Hey fellas I am usually over in the 2nd gen area, thought I would stop by here and ask some opinions. I am looking to get rid of my current daily driver and get a 4th gen camaro to use for this. What is everyones opinions as far as the Lt1 cars and Ls1 cars. pros and cons for both. keep in mind I won't be taking it to the track but would like to enjoy driving it what should I look out for when buying one of these and what is an expectation for a price range as well. all opinions welcome. thanks

 

I freaking love my LS1! You can get one for like $8K-$10K with decent mileage in my area. A high mileage one will usually run at about $5K-$7K.

 

watch out for the LT1 OptiSpark.... super expensive and gay to change...
go with LS1 for SURE if you got the coin... they should also be in better shape because they are new, held a decent amount of value, and not as many of them exist unlike the LT1 cars.. billions of them are out there..
however an LT can be good too.. but i think the catfish LS1 ones are muchhhh bettre looking than 93-97.. plus have better paint options...

 

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE my LT1! It's my baby! But I have been realizing that I really want an LS1 bc I keep trying to make it faster and look like a 98-02 lol I put an SS spoiler on it and I want to do the front end conversion. If you have the money, definitely go for an LS1.

 

thanks for the quick response fellas. I have read about the optispark issue, I guess this is very common? what exactly is up with this and how expensive of a fix are we talking about? I do like the 98-up alittle better but would get an early one if the price is right. just don't want to get stuck with too many repairs out the gate.

 

I'm not sure how hard or expensive to do the optispark is, but one big problem with it that is known is in the 93 and i think 94 LT1s didn't have a vented optispark and would get water stuck in there and would ruin it. Then newer LT1s came with vented optis, but people have gone to a vented opti in the older LT1s. Ask craby, I think he switched his to the vented one.

 

i can really only speak for the ls1, soooo:

pros:
powa
fuel economy
looks (opinion)
newer, probably less miles
lots o mods available
reliable
t-tops

con:
10 bolt rear
more expensive generally than lt1
93 octane gas (like $0.30 more than 87 octane over here)
cheap interior
harsh ride (gets kinda annoying for a DD if the roads aren't kept up around you)
crap window motors
dash pad cracks

 

good info keep it coming, I guess so far common expensive problems seem to be the optispark for Lt1, no real common expensive fixes for LS1?

 

10 bolt is only concern I have with my car; they are pieces of garbage.

 

Yeah, I've replaced one of my axles and the thing howls loudly. Gets very annoying and I can't get rid of it.