AmirGTR

That explains everything.

I have an LT1 Camaro which I'm madly in love with. The looks, the sound, the charisma. But it's not proving to be very reliable, so it needs to be replaced.

I'm looking at this LS1 Camaro for 5 grand with 4.10 12 bolt rear end and stage 2 clutch, with 6 speed and hardtop. It's perfect, except it's ugly. I want to know my options with the front end before buying it. Can I retrofit the LT1 front end onto an LS1 Camaro? How about an LS1 Trans Am front end? Are there any headlight cover kits or body kits? Give me some ideas guys.

And, is the car a good deal? On KBB it says it's worth 4100 to 5200, but it doesn't take the rear end into account.

Wild Willy

If you buy it, most people won't be looking at the front end- how does the back end look?

shock6906

Yes, you can convert to the LT1 Camaro front end. The Trans Am doors are different than the Camaro's, so swapping a T/A front end would be more expensive and cost more money. Aside from that, it'd look weird. Go with the LT1 Camaro front end swap.

AmirGTR

hahahahaha
the rear looks like "you just got smoked, ricer" haha

Oh ok. I was just a little doubtful because I heard the LS1 is longer than the LT1. Does it just bolt on or do I have to cut it too?

RedHottG2

I bet the catfish in that picture is hard to catch

Rising Phoenix

It should all be a direct swap (fenders, bumper cover, hood) BUT the stock LT1 Camaro hood won't clear the air intakes that LS1 cars have. You have to either mess around cutting the rad support and such to get it to fit or get a hood with more clearance, like a cowl hood.

Personally I think the 98-02 Camaro front end looks best with an SS hood, "Whistler" mod for the stock headlights (and the lenses MUST be crystal clear!!!), and an SLP front grill (no billet grills or grill deletes IMO!)

Brangeta

It's about damn time someone has finally seriously considered a front end conversion in the OTHER direction.

You'll possibly need to relocate the air intake (lower it so the hood can close) on the LS1 car or reuse the LT1 style air intake elbow and other stuff to put it to the side to make the hood fit. Of course, that's just speculation.

If the LS1 Camaro has the ugly stock air intake with the big bellow chamber thing, then just about any air intake modification is an improvement over that.

shock6906

That's no problem, because the ASCD 2.5" cowl hood looks badass on LT1 Camaros. Check sig for pictarz.

AmirGTR

rofl...wow dude these ls1 puns are just classic

I was thinking if it'd be easier to bolt on the rear fenders, rear bumper, doors, skirts and hatch as well or to paint the whole car. Basically take off all body panels from one car and put them on another car. How involving would that procedure be?

That'd be really a dream come true...basically my own car's body on an LS1 chassis and engine.

Yeah if I end up buying the LS1 I'd put a CAI on it (if it doesn't have one already). But yeah I was pretty surprised that no one wants to retrofit the LT1 front end on the LS1. Tuner guys do stuff like that all the time...I only found one guy who did it and his was an LT1 that was converted to a 98+ front end when he bought it, and he converted back to LT1 front end.

Brangeta

Look up the Transmaro topic on ls1tech. The process of integrating trans am body parts on a Camaro is not easy at all. Bigggggggg waste of time and money. Better off getting a Trans Am if that's what you want.

Though personally... I don't know why anyone would want a Trans Am when they could have an LT1 Camaro or a LS1 Camaro that looks like an LT1.

shock6906

For the exterior of the Camaro, the car is exactly the same from the doors back from 1993-2002. As far as taking a Trans Am's body panels and swapping them over to a Camaro, that'd be (first) a lot more work than it's worth, and (second) not very easy considering that the rear quarter panels are welded to the subframe.

As Brangeta said, if you want a Trans Am, you're better off buying on instead of cobbling one together.

Evolution223

why do you want to make a LS1 look like it's 8 years older? that's so stupid. why dont you just buy an older LT1 that's in good shape for alot cheaper or Restore your current car? out a whole new powertrain in it.

AmirGTR

I wasn't talking about putting body panels from a trans am on a Camaro. I was talking about putting Camaro panels on a Camaro to skip the painting.

Because swapping fenders is easier than swapping engines?

shock6906

Some people prefer the looks of the LT1 Camaro while prefering the performance of the LS1 engine.

Let's see which path gets us there mor easily...

Swapping four body panels and two headlights and taking the car to the paint shop. (You can even skip paint if you're lucky enough to find the body parts in your color.)

Buying an LT1 car, yanking out the engine and possibly the transmission, K-member, and electronics, and replacing them with the LS1 goods, swapping out the entire engine and transmission wiring harnesses and making everything work with the LT1 gauge cluster.

I think I'll go with the former option if I wanted an LS1 drivetrain with LT1 looks.

Brangeta

You forgot to mention that it's the easy way to get a '93-97 looking Camaro that's still worth about $10k+ with regular insurance lol.