Newbie Mistakes
Biggest mistake? Blew the hot cammed LT4 350 (hydro locked). The heads were ported w/ larger valves 2.08/1.60 intake matched and all. Wanted a new engine so I figure go all out and get a 396 built. Used the heads and intake to keep costs down and was too lazy to ship the heads to Canada so I'd have a really killer 396. So now I have LT1 heads on there instead but they do flow over 280 cfm but still.
2nd mistake buying 2 sets of shorters when I should've just bought LT's to begin with.
Everything else I did right the 1st time.
2nd mistake buying 2 sets of shorters when I should've just bought LT's to begin with.
Everything else I did right the 1st time.
American Thunder 2.5" Flowmasters!!!! Somebody stated it above, good for boltons and sound, and thats about it. I could not get my car under about a 12.2 in the quarter, installed a cutout before the flowmasters, very next run, 11.76. They sound good, and to somebody who doesn't know F bodies, they make your car seem that much cooler because you have "Flowmasters", oooooooh, but they pretty much suck!! Anybody want mine, jk!!
Launching!
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 246
Likes: 0
From: north east
paying people to work on my car, not any more. got to clean out the garage so i can put the turbo kit on. and i know from the research on these boards its a risk, but i will be building a new motor for it so i dont car, i figure 5psi with a fmic and if it blows it was meant to be.
Didn't fix alignment issue. Wasted new tires. They wore out on one side in under 1,000 miles. Bought new tires again..
Paid someone to install my shorty headers.. I laugh at how easy it is now. I acually take the headers off the perform plug and wire change.
Paid someone to install my shorty headers.. I laugh at how easy it is now. I acually take the headers off the perform plug and wire change.
Last edited by luckyou03; Sep 18, 2005 at 10:45 PM.
we'll im hoping i am posting this in the right section.. i just read the newbie faq and it hasnt awenered a few of my questions , and ive done a search.
Is there a certain year where one lt1 has better then another (bigger injectors,rear end,ect" i have a 500HP DSM it has about 50 miles on it.. i want to get rid of it, i have invested ten tousand into it and it makes me sick, because i dont want this car anymore. so im going to sell it and buy a f-body, id love to have a ls1 but i know i wont be able to afford one, so my mind is set on a trans am. So is there anything to look for particularly?
Is there a certain year where one lt1 has better then another (bigger injectors,rear end,ect" i have a 500HP DSM it has about 50 miles on it.. i want to get rid of it, i have invested ten tousand into it and it makes me sick, because i dont want this car anymore. so im going to sell it and buy a f-body, id love to have a ls1 but i know i wont be able to afford one, so my mind is set on a trans am. So is there anything to look for particularly?
Originally Posted by TurboZ28
Definitly try to do everything yourself. Labor cost A LOT. And if you screw it up and can't fix it THEN take it to someone else, but at least you gained knowledge. Take it somewhere else, lose money and knowledge.
Not only that but you also know what to look for when something goes wrong, that in itself is the most important aspect.
If you have to take it to a shop because you get stuck, then you have a way better idea of where they are gonna screw up as well.
On the pulley deal, i know they are not the best for your buck , but mine didnt give me any problems.
I think the dumbest mistake i had made was to spend 300 on aftermarket MAF and build up my 10 bolt instead of a 9 inch or 12 bolt.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 337
Likes: 0
From: Michigan
I know this is a lt1 post, but I feel compelled to share. Biggest mistake I ever made was tearing apart my 1980 z28 after the motor went. I gutted it, only thing in front of the firewall is the frame and suspension. Interior, gone, doors, gone, gas tank, gone. You get the idea. See a former friend of mine talked me into doing a frame up resto, to a completely solid RUST FREE!!! car that just needed a new motor, paint, and some interior work. The car has now been sitting in pieces for almost 7 years.
I guess my point is, #1 Don't let anyone tell you what do with you car, make sure you want to do it. #2 Don't bite off more than you can chew, unless there is no way around it. In other words, don't ruin a perfectly good car like me. Thank god I bought the '99. Enjoy your ride.
I guess my point is, #1 Don't let anyone tell you what do with you car, make sure you want to do it. #2 Don't bite off more than you can chew, unless there is no way around it. In other words, don't ruin a perfectly good car like me. Thank god I bought the '99. Enjoy your ride.
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With a stock engine, leave the Throttle Body and Fuel Injectors alone, they do nothing on a stock LT1. Invest that $600-$700 in Bolt-ons, Gears, Stall, Simple stuff. It works....
1) no god damed hypertech
2)flowmaster suck on f-bods
3) if the opti goes cash up and go delteq
4) believing the BS from ls1 owners that lt1's cant be fast
5) Take advise from those with success not every E-clown
2)flowmaster suck on f-bods
3) if the opti goes cash up and go delteq
4) believing the BS from ls1 owners that lt1's cant be fast
5) Take advise from those with success not every E-clown
don't cut corners on a engine build to save a few bucks..... Case in point. I replaced just about everything on my new engine...except the lifters. Bad move GM847 and used lifters = collapsed lifters. I just finished intstalling new ones, took about 4 1/2 hours. Had I just spent the cash and got new ones I wouldn't have been doing it....
Banned
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 265
Likes: 1
From: pittsburgh,pa
i don't know if i am about to make a mistake. putting h/c on a 150 k engine. the whole top end will be new lifters,stock ported heads and a 304 cam etc. i have all this stuff and am now afraid to attempt this and end up cracking a ring or spinning a bearing! i alway hear of people running nitrious or h/c on cars with 150-200 k and have no problems. so it's either attempting this or selling everything and getting a ls1 car and pretty much starting from scracth again. stuck between rock and hard place.
TECH Junkie
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 3,265
Likes: 1
From: CHITOWN
4) believing the BS from ls1 owners that lt1's cant be fast
I know, most LS1 people dont even know anything about LT1s but will still bash them. I really dont like how they say were so slow. I drove both cars back to back and they make it sound like there cars are flyn. There a little faster but thats it, anyways were still faster than GTs and New 06 mustangs so were not slow at all.
HyperTech is crap and a rip off.
I know, most LS1 people dont even know anything about LT1s but will still bash them. I really dont like how they say were so slow. I drove both cars back to back and they make it sound like there cars are flyn. There a little faster but thats it, anyways were still faster than GTs and New 06 mustangs so were not slow at all.
HyperTech is crap and a rip off.
TECH Resident
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 847
Likes: 1
From: Youngstown, Ohio
1) Don't lend your car out to friends.
2) Don't let friends eat in your car.
3) Don't let your friends drive your car unless you are sitting in the passenger sit and the car is in a large parking lot.
2) Don't let friends eat in your car.
3) Don't let your friends drive your car unless you are sitting in the passenger sit and the car is in a large parking lot.
good thread topic! not a whole lot of mechanical mistakes for me, just a couple of driving mistakes like catching a good 5ft of air on a road ive drivin and raged MANY times but that was the 1st time in my LT1, never did that with my 3rd gen before, then about a week or 2 later i punched it goin up a hill and snapped my tq arm right in half 
On The Tree
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 167
Likes: 0
Originally Posted by 97blkz
4) believing the BS from ls1 owners that lt1's cant be fast
LS1's have...
-Roller rockers from the factory
-An aluminum driveshaft from the factory
- A motor that weighs 100lbs less than ours, plus it's on the front which equates to less weight that needs to be transferred to the rear during a launch (simply put, better traction)
-WS6/ SS models have 275's as opposed to our 245's which helps them with traction
- LS1's have much lighter gas tanks. By up to 20lbs if I remember correctly.
- I don't see how stock LS1 exhaust manifolds are nearly as restrictive as our stock LT1 manifolds are. They actually look like short tubes to me. Not sure if they are or not
- Their stock heads outflow the bejesus out of ours
- Their stock intake is much better than ours
All of these added benefits and they still only run 13.5's on average, with the occasional freak that runs high 12's to low 13's. Our cars generally run high 13's to very low 14's. Something has to be wrong here. I have to be off on something, otherwise the LS1 wouldn't have such a huge following, right? I mean, they have damn near 150lbs less weight (more importantly they have less rotational weight), make around 50- 60 more horsepower stock, get better traction and they only run a few tenths faster in the quarter mile.
What am I figuring here that's incorrect?
You are right, but there in are the LS1's strengths, in that it comes like that. They respond very well to mods (so do LT1s) and they can make GREAT power on stock parts. Once you start modding though.. lets just say that the worlds fastest LT1 and the worlds fastest LS1 are only .1 second apart.
However for the buy in cost to get an LS1, I'd rather go with an LT1 and mod it. Hell I paid $5500 for my '97 Z28, M6 car. She had 53k on the clock. You can't get an LS1 for that price at that mileage, no way in hell.
Besides.. they sound like crap
So that's another good newbie mistake.. buying an LS1 when you could buy an LT1 and make it FASTER!
However for the buy in cost to get an LS1, I'd rather go with an LT1 and mod it. Hell I paid $5500 for my '97 Z28, M6 car. She had 53k on the clock. You can't get an LS1 for that price at that mileage, no way in hell.
Besides.. they sound like crap
So that's another good newbie mistake.. buying an LS1 when you could buy an LT1 and make it FASTER!
Teching In
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
From: Houston area
Originally Posted by 00Z-28-LT1
work from the back foward...no point in 500 hp if you have a scattered rear, twisted shaft, and a trans that wont shift