Here's my situation, I have a freshly rebuilt 357 sitting in a friends garage, and an LT-1 with 130,000 miles sitting in my '93 Firebird.

What I would like to do is use the 357's block and rotating assembly, replace the cam with a Comp Cams "305" LT-1 roller cam, add all the stuff to retrofit the roller cam in the block, put on my Trick Flow Twisted wedge heads, have the LT-1 intake modified for the Trick Flow heads, and then strip the LT-1 and use the water pump, optispark, etc. on the 357.

Is this possible?

 

I ddont think it is possible ,at least not the way you want to doit , the LT1 waterpump has a different bolt pattern and the coolant outputs to waterpump are shaped and located differently, not to mention the waterpump is driven off the timing chain and the gear setup gets bolted to the block. also the timing chain cover I think has a different bolt pattern. You might be able to youse your 010 block with the LT1 heads and fuel injection if you eliminate the EGR and drill the intake to fit a distributer. dont know if clearence would be a problem for you. Also remember that LT1s have reverse flow cooling, check the heads to make sure the coolant passages are the same.

 

Part of the reverse cooling problem is the reasom I wanted to go with the Trick Flow Heads, and get the LT-1 intake cut to match the coolant ports, that way I could use an aftermarket electric pump. The big problem I've found is the damned Optispark, and timing cover. After I looked over my post, I figured out that it might be easier and cheaper just to get the LT-1 block machined, and make it a 383.

 

i have considered modifying a stock sbc distributor to allow an optispark to mount on top of it....
technically it should work.
jeremy

 

what is an 010 block?

 

supposedly one of the better of the sbc blocks. not an LT1 or LS1.
jeremy

 

010 is the last three numbers cast into the back of the block (serial numbers ) it usually means it is a early truck block with 4 bolt mains, theses blocks usually have good thick cylinder walls. it is the desirable block , however not all 010 blocks are 4 bolt mains.

 

I have a similar question. I have a 357 I want to make fuel injection.
I have protopline heads. How can I use the lt1 intake, lt1 computer,
lt1 injectors, maf, throttlebody, computer with a pcm for less program.
Can this be done? I have a 240/246 hydraulic cam now, but
no I'm not using a hydraulic roller setup. I would definately switch
however. This is behind a t-56 in a 1984. So retrofitting my old
school block with fuel injection would be of huge interest to me.

So I too would also be interested. Maybe if we get enough people,
somebody will engineer a way/kit to do this

 

You can't use the computer without the Optispark and you can't use the Opti on a Gen I block. I suppose there are work arounds, but I can't see how they would be worth the time, effort, and money needed to succeed. There are complete throttle body injection systems for ~$1,400 new and if you look around you can find them used. A friend bought a Holley system on eBay for ~$700.

Rich Krause

 

the only think that know u can use is the LT1 intake...

i am about to run one modified by a guy named John Millican here pretty soon on my 355..

his site is www.lt1intake.com

 

Awesome info. I've had problems with the opti crap in my car in the past, so it wasn't a must Just figured it'd be necessary for the lt1 computer. However, this lt1 intake business is freakin awesome.. Thanks alot for the link!

 

I have also been told that the 010 block is perfectly center drilled for the cam. And that non- 010 blocks have a tendency to wear flat spots on lifters and cams due to the fact that they are not centered.