3rd gen lt1 swap questions
 

im thinking about starting a project this summer/ winter..

i have a few questions..

1. will a lt1 bolt in the original mounts if i get a 305 camaro?

2. will a t5 out of the 3rd gen bolt up to a lt1? i wont have the money for a t56 right now and i hate autos..

and will normal sbc headers bolt on the lt1 and still fit in the engine bay?


for the motor i plan on doing a simple rebuild (new bearings clean up the stock internals and heads) bolt ons, lt4 cam, port match the stock heads and intake and tune.

and also will 4th gen suspension/ brakes fit on a 3rd gen?

1.yes 2.yes, but its not as strong. anything that works with a 305/350 in a third gen will bolt up for headers. depending on the engine's miles, a simple rebuild will suffice. wouldnt hurt to through in a new set of rings and hone the bore, and new valve seals. as for brakes and suspension, thats mostly a no. the rear end on the 4th gen is wider than the third, but will bolt up. however, the front suspension and brakes are completely different and not interchangable.

yeah i forgot new rings..

as i said if i had a extra 1200 for a t56 id get one but itll come later..

hopefully when i go camaro hunting i can find a clean one with no rust or problems so it can be a simple take out drop it hook up deal..

i have this image in my head that to me its a badass street machine..about 300-350 with the mods i want to do 5sp, and the smoothness of fuel injection...not saying TPI isnt good but im more into wanting a more modarn and more tunable..


its awesome everything bolts right up tho..i may go this route than other stuff i was looking at

well, let me know when you will be hunting for a third gen. i always see some for sale under grand. and dont forget, you will need a complete wiring harness, ecm, and gauges to operate the lt1. you might be able to rewire the factory gauges, but it would be a lot easier (but not cheaper) to get a complete set of aftermarket. if/when going to a six speed, you will need to alter the speedo to work on a vss and not cable (depending on the year camaro you buy)

yeah, theres a complete lt1 on craigslist for $600 with wireing harness, and all the other crap lol

will stock guages read the same as lt1 guages? (same redline ect)..and i may have to invest in a shift light to

if you can repin the interior wiring harness to read the lt1 gauges, you could get the factory oil pressure and water temp gauges to work. however, the tach will not work with the optispark. the factory v8 tach redlines at 4500, 5000 on some 85 models and other models. 89 and older use a cable drive speedo, while 90-92 us a vss. the lt1 may require the vss signal to process some info for it to correctly work some engine programs (evap, egr, etc.), but im not sure if its needed. however, the factory gauges are not accurate, so i would recomend just replacing them.

yup, i snagged my LT1 for 600 bucks with harness and PCM. Headers and all for a SBC will bolt up, but remember that the LT1 has D-Shaped exhaust ports in the head, and a regular SBC header tends to leak a bit.

As for the gauges, i had wondered that myself. I think i will just end up taking all the factory gauges out and fit in all new ones useing the factory bezel. The swaps been done tons of times, so others will have more complete answers for you. Though i havent met one of them on here yet.

350rs, since you did the swap..any fitment, or any issues when you did your swap? to me it sounds like a pretty straight forward swap but thats typicall me lol..also is there any other guage clutsers i can use with the stock harnes? or do i have to buy aftermarket guages? if i have to use aftermarket ill save a couple hundered extra bucks for them

i havent done it yet. i got the motor and ran out of money. But ive read and reread several install writeups. The block is still essentially a SBC GEN1. a few minor changes. So no fitment issues. AC is a problem with factory k-member. have to notch it out to use it or buy a tubular one. OR just not use it. Fab some power steering lines, coolant hoses, then a few other small things, but nothing that cant be done.

i read in camaro performers, someone swapped an ls1 into an lt1 93 camaro. they made the factory gauges work, but it required disassembling the connectors (yes, connectors) and repinning them from the ecm to the gauges. for the amount of effort required to compare 2 different wiring diagrams to try and make the factory gauges work, its more worthy to spend the $300 for a good set of autometer gagues, and just mount them inside the factory gauge cluster