Are the LT1s worth keeping/modding?
Teching In
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
From: Lancaster, South Carolina
The Opti B.S. is way out of preportion. I replaced mine at 88K for no reason honestly, was chasing down a different issue. My new GM Opti has been on the car for 30K miles without a hickup. 100's of track passes, driven in heavy rain etc etc you name it. All on a non vented Opti.
In my opinion, half of the failures are because of negligence, stupidity, and people not knowing what they are doing. On top of that, you only hear of BAD opti stories because noone comes to a Forum to tell everyone about how good their opti is or anything else for that matter. You only hear of the problems and negatives and then the word spreads like wildfire and everyone thinks it's junk.
In my opinion, half of the failures are because of negligence, stupidity, and people not knowing what they are doing. On top of that, you only hear of BAD opti stories because noone comes to a Forum to tell everyone about how good their opti is or anything else for that matter. You only hear of the problems and negatives and then the word spreads like wildfire and everyone thinks it's junk.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 368
Likes: 0
It is a 350 with a different distributor (that piece that goes around internet circles like a unicorn). Sure it isn't the best design, but it doesn't mean the car can't be fast.
Every car will take time to work on, it doesn't matter what you have. Anything modded will have headaches. Sure it can produce a little more power easily, but for a nice street car the lt1 will do great. I will be more than happy to rebuild my lt1 after grad school, right now the cam and boltons is doing enough to keep me happy.
Every car will take time to work on, it doesn't matter what you have. Anything modded will have headaches. Sure it can produce a little more power easily, but for a nice street car the lt1 will do great. I will be more than happy to rebuild my lt1 after grad school, right now the cam and boltons is doing enough to keep me happy.
I've only ever had two optis fail and that was only caused by rotor screws backing out. Never had an issue with electrics, PCM or harness. Like any performance car, preventative maintenance is key.
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 206
Likes: 1
From: Bowling Green
So true about preventative maintenance. But my best guess is the LT1 I have wasn't maintained very well before me because mine is still messed up =/
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TECH Regular
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 461
Likes: 0
From: Hastings, Nebraska
I hate that idea of just riding it till it breaks then getting another... waist of time and money imo
I am going by you saying "A Fully built motor" to me, thats after market heads, or at least ported stock ones, up graded pistons, cam, crank ect. A fully built LT are making 450- 500 + RWHP, a "cam only" LS isnt going to make that. I agree it is easier to make HP with an LS motor and yes you can get the 5.3, slap a turbo and make huge horsepower, but maybe you need to describe your Fully Built Motor..
When the block cracks in half, not much else you can do to it.
The opti issues on LT1s are really blown out of proportion. I had 0 issues with my old LT1 WS6. The car surprised a lot of bolt-on LS1s with how well it ran in comparison. Just take care of the car maintenance wise and it'll take care of you, as with any other car.
Granted I sold it to free up some more cash for college and won't go back (onto different cars after I graduate here in May)
Granted I sold it to free up some more cash for college and won't go back (onto different cars after I graduate here in May)
I loved the LT1. I've owned my 94 Camaro since new. That's right, I bought it new in Oct.1994. It wasn't even a month old and already sporting a Callaway cold air intake and a Borla cat back exhaust. Then over the years, heads and cam, nitrous, efi 24x conversion, a few more heads and cam, on the stock bottom end block. Believe me I ran this motor to the extreme! And extreme, it finally came to an end blowing a piston to smithereen during a dyno session. Make the story short, for the next build, it was either going to be an LT1 383/396 stroker or go to the dark side, an LS swap....Today I'm slowly building an LSX 440 cid, I'm moving forward. The LT1 had its day at one time,imo.
11 Second Club
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 1,707
Likes: 13
From: New Orleans, LA
10's with weight reduction and a big ole big ole cam. You do realize that a bolt on LT1 went 11.48 right? I'm pretty sure that car can crack tens with a cam also..
Dude you're preaching to the choir here. I enjoy the underdog factor the lt1 has. I like dumping money into a dieing platform. I enjoy seeing people's faces after they hear what mine does. But I also realize gen 3 is a much better platform and I have no problem admitting it. They simply were built to outperform and it shows.
I do like my lt1, but bang for the buck I would rather go LS. Once you start making power with the LT1s you will have to swap for 24x. Its very hard to find someone who does LT1 tuning anymore. There's probably a reason the LS platform is going strong and the ltx died out after a few years.
I've made this statement before, but I'll say it again:
The people who have the biggest issues with optisparks are LS1 owners. The problems are blown WAY out of proportion, primarily by people who don't own and have never owned LT1 cars. (I've had mine 6 1/2 years and 40,000+ miles without missing a beat on the stock opti thus far).
Besides, if there is an issue (afterall, it is a wear item-as are ignition systems on every car on the planet) you just replace it with a quality replacement part (oem primarily). and a few hours later with hand tools and it's fixed for another 100-200k miles if installed correctly.
If someone can't spend a couple hundred bucks and use simple hand tools for a few hours, the performance car world is probably not for them anyway. A set of new tires would be more expensive than an optispark and need to be replaced far more often, but nobody ever mentions that "issue", they just accept it.
With all of that said, the LS motors are superior to the LT1 motors, but that doesn't make the LT1 motors or cars junk. The LSx is more capable, but that doesn't make LT1 motors incapable altogether. LT1 motors can get into the 11's with just heads/cam and supporting mods, and on these cars 11.50's requires a roll cage at any NHRA track. How many LS1 cars do you see running around with roll cages? Not many. People rarely ever use the advantage anywhere near its potential anyway IMO. So it all boils down to what you want to do with the car. Peppy 11-12 second street car? Stay LT1. Single digit race car or 500+rwhp street car? Go LSx.
Just my .02 of course.
The people who have the biggest issues with optisparks are LS1 owners. The problems are blown WAY out of proportion, primarily by people who don't own and have never owned LT1 cars. (I've had mine 6 1/2 years and 40,000+ miles without missing a beat on the stock opti thus far).
Besides, if there is an issue (afterall, it is a wear item-as are ignition systems on every car on the planet) you just replace it with a quality replacement part (oem primarily). and a few hours later with hand tools and it's fixed for another 100-200k miles if installed correctly.
If someone can't spend a couple hundred bucks and use simple hand tools for a few hours, the performance car world is probably not for them anyway. A set of new tires would be more expensive than an optispark and need to be replaced far more often, but nobody ever mentions that "issue", they just accept it.
With all of that said, the LS motors are superior to the LT1 motors, but that doesn't make the LT1 motors or cars junk. The LSx is more capable, but that doesn't make LT1 motors incapable altogether. LT1 motors can get into the 11's with just heads/cam and supporting mods, and on these cars 11.50's requires a roll cage at any NHRA track. How many LS1 cars do you see running around with roll cages? Not many. People rarely ever use the advantage anywhere near its potential anyway IMO. So it all boils down to what you want to do with the car. Peppy 11-12 second street car? Stay LT1. Single digit race car or 500+rwhp street car? Go LSx.
Just my .02 of course.
Last edited by MasterTomos; Nov 12, 2013 at 02:20 PM.
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 1,740
Likes: 2
From: Nebraska
I've made this statement before, but I'll say it again:
The people who have the biggest issues with optisparks are LS1 owners. The problems are blown WAY out of proportion, primarily by people who don't own and have never owned LT1 cars. (I've had mine 6 1/2 years and 40,000+ miles without missing a beat on the stock opti thus far).
Besides, if there is an issue (afterall, it is a wear item-as are ignition systems on every car on the planet) you just replace it with a quality replacement part (oem primarily). and a few hours later with hand tools and it's fixed for another 100-200k miles if installed correctly.
If someone can't spend a couple hundred bucks and use simple hand tools for a few hours, the performance car world is probably not for them anyway. A set of new tires would be more expensive than an optispark and need to be replaced far more often, but nobody ever mentions that "issue", they just accept it.
With all of that said, the LS motors are superior to the LT1 motors, but that doesn't make the LT1 motors or cars junk. The LSx is more capable, but that doesn't make LT1 motors incapable altogether. LT1 motors can get into the 11's with just heads/cam and supporting mods, and on these cars 11.50's requires a roll cage at any NHRA track. How many LS1 cars do you see running around with roll cages? Not many. People rarely ever use the advantage anywhere near its potential anyway IMO. So it all boils down to what you want to do with the car. Peppy 11-12 second street car? Stay LT1. Single digit race car or 500+rwhp street car? Go LSx.
Just my .02 of course.
The people who have the biggest issues with optisparks are LS1 owners. The problems are blown WAY out of proportion, primarily by people who don't own and have never owned LT1 cars. (I've had mine 6 1/2 years and 40,000+ miles without missing a beat on the stock opti thus far).
Besides, if there is an issue (afterall, it is a wear item-as are ignition systems on every car on the planet) you just replace it with a quality replacement part (oem primarily). and a few hours later with hand tools and it's fixed for another 100-200k miles if installed correctly.
If someone can't spend a couple hundred bucks and use simple hand tools for a few hours, the performance car world is probably not for them anyway. A set of new tires would be more expensive than an optispark and need to be replaced far more often, but nobody ever mentions that "issue", they just accept it.
With all of that said, the LS motors are superior to the LT1 motors, but that doesn't make the LT1 motors or cars junk. The LSx is more capable, but that doesn't make LT1 motors incapable altogether. LT1 motors can get into the 11's with just heads/cam and supporting mods, and on these cars 11.50's requires a roll cage at any NHRA track. How many LS1 cars do you see running around with roll cages? Not many. People rarely ever use the advantage anywhere near its potential anyway IMO. So it all boils down to what you want to do with the car. Peppy 11-12 second street car? Stay LT1. Single digit race car or 500+rwhp street car? Go LSx.
Just my .02 of course.
Your average joe is not going to be running 10's or 9's. I think people tend to forget that 450+ hp is a lot to handle. Your average person will be plenty satisfied with that number and beat plenty of cars in the process. Just because an LSx can easily make 1000 hp doesn't mean you need it. Where the hell do you safely use 1000 ******* hp besides a track? Point is, an LT1 can make reliable power that will take down most cars on the street unless you live in huge cities with Lambos and other exotic **** roaming the streets. Shouldn't be racing on the streets anyway.
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 206
Likes: 1
From: Bowling Green
It seems like the LT1 isn't really much of a mechanical issue so I guess that answers one of my questions. My other is, Would a 5.3 swap be worth it? I really would love in between 450-500 HP as a weekend car but It seems to me like the 5.3s can get there cheaper because they 'respond to mods better' as I have been told. Not to mention, the 5.3s are cheap to purchase in the first place.
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 1,740
Likes: 2
From: Nebraska
It seems like the LT1 isn't really much of a mechanical issue so I guess that answers one of my questions. My other is, Would a 5.3 swap be worth it? I really would love in between 450-500 HP as a weekend car but It seems to me like the 5.3s can get there cheaper because they 'respond to mods better' as I have been told. Not to mention, the 5.3s are cheap to purchase in the first place.
If you want to go 5.3, are you going to want to change wiring, k-members, trans if you have a t-56, buy the 5.3 , buy headers, odds n ends, intake setup, etc etc?
If money and time isn't an issue, go for it. I'm just saying you will have to go through all that and then some just to be able to put the motor in, then do the mods. You already have an LT1, all you have to do is build the motor and thats it, no swapping, no wiring unless you're okay with that and have the skills for that matter.