Guys (and gals),

First off, I would like to say great sight and I look forward to being here. I just recently joined, but I'm no stranger to the LT1 as I have a '95 T/A that I have 383 stroked and have owned her since day one. I am going to be doing some maintenance here soon as she is purely a pleasure driver now and pretty much sits in storage/garage most of the year and rarely sees the light of day. I've got a a few questions I need to toss your way and I was hoping you might be able to help me out?

1) Any recommedations for a pan seal kit for the canton 7 qt pan? Going to have to drop the pan and replace the gaskit (leaking). Or might have to replace the Opti gasket as this could be it as well, but any recommendations on both?

2) What dealers do you recommend for getting the Window motors as there are tons on the internet and the prices vary greatly. I am not sold on the quality on ebay and should I stick with GM parts or just go with my local store (Advance, O'Reiley, AutoZone?) as it looks like they have lifetime warranties on their motors?

3) I am thinking of getting rid of the waterpump and replacing with the electric one, anybody have a step by step DIY and parts I will need?

4) I have the old hochkins strut tower brace (2 point) and the powercoat is flaking. I have been thinking of replacing it anyway, anyone have a suggestion as I would like to stick with the 2 point or should I just move to the 3 Point?

5) Lastly, I need to replace the shifter boot (attached to console - cover over shifter) as the frame at the bottom is broken. I have the 6 speed. Does anyone know where I can get this and how much I am looking at?

Thanks for all your help.

 

Being at work I dont have the link for the EWP, its pretty easy but you need a press and a dremel.

As for the window, stick with GM. I dont know about the gasket, I always used felpro. I race so I dont care about the STB. a 2 point though is fine, the Cowl is very flimsy where the 3rd point wouldnt matter.

I would search the forsale section for that

 

Fel pro gaskets are fine. They're inexpensive and work. I might also add your leak could also be coming from the crank seal or water pump drive seal. Actually I would point to them before the opti seal. Might be a bad timing cover gasket too. Be careful with timing cover and oil pan gaskets cuz the timing cover has a giant lip on the bottom that sits behind the oil pan. If you take the timing cover off, you most certainly will need an oil pan gasket too. Luckily, if you just need one of the three seals on the front, you won't have to remove the cover.

Stick with GM on the window motors. I replaced one of mine recently and bought it from the General.

Stick with stock water pump if you do much street driving. It cools better and electric can go out without warning.

As far as I know there's only a couple manufactureres that make the 3 point. I would just keep the Hotchkis you've already got. I think (but not sure) the center mounting point is flimsy cowl sheet metal anyway. How stable is that? If you can't powdercoat it, sand it down really good and spray it with a good enamel.

You can't get the frame separate. You have to get the whole boot and it's almost $80 from Year One if memory serves.

 

Don't know about the rest of your ?'s, but as to the window motor, the 'lifetime warranty' is a con.
I bought both sides for my Formy when I first got it, after a year the driver side went out so I took it back under the 'lifetime warranty'. They replaced it no problem, BUT, the replacement only has a 3 month warranty!!. The 'lifetime' is on the life of the original motor, any replacement doesn't carry over.
Basically what this means is, if you buy a window motor that lasts 15 years then dies you can get a replacement. BUT, if you buy a motor and it dies 2 weeks later, the warranty is only 14 weeks (2 weeks of the 'lifetime' and 3 months on the replacement). So I would say go with GM.

Sara Lou