I think on this, the more I drool.
Jake
Virtually all the parts off my 415 will swap over except, perhaps, the oil pan (due to the longer stroke crank). I've got the ECM and wiring harness, etc. off my 86.
All I'd need to do is strip my 415 of its power parts, re-install them in/on the 454 (retro-hydraulic roller cam and valve train parts, headers, water pump, etc.) then move to a free flowing set of heads, and plop down my MiniRam.
The wiring differences are, to me, the biggest challenge but I suspect someone has done it before.
The more I think on this, the more I drool.
Jake
LOL
Bloody oath it is mate.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 30,846
Likes: 293
From: Boston, Dallas, Detroit, SoCal, back to Boston MA
Originally Posted by JAKE
Emissions aside for the moment. Bill Mitchell sells a 454 SB short block with 10.2 CR for around $4,500
Virtually all the parts off my 415 will swap over except, perhaps, the oil pan (due to the longer stroke crank). I've got the ECM and wiring harness, etc. off my 86.
All I'd need to do is strip my 415 of its power parts, re-install them in/on the 454 (retro-hydraulic roller cam and valve train parts, headers, water pump, etc.) then move to a free flowing set of heads, and plop down my MiniRam.
The wiring differences are, to me, the biggest challenge but I suspect someone has done it before.
The more I think on this, the more I drool.
Jake
Virtually all the parts off my 415 will swap over except, perhaps, the oil pan (due to the longer stroke crank). I've got the ECM and wiring harness, etc. off my 86.
All I'd need to do is strip my 415 of its power parts, re-install them in/on the 454 (retro-hydraulic roller cam and valve train parts, headers, water pump, etc.) then move to a free flowing set of heads, and plop down my MiniRam.
The wiring differences are, to me, the biggest challenge but I suspect someone has done it before.
The more I think on this, the more I drool.
Jake
Are you already running the 415 in place of the LTX?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 9,715
Likes: 27
From: Kempner Texas
Originally Posted by BrianCunningham
Are you already running the 415 in place of the LTX?
Jake
BTW, the Motown 4 bolt block used in that build-up has standard deck height, doesn't call for any special valvetrain parts (no Jesel shaft system or off-set rockers, etc.), has a two piece rear main seal, blind head bolt holes and will drop right in to a Vette.
From what I've read the block can be bored larger than 4.2 and still retain excellent wall thickness. The only thing - at the time the article was written - was there was no ring set available to go as big as the block can be safely bored. That may well have changed by now though.
There was one reference to a 500 inch SB using that MoTown block, but I'd need to go back to re-read it to refresh my memory on the details.
Jake
Last edited by JAKE; Oct 21, 2006 at 02:52 PM.
