Blueangel73

I have a 94' Z28 and I am wondering if the new create kits Chevy offers has an option that will work in my car. Has anyone looked into doing an engine/trans swap using this new offer from Chevy? I don't even know where to begain looking, last engine swap I did was in a 71' Nova 20+ years ago.

Connect & Cruise Powertrain Systems: Engine, Trans Packages |Chevrolet

Injuneer

What kind of "swap" do you want? You can build an LT1 with over 1,000 HP, that will run sub 9-second 1/4-miles. Appears you interested in one of the newer LSx family of engines, as included in the link. Great engines, but nothing you couldn't do with what you already have, at lower cost. At a minimum, you would need the K-member and motor mounts from a 98-02 F-Body. You would be tearing out and throwing away a perfeclty good starting point for a more powerful engine, the complete PCM and wiring harness. You would have to address dashboard issues, etc.

You can easilly modify your LT1 to produce 500+HP at the flywheel. Do a stroker, or consider a blower or turbo, and you'll far exceed the most powerful engine on that page, a 556HP LSA (6.2L).

If you can clarify your intent/goals, I'll move the post to a more active forum. As noted in the "stickies" for this forum (Advanced Tech), it is not really active any more.

Blueangel73

I would like to loose the 200k motor that is in the car currently. I know the car is no longer getting the 275hp that it was getting 20 years ago as a new motor. Getting 15mpg out of this motor sucks when I get the almost same kinda hp out of my VW with way beter econonmy results and a smaller powerplant.

I would like the performance (400+hp), ecomony values (20+mph, if possible) and reliablity that the newer motors are getting. I don't plan on taking the car to the track, but would like to be able to play on the back roads once and a while. I don't like at I have to deal with the opti-spark and all that needs to be don't to replace it when it fails. I don't like that there are very limited options for programming the computer with ease. Granite, when I purchased the 94' I was not awhere that the LT1 in the body is one of the less favorable motors to work on. What I did like was the appearence of the car.

My plans when I purchased the car was to drive it and put together a plan to rebuild the drivetrain and suspension to achieve the newer technology while maintaining the older body style that was new when I able to purchase my first car but couldn't afford, much like people do with the classic hot rods, I just want the newer body (90's) to achieve this, something different. I don't have the money to buy a new sports car, but I do have the means to upgrade my current sports car.

As for the Connect and Cruise option, I am wondering if there is one that would mount up in the 94' engine compartment. I understand that the wiring system would need to be all reworked, but I am under the impression that that that is one of the benefits of this option, its all plug and play and could use all new hardware (gages). If I where to go this way, I would tear everything down to the frame for new paint, so installing a new harness wouldn't be an issue.

I saw this option in a mag a few months back and lost the mag. Today I came across the option again while looking at the chevy web site and figured I would ask to see if anyone else has thought about or maybe put some effort into it.

Injuneer

There is no "frame".... so rewiring is not as simple as you envision.

Given your obvious prejudice against the LT1 and your numerous misperceptions about things like programming, power output and fuel mileage, you probably need to do exactly what you plan to do, or you will never be happy.

Since the engines you are interested are variants of the 98-02 LS1 Camaro/Firebirds, the easiest thing to do is find a wrecked donor car and pull the K-member, front suspension, brakes, motor mounts, trans, PCM and wiring harness, and move them all over to your 94. If you want a better engine, and don't want to rebuild what comes out of the donor car (add an LS6 intake, some good heads and a mild cam), buy a crate engine. This way, with minor rewiring of the 98-02 harness, you can interface the engine and PCM directly with the existing body harness.

Are you talking 400HP at the flywheel or at the rear wheels? There would be no problem rebuilding the 4L60E (if you have/want an automatic - you haven't included that info) to support 400HP at the flywheel or at the rear wheels.

Blueangel73

Basiclly, I was only trying to find out if the cruise and connect was an option to replace the engine and trans as a package without the need to totally rebuild my intire frontend for fitment.

I have a stock LT1 with the 4L60E automatic, the only changes I have done to it so far is replacing the intake elbow with an aluminum one because the stock one was torn apart and leaked air into the system, still running the stock air box. Changed out the exhaust with a complete magnaflow system including the larger y-pipe and cat, because I needed the cat to pass state inspection and the previous owner removed the cat and welded in a thru pipe, still has stock headers. Installed a new fuel pump via a new access panel. As for the suspension I installed the Eibach Pro-Plus kit with the springs and anti-sway bars.

I would like to do what I can with what I have, it's just that I have read way more negative about the LT1 then I have positive. As for figuring out what I would need to accomplish what I want with this motor, I don't even know where to begin with figuring out what I need to do what. The gar runs good, but not great, age is showing. I want to bring back its youth, but stronger.

To help with the 400hp question, what is the difference betwwen 400hp at the fly and 400hp at the rear? I know one means power to the transmission and one means power after the transmission. I am thinking I would want it at the flywheel, but how much do I loose in the transmission and rear end?

Injuneer

Power at the flywheel is the true power output of the engine. HP is lost through everything between the flywheel and the rear wheels on the pavement. This would include the friction and hydraulic pumping losses of the torque converter, transmission, and rear axle. When the system is accelerating, there are inertia losses associated with every rotating piece including the torque converter, trans, driveshaft, differential, axles and rear wheel/tirees.

You can reduce losses between the flywheel and the rear wheels with a tighter torque converter, more efficient trans (although the 4L60E is pretty good already), lighter weight driveshaft, synthetic lubricants, more efficient rear axle assembly, and light weight wheels and tires.

Typical loss through the auto trans drivetrain we use is about 17%. For the manual trans, about 13%. For your setup, to get 400HP at the rear wheels, you would have to make 482HP at the flywheel. If you only want to make 400HP at the flywheel, you will only see 332HP at the rear wheels. A 482HP engine is significantly more expensive that a 400HP engine.

With a typical build, to achieve 400rwHP through the auto trans, you would need:

-stock LT1 heads ported by someone like Lloyd Elliott or Advanced Induction, with matching ported intake manifold and a matching camshaft and valve train parts.

-cold air intake

-52mm throttle body

-36 #/HR injectors

-255 L/HR fuel pump

-long tube or mid-length headers, with a good catback or a dual exhaust

-Trans would need to be rebuilt and upgraded, high stall (~3,500RPM) torque converter, and 3.73 rear axle.

-suspension upgrades including tubular rear lower control arms (LCA), LCA relocation brackets, adjustable panhard rod and a chassis mounted tubular, adjustable torque arm.

Here's some info on the head porting/cam selection costs:

http://elliottsportworks.com/

Advanced Induction - LTx Performance Parts

If you are worried about the Opti, there are solutions:

-Bailey Engineering LTCC system using the Opti only for the cam position sensor, and direct firing 8 LS1 coils.

Bailey LTCC setup

I've been running the Opti with only the cam position sensor connected, and 8 LS1 coils for 14 years (not the Bailey system, but functionally the same), with no problems at all. Removing the high voltage ("spark") function from the Opti seems to eliminate all the problems.

-EFI Connection 24X system. Uses an LS1 PCM, and a cam position snesor added to the timing cover to obtain the benefits of the LS1 PCM and the 8-coil direct fire ignition:

EFI Connection, LLC - EFI Connection 24x System

The LT1 is not a dog. I've seen people make over 1,000HP with forced induction setups, with no real problems. The block is extremely solid, very similar to the Chevy "Bowtie" Gen 1 SBC performance block.

Blueangel73

Thanks for the input, its nice to see some positve feed on the LT1. Looks like I have some more reading to do.