Yeah, it never overheated or anything so I'm about 95% sure nothing is cracked. Don't worry, she's parked and getting trailered to where we can tear it down. I bought a complete top end gasket kit (head gaskets, intake gaskets, valve seals, ect.) and I'm gonna drop a new set of Lloyd Ellington heads with 2.02's and 1.80's in them on it. I do plan on keeping this motor, I JUST put it in less then a year ago. I'm positive it wasted a gasket. It make have detinated at such a high RPM and not gotten enough gas, thus wasting a head gasket. We'll see. Thanks for all ya'lls help and suggestions with this car. I know a pretty good amount about what I'm doing but you guys have been great with the support and suggestions. This one of the best forums I've been a member of so far. For not being able to put eyes/ears on the car, you guys have all been very helpful.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Well boys, I ripped it apart about 2 weeks ago. Both back cylinders had wasted spots in the head gasket. Looks like it probably detonated while we were spraying the bejeezus out of it, lol. Oh well. So I decided instead of dropping new gaskets in it........that I should buy a brand spankin' new 383 that was sitting on a buddy's motor stand, He built it to go in his truck but he wants an LS3 now. It's a 4 bolt splayed main block with Eagle crank and 5.7 rods, block has already been clearanced, 292 cam, Speed Pro 11:1 pistons, balanced and blueprinted, Air Flow Research heads ported and polished/bench flowed (bmfr's), LT4 balancer, moly rings, SLP billet flywheel, one piece rear main, LT4 intake ported and polished. Dynoed 398 on the stand. Sold me everything from intake to oil pan with friggin' plugs in it and the tuned computer for $3500. Dropped it in about 5 days ago. Holy ****! Banana sandwich! I can't keep the rear end from tring to do circles around the front end. A/C still works, too! Lookin' to update the rear end and suspension though. She don't hook AT ALL now. Any suggestions on what to do without hacking up the car? I was looking at some new arms and torque bar and 50/50 shocks. It already has coilovers.

 

Hello MJOACIM,

I was reading your original post, and have had the exact same problem with my 94 LT. I started reading through the posts. What was verdict? Were you able to figure out what the problem was?

I have heard I need a new tune (it was tuned before I bought it, it is a 383 stroker big cam, new crank, electric water pump, etc); I've heard I need to get bigger injectors; convert the whole motor over to carbs; the dreaded optispark problem (this was replaced when I first purchased the car); i've heard about the PERFECT painless wireless system, etc.

Any help would be great. Thanks!

 

I would never put a carb on an LT1. Thats just me though. The opti causes a lot of problems (my car has 145,000 and i havent had a problem but it may have been replaced before i got it). Put in a good opti and tune up. see what happens.

 

What are your symptoms? What exactly is the car doing? Have you checked for any codes? If you're having ignition problems, as in you think the opti is going bad, you CAN just change it but if you have any extra money, I know I keep pushing the LTCC coil conversion. I have it on mine and it's flawless. I can help you with where to get everything pretty reasonable, too.

 

MJOACIM,
I was looking over your original post, and the funny thing is the same problems verbatim. It fires up great, but then idle drops to about 600-1k, jumps up to 3k and holds for a moment, then the tach slowly goes down to about 700-1200 and idles ok as long as you don't touch the Gas. I hit the gas pedal, revs up great but then it will start to bog around 3k, shutter and dies on me unless I pump the gas at which point it jumps up to 3k again on its own then falls down to a good idle or dies out. The oem Opti was new when I put in new plugs and wires, no change in symptoms. I took the car out for a drive was ok for a 1/4 mile on the road then it sounds ok as long as gas is on it when driving. When I come to a stop it dies before I reach a stop. Waited 5-10min then fired it back up, drove it again and made it back home by riding the brake and the gas pedal.

I also have the white smoke coming out, along with the black carbon deposits at the tailpipe as you described in your posts.

Any advice would be great, and yes I would REALLY appreciate finding the parts I need for the LTCC coil conversion. I'm just trying to budget both my time and money on the whole project (which is a pain in the *** because when I bought this car the guy who sold it to me gave me the impression that it was very reliable in its condition and would continue to do so. After day one of owning and driving it and having a blast, the damn thing fell flat on its face and opened up the ugly side of all these **** problems!). I just read through the current 8 pages of posts on your repairs, I'm kind of hoping that some advice will aid in my LT dilemma as well without spending too much time and $ on a total overhaul... Thanks! (and sorry for the venting, I just wanna get the car running the way it should again so I can say "Holy ******* banana sandwich too!") Thanks!

 

check your iac valve and clean if needed. check fuel pressure. also do a leak down on the fuel system. u leave the test gauge on for a while to see if u lose pressure. if u have a mas on it it could need cleanin or replaced. 02 sensor could be bad.

 

Cool, thanks for the advice Craby! I was checking the photo gallery, sweet burnout on your 93! Hopefully my car can get back to that point (when I first drove the car, it was scary how fast it was).

 

Definitely follow Craby's advice. BUT, One thing you may check/change is the temp sensor in the front of the water pump. Mine was telling the computer that the water temp was 18 degrees when it was 85 outside. Thus dumping loads of fuel in making it run retarded. Now the car won't throw a code for that because technically the sensor isn't failing, it's just wrong and unfortunately the computer can't tell the difference. I found it by plugging the car into a computer and reading all the codes and what all the sensors were saying and that's when we noticed the intake temp was at 82 degress (normal) and then we saw the coolent temp at 18 degrees. Have you checked for any water in your oil or oil in your coolant? This is a 383 we're talking about right?

 

And let me know when you're ready to do the LTCC conversion. By the way, once you get your car running right and you put the coil conversion on, you'll punch yourself for not doing it sooner, lol. It's wonderful and you can notice a HUGE throttle response difference. Worth every cent and no more stupid opti problems.