Is it worth it to buy a vette with a tired lt1 and put a LS1 in it?
Is it a large task and would the tranny have to be replaced as well?
Just curious on how difficult of a job this would be.
Thanks

 

better off buying a c5 if you want a ls1
buy a cheap C4 and put a Lt1 back in,you can pick up a used one for under 1500 or rebuilt that one.

 

Do a search for more but heres one

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-t...ith-4l60e.html

 

As TBLT44 said, It's not at all worth the time and money to put an LS1 in a C4.

 

Honestly done right and some planning yes I would imagine about $5000-7000 TOTAL can get you in a C4 with a LS1. It can be done and in less time than most people think. $2k for a donor vette, $2k for a LS1 with accessories, $1k for headers(or less if you don't care about AC), $1k for harness (if you want to be a bum) $1k for misc. I'm speaking from experience and given the odds of getting all those things at the same time it could be done.

I'm going to do a project LS1 Budget Swap soon and do it as cheap as I can and see how well it goes. I think I can get it all done near $5k.

 

Fc soldier does know from experience.

 

Thanks for all the replys, 5-7k isnt bad, but money put into an lt1 may be an easier task. It may not have the overall potential though.

 

Is it worth putting an LS1 in place of an LT1..

No its not, if your goal is to make big power

The LTx/ZF6 is a fine platform (Arguably superior) if you want to make big power with forced induction (supercharger, turbo, etc.). The LT1 has the steel (yes, i know its heavier) block, reverse cooling (better for boost), and an extra head bolt around the cylinders for extra strength.
Throw on some AFR eliminator competition ported heads, and youve got some pretty good flow #'s.

Now....heres where the LSx motor becomes more favorable.
If you are looking to go N/A, or road race, then yes, the LSx and its lightweight is where its at.

IMHO LSx swap makes a lot of sense on L98 motors. I see/hear about people dumping their life savings into the intakes alone on those things to get them to rev over 4000 rpm. Or if you had an early fuel injection car, that never did really run right, then yes ... go LSx

Hope this was the best response to this thread.

 

If you want more 'umph' from the LT1, you could order the Trick Flow specialties kit, that includes heads, a cam and pushrods for about $2,800. Supposedly, you get an extra 100+ horsepower out of it. 430 horsepower and 400 ft lbs of torque. I plan on doing this to my 95' this Fall.


http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TFS-K304-430-400

 

Keep in mind you can spend the $5-6 on supercharger. Than another $2800 on heads and cam. Dont forget if your going that route your going to have to rebuild that lower end $2000-6500. Odds and ends $1.2k.
Your well over $10 grand.
Power for Power the LT1 will never beat the displacement or aftermarket of a LS motor. 1200rwhp is common for these motors. Future went to the LS series not LT.

His questions was is it worth putting a LS1 in place of a tired LT1? Yes and No. Yes if your plans are to make it a unique and fast car. You can buy another tired LT1 for $1000-1500 or a rebuilt for $2500 to $3500. I bought my complete ready to drop in LS2 w/ accessories for $3300. And I sold my LT1 for a couple hundred bucks. The LS1 are in the same price bracket as the LT1s. Only major thing to contend with is the wire harness and Long tubes.
If you just want to pay someone to do it and you just want to drive the car than NOOOOOO. Someone will charge alot to swap and if you really don’t caer about unique and updated motor than NOOOOO.

Honestly I wouldn’t do a swap unless it was a Stroker LS1, Stock LS6, Stock LS2, or a Stock LS3. No real gain to a stock LS.

But let this be known the LS has over the LT weight, efficiency, and aftermarket. Me and my dad went on the same trip and when we got back he burned a 1/4 more fuel than I did in my LS2. He’s car was averaging about 25-28 mpg.

Most guys claw their way to get the 400rwhp mark with a NA C4. LS motors strive to get 500rwhp mark with only a cam.

Not bashing anything about the C4 I just saw the light. A corvette is a corvette.

 

there are those that wants someone to do it, will shorties be necessary for a Cali car, since we need precats?

I read they have L98 brackets.

If a car has a D44 already will the distancing with the driveshaft be right from the get go?

 

Exhaust is exhaust you can add whatever you want to it to make it legal. Going with a shortie might become a problem if you wanna run ac in the LS stock location.

Yes they have brackets that can allow you to mount the LS in a early C4.

Yes it will be right but you need a dana 36 driveshaft and cbeam. The dana 44 one inch shorter than the dana 36 (Just the driveshaft and cbeam)

 

so you are saying the trans will be moved forward 1 inch from it stock location.
did you car go up in height due to the lower engine weight?

what does a stock exhaust manifold look like on the LS motor?

 

Yes for a late model c4, for a early maybe you can make it work without pushing everything one inch.

I have a front lowering kit. Im sitting low. Have not tracked it so nothing strange yet.



They look like your standard manifold.

 

If it were me and I was thinking "budget" swap for performance I'd be looking at an lq9 (or even an lq4) truck engine - complete engine/computer/accessory packages can be had around here for about $1k - stock they are 345 HP / 380 ft-lb torque - a good cam swap can gain 30-60 HP with the right tune putting the engine right around 400 HP for not much cash.... There are plenty of builds out there with that same engine base getting 500+ HP with the stock bottom end (most swap to L92 heads to get that HP)

If you're good at basic fabrication, wiring and most importantly welding you can fab up your own headers then you can likely get it in and running for $2-3k above the purchase price of the car - there will probably be things like getting the gauges to work that will require some tinkering but you get the idea...

In case some are thinking that's awful cheap for "LS" power I've known several folks here in town that have done "truck" engine swaps on the cheap - some right at $1k using the 5.3l engine w/adapter plates into an old chevy (mechanical gauges, no computer controlled tranny, notched stock oil pan, etc.)

IMHO - do it if you like the challenge of building up something and need a long term project - if you're looking to drive and have fun - look for an early LS1 corvette - they can be had for $10-15k in ok shape (probably will be higher miles or have wear or even some light damage) - The cheapest I've seen one that ran was a '99 for $8k that was a prior salvage car with 160+k on the odometer and needed TLC everywhere...

 

Thats the route Im going, the LQ9 is a great platform. Only problem might be the accessories on the front. Not sure. But either way they can be had for cheap.

 

I still stick w my earlier statement.

Ltx car on boost, stay ltx. Not much gains for all your effort.

L98 car or, if your plans are to stay n/a and roadrace, then go lsx.

Plus I imagine you can get an l98 c4 cheaper than an ltx car. Id try to get an 89 thru 91 car. They had the zf6 speed trans. Black tag

 

Mod for mod no, it never will compared to an LS1. Dont think most realize the power potential on those.

224ish cam/good head on an LT1 you might get say with injector/tune/header etc close to 400rwhp. With an LSx motor with similar mods you can make 60+ more at the tire without trying. They are just a superior building platform, period.

Stoker LSx forget about it, 10s come real easy.

 

You need to compare "apples to apples" - if you're talking boosted LTx's then how about a stock LQ9 or LQ4 with a turbo and I'd bet with a full weight car you'll be in the low 10's for the quarter and maybe hitting close to 9's in the quarter (assuming that the rest of the combo can keep up - traction, trans, converter) On a completely stock long block I've seen dynos of 5-6xx HP on mild boost and some running crazy boost (for a stock engine) of 24-25 PSI are about on the 900 HP mark (at the crank)! - but that's got to be on the ragged edge and something is bound to let go soon!

The newer heads just plain outflow the older stuff and have a lot more potential than the older LT1 engines do....

Before diving into any of it - the first thing I'd do is set some realistic expectations (budget, HP/TQ goals, timeframe, intended usage, etc.) then weigh out your options.

Don't discount the LT1's - a well built LT1 (stroked to a 383, streetable cam, and lightly ported heads) will make in the low to mid 4xx HP - which should be a fun street engine and be the cheapest way to get a tired/blownup LT1 car back on the road - go with more agressive cams and you can get a lot more out of it (but they become less streetable for a daily driver)

 

If you can find the CARB web page, or whatever ca gov page about mods, I do believe you will find it needs the entire LSx emissions system. The exhaust manifolds will need the air injection. electric smog pump I dont know if you can get it through without something that someone is going to look over for exhuast manifolds. it made me say **** that.
As I remember some stuff I read, it has to be an engine from a new same model car, so all newer vetter stuff, and all the emissions stuff and computer etc from that year model to pass.

That said, if I could get an LSx in there without cali saying anything, I would.

Just seems easier to keep the l98 stuff and do my magic.