1979Silverado

All I've ever worked with, and very limited at that, were pre-LT small blocks.
I have a 79 Silverado 2wd that needs a heart transplant. I had planned on using my dads 350 from his 79 GMC K-10 w/ a Comp Cams 292 and everything else needed.
OR...
I have access to a '96 Vortec 5.7. This guy tells me I can install an LT1 intake, throttle body, fuel rails, etc and end up with basically an LT1. True or false?
If true, I'm looking at an Edelbrock Air-Gap 7107 w/ BBK 58mm throttle body. Any suggestions for fuel rails?
Any help one way or the other? Thanks in advance, y'all.

bw_hunter

Welcome to the site!

To my way of thinking, the reverse cooling system is what makes an LT series engine what it is. This requires different heads and water pump/thermostat. Anyway, this reverse cooling system cools the heads first, allowing more timing advance than you can get with a standard small block. There is no magic in the LT1 throttle body/fuel rails and the intake has a slightly different bolt pattern than the Vortec heads.

No, you don't get an LT the way you're suggesting. I guess I'd be tempted to use a standard small block and add an aftermarket fuel injection setup with a nice aftermarket cam. You'll make great power and have excellent driveability that way..l

Injuneer

As noted the only thing remotely related to an LT1 would be the head flow. The Vortec heads are basically a cast iron version of the LT1 aluminum heads, and flow as well, as cast. Dropping the LT1 intake would allow the flow to replicate the LT1's, giving a broad torque curve. Since they are cast iron, and you would be using conventional coolant flow through the block/heads, they won't make the same HP as the LT1 aluminum head with the reverse flow cooling. Can't get the same ignition advance, and would probably require a lower compression ratio.

There is no way that setup would need a 58mm throttle body. Engine dyno testing on my 381 ci LT1/LT4 showed that it could have made the 496 flywheel HP with a 52mm TB. The shop still laughs when they see my 58 mm Holley TB.

And a stock LT1 intake would perform as well as, if not better than the Edelbrock aftermarket intake. They had to reduce the plenum volume to get the questionable "Air Gap" feature. PLUS.... neither the stock LT1 or Edelbrock manifolds have a hole for a distributor. You would have to have the manifold modified. And you can't run the engine using an LT1 PCM because the PCM requires the signal from the optical cam position sensor in the LT1's Optispark distributor, and there is no way to put the cam nose-driven Optispark on a Gen 1 SBC block.

The Edelbrock or the factory intake would simply need the stock LT1 rails. They can support huge HP.

But, at Bruce points out, it won't be an LT1.

1979Silverado

Thank you for the insight. I guess if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. I think I'll stick to my original plan with my dads 350. I had that combo in an '84 Monte Carlo SS and tore the streets up.