When you say the general the first thing that popped into my head was the general insurance commercial
MALIBU The Sunken Ship Build Thread!
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I got another engine! This one seems to be good so far. It's a LT1 w/4l60e from a 95' Trans Am, and got it for $600.
Only pic I have for today
I removed some spark plugs and the cylinders looked good, the oil is there and doesn't look sparkley. The trans is full and the fluid is a bright red color. Plus, the seller said it ran before he removed it, but we'll see.
Should I try and start it? Or just go ahead disassemble it first?
Only pic I have for today
I removed some spark plugs and the cylinders looked good, the oil is there and doesn't look sparkley. The trans is full and the fluid is a bright red color. Plus, the seller said it ran before he removed it, but we'll see.
Should I try and start it? Or just go ahead disassemble it first?
It would take a fair amount of effort to get it started by itself. The swap is going to take some effort though.....
It's another you didn't hear it run, or see a video of it running... I'd start it if possible.
At the least I'd leakdown test it before thinking disassembly.
What I don't get though, to be honest, is between the vortec you bought. And now this lt1, you're over halfway to a 100% brand new gm crate 350/290hp that you could then swap heads and cam to push closer to mid 300s. It would've been a direct drop in and wouldn't need fuel system upgrades.
It's a lot, I mean a LOT of money just to get an obsolete lt1 that parts are drying up for (optispark) before you even refresh the motor.
4l60e is junk. I'd never bother with all the effort of putting one into a car, and I'd prefer not to buy anything with one but would switch to a 4l80 if it did. 200-4R can be built better cheaper if OD is a must, as a bonus it needs no electric computer controller.
At the least I'd leakdown test it before thinking disassembly.
What I don't get though, to be honest, is between the vortec you bought. And now this lt1, you're over halfway to a 100% brand new gm crate 350/290hp that you could then swap heads and cam to push closer to mid 300s. It would've been a direct drop in and wouldn't need fuel system upgrades.
It's a lot, I mean a LOT of money just to get an obsolete lt1 that parts are drying up for (optispark) before you even refresh the motor.
4l60e is junk. I'd never bother with all the effort of putting one into a car, and I'd prefer not to buy anything with one but would switch to a 4l80 if it did. 200-4R can be built better cheaper if OD is a must, as a bonus it needs no electric computer controller.
Why you gotta be hating on my LT1s? Lol
But, this engine is 300hp stock with modern efi and good fuel economy. They're not obsolete (yet, but ICE engines in general may be obsolete here soon anyway) and I have years of experience with em'.
Plus I ain't afraid of no wires, the computer controlledness of the 4L60E doesn't bother me, I actually prefer it.
A leakdown test seems like a great idea. Hopefully the autozone has the tool.
Not so much having, just doesn't mesh with this car supposedly being a budget build.
It extends the build time, adds lots to the cost, and, injects the need for parts which aren't so widely available and are trending towards costliness.
There's many hundreds of dollars in extra costs to use the electronically controlled transmission. 4l60s were a poor decision that gm should've bypassed entirely. I like the keep it simple principle where it works. On a conversion I have a hard time seeing the reason for the added expense and effort where power levels aren't going to be high, and again, if it ever headed there I'd skip over the 60 series trans anyways. Again, on a supposed budget build... I dunno, just see it different.
What's more, it's from a fbody.... it's probably been flogged to hell. My guess is it came from one of two things:
A - an abused and wrecked higher mileage car, or,
B - someone was tired of optispark issues and had some trans slippage, decided to put a better driveline setup in.
Another idea is get the vin numbers off the case/block, and run a history report. It could at least tell you the true mileage.
It's not quite so much a "budget" build then not wanting to spend almost 2k on an ls swap. The LT1 is a good middle ground between a modern, expensive ls swap, and an cheap, old school carbed sbc. The owner wants a reliable "muscle car" and if it's good on gas, than that's a huge benefit.
If the trans works (dunno how to test it tho) and looks great inside, then my plan was to use it instead rebuilding the th350. With near 300hp and in a car this light, I don't see the transmission being much more of a weak point than the diff.
I can (and have on my Caprice) for free, tune the pcm, which controls the transmission as well.
If the trans works (dunno how to test it tho) and looks great inside, then my plan was to use it instead rebuilding the th350. With near 300hp and in a car this light, I don't see the transmission being much more of a weak point than the diff.
I can (and have on my Caprice) for free, tune the pcm, which controls the transmission as well.
I agree, which I'm going to scrutinize everything, though it seems like the 6spd cars get abused more. But at least it's much better off so far than that stupid vortec.
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