I have a 94 camaro that had a bad intermittent motor knock, so I bought a used one that supposedly came out of a cop car. It's an lt1 as well, and must be a 95 or 96 because it has a VENTED opti-spark. I pulled out the old motor, and basically switched all the accessories over from my old motor to the new one. My old motor has aluminum heads, and the new one (which supposedly had a higher hp rating) has cast iron heads. My questions are: 1) should I have the old aluminum heads reworked and install them on the newer motor...will it mean higher performance? Also, are the heads interchangable in each year? Thanks!

Chad

 

the iron heads are what came in the impala's and caprices. i am pretty sure ur alum heads should bolt right up and you will be slighty faster for it (than u would have been in the iron headed motor). if you have the option to get a nice little port job on the aluminum heads go for it

also, this should be easier for you since you have 2 complete motors sitting side by side. someone else can pipe in with all the specific differences between the two motors, but i believe its just heads and i think someone had an article saying the cam was different....and maybe even a different stroke in some of them, i believe bluovlh8ter had the article on that, but if urs is a 350 i wouldnt worry about those other things, they shouldnt affect ur head install anyways. im pretty sure at least [&:]

 

You're much better off with the Aluminum heads, someone lied to you if they said that the iron head LT1 made more HP.

The LT1 with the iron heads (actually called the L99) came with a different cam that was geared more towards torque and the motor was also a smaller bore. The Police package LT1 does have the 350, but not the aluminum heads, so you don't need to worry too much about the displacement, but that motor with the heads and cam that came in it was only rated at 205 HP, so make sure you swap over your aluminum heads and your old cam.

 

If I remember correctly the police package only was a beefed up radiator and an oil cooler was added to handle the rigors of daily police commutes correct? The motor is the same as the regular impalas.

 

[:-]if ur going to do that anyways buy a new cam

 

No, the police package actually came with a 350 CID LT1, but it still had the iron heads.

 

is that to me? u said to swap the cam out from his old car, but at that point he might as wel just forget his stock camaro cam and guy a new performance cam. easier when its out of the car and hell be tearing down one way or the other

 

No Spec, that was directed towards LT1RUNNER. I would agree, if he's dropping in the LT1 from the other car he may as well put in a better cam and swap over his aluminum heads.