My father's was a naturally aspirated car. But some of the cars I was involved in building made 800+. The stock LT1 block and crank were not the weak points. The only LT1 crank I ever saw broken was an after market Eagle 4340. All of the pistons I have seen failed were due to tuning issues on forced inducted cars and not because the pistons were weak. I can say the same thing about LS engines, Ford 4.6, 5.0, 5.4, etc engines as well. Heck, one of the local LS turbo guys told me every time he hurts a piston he will just throw another used or new one in and continue on.
In the context of the original post, I couldn't agree more. They were a fine engine but they were quickly overshadowed by the introduction of the LS. Now they're dirt cheap. For a daily driver or fun weekend car, they're tough to beat. They rev quick, make good torque, get good mpg, and are reliable.
Here's the LT1 I have in my '83 El Camino. It came out of a 1996 Impala SS. It has the original 4L60e behind it.
The air filter box came from the '96 Impala. I modifed the box opening for the air entry to be from behind the headlights. That makes it a true cold air intake. I did have to trim a little metal out of the way to get the box to slide forward some but it was pretty easy.
Roger, Do you have any details on your build or a build thread. I still have access to some complete LT1's and have been thinking about doing this on my carHere's the LT1 I have in my '83 El Camino. It came out of a 1996 Impala SS. It has the original 4L60e behind it.
I installed this engine back in 1998. The engine and transmission were a brand new takeout from the Impala SS. Even right now the engine and transmission only have 27K miles on them.
