So I am currently putting together my very first LT1. And I am proud to be part of the LTX family! I am still new to all of this and am still learning a lot. I bought a 96 Camaro in the middle of may, it was said to have a blown head gasket and around 110k miles on it. I am only going to drive it maybe once a week, and store it during the winter. Also here in Illinois, I do not need to worry about emissions. When I went to go pick it up, it would not even crank so we could get it onto the trailer with ease. After I started tearing it down and such, it turns out it wouldn't crank because there was a good amount of coolant and the coolant/oil mix in the cylinders. I was just going to replace the head gaskets and do a simple cam swap, but my mods I had planned have grew a bit since I first bought the car. I am now going to have the motor rebuilt into a 355. Here is a list of what I currently am doing.

Bottom End
SRP forged pistons
Eagle forged rods
plasma molly rings
clevite bearings
arp main bolts (unsure of part number to get, help would be appreciated! )
melling 10554 oil pump
GM white spring 3848911 for higher pressure
GM pickup tube 12550042

Top End
CC503 cam
pac1218 springs
comp cam ultra pro mag 1.6rr 7/16 arp studs
Lunati lifters
trickflow guildplates
mr. gasket 5716g (.026 thickness) head gaskets
arp head bolts
stock timing chain
heads milled (aiming for a 11:1CR)

Other
Conversion to OBD I
madz28 tune
pacesetter longtube headers & ORY pipe
Magnaflow exhaust
lt1 to ls1 lid conversion
vigilante 3600 stall
B&M 70264 trans cooler
a/c delete pulley
egr and air block plates
replacing all gaskets

I plan on getting bigger injectors, msd opti, msd ignition, Walbro 255 Fuel Pump, 12bolt strange rear end with 3.73 gears, electric water pump and double roller timing chain. But that is all in due time. I also have another lt1 block that I want to build into a 383 stroker with advance induction heads/cam and have them do intake work as well.

Any suggestions or opinions would be greatly appreciated, I am still trying to build knowledge, and I figured I could learn a lot from here! I would also like to give thanks in advance!

 

Why are you building two motors at the same time? And get a better cam than the 503

 

Im not working on the second one yet. Its for my future plan. Something to slowly put together as I get the money.

 

Nothing wrong with the 503 for a 350 or 355 build. Many folks have built 400+ RWHP with them, though on stock unported heads, the 503 is about as large a cam you'd want to try.

 

So I've decided that I am going to go with a custom cam instead of the cc503 as well as get LE2.

This week has been a nightmare for my wallet so far. Found out I cannot use the SRP pistons, so I am going to get the probe pistons 12334. Then I found out from Lloyd that the heads I sent in, a shop has messed them up so they can only do LE1's, so I got a new set of heads on the way. Then today I found out from Lloyd that UPS lost half of my package to him... He only received the heads when I sent the springs, locks, seats, and retainers as well. So I think I am going to go with the patriot springs and get a better cam as well for the LE2s.