Why is it called an LT1, again?
Every 22 years the LT1 comes around (1970, 1992, 2014), and they ran out of LS designations to use, that's why GM chose the LT1. If anything the LS engines had big shoes to fill with LS6, LS7, ZL1, and COPO monikers being used.
If you want to know why GM put the distributor on the bottom of the engine, look at the angry doorstop styling of the 4th gen, open the hood and ask yourself where the distributor sits on a normal 350 chevy. The radical styling dictated the less than ideal placement.
Some good points made in here I think. Really I have hatred for lt1's because I bought my first lt1 in high school and the first thing when I had the car the opti went out. Within 6 months I put on 2 more opti's. Not to mention I got beat by a **** ton of f'n turbo imports in my lt1. Of course when you think about going from the tpi bs motors to the lt1 you think "damn the lt1 really was a good motor for it's time". RIght? I got my lt1 in like 2007 when it was badly outdated. If I got it in 93-97 I'm sure I would have thought it was the greatest motor ever. For me though going from the lt1 to my ls1 car was like heaven. Suddenly all the imports went from pulling me to being 20 cars behind LOL. Such a good feeling to get revenge on import guys who talked so much **** on them beating your v8 camaro and than you come back with the ls1 and they aren't so quick to talk. Imo it was to soon to come back with the name lt1 because it seems like a downgrade because we had just upgraded to ls1 from lt1 and now we are going straight back...... Just the way I see it lol
The LT1 was a good engine in its time and an improvement over the L98/TPI. As stated there is no reason to hate on the LT1 or the TPI for that matter. Engines have improved over the years and should continue to do so. A lot of "corvette" folks frown on me for swapping my L98 for a LSx but its mine and I do what I want with my ****. Hell I may put an LT1 in it in the future...that should be funny.
OH! and the 91 Corvette does not have a digital dash, 84-89 did. The digital dash although outdated now was very well received as new tech when it came out.
OH! and the 91 Corvette does not have a digital dash, 84-89 did. The digital dash although outdated now was very well received as new tech when it came out.
Only one person in the whole thread knocked the LT1 (probably to get a rise) and he has not posted since. The LT1 name means nothing to me. They could call it an H22 or RB13 as long as it continues to advance the improvement of our sport through technological leaps and horse power gains. On a side note, reverse cooling is useless (in the real world) and they could have gone distributor-less and kept the hood line.
Yea, and another 20 years from now we'll be riding in our hydrogen fuel cell powered anti-gravity hovercrafts talking about how primitive direct injection internal combustion engines were... lol
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Verdad Gallardo The LT1 was a good engine in its time and an improvement over the L98/TPI. As stated there is no reason to hate on the LT1 or the TPI for that matter. Engines have improved over the years and should continue to do so. A lot of "corvette" folks frown on me for swapping my L98 for a LSx but its mine and I do what I want with my ****. Hell I may put an LT1 in it in the future...that should be funny.
That was like going from a stagecoach to USS Enterprise warp factor **** you.
If you think there was a big jump from TPI to the LT1 in the fbody and Vette, imagine what it was in the big b/d body cars. Those went from a 185hp/330lb-ft torque L05 throttle body truck motor to the LT1 with 260hp/330lb-ft torque.
That was like going from a stagecoach to USS Enterprise warp factor **** you.
That was like going from a stagecoach to USS Enterprise warp factor **** you.
The 91 would run a 17.5ish second et(never ran it myself since it was so slow) vs a best of 14.4 in the 95(some bolt on's and 3.73 posi rear). So yeah, it was like going from impulse speed to warp, that stupid LO5 struggled to break 100mph, the top end was so weak.
Typical past LT1 owner's to-do list:
1). Buy Neglected car.
2). If car isn't neglected, neglect it (pressure washing the front of the engine is a good start)
3). Heater core clogs up, FM radio channels are fuzzy-blame the opti.
4). Replace the opti with a cheap aftermarket opti (bonus points for installing it wrong)
-See also "Pay Dealership to install opti"-
5). Wait for cheap Opti to fail
6). Repeat steps 3-5 as necessary
7). Get mad about money and time 'invested'
8). Sell LT1, Buy LS1
9). Talk about how much faster the mid 13 second car is than the high 13 second car.
9). Pat yourself on the back
10). Talk **** about LT1 on the internetz
1). Buy Neglected car.
2). If car isn't neglected, neglect it (pressure washing the front of the engine is a good start)
3). Heater core clogs up, FM radio channels are fuzzy-blame the opti.
4). Replace the opti with a cheap aftermarket opti (bonus points for installing it wrong)
-See also "Pay Dealership to install opti"-
5). Wait for cheap Opti to fail
6). Repeat steps 3-5 as necessary
7). Get mad about money and time 'invested'
8). Sell LT1, Buy LS1
9). Talk about how much faster the mid 13 second car is than the high 13 second car.
9). Pat yourself on the back
10). Talk **** about LT1 on the internetz
^^LOL..
Yea I can see that..is that with the Impala SS or the ones with the Baby LT1?
Yea I can see that..is that with the Impala SS or the ones with the Baby LT1?
Typical past LT1 owner's to-do list:
1). Buy Neglected car.
2). If car isn't neglected, neglect it (pressure washing the front of the engine is a good start)
3). Heater core clogs up, FM radio channels are fuzzy-blame the opti.
4). Replace the opti with a cheap aftermarket opti (bonus points for installing it wrong)
-See also "Pay Dealership to install opti"-
5). Wait for cheap Opti to fail
6). Repeat steps 3-5 as necessary
7). Get mad about money and time 'invested'
8). Sell LT1, Buy LS1
9). Talk about how much faster the mid 13 second car is than the high 13 second car.
9). Pat yourself on the back
10). Talk **** about LT1 on the internetz
1). Buy Neglected car.
2). If car isn't neglected, neglect it (pressure washing the front of the engine is a good start)
3). Heater core clogs up, FM radio channels are fuzzy-blame the opti.
4). Replace the opti with a cheap aftermarket opti (bonus points for installing it wrong)
-See also "Pay Dealership to install opti"-
5). Wait for cheap Opti to fail
6). Repeat steps 3-5 as necessary
7). Get mad about money and time 'invested'
8). Sell LT1, Buy LS1
9). Talk about how much faster the mid 13 second car is than the high 13 second car.
9). Pat yourself on the back
10). Talk **** about LT1 on the internetz
In 97 I bought a 94 and went through 3 optys .
Typical past LT1 owner's to-do list:
1). Buy Neglected car.
2). If car isn't neglected, neglect it (pressure washing the front of the engine is a good start)
3). Heater core clogs up, FM radio channels are fuzzy-blame the opti.
4). Replace the opti with a cheap aftermarket opti (bonus points for installing it wrong)
-See also "Pay Dealership to install opti"-
5). Wait for cheap Opti to fail
6). Repeat steps 3-5 as necessary
7). Get mad about money and time 'invested'
8). Sell LT1, Buy LS1
9). Talk about how much faster the mid 13 second car is than the high 13 second car.
9). Pat yourself on the back
10). Talk **** about LT1 on the internetz
1). Buy Neglected car.
2). If car isn't neglected, neglect it (pressure washing the front of the engine is a good start)
3). Heater core clogs up, FM radio channels are fuzzy-blame the opti.
4). Replace the opti with a cheap aftermarket opti (bonus points for installing it wrong)
-See also "Pay Dealership to install opti"-
5). Wait for cheap Opti to fail
6). Repeat steps 3-5 as necessary
7). Get mad about money and time 'invested'
8). Sell LT1, Buy LS1
9). Talk about how much faster the mid 13 second car is than the high 13 second car.
9). Pat yourself on the back
10). Talk **** about LT1 on the internetz
TECH Regular
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 492
Likes: 0
From: Rochester, NY
130,000 on my original opti so far. Goes to the drag strips once a month or so. Also gets driven in the occasional downpour.
Word on the street is the 96-97 vented optis were a lot more reliable. Not sure if fact or opinion though.
Word on the street is the 96-97 vented optis were a lot more reliable. Not sure if fact or opinion though.
GM really messed up by calling the new power plant an LT. They spent the last 15 plus years getting people used to the name LS, weather it be LS1, LS2, LS6, LS9, LSX you name it. People hear "LS" and they automatically know what it is, this took GM 15 years to accomplish. A sort of pavlovian response one could say.
So why after 15 years and finally achieving name recognitions for the LS did GM change back to the LT? Same reason they needed a bail out I suppose.
So why after 15 years and finally achieving name recognitions for the LS did GM change back to the LT? Same reason they needed a bail out I suppose.
PS. LS (LS6- 396c.i. / LS7- 454c.i.) engines started in the 1960's, not in 1997
So people have been used the the LS moniker for over 40 years, not 15.The GEN III LS motor 3rd Coast is referring to, came out in 1997 in the corvette, do the math, it is actually 16 years
not sure what you meant by "Where in the hell did you get 15 years?"I agree, the GEN III LS motors had more problems than the GEN II LT's. The GEN II LT motor has nothing to be embarrassed or hang its head about, I'll never understand why people hate on them so much.
And If you get any moisture in any distributor, it tends to not run well lol. This is not an LT1 specific issue, and humidity is a new one to me and I live in Iowa lol. If a car sat for a long time with moisture in the distributor it can rust cause issues of course, but the 95-97 are vented and tend to clear up very quickly if it's an issue (unless you park them in the back yard in the rain for a few weeks without starting it? idk) and the 92-94 optis are sealed so idk how humidity would even effect those at all. Either way, I'd file that under neglect. Same with an overheating or damaged leaking water pump.
Last edited by MasterTomos; May 13, 2013 at 11:12 PM.
As for the Opti going bad, IMO it is ABSOLUTELY neccessary to replace the water pump at the same time. These cars are getting up in age and miles, you don't want to spend all that time replacing an opti to just have your water pump leak all over it a month later and ruin it.
And what other people said, you need to replace both the water pump and opti with GM or A/C Delco parts. I've been burned by cheap "patent" parts made in China on a couple of different occasions.