After 2 years of tracing the mysterious LT1 hesitation/stumble, my patience and money is running out. I ahve not made up my mind for certain, but I am thinking about selling my pretty but slow 97 and looking for a 1998-newer LS1 car.

Besides piston slap and now the roller rockers, what kind of issues have come up regarding reliability/mechanical problems ie, parking brake, driveshaft vibration, hesistations, stumbles, inherently prone to failure due to poor design, etc.

I love my Z, and I don't want to get rid if I am getting into another problematic platform.

Also, any positive feedback would be helpful.

This decision could also affect my living arrangement, if my girlfriend freaks out about another car!!!! So it needs to be worth it (j/k honey)

 

Mysterious LT1 stumble? I have never heard of this. I always here about what great torque the LT1s have initially slamming the pedal down, but they have crappy top end. LS1, on the other hand, (and I know because I own one) are great 3000+ and up. Of course they will roast an LT1 at High RPM, but I personally have had LT1s pull even with me, until I got up in the higher RPM range, and then It's bye-bye LT1.

in short: LT1 can be modded to keep up to an LS1.
then the LS1 can be modded to be even faster.

(LT1 responds better to mods, LS1 has more potential.)

I realize this has nothing to do with reliability, but asking that question is redundant, because LS1s have not been on the road long enough to determine thier reliability. When LS1s have been run for 10 years like the LT1, then we'll know the side effects. Comparing an LT1 to an LS1 just doesn't work. they haven't been time tested yet.

 

If you do "upgrade" to the LS1 you will not be disappointed!

I had a '94 Z-28, cam, headers, 4.10's etc. Sold that one
and bought a '98 Z-28 conv.

The stock LS1 revs just as well as my modified LT1, gets
better gas mileage and has more potential.

The only other main issue with these cars is the brakes. The
rotors tend to warp just like the LT1's. I've just upgraded
to KVR cross-drilled rotors and really like them.

 

I, like you had a problematic LT1.. I have had my LS1 for a whopping 1 month and 3 weeks now! YAY!

No mods and no free mods and nothing added... LOOK AT WHAT I DYNOED!!! AND I ended up getting 27MPG on that tank of gas!!!

These cars have me sold.. This is one helluva engine.. The rest you should already know.

I suggest M6 cause repairs are cheaper.. I suggest 01-02 since you get the upgraded intake LS6! and a different profile cam that leaves you with power down low.

I havent been happier making payments!! It is that good!

 

Here's an alternative to more expensive rotors...

 

From my readings I thought this rotor issue was only on the 98's.

I also tend to think that the rotors will warp in most anything the people who warp them drive.. as long as it has enough power to get them to LS1 speeds.. I notice that many people brake late. That is not good..

This would come boiling down to driving style or habits..

I tend to watch the lights ahead and commit before hand.. that minimizes my having to brake late as I know if I will go or not go through a light.. Now for those emergency situations, thats different.. Ya really cant do too much to help those but for everyday driving and what I truely think does cause some warpage.. its got alot to do with style/habit..

 

'98's have the "working" temp gauge & bigger injectors.

'99's up have a"dummy" temp gauge.

'98's & '99's have had some oil pump problems - random failures but I believe the '00's up have solved that problem.

'00's & up have the air pump inlet hose plumbed into the air box requiring a seperate filter if you put a lid on - '98's & '99's are not set up that way.

'98's & '99's had the stainless steel tubular factory headers while the later models got the cast iron exhausts.

'01's up get the LS6 intake & the truck cam for more mid range grunt , and no EGR pump.

However, it seems like the '01's up have a greater potential for oil consumption due to looser rings (or poor manufacturing - not sure which.)

If I were to buy one used today I would go w/ the '02 - last of the breed, still under warranty , and has all the upgrades.

But, a '98 could be obtained quite reasonably & still be a good car for you, and depending upon whether you did heads & cam or not might be an advantage due to injector size.

Oh, Camaros for '00 got the option for the radio controls - T/A's had them standard since '98 for the LS1 units.

Have fun looking !!!


Britt

 

LT1s respond better, are you kidding. I've never owned a motor that responed so well to mods as the LS1, and I've had 2 LT1s.

The classic and common problem you are experiencing is the Opti-spark hesitation. I had it with my vette (after mods) and got rid of it when I sold the car, it drove me nuts.

For the best price, get a late year 99, it has all of the oil fixes in too.

 

LS1 problems:

Oil Consumption
Piston slap
Bent Pushrods
Spun bearings
Oil pump failure

LS1 perks:

Power, and lots of it!

 

Power window motors, replaced my drivers side two months after the warranty passed, other than that no problems so far

 

Thank you for the info. This is exactly what I was looking for. If i do get an LS1 car, I am going to go about modding it completely differently. No plans for a cam or heads, just bolt ons. I would like to do suspension and gearing changes first. Leave it bone stock, but, dial in the car with control arms, torque arm, gears, etc.

ultimately, i would like a mid to high 12 second street car that I can autocross with. From what I understand, high 12's are attainable with headers, exhaust, CAI, free mods, and gears.

That was the origninal goal with my 97, but now I would be happy with reliable mid 13's...I thought I could do it with cam, gears, bolt ons, etc...but i have been side tracked with misses, stumbles, hesistations, etc. I have already done the Opti-spark route, as well as the intake gasket, all engine management sensors, plugs, wires, coil, LT4 KM, etc...no change, still runs crappy.

Bent pushrods is a new one on me...it is sounding like a 99.5-2000 may be the car for me to look for. i would rather swap in a Z06 manifold and block the EGR than swap in a cam...

Any more input is apprecaited, thanks again for your help.

Psychocabbage...that's pretty impressive for any car, let alone a stock one. I am assuming that is a fluke and oyu got lucky with a really strong LS1. How about some track times?

Scott

 

Well, people that I was talking to at the Lingenfelter shop were telling me to expect it to be in the 30x range and I was like, nah, it'll prolly just be 280-290's.
Then up it went and yay.. I was stoked.. They were like, told you.. heheh

Tonight I am going to Houston Raceway Park.. Timeslips will be a posted tonight people.. (now with all of my hype, I hope I can prove that I can drive! heh)

I know how you feel ScottZ.. seems my LT1 was down more than up.. I spent thousands on repairs not upgrades (most of it paid by warranties as I had two of them on that car)