LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

bang for buck lt1 heads?

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Old Sep 13, 2009 | 09:42 PM
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Default bang for buck lt1 heads?

hey guys, so.. i'm a bit out of the loop on lt1 stuff, i haven't touched my 94 formy in 3 years.. and my uncle has a 97. he's currently got headers , intake, and a 125 shot of nitrous, and he wants heads. he got on the topic of it when i mentioned i had a set of gen 1 dart 220 cc small chamber heads, but i understand i'll be spending several hundred to get 'em to work on an lt1. but he still wants heads, so whats the ticket these days, he'd probably swap out cams and get the computer reburnt at the same time, i'd hope. gotta make sure he knows that though. so my questions are:

what are some affordable head options, for a nitrous motor.

are his pistons gunna hold another 50-75 shot?

will my roller rockers, or for that matter solid roller lifters work for him? they are for a gen 1, regular small block chevy.

thanks guys
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Old Sep 13, 2009 | 10:29 PM
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Lloyd Elliot seems to be the man to send your stock heads to for porting...as far as anything else aftermarket, someone else has to chime in here. You'll want to talk to Lloyd about your specific setup for what he recommends. I think he ranges from $900-$1600 depending on what stage you go with, how serious a build you are looking for. Pretty reasonable for the gains across the board here.
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 06:41 AM
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i would say go with AI (advanced Induction) and let them port your stock heads to their 200cc port design. their heads make real horsepower.

Last edited by Abdullah; Sep 14, 2009 at 06:53 AM.
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 06:46 AM
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Just look at all of the LE numbers that people are putting down, For stock LT1 heads, Loyd is the man...
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 11:58 AM
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Lloyd and AI are both great. Lets not start that **** again.

Since the OP said "bang for the buck" I would definitely recommend lloyd.

Hes the less expensive of the two and does badass work.

Give him a call. Great guy and will help put you something together with the budget youre working with.
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 12:10 PM
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Best bang for buck are stock heads, ported, as mentioned above.

I don't believe that you can make those Dart heads work on an LT1, since ours are reverse cooling.

LT1s have A cam, not camS. And he would have to get his car re-tuned, they don't have a chip to burn like the 93 cars.

He's pushing on the 125 shot, I definitly wouldn't go any higher than that.
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 12:11 PM
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I went with LE myself, you can check out his stuff here
http://www.elliottsportworks.com/lt1.html or you can call him at 1-972-617-5671
I dont want to start a pissing match so here is AI's link
http://www.advancedinduction.com/AiProductsLT1.html
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 12:13 PM
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Originally Posted by k0261886
Best bang for buck are stock heads, ported, as mentioned above.

I don't believe that you can make those Dart heads work on an LT1, since ours are reverse cooling.

LT1s have A cam, not camS. And he would have to get his car re-tuned, they don't have a chip to burn like the 93 cars.

He's pushing on the 125 shot, I definitly wouldn't go any higher than that.
Yes you can for just a few 100 bucks...
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 12:16 PM
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thanks guys, i'll have him look into that stuff, im aware these motors have a single cam, i just made it plural because it takes 2 to do a swap.. also used to work in a dyno shop, called westers garage, ecmprogrammer.com so the tuning end of it would be taken care of. the pistons that come stock are hypereutectic right? if he were to run forged, can a guy go with a bigger shot, or are rods etc needing upgrade then too? thanks
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 12:29 PM
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le, ai, or lpe ported stock heads will get the job done!
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 12:30 PM
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Look into the new 21* trick flowheads that just came out. They have pretty impressive flow #'s for an as cast head They claim they willmake 500hp out of the box. And They are $1500 brand new complete ready to bolt on
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 12:34 PM
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Stock rods are pretty strong to about 650-700 hp, and if you plan on spraying, the forged pistons are the way to go for bigger shots. Seems the stock pistons are the weakest link on a heavy shot.
If you search around It seems on similar street set ups the LE heads make more HP on average. Thats why I used Lloyd. Not only that his customer service is outstanding!!!!

AI also has great Numbers and real fast cars running their ported stockers.

I dont think you could go wrong with either. LE can also port all aftermarket heads if you have some serious cash to spend.
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 12:38 PM
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Good call on the Trickflows Pyro. They would be great for what they are wanting to accomplish. Just bolt them on and go..

If you ever want more in the future, pull them off and send in for porting.
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 01:01 PM
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Originally Posted by pyro719
Look into the new 21* trick flowheads that just came out. They have pretty impressive flow #'s for an as cast head They claim they willmake 500hp out of the box. And They are $1500 brand new complete ready to bolt on
I had al @ lpe port my stock heads and intake for 950.00 on my old 96 z. That included manley valves too. If your talking crank power, my old 383 is makin those numbers na. it's right around 10.1 compression with the heads milled 4cc and a 233 239 .570 .580 114 custom grind w/ 1.7 rockers. Before you ask why the low compression, it was originally built for boost. I went back na and funds would only allow so much. So I got the top end dialed in and just kept the blower shortblock. Even tho it's not an optimized na combo, it still makes great power. Matter of fact enough to keep up wit a bpu supra on 20psi boost, with race gas tune.
Point is; you can get the stock heads to make great power and save some cash for other mods. 1500.00 is a good price for the trickflow 21* heads tho, but unless your porting them further, the ported stockers will keep up.
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 01:16 PM
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Originally Posted by kinglt-1
Matter of fact enough to keep up wit a bpu supra on 20psi boost, with race gas tune.
20 psi & race gas does not equal BPU....
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 01:23 PM
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what does it equal lol. I know it still retains the factory twins running 20psi with race gas tune and some weight reduction. 16psi on pump gas. Im no supra guru, I was told it was a bpu...
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 02:01 PM
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Originally Posted by kinglt-1
what does it equal lol. I know it still retains the factory twins running 20psi with race gas tune and some weight reduction. 16psi on pump gas. Im no supra guru, I was told it was a bpu...

Well you know BPU stands for Basic Performance Upgrade, All this means is basically bolt ons, No increase in boost, No race gas tunes, Just like the bolt ons and free mods we do to our cars, Exhaust, Cat back ect...
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Old Sep 14, 2009 | 02:32 PM
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Yea he was far from that lol! full bolt on's, upgraded intercooler, race gas tune, weight reduction(seats were pulled). the 96 z was full weight with stock 3.42's too. My brother just picked up a 9" from moser today for it. tue trac with
3.90's, should be a beast now.

Last edited by kinglt-1; Sep 14, 2009 at 02:43 PM.
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