hey guys I think I'm faced with a pretty popular dilemma here, I have a beautiful great shape 96 LT1 M6, silver, black leather t-tops bone stock, pretty much has been my dream car for the last few years while i had my v6 and i know i'd have trouble finding another car this nice for $5000 only 1 previous owner (old guy who babied it- knew him) probably has barely seen WOT. well now i've been thinking should i spend my money on modding the LT1, or look into buying an LS1, this is going to be a daily driver / street car, doubt it'll ever even see the 1/4 mile. this is such a hard decision, what do you guys think ?

 

basically im just looking to make some decent horsepower maybe 325-350 on motor..

 

If that's the case. I would just keep it.

 

hmm, what do you think it would take to get me there ?

 

I'm not sure, as I don't know how well LT1s respond to mods. Only cars I've really messed with weremy old'02 Mustang GT, and my current '97 RS. I would say for sure all mods on your "to do" list in your sig would be in order though.

 

A good free flowing cat back system, and a real CAI, plus a good PCM tune will get youbetween 300-320 HP, and the car will still be basically stock. Beyond that you will need to get better heads, intake,headers, and cam.

 

In order to get you in that range you'll have to get into the engine. Maybe a cam swap and a good tune will get you to 325 range with your other mods. To get to that 350 then you'll have to get a little more involved.

 

The lt1 mods pretty well and responds good to bolt ons. I would say headers, exhaust, intake, tb, head/cam package and some good tuning would put you into the low to mid 300s and probably give you LS1 times if not better. This will also be cheaper then swapping out to the LS1 and dealing with all the crap that goes with it wiring, ecu, etc. The lt1 is a great engine and has good amounts of potential. I would keep it start with bolt ons then go head/cam and maybe a good set of gearsthat should put you a little ahead of the basic ls1’s in the high 12s SC SVT cobra time's

 

How many miles does the car have on it now? If you replaced the motor would it be new, rebuild, or just plain used?

 

i have 104k babied miles right now