Hey There,

i am sure this as been discussed to end, but hey why not again lol

A few years ago i picked up 95TA, the car has been converted to the 98+ (just body no motor) and over all the car is in great condition, no rust, interior is mint, and from what i can tell the only drive train mods are as follows. SLP intake (ram air) and 3.73 gears. So basically a stock LT1 TA. 6 speed. So after driving the car for a few weeks, i noticed that it developed a hesitation when revving past 4800rpm, which i think its an Opti issue. besides that, my overall feeling is the car should seem faster.
this leads me to in part my dilemma, when i was shopping for the car, i wanted a 98+ LS1 car, but this car looked like a LS1 car, and was in great shape and way cheaper (6k+) so i settled on that car. but now looking at a potential Opti issue, and a car that i think should be faster. i am torn on what to do. should i invest in heads, cam, headers and a difficult to get tuned LT1 car? or look for a car that is not in as good condition LS1 car, and start from there? i like the LT1, and i am leaning on keeping, and maybe going the Torhead route to ease tuning. but with that cost, and the Cam,Heads etc cost, i would be into a ok condition 98+ car.
so the question is, has anyone owned both cars, and did they have a preference? secondly, anyone with modded LT1's, how did they find them after the above modifications? were they happy?

thanks for looking

 

Figure out if the Opti is the problem first.

 

agreed, but that doesn't address the overall dilemma, modding the LT1 the challenges with tuning now (no shop in my area will touch the LT1 pcm) or looking to the 98+ cars. my goal to get a fun car, that sounds nice, and pulls decent when wanted. not looking to 1/4 mile the car, more like back road run, maybe a road coarse once in a while.

 

So the issue is not the Opti…. it’s tuning. There is a mail order tuner than can provide an expert tune on virtually any modifications. He would have no problem with a 500 HP streetable heads & cam build. But given your level of concerns I would just go with a 1998-2002 replacement vehicle.

So many of us have achieved your goals with the outdated LT1, but I agree it is getting harder and harder to find parts and tuning. I enjoyed my 1994 for 27+ years, and sold it to another LT1 enthusiast who is going through even more modifications than I had. But he is hands-on to the extent that he does all the mechanical work, and his own tuning.

 

Country code in your profile indicates you are located on a small US possession island in the Pacific Ocean. Are there many Camaros on your island?