hello everyone, new here and figured I would ask the ppl that drive these cars what would be a better choice....long story First car when I was 15 was a 82 firebird, that my dad and I did a 305 5 speed swap to, then two years later I upgrade too a 85 iroc z(383 powerglide car)....well I got rid of the car when my oldest was born 11 yrs ago and now want another car and since the 70-74 cuda are out of my price range my second fav car is these f bodies.....so my question is what would be a easier build....stock bottem end ls1 help it breather better and a 125-150 wet kit, or rear mounted turbo....or with similar mods....just worried about stock lt1 bottom end.....but should I be??lt1 cars are way cheaper then ls1 cars....either way I want about 500 hp in this car as end goal.....thanks for you help....cant wait to be driving an f body again

 

no contest, ls1 can get to 500 without juice or boost, 400 easy. 400 is not so easy with a lt1. lt1 sound better though. lol

 

boost cost more but not as hard on the engine as nitro can be ,I like super charger myself

 

Back when the was a 10k difference between a Lt1 and a LS1 you could argue that the LT1 could be built equal to the Ls1 for less. Now that the price of the cars are within 2-3K of each other there is no much to talk about.

Unless you are buying a LT1 that has already been upgraded to all forged bottom end they are not worth messing with. They are quickly going the route of the 3.4. Good ones are hard to find and becoming more rare every years. The nice part about the LS1 and the 3800 is GM continued building those platforms for a long time after the Camaro was discontinued. Meaning if you blow a LS1 you can pull a engine from a 2007 Escalade and have a nice upgrade. Same thing with the 3800 you can get a motor out of a 2007 Grand Prix. With the Lt1 you either rebuild or you find a 20+ year old engine.

As Craby said you can do cam and heads on a Ls1 and hit 500 HP. People think NO2 is much cheaper then turbo but do not fall into that cheap kits they sell. There is a huge difference between building a NO2 system that works and building a NO2 system that will NOT hurt your engine any more then a turbo. Keep in mind a turbo system can damage you engine also. A stuck waste gate will blow a part your engine as fast as a weak fuel pump will on a NO2 system. Unless you are building a dedicated racer I would try to stick with NA.

 

An LS engine and an aftermarket supercharger will get you to 500 hp and still be driveable. Likely to be easier (more people have done it), and cheaper (more parts out there for it).