LT1 pros and cons

[Senator]

as an LT1 swapper and an optispark expert this is what your looking at as far as a swap that i had to do.

1995 Camaro engine and trany 4L60E with factory wiring harnest.

i picked the camaro becasue the corvette accessories would hit my stearing box (corvettes accessories are all mounted on the drivers side, camaros and transams are all mounted on the passanger side). The AC also had to be removed becasue the compressor hit my frame on the passanger side

you will have to build your own fuel system with high pressure lines as you can not use the old lines, thu i did use an old line as a return line as i have a closed fuel system, i used the late model fuel sending unit from an 88 monte with throttle body injection as i wanted an internal fuel pump as Gm intended and its a direct fit into my gas tank. had to make my own fittings to bilt up to the fuel rail, this alown cost me over $700 for everything

you will have to have someone make a new y pipe for your exaust if you plan on using the factory headers $100

if you want to use your factory gauges like i did you will have to buy a product called Cable-X becasue the 4L60E transmission do not use a cable to drive the spedometer it is run digital, so you need the Cable-X to convert the digital signel to drive a motor so your spedometer will work $300 (or do a gage conversion $$$)

Make your own high pressure power steaing lines $80

Electric Radiator fans $200

Shorten and rebalance your drive line $90

Get the factory computer reprogramed and have the air pump, ABS, anti theft (if you don't have the anti theft programming removed your car will never start, you can not get around NOT having your ECM reprogrammed) $300

There is much more that needs to be done but it is late and if you want to hear more horror stories of my LT1 swap PM me

 

[Randy_W]

Having done 6 LT1 swaps in recent years, you don't have to remove the air conditioning, you just need to dimple or notch the frame cross member, I've never yet eliminated it. You can also use an inline fuel pump for $100, my first swap was over 10 years and 80k miles ago and still has the same frame mounted pump. There are several good programmers that will do your pcm for $150-$200. You will need to use high pressure rubber or braided lines in place of the originals. I've used the Cable-X box a couple times and it's great, but you can buy adapters that convert your electronic signal to drive the original speedo without using a remote box. I've used the Auto Zone fans for $60-$80 each and they worked fine. You can do the swap fairly cheaply if you just do your homework. :wink:

 

[87ttop]

vant I use this inline fuel pump: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MSD-2225/

 

[87ttop]

I am going to drop the car off sometimes next week to a shop in town and he will do everything for 800. I got a 95 LT1 with 700r4 (not 4L60E). I am buying a painless LT1 harness so I will be starting a build thread really soon. He is going to take lots of pics

 

[CHRIS.O]

Can't wait to see the pics. I have always wanted to put an LT1 in something.

 

[Intragration]

OMG....I'm looking at these pictures and trying to digest the price of $400 to do the swap. You'd pay more than that to get an axle set up properly. It's nice to get a good deal, this isn't a good deal. Something is wrong. If someone told me $2,000 to do that swap, I'd think that was a REALLY good deal. Maybe he's thinking early-'70s LT1? Has this guy done any other LT1 swaps? I'd find this out, and then I'd get at least one reference from him, someone he's done this for before who you can talk to and confirm this. If he's NEVER done this before, then you should be VERY suspicious. How would he even know where to begin pricing the job? Definitely not trying to be a killjoy, sounds like a cool car and an interesting swap, but you can't legitimately expect to get it done properly for next to nothing...

All just my opinion.

 

[Randy_W]

It's a fairly simple swap, I've done a bunch of them. If a guy knows what he's doing it can be done in about 16 hours of honest working time. :wink:

 

[Randy_W]

vant I use this inline fuel pump: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MSD-2225/

That pump will work fine, just get a good filter to put inline ahead of the pump.

 

[Randy_W]

Some of my swaps;

 

[bagged85cutty]

I hear ya on the wires and computers but if you have the full harness your not gonna be doing much wiring. Pretty much a power wire and thats it. Of course your going to need an electric fuel pump wired in but those are simple to wire up. If you can install a car radio I bet you can install the needed wiring for this swap. Assuming you have the whole harness.

how do you wire the fuel pump and which one can i use for my 85 cutlass
do you have a diagram or maybe a link???