My brother and I were discussing changing out the LT1 in his 92 corvette to a regular smallblock. There is nothing wrong with the LT1 it only has 35,000 miles on it he just wants to leave it stock and store it. The new engine will be a carb engine shooting for at least450 hp. The questions are.... #1 is the bolt pattern for the bell housing the same on the lt1 as the old smallblock, #2 how hard is it to convert the computor to handle a distributor, #3 Is there a fuel pump conversion or a way to reduce the feed pressure to suit a carb?

 

well you wont be using a computer if youre using carb, you wont need to unless you want to use a computer controlled carb.The bolt pattern on the bell housing should be the same, you will need to modify the engine cradle when you put whatever engine you are deciding on going with.

 

Doesnt sound too bad, its a 6 speed and the skip shift has been disabled, I dont think there is any other computor controlls for the trans. I was thinking a little more on it and I have to measure the hood clearance the carb with be higher than the fuel injection.

 

yeah of course, i forgot about the trans, if you do want to get rid of the computer totally you might have to use a mechanical fuel pump as well

 

I'm trying to figure out why your brother would want to spend 6k+ on a new engine when he could spend 2k and have a bad *** LT1 heck he could buy a used LT1 from another car and beef it up for less then the cost of building a new small block.

 

I am sure he is weighing the options. It would be simpler to put another LT1 back in.I am interested on how you came up with the$4000 swing building one vrs the other? What are your ideas on this?

 

The words 'engine swap' are synonymous with the words 'really expensive'. If he has future plans for the lt1, and that's why he plans to store it, then that's cool. But if he's looking for horses he should start with what he's got.

 

He is concerned with the numbers matching end of it, if we would blow the original engine he wouldnt have that anymore. I am going to look for a 4 bolt main lt1 and see what I can find.