Ok, i want to swap out my 305 tbi for something good. My friend is going to sell me his lt1 350 from his 96 impala ss. But, it seems like soo much work and its going to cost a fortune. how much would something like that cost. Then we had the idea of just putting in a 305tpi and building that up. how much would that cost. Then the easiet thing, Carbbed 350... how much would that cost.. and would it be worth it?

 

If you dont have emissions,go CARB. Find a cheap 350,throw a decent bottom end in it and an intake...and cam if you can afford it at the time. Then throw on a set of hopped up Vortec heads for about $600 and you'll have a strong running near 400 HP (cam depending) street car.

Bolting on stock Vortec heads isnt that good of an idea b/c in order to un a nice aftermarket cam the valve springs needs to be upgraded and to do THAT,that spring perch has to machined larger to fit the springs. Hopped up heads also come w/ screw in rocker arm studs (instead of press in,much weaker) and mine also have guide plates so you dont have to use self aligning rocker arms.

To keep the lock-up in the convertor,Painless makes a kit or you can make one out of GM part #'s for cheaper and it will lock up going into overdrive.

hope this helps

 

Well I do have emmision so. Im thinking going carbbed, but everyone is telling me dont. There saying go TPI. Its cheaper swap the fuel injected, but its not going to have the power of the lt1 or carbbed engine. They say dont go carbbed because its not as reliable and its hard to start in the winter and all that stuff. You know, I always been a carbbed person myself, soo muchs simpler, so much easier, and I am one to hate eletrical and computers. Theres nothing like that carbed engine with a giant cam with open headers sound eather . But I think to myself, carbbed cant be that bad in the winter and so on. I meen come on weve had carbbed engines since back in the 50s and so on. They didnt get rid of carbbed engines till when? 85 or so. If we did it for those 35 years, why cant we still do it. Noone ever complained then, and everyone now loves the older cars everyone now wants to go back to those times. I meen, look how much power those engines were putting out stock from the factory for what.. 7 grand new. Now what do you get for 7 grand mayb 250hp tops? So I'm leaning towards carbbed.

 

I've decided to go LT1 Swap. I'll wait a little longer for it if i have to save up. LT1 is really what I want so. Can anyone help me price this out. Im buying my friends LT1 for 500 bux. Hes taking everything off from fuel rail to timeing chain etc. I know I'm going to have to get a new radiator and all the eletrical. So how much would something like this cost? I'm probably going to have my friends speed shop do it.

 

Dude I understand you would like to have the lt1... But it's alot of work.. Get you a good 350 tpi... That's easier and they are good engines. With a little work you can whip a lt1's A$$... Also the 350 TPI will work better with your 700r4 tranny. Good Luck!!

 

how is a LT1 hard?, it would take the same amount of work to install a LT1 as the TPI

as for the 700R4, all you need is the 93 throttle body and bracket

 

How much would this cost around?

 

No matter what people say a engine swap is NOT EASY or CHEAP. If you want the car to run right you have to spend money and most backyard swaps on the cheap run just like that. Did one a few years ago and it was not a extra high performance one but a 350 for a daily driver and it cost me more then few k. Unless you spend money you get what you pay for, a car that may run like sh-t.

 

ok, so now everyone has an opinion, how about some input on price? I am wondering the same thing this guy is....

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO CONVERT FROM A 305 TO AN LT1?

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO CONVERT FROM A TPI 350 TO AN LT!?

Thanks for the input guys.

 

How about 4K + motor and in most cases MORE.

 

Get your friend's LT1 for $500 and bolt on a 4-barrel carb manifold. Yes, there is such a thing as a 4-barrel manifold for an LT1 and it costs about $250 or so. Go to the LT1 forum and ask them what the best thing to do about ignition is. Maybe they'll even tell you to use a regular SB manifold drilled for the different bolt pattern and drop in a Unilight distributor or something. Either way, you should be up to about $1000-1200, depending on how you deal with the details.
There are also stand alone transmission controllers, I think painless has one, probably a few more vendors as well.

Oh and, do a search for LT1 swaps in the actual LT1 forum.

You should be able to complete the whole swap and have it running for under $2000, which is about what it would cost for a Gen I swap to a bigger engine anyway.

 

Here in South Carolina you can get a late model, low mileage lt1, with computer and wiring for $1,200 .... you should be able to find one like that near you.. that will make it a little easier.. Also see in you can find a complete (wrecked) camaro or trans am for a donor car that way everything you will need including a newer trans. I hope you will find what you need.. Goodluck!!!

 

Both of those swaps are the exact same. The 305 and 350 are almost the exact same motors, and are near interchangeable. The Lt1 however uses an optispark instead of a dist and is reverse flow cooling.