lifeisgood

iTrader: (4)

Im trying to talk the shop i work for into building lt1 kits. hot sides and cold sides, or a full blown kit.
theres a concern about the market.....i understand theres plenty of people intrested in the kits......but are people willing to spend the money on a good front mount for an lt1?
theres a plan to sponser tech, we already build great ls1 kits, but i understand the lt1 crowd has been left out. there is a couple people out there but we believe the kits we build could be in the same price range but nicer.

feedback?

slownova73

iTrader: (31)

LT1 f- body only kits?

OneBadTA

I'm really interested in a front mount setup. I mainly need the exhaust manifolds and exhaust merge pipe done. Could care less if it doesn't have a/c.

If you start these kits make sure you do a little testing with a moderate size turbo like a 67mm or 76mm and a 44mm wastegate to try and get all boost creep issues worked out. Alot of those wastegate setups that come off at a 90* at the merge have creep issues.

fastfox

i would be interested in one looking to swap to a turbo set now.

lifeisgood

iTrader: (4)

like i said we already build ls1 kits. and as stated before we would be building better quality kits....so fitment boost creep all the above wouldnt be a concern.
if we did a build soon it would be on my 94 TA completely stock car, and run a t67.

marc97taws6

iTrader: (6)

I can guarantee people would be interested. Any ballpark on pricing? I know I'm interested, but money wise I'm a freshman in college saving for a house/LS3 C6 after college so I'm gonna be out of it for a few years

Adam96z

iTrader: (1)

Just remember that these cars, even very nice examples rarely are worth more than 6-7k.

If you can put out a kit for $2500-3500, I think people might be interested, but you probably don't have much room for profit margin at that price point.

duff man

iTrader: (9)

I would be interested when the time comes for a new motor. That would probably be a few years though (I hope).

OneBadTA

Manifold wise, I'd like to see a nice 4 into 1 merge collector manifold for both sides.

Blackbirdws6

iTrader: (7)

I have plans to build a forged 383 and would prefer a turbo over a blower. For me, the more complete the kit, the better. This is going to include fueling, cold/hot pipes, etc etc. With supercharger kits running in the $5k range retail, you would need to be competitive with the price and complexity of installation. The less modification (cutting/grinding, etc) that can be avoided the better.

I believe there is certainly a market for these kits if they came possibly in different levels. One could be a "tuner" kit which would include the basics and the customer could source other items on their own. The other could be a full blown kit which would be A-Z minus computer tuning if you didn't want to get involved with that.

My ideal kit would be something I can add to my existing vehicle and go and get it tuned.

Just my $0.02

-Brian

ADM

If the pricing is right, you got yourself one more customer

96silverram

iTrader: (12)

There are already options for the LT1 cars, but I don't think I can mention it on LS1tech (non-sponsor ?) You would have to bring the kit price and quality under $4,000 ish to beat out what is already available. I personally don't know if there is much room in the market for a kit to be priced lower and still make it profitable for a small shop. If your talking economy of scale; maybe, but I don't see any shops building the quanity of kits for a LT1 to drive the price down to $2500 to $3500. The only way your going to get to that price point is doing a stock manifold kit with a small turbo, mild steel, small DP, inexpensive FMIC, couplers, etc. Plus you will still have the expense of fuel injectors, in-tank dual pump, programming just too name a few of the must haves. The little stuff is what really kills it on a LT1, it costs about double what most LT1 cars are worth by the time you finish. I know that is not what you wanted to hear, but it is realistic.

Just my .02, I like the enthusiasm, but it is hard to make it work in the LT1 realm.


All that being said, I would love to see another kit for the LTx cars

OneBadTA

you don't mod your car based off the value of it. You mod it cause you want something better or different from it. The hell with what the car is worth. Power costs money plain and simple.

Please don't make these kits cheap. Quality costs money and as a consumer I want great quality.

OneBadTA

I just checked out the FTP kits for the LS engines. That's a pretty good price. If you could make it similar to that but with log style manifolds instead of stock lt manifolds, that would work perfect. Maybe make the kits cheaper by not coming with a turbo or wastegate and just offer choices of turbo and wastegate flanges.

lifeisgood

iTrader: (4)

the kits wouldnt be cheaply made. now if there was a 4 into 1 type setup of course the price would go up, do to materials and labor.
and that was another idea not to sell a complete kit and give options as to what direction the customer would want to go.
my car will prolly be the first to receive a kit if we do this.....

OneBadTA

Yeah i'd expect prices to be higher with a nice 4 into 1 manifold. When do you plan on starting on the kit?

LS1 SPEED

iTrader: (22)

$3-4K? There is no way a kit can be fabricated using quality materials and parts IMO.

We have approx $1500 in just hot side MS bends on systems we do though most are TT kits.

+ wastegate ( s ), BOV, coatings

I think there is more of a market now then ever as the LT1 seems to be coming back on the map again. The thing is with anything price will matter, but IMO a nice kit is worth more in the $8K range ( depending on materials, turbo options, etc )

1 off builds as we do are more then the above mentioned prices

marc97taws6

iTrader: (6)

X2! Will be hard to make an awesome kit at such low of a price. I think LT1's are coming back a bit. There have been a lot of guys going fast and looking for rebuilds. The issue is that these guys are more rare to your typical LT1 user who in on a budget and doing full bolt-on's, cam-only, etc.

Best of luck with your project and I hope the LT1 could have a broader aftermarket

Josh@KY-Turbo

iTrader: (120)

Well Said.

355TurboLT1

iTrader: (11)

I have not seen many kits for the LT-1 that are better built than the PTK Gen II. I have one and its very well done. Tig welded mild steel. Alot went into the design and fit of these. They reatained a/c and made very good power. Too bad they went out of business. I am one of the LT-1 guys that is going for big power and does not mind spending alot of $$$ regardless of the value of my car. Hell my 96 is nicer than most LS-1 camaros and it only has 46K original miles. Build a kit similar to the PTK and I think you will have a winner.