Has anyone ever built a 302ci LT1? If so I have a few questions.

What was it's rpm limit? How much power and torque did it make and at what rpm? What kind of parts were used on the top and bottom end? What was it used for? Road racing, drag racing, both?

I'm curious on how well a 302 LT1 with LT4 heads and intake, and a Hot Cam or a cam with the 67-69 302 specs would work out for auto-X and road racing.

I don't think there would be any problems putting a standard SBC crank in an LT1 block as long as it's a 1 piece rear main seal. I would prefer it be steel, but I can't find any "performance" 3 inch stroke cranks. All I found was a stock 283 crank at my local parts store, but no rods to go with it. I guess if I were willing to pay enough, I could get someone like Scat to custom build one.

 

You could use the crank and rods from the L99(4.3) Lt1 and regular 350 pistons, but It's hardly worth the effort IMO.

 

It's been done before. I forget what magazine did it and I'd really have to dig to find it, but it has been done before. As stated, they used the L99 crank and rods. In fact they built 2; one was a 1st-gen (I think '67) and the other was a 4th-gen. If I recall correctly, the 1st-gen car made like 411hp and the 4th-gen made 350hp in emissions legal form. The 1st-gen had 4.88 gears and the 4th-gen had 4.10s. Really cool nostalgia build-up, but 4th-gens are heavy, so bigger is better IMO.

 

Why woudl you want a 302 for road racing? 350 would make more torque to pull though turns, still spin to good rpm (optimal cam wouldnt be a hotcam)

Chevy 302s beat the Ford boys because of torque back in the day

It would be "neat" though. You have to rev a 302 to 7000 rpm+, something you cant do with factory PCM

 

Thanks for the input guys. I was curious what people thought about how well it would work.

Here is an article on the 4th Gen 302 LS1.

 

I think it would mate nicely to a turbo, as the turbo could help in the low-end department, but then again, it would be expensive.

I asked about the idea a while ago, all pointed to a coupkle of good facts:

- Rev's would be limited to 7k by stock computer
- Camaro's are heavy; heavy cars need torque
- By lowering the displacement, you are lowering the potential for power (cubes = power)
- For the price you could build a 383 with more useable power
- You would have to have really good heads to flow what you needed for high-rpm breathing
- Cam selection would be tricky if you wanted any low-RPM torque
- If you wanted low rpm torque, you'd also want to stick with smaller valves to increase low (RPM) speed port velocity.

 

I believe this topic was beat to death once or twice before and the nail in the coffin point was that Chevy built the 302 due to cubic inch restraints. Otherwise they would have used a 327 or a 350 or a rat for all we know. For "famous displacements" sake I can understand it being cool to say you have a 302....kinda like me wanting my LT1 to eventually come out to 409cu in.....illogical but hey....giddy-up 409