lt1 engine swap for classic car

ksvetteksvette Member Posts: 5
edited March 2014 in Chevrolet
K, i have a 1974 corvette with a 95 lt1 under the hood. I kept with the computer and fuel injection, and am happy with it so far. I am looking for others who have done the same type swap so we can help each other with problems, or ways to better the performance. thanks! pix of the engine i used are in my profile.
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  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    That's a nice swap. The 74s aren't the flavor of the month because of the low stock power (except maybe for the 454), so you've taken the car and given it the muscle a Corvette should have. Also the first year for body-colored bumpers. Some people like that, some don't.
  • ksvetteksvette Member Posts: 5
    along with some other minor mods to the engine the power is way over stock, it can run in the 13's on street tires with street legal exhaust so for a 30 year old car it does good. The engine also helped the economy quite a bit. The body has been changed as well. It is pure glass, no wavy polyurethane, and it is sporting an 80-82 rear bumper cover. Also all the side marker lights have been shaved and glassed in. Either u love it or hate it, and I love it!
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Oh so you mean you have like another gel coat over the old body? Normally as Corvettes age, you can start to see where the joining straps are, etc.
  • ksvetteksvette Member Posts: 5
    no, not a new gel coat. The front and rear bumper covers have been remvoed and replaced with fiberglass instead of polyurethane. The fiberglass does not stand up to impact as well but it helps with paint color and also does not warp like the polyurethane. It can also be matched to the body better, so when you see my car you don't see the seams that you usually see with the soft bumpers on a corvette. It provides a much cleaner look.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Oh I see. Have any pix?

    You can open a page on www.carspace.com and post pictures there, and then link them back here.
  • ksvetteksvette Member Posts: 5
    k, here are some pix. I also have a carspace page under ksvette link title

    don't know if i linked that right, but if not i have em in my album as ksvette on carspace. this pic really shows the rear bumper well, more pix will be added later.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Wow pretty radical. Nice workmanship though.
  • brnnrbrbrnnrbr Member Posts: 1
    I have a 79 camaro w/a 96 LT1, most of my problems are stemming from the electrical systems and voltage reductions. We have used small lamps to decrease the voltage and allow the proper function of certain sensors. This is one bad mother and it is a stock block, second gear spins not chirps (auto) 90% of the time. Have you had any other problems?
  • ksvetteksvette Member Posts: 5
    sorry for the delay in responding, been away from the forum a while. My block is stock as well, and the only problems I really had was the computer until I got the tune (bryan Herter at PCMFORLESS.com is awesome). I basically run two fuse panels and two electrical systems. all of my engine is on its own fuse panel, and all the old stuff is on the original wiring harness. The only problem i had with this was a constant draw of power in the alternator, if it sits for 2 days or so it will be dead. Rather than trace it down, I just installed a kill switch at the battery, problem solved.
  • justxjustx Member Posts: 2
    What should I replace my weak 4.1 from 82 Cadillac deVille with? I heard that the old 568 engines could produce 400hp simply with cam, hirise, headers and bolted up like chev 454.
  • bumpybumpy Member Posts: 4,425
    IIRC those Cadillac engines were fairly lightly built, and didn't have a whole lot of margin for hot-dogging.
  • bobbybuchebobbybuche Member Posts: 16
    ok the lt1 is a reiable fairly powerful engine and a good swap for some other chevy 350's but when i look at it from my point of view; a mechanic, i cringe at the sight of them i mean come on the distributor behind the water pump and the spark plug wires secretly tucked behind the exahust manfold its just a mantinence porblem overall i guess it would be fun to put it in mabey a miata or a small roadster but i would rather take it to the next level and get one of chevys Ls series 350's just think about it
  • bryceshularbryceshular Member Posts: 2
    i am curently workin on a 81 camaro .. and about to do a engine swap to a 94 lt1 .. what all do i need to get off the 94 z28 to make this work and what are some good modifactions to do to this engine
  • bobbybuchebobbybuche Member Posts: 16
    i imagine that your swapping out the old 350 for the lt1 and not the 3.8 or 4.1 if thats so then dropping the new engine in should be fairly easy because the cars are both on the f-body platform but the 94 is slightly modified so you may need a new motor mount kit for relocation other than that it should go right in.
  • bryceshularbryceshular Member Posts: 2
    understand that .. how about as far as wiring and the computer for the lt1350 ... and the transmission will the 350 turbo work ... on the lt1 .. or would i ahve ot go with the 4l60e which is in the 94 ...
  • ghostman612ghostman612 Member Posts: 2
    Can any one give me some info or places to look for info as to what all I would need to do to swap a 1995 LT1 engine and 4L60E tranny in my 1996 Chevy SS Monte Carlo. Thanks
  • rave13rave13 Member Posts: 1
    Did you ever use a 350 turbo on an LT1, I am concidering this but have not found any information on wiring. The 350 engine in my 81 vette needs work and I can pick up the LT1 locally with the PCM and harness. Worst case I will pick up a 4L60E tnny to go into it.
  • gregersongregerson Member Posts: 1
    i am dropping an lt1 in my 96 firebird and i want to put a bigger cam on it but i dont know if i will have to do anything to the computer or fuel injection
  • bobert8bobert8 Member Posts: 1
    is this a real possability or did some one do a swap out. saw it in a dealer lot and all most past out,is this possible.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,939
    is this a real possability or did some one do a swap out. saw it in a dealer lot and all most past out,is this possible.

    Sorry I'm late in my reply here, but the LT1 engine was standard, and the only engine offered, in the 1994-96 Caprice wagon. In fact, the 5.7 LT1 was the standard engine in MOST of those 1994-96 B-bodies! There was also a 4.3 V-8 version with 200 hp, but the only car that offered it was the base Caprice. There was a nicer Caprice, an LS I think, that had the 5.7 standard. About 10 years ago I was looking for a newer used car to replace my aging 1989 Gran Fury ex copcar, and I drove a '94 Caprice with the 4.3 and a '96 with the 5.7 back-to-back. The 4.3 was okay...probably almost as fast as my Gran Fury, but probably a lot more economical. That 5.7 was one wild ride, though! I would have bought it, but the dealership started playing games. And then, like 2 weeks later, I ended up buying a new 2000 Intrepid, so I was pretty much out of the market for a new-ish used car.
  • ghostman612ghostman612 Member Posts: 2
    I rebuilt the LT1 in my 94 Caprice and developed an oil leak from rear main seal,so I removed tranny flywheel ect. and replaced with another new one and it started leaking again.There were no nicks,burrs,scratches on crank and it mic fine.Called local Chevy dealer and one of their older techs said yes that year was known to have that problem sometimes.Does any one know of any fix there might be for this as far as special rear main seal? They told me at chevy that they(Chevorlet) never came up with a fix for it.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    You might look over this article on thrust bearing problems:

    http://www.4secondsflat.com/Thrust_bearing_failures.html
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