Well, I was gonna crack an LS1 joke, but last time I did that I got 5 Million replies on how much better it was, and how i dont know anything, so no more sarcastic comments from me.

Someone said that the LS1 weighs 100 pounds less, which it does.
But sometimes weight is good for torque.
Like the cast iron LT1

I would say not letting the car warm up some if you drive in real cold weather is a bad idea. Keeping your ride tuned up can help prevent many many possible problems...
Ohhh, and driving it nice alot helps.
I look at my LT1 like I would a friend.

I treat it the way I want to be treated, so therefore...
I take care of it, it takes care of me

 

When my head gasket blew and I went to work on it I labeled and bagged everything. Except for that little dowel gear deal that runs from the cam to the distributer. Yeah took me a hour to find where I put the damn thing. I was freaked out cause the smallest part was keeping me from finishing.
Same project, my first time installing rocker arms. I tightened them to comps instructions, but when I rotated the engine again they came loose. Well you only have to take the slack out once, I learned the hard way, I kept tightning them in sequence until the pushrod wouldn't move anymore. When I thought I was finished I had no compression, it wouldn't fire up cause I tightened the rockers so much I crushed the oil out of my lifters. Yeah I'm a idiot but it was my first major undertaking.

 

I agree with yall about doing the work yourself,
I always did my own work, for years and years,
I even worked at a Dealership as a Tech and had some ASE's but they expired.

Now I work in Commercial Real Estate, I have alot more money, but I have absolutely Zero Time to do anything myself. I barely have time to do laundry, I have to take my cars to places for oil changes.

My problem is I just moved to Houston, I don't know anyone at any shops,
I don't have time to do anything myself, I travel for my job 5-6 days a week, for 8-10 weeks in a row at times.

The places I get quotes from are either ridiculously high, like $415 to install my shocks, labor only. Or I just don't trust em, with my car.

I am probably about to do the stupidist thing ever, Take my car to a shop on Richmond to have work done.

 

DOOD YOU LIVE IN CASPER WYOMING!!!! I HAVE SEEN THIS THING IN PERSON!!!! WHOO HOOO.

Should have figured when i read everything, i just had to check the pics to know if it was the one. I seen it when it was being built.

We should chill sometime. I like your car a lot!

 

this brings me to the next one, buy a locking gas cap for all your cars, deturs people from syphoning gas, its already expensive as **** man come on lol

 

Always do the work yourself. Bought my 95 t/a (92 k)from a kid that got a $1000 quote to do optispark. This was after same mechanic replaced water pump for $800. He panicked and sold car to me for $1700. I bought the chilton manual, 10 bucks. Bought MSD distributer, 300 bucks. 5 hours later (its my first 4th Gen.) i had a car that ran perfectly and hauled ***. Replaced both window motors, 110 bucks, 1 1/2 hrs later had working windows. Most shops and mechanics are just looking for suckers who get nervous just thinking about whats under the hood. All it takes is time, tools, a shop manual and as always PATIENCE.

 

my biggest mistake has been putting blackouts on my headlights. oh it looked good but i couldnt see at all. thats a bad feeling doing 55 down a winding back road because you gotta be home on time.

 

Good thread. My biggest mistake was choosing my c/r for this region. I shouldve went a .5 to a point lower. My other biggest goof in the beging was not doing my homework before buying my first motor. Lost alot in that feasko(sp?).

 

Hmm... newbie mistake... breaking a header bolt off in the head, and not having enough room to get the sucker out. Well, H/C are coming sooner than expected

 

I haven't made any big big mistakes but I been through a 74 Camaro when I was a kid.
But here goes some tips:
1. Replacing an older opti and waiting to upgrade to the newer style, is a waste of time+money, upgrade to the vented on your first replacement, you will not regret it.
2. Do not believe things told to you by the kid u bought it from if he is under 30. My clutch was new but the flywheel had not been resurfaced. Can u say chatter??
3. MSD blaster coils suck cat azzo hairs, and the best one is really the stocker. It will outlive them all.
4. B4 u believe that something else is better than your stock part take a second and realize that the stock part has lasted you how many years now??? Thats right......u better believe another reman or manufacturer is going to have a hard time keeping up.
AC DELCO never fails.
5. Use AC delco O2 sensors. Not Bosch.
6. If the part comes with a Japo name on it, hesitate, hesitate, hesitate, becuz they have a different way of doing things and an incompatibility is highly likely. Remember this car is American, and it may resist and reject JApo transplants and that goes for the plugs too, but you'll get a lot of arguements there but thats fine, they can't argue the fact that you should be running stuff from here, that's right you SHOULD. not out of patriotism but out of not having to do anything twice or not having a doubt.
7. The optispark DOES NOT SUCK, it is an excellent design and u do not need more than the stocker vented one.
8. GM is your best friend. They built her, and god damm it.... it's not that they oughta know....ITS THEY DO KNOW !!!!! Very rare will something truly be an upgrade.
9. Be aware and realize " IT IS ALL GIMMICK" ALL OF IT.
10. Magazines are put together to sell products that is their objective, when reading laff and laff.... and laff enjoy the story and soak up how an item was replaced or a job was done and make it a point to tell yourself GREAT THANK YOU I cant wait to do this myself but with a STOCK PART!!! hahah. And as for how much smoother the car ran with those splitfire plugs just laff.(ok dont laff that much cuz u might go to the loony house but u get my drift, altho once u hone in on how they inject their sales pitches into the articles you will find it funny, I know I do)
11. The marketing of jive is your number one enemy, keep your cash u will need it, not becuz its a piece of chit Chevrolet, but becuz you will more than likely be thrashing her and things go POP when u thrash, it being a Chevrolet will usually get u out of a bind quiker than any Lexus.
12. The number 1 most efficient and bang for your buck engine mod is:
Porting your heads. That is a period there <--- hoez yes it is
13. The best upgrade and most needed if u plan to thrash hard with sticky tires:
12 bolt or Ford 9 inch.
14. And yes the Borg Warner T56 is STILL, thats right STILL the best thing to sit pretty behind a 350 V8 since sliced cheese. If your not going to build a trailer queen or a drag mostly vehicle do yourself the favor.
15. Leather seats are fuggin cool. Thankfully GM knew that too.
16. You do not need a 52, 58, or 1000cfm throttle body. and the more it glitters it will not yeild more hp. So damm should u just stay stock?? WTF do u need?

u need:
CAI
headers+exhuast
sticky tires+ a better rearend.
gears
suspension parts(this is an area that design was good from GM, but the parts were light duty)
computer tuning(dyno preffered)
automatic transmission cooler(if auto, big as chit as money can buy and fits)

 

I thought Tremec made the T-56?

 

tremec bought the design from borg warner in 97 or 98 i cant remember which. i may be off completly. i'm positive it was after the ls1 came out.

 

Never buy used parts. Ever. You DONT save money in the long run.

 

driving while drunk cost me 6500 to fix my car after smashing into a truck. by far the dumbest idea in the world lt1's don't look good with their face smashed in. 6 months after getting the car. BIG MISTAKE

 

on the exhaust thing being too loud i know various ppl who are running right before axel and hasn't done anything rowng plus all ur bolt are very torqued down heck my car is a 97 and my exhaust clamp was torqued 110 ft it was also a little rust!

 

if you buy self aligning rockers, dont use the guide plates...thats really the only thing i screwed up big on the lt1 rebuild

i fixed that with non self aligning 1.6RR's

 

I got a set of Shorty Headers Cheap when I first got my Car..if you are going to do it, do it big. They might of been cheap, but money could of been invested elsewhere. That and I have messed a few things on the Car where that money could of been put to other things also..

 

Agreed, I went with BBk shorties, I'm always wishing for longtubes now.

 

1. Having my opti blow out soon after I got my car and instead of researching my other options like delteq or ltcc I put a stock opti back in...(now have a dynaspark after that one went out)

2. Not listening to my friend who had the idea of jacking up the engine to get my long tubes in...after two afternoons of trying without success we jacked the engine up and guess what...they slid right in.

3. Learning that stock routed wires do not like long tube headers

4. Using a hacksaw and acetylene torch are much easier ways of getting old rusted stock exhaust off rather than trying to unbolt everything and actually take it off.

5. Turning fixing a header exhaust leak into stripping two header bolt threads in the head and then I turned it into an engine rebuild h/c/bolton project that took 7-8 months and a lot of money.

6. Having a rebuilt h/c/bolton car with 16 inch rims and 245 tires and still stock suspension/rearend equaled traction issues just slightly (however this did give me the reason to buy some new 17x9.5, 17x11 black with chrome lip ZR1's with Yokohamas and Nittos)

7. Having a rebuilt h/c/bolton car with stock suspension except lower control arms, a 100k stock 10 bolt, and recently purchased 17x11 ZR1's with Nitto nt55r's in the rear on an m6 car... (however this did give me the reason that I needed a 12 bolt, driveshaft, torque arm, panhard rod as soon as money allowed)

8. Having just purchased those black with chrome lip ZR1's I figured it was essential to have some dark *** tint to complete the red/black theme soo I went and got 15% sides, 5% rear.

Doing all this has taken up easily over 8k and it still isn't fast enough for me...damn just imagine how rich we would all be if we weren't into modding cars like this... Would I go back and change it if I could though? Hell no it's all worth it in my opinion, which can be seen by the big damn smile on my face when I'm running through the gears...as long as nothing breaks...

Overall what I have learned is: car projects always cost more than what you predict, pick a route to go and stick with it, research all your damn options, do not cut corners to save money it is better done correctly the first time and when building a modded car start from the rear and work to the front.

 

Bought an LT1 vs LS1....
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just kidding...
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