I am starting to plan a heads/cam upgrade. I have decided to go with the LT4 Hotcam, but don't know what to do about the heads. Should I just get my LT1 heads worked on, or buy some aftermarket heads? Who makes aftermarker heads for the LT1, and would they perform that much better than ported and polished LT1 heads ?

Also, does the PCM need to be reprogrammed to run this upgrade?


[Modified by STL94LT1, 6:19 PM 6/23/2002]

 

AFR makes good heads for the LT's, but i think youre just as well off with gettin your stockers ported out.

 

I am doing this right now. I have looked at about every way to do this.
I think you are best getting your stock heads ported/polished bigger valves and matched to your cam. You could go a little more on the cam also and probably get into the 11's with gears. Just depends on what you're looking for. I am going through Chris (lcvette) on the forum. He a good/knowledgeable guy to talk to on this setup.

My vette is sitting on jackstands now with the heads/intake removed. I still have to pull the radiator and yank the stock cam. The Fun has begun!

Goodluck!

 

James, where are you getting your head work done?

 

I am having lcvette, Chris, put together the whole package for me!

 

Thanks James.

You need to change your sig to show your 4.11's.

 

Funny you said that, I just realized that after my last post!

What are you looking for 1/4 times? More Power in general?

 

Yes, without losing lower end torque. Also, I miss that rough idle like the older cars had.

 

Thats cool, I would get your heads upgraded. And definately get the 4.09-4.11 gears! You'll love em! No low end problems with them forsure! They
really do make the car seem even more driveable. With a 6 speed I say
they are the only way to go!

Goodluck with your project, keep me updated. Myabe sometime we can meet up in STL when we get these things done! I'm sure I'll be up there
sometime this year to run her at Gateway. :cheers:

 

STL94LT1 , James94LT1

Since you guys are in the middle of/going to start this project, I wanted to warn you of a mistake I made. You probably know this all ready if you work on engines a lot.

I just screwed the crank bolt in and used it to rotate the engine when adjusting the roller rockers. Huge mistake. You must use a bunch of washers so the the bolt doesn't bottom out in the crank.

All the tourqe from turning the engine so many times crushed the tip of the crank bolt. It came back out real hard and mangled the crank threads. Fortunately I was able to retap the crank and didn't have to use a helicoil. I can't tell you what a bummer it was thinking about posibly installing a helicoil with the engine in the car.

*edit* oh BTW, I am a transplanted boy from Missouri myself. Born in St. Louis :seeya


[Modified by Jay Axson, 9:29 PM 6/23/2002]

 

Jay,

Thanks for the tip! Glad to hear you got your running!

 

http://www.cncheads.com/index.htm

This is where I'll be going for my heads when I get them. Also you may want to up those gears when you go to the hot cam.

 

For what it's worth I'll be getting a set of nice heads from Total Engine Airflow. He does some very nice work and can get some very good flow numbers. The problem is that he is usually behind schedule, so don't plan on getting anything quickly, but the work is good.

 

I purchased lcvette's heads/cam that was on his own vette that made 370rwhp. I hope to have it installed this fall.

Jim

 

Thanks Jay, I would appreciate any tips or shortcuts you have.

 

I would go with AFR 180 heads. They flow as well as 190s and you get new heads complete for the price of having your stock heads ported. Maybe less depending upon who does the porting. Some of us have had trouble with AFR springs and valve float using the HOT cam so see if AFR can put better springs on if you use them.

The PCM will need to be modified to increase the idle and increase spark advance when the throttle is closed too.

 

Give Chris an e-mail(lcvette1@aol.com)---he will talk to you endlessly about ideas--and he has a bunch of them.You should feel his dad's lt-4---just a ball of fire to drive---11.51@low 120's on a stock bottom end motor with no other power-adders on drag radials---the thing rocks

Geoff Hall

 

Heh Aqua, how much $$ does these heads run?

 

Whenever I can get around to it, and can spare the car, and if Chris is still doing it - I plan to have him do mine.

 

OK, here is a couple other things I learned:

You must drop the front of the oil pan to R&R the timing chain cover. I completely removed the front 3 bolts on both sides (This includes the big ones in front.) and losend all the way back to the oil filter. I tried doing less bolts and it just wasted time trying. I didn't drain the oil, just left the car jacked up in front, didn't spill a drop.

Be carefull putting the cover back on. Make sure the bottom oil pan gasket is in the covers lip right. Use a generous amount of RTV in the lip and corners where the lip meets the other gasket.

You will have to remove the two engine mount bolts and jack up the engine a inch or two to get the cam out. Protect the pan from the jack with a block of wood or a puck.

Be very gentle when sliding the cams in and out.

Use lots of assembly lube on all machined or geared areas where things touch. Cam lobes, journals, Oilpump gear, timing gear teeth, push rod tips, roller, ect..

Use RTV on waterpump, intake bolts.

WP has 6 bolts not four.

Put a less diameter but longer allen head bolt in the crank bolt hole for the puller to push off on. If not you will be pushing and pulling on the same object.

Good luck


[Modified by Jay Axson, 7:44 PM 6/26/2002]