Ls1 for 300 buck!!! What to do?
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On The Tree
Joined: Jul 2010
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Its a stock 96 lt1 4 with 110xxx miles on it and it has a heavy duty timing chain in place of the stock one. I got a k&n cold air intake and the stock manifolds cut of at the end of the y pipe. I have taken off the front and rear bumper supports, carpet, seats, some brackets off rear interior and some other misc parts. I have put a 94 differential wit stock gears to run it and it seems to take off pretty hard which my 94 hasnt done in a while since its on 200,000 miles on stock motor. And i also have the roller rockers goin to be thrown in there within the next week or so. Um other than that i really would have to look in the car to see wat other parts i have thrown in there and forgotten about. Where do i go from here cuz i know i got a lot of work ahead of me? 
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From: Magee MS
I'de say a set of headers would be your next BEST MOD to do, and its not a really expensive mod to do. The stock manifold design on the lt1 SUCKS! lol
then like achotrod need to know if its an auto or stick car, that'll help decide if you need a set of tires or a converter... IF an auto, I'de invest in a good converter and a tranny cooler, then a good set of tires. Unless you already need tires.... I've seen some lt1 cars that just wouldnt hookup from the factory w/ a stock tire.
weight reduction is a great thing, especially to go fast! but you don't need to be @ 2900lbs to run 12s w/ an lt1... I have a buddy who had a 93 trans am w/ like 175,XXX miles that ran like 13.9s on motor and he'd spray the car w/ a 150 shot and it'de drop to 11.7-11.8s all day long. I know that isnt really normal to drop 2 seconds off w/ 150 shot but this car LOVED nitrous!
then like achotrod need to know if its an auto or stick car, that'll help decide if you need a set of tires or a converter... IF an auto, I'de invest in a good converter and a tranny cooler, then a good set of tires. Unless you already need tires.... I've seen some lt1 cars that just wouldnt hookup from the factory w/ a stock tire.
weight reduction is a great thing, especially to go fast! but you don't need to be @ 2900lbs to run 12s w/ an lt1... I have a buddy who had a 93 trans am w/ like 175,XXX miles that ran like 13.9s on motor and he'd spray the car w/ a 150 shot and it'de drop to 11.7-11.8s all day long. I know that isnt really normal to drop 2 seconds off w/ 150 shot but this car LOVED nitrous!
Well after the roller rockers what would you guys do since i sticking with the lt1 and i do wanna try hittin atleast 12's by the end of the year. I am currently tryin to gut the car and i have all seats out except for the driver ofcourse. i have the carpet and all speakers out along wit some brackets but they some are jus a PITA to take off Im tryin to accomplish a good racing weight which some tell me is around 2950 or so which i know is alot of work but i got enough time for it.
There are guys out there with COMPLETELY gutted cars, and lightened parts, aluminum blocks trying to get that light.
Your probably in in the 3500-3600 range and thats assuming your 120 pounds.
Your Race Weight is NOT below 3000 pounds. I can ASSURE you of that. Get it on a Scale.
There are guys out there with COMPLETELY gutted cars, and lightened parts, aluminum blocks trying to get that light.
Your probably in in the 3500-3600 range and thats assuming your 120 pounds.
There are guys out there with COMPLETELY gutted cars, and lightened parts, aluminum blocks trying to get that light.
Your probably in in the 3500-3600 range and thats assuming your 120 pounds.
We could use a calculator to figure this out too if we knew ET's, MPH's and driveline specifics (Type and RPM spinning @ the traps).
Being a Formula helps but it is still an Iron Block Car, and aside from putting back in like a cage. He is probably near stock weight Minus what has been removed.
Being a Formula helps but it is still an Iron Block Car, and aside from putting back in like a cage. He is probably near stock weight Minus what has been removed.
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On The Tree
Joined: Jul 2010
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Go to the Sticky at the top of the page, start with taking all the stuff that you will never use again to get it as LIGHT as possible.
If your running a A4 Tranny, make sure it has a cooler and a decent stall. IF its a ODBI PCM driven, you need the Stall Wall Fix.
Like said, a nitrous set up with some changing to gearing at tire would be ideal. IF you keep 60 foots no quicker then 1.69's then your 10 bolt should go a long time. A complete 12 bolt or even 9" swap will put you in the 2500-3000 range depending on options, and if you get a DS. So you gotta keep that 10 bolt healthy.
I'd say run a semi loose converter and leave on motor and push button spray the car. OR there are progressive kits.
If your running a A4 Tranny, make sure it has a cooler and a decent stall. IF its a ODBI PCM driven, you need the Stall Wall Fix.
Like said, a nitrous set up with some changing to gearing at tire would be ideal. IF you keep 60 foots no quicker then 1.69's then your 10 bolt should go a long time. A complete 12 bolt or even 9" swap will put you in the 2500-3000 range depending on options, and if you get a DS. So you gotta keep that 10 bolt healthy.
I'd say run a semi loose converter and leave on motor and push button spray the car. OR there are progressive kits.
Back in the day, one of our buddies had a 97 lt1 car he wanted to mod but he didn't have much money to mod with. We all chipped in with what we had laying around and what we could get on the cheap. He hand-ported his own heads, nothing major just a little clean-up. I had a GM hot cam laying around and an old set of longtubes. Another one of our friends had a 3200 Vigilante from one of his old builds and we had a TNT lt1 nitrous kit. We put it all on the car and had a 175 shot in the kit and mind you this car only had 2.73 gears so it mph like a SOB. It ended up running 11.40 at 120 something. Full weight, nothing taken out. Two weeks later he ended up dropping a valve so it was back to the drawing board.
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jul 2010
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As of now i know i will be leavin the motor untouched other than the roller rockers so that i can try getting the headers, converter, and gears which seem to be alot of peoples first choices in most applications. I think i will run open headers for a lil while till i can have time to consider the rest of the exhaust set up. I know that pacesetters seem to get bad reviews on the rust problem and lpp headers have the fitment issue so theres some thinkin to be done there. I will get the motor pulled out by the end of next week cuz ill have more time since the semester end tomorrow. But is that a good start to a 12 second goal for now. I know street tires arent doin much but ill look into some slicks for the 5 spoke abs wheels if that would be a good start.
