I bet you there are tons of CRAPPY LT1's on this site that will put your LQ4 to shame troll.

Make sure you keep us updated on how much oil that thing eats........

 

the LQ4 in my truck has 248k on it now and doesnt use much oil. its been a good one.
an LS swap is a great cost effective alternative to the LT1, but there will come a day when that 100k+ mile swap motor will need a rebuild as well.

 

That book can't come here fast enough. Getting more confused by other people's opinions. My brother was saying it would have to be rings for oil to be in all the cylinders saturating all the plugs.

 

I was in a tiht jam when i did a cam swap and was sent the wrong valve seals and had to re-use mine after pulling them off but had no other choice at the time and mine was eating oil like crazy.

 

tell your brother bad valve seals will do the same thing or worse.

 

The differences between an LT1 and an older smallblock are that the pistons and rings are better on a stock LT1 than most of what shops are accustomed to putting in budget gen 1 motors, and the cooling/chamber/computer all allow us to get away with a lot more compression.

It absolutely should be easy for any competent shop to handle an LT1, problem is that as with most other things deciding who has a good reputation vs. who is actually competent can be hard.
Reputation can just mean their typical customer isn't bright enough to realize the shop isn't any good.

A local had an LT1 rebuilt, I got involved afterwards and while I hope it works after seeing what was used, part of me hopes it frags on startup. Not that I wish the guy to have to go through that hassle/expense, just that I think that would be the easiest way to get the car put together right. The shop is a favorite among local racers.
Maybe that brings up another possibility, I have seen good race shops not give street stuff the credit and attention it deserves and screw things up that way.

 

it can be said that the SBC rings are better for nitrous use.
any ring package that will work in an LT1 will work in a SBC. (with whatever pistons those rings need) even LT1 pistons will work in a SBC. from a machinists standpoint, looking down at the cylinders, an LT1 is essentially a SBC.
all im trying to say here is that it shouldnt matter if the machinist thinks its a sbc, the work he does should still be the same between the 2. the water jackets and fuel injection do not concern the machinist.

 

It is true that if he has excessive oil, or black gunk on the plug he might have a cracked ring. But the leakdown numbers don't look that bad.

What was the compression of your engine? What kind of pistons? Stock? What kind of timing? There are guys running 12:1 on pump gas with iron heads, but that doesn't make it right. This guy wants a mildly modded DD from what I can tell.

Yes, any competent shop can do an LT1. The clearances on them are slightly less, but he's already had a bad experience with a shop and you should know there are a lot of crappy ones out there who will tell you what you want to hear. There's nothing wrong asking questions.

Anyone remember that guy who had the same problem and found out the shop installed the rings backwards?

 

Just spoke with the new shop that did the test earlier today for clarification on why they think it's rings. They said that it is highly unlikely that it is in the valvetrain due to the oil being excessive and being in every single cylinder rather than some or most of them. I'm still hoping for the best, but am moving forward as though it is the rings for the time being.

Also, you may remember that I said that the new shop told me they had 3 customers from the same builder with the same problem. He told me one of them was a 4.6 mustang that had oil issues right away. The shop told him to just drive it 5-7k more miles to let the rings seat . He didn't know any better so he drove it that long and it still had problems so he took it to this new shop and they diagnosed it as the rings. This guy took the builder to court and got some of his money back. I wish I had the money for that.

 

that "builder" sounds like a real moron. would be interesting to know how he is screwing up so bad on the rings.

 

Pay a lawyer to send the shop a registered letter ordering them to pay reparations. It's cheap and you would be amazed at how they will respond if they have already lost similar cases in court.

 

the LS platform is obviously much easier to make power on due too one main thing........valve angle as im sure you know..........but to say a 50 year old 23* platform is "crappy" is just ignorant........a platform like the LT1/SBC when done correctly will produce great amounts of power......there are too many people in the LT community that think they know everything and in reality know nothing, they post their results of high dollar incorrrect builds and then blame it on the platform.....it just requires more knowledge than comming on LS1 tech and copying a cookie cutter setup from another LS motor........there are so many "miracle LS" setups out there its rediclious, everybody thinks they are making great power yet a 450-500rwhp NA 15* or 18* headed motor is nothing special.........they are a dime a dozen..........if you'd like to put that LQ4 of yours up against a crappy LT1 id be happy anyday.........ill restate.....by no means am i saying the LS platform doesn't have more potential because it does......however the LT1 platform is far from "crappy"........



not necessarily......if the valve guides were honed incorrectly or as i said the cam was installed wrong and bent valves it is perfectly feasable that ALL of the seals are leaking......

yup....


i wish i could get my name out there more like some of these shops.........its rediclious the amount of money these shops are making screwing people over and doing horrible work in the process...........dont get me wrong there are some great shops out there but there are alot of garbage shops too...........i recently got into the LS market and i gotta tell you they are easier to screw up than the LT motors also.........my last three went pretty well .......11.49@119 in a 3700lb GTO with an LQ4 w, H/C/I.......11.0 @ 128 in a 3750lb 6 Speed camaro on street tires with a 403LS motor.......and i got one of my shortblocks running 14lbs boost at 145mph in a vette..........maybe i need a website lol

 

Probably next weekend, assuming it won't be raining, I'm going to take the intake off to see if there is oil in the intake ports of the heads. That should tell me if it's top end or bottom end, right?

 

they may put me to shame for now
but when the opti goes on an lt1, ill still be rolling.
ill have better gas milage,
more dependability,
i wont have to drive out of state to dyno it,
and when i spray my 100 shot on it, itll just laugh and ask for more
not many lt1's can take that AND be a daily

 

are you kidding me? a 100 shot?

 

Your ignorance is funny

LOLOLOLOLOL

 

Roll up your goddamn sleeves and build an engine rather than bitching all day about a dinky little distributor. Why is it that LS owners constantly come in here for trolling purposes? I don't bust on TPI or other SBC owners because my car has a tiny performance advantage.

 

LOL. I have both, and there's nothing like a well tuned LT1 that runs nice. The sound is out of this world.

 

Cooldude, why does your post look like it's a poem? I appreciate the offer for info on the swap, but I'd prefer for this not to turn into another "LTX versus..." war. Besides, it'll be years before I'll be able to buy another engine, so my only option is sell or rebuild myself. Hopefully next weekend I can take the intake off so I can inspect the heads intake ports for oil, since oil can't go against the flow of air, that should put to rest whether it's top end or not.

Speedy, I have to admit a big reason I don't wanna let this one go is the sound, lol. I just don't say it aloud because it's a stupid reason on it's own.