Here's my question. My wife's bone stock 96Z auto spun a rod bearing at about 82000 miles, four years ago. I had just had the radiator replaced, the water pump replaced, the opti replaced while the front was apart and a set of plugs and wires. Ran great and about a 1000 miles later spun the aforementioned rod bearing. We were a little PO'd by this and just parked the car, then bought something more utilitarian to take it's place. We covered it, kept it waxed and it still looks beautiful. We want to get it running and I stumbled across a guy who has a 94 vette engine (basically a long block) with 10,000 miles on it for $1500. As we all know the 96 has opiti 2, obd II, which I wish to keep since I'm in California and smog checks tend to be tough. Now to the question, can I swap a 96 style cam, timing chain cover (since mine has the crank sensor) , distributor drive etc. on the 94 block. Are all the proper holes on the 94 block for a straight forward swap or do never the twain meet. I'm going to do the usual list of bolt-ons, headers, cat backs, less restrictive intake etc. So it will benefit from a little more cam, but nothing crazy, because my wife will still drive it occasionally.

 

Yes, you can swap all the neccessary parts, and don't forget the knock sensor.

 

1500 for a used LT1 long block is a pretty pricey imo

I'd just send in your current motor for a rebuild, should cost less and be a brand new motor with no questions to it's previous life

hell I'm pretty sure your average parts store could get you a refurb. engine for less than that

 

I could understand using the 94 engine if you needed a quick swap on a DD, but since it's not a DD and you're going to use a bunch of parts off your old engine anyway, why not just rebuild it?

 

Thanks so much for the answers. Why a semi-used engine? About 25 years I used to work with a friend of mine who would build high performance motors and my feeling then and now is that in the budget I'm talking about, you can't beat a factory bottom end for reliability as long as you respect it's limitations. If you're starting from scratch, then of course you want a 4 bolt main block and a forged crank and some really good rods, forged pistons and on and on, plus the machine work and balancing. Where do stop. I know I've run up at least 4 grand in my example, and that doesn't even include head work. Which brings up another question, what's popular in cams, other than the ever popular LT4 hot cam. I'm thinking basically stock heads. Last question, through a lot of these threads I read about self-aligning rockers, but this LT-1 has rocker arm studs and guideplates, do you use both?

And thanks again

 

The early LT1's had the factory assembly plates, they weren't guide plates. Also, they weren't used on the 94's.

 

rocker arm studs are press in not bolt in

a good cam for stock heads would be any of the following: LT4 hotcam, CC502, LPE 211/219, cc503, gm846

I personally have the cc503 and love it

as far as the motor, just re-ring the pistons, new bearings, and turn the crank

 

WRONG, they are screw-in on the F/Y bodies.

 

Yeah,

On the motor I'm looking at, they are definitely screw in rocker arm studs and guideplates and the Comp. Cams look really good.

 

Only on the iron headed B-body LT1's.

 

I would ask to see some proof that the engine has 10k on it and I would also take a peek at the mains to see if they are 4 bolt. For $1500, that is.

 

The heads are aluminum. I wasn't picking it up the day I looked at it, so although the engine was stripped down to the long block, the pan was still on. I'll take it off before we complete the transaction. As far as knowing if it has 10,000 miles on it, it looks really clean inside. The car it came from was hit from behind. The guys business is buying wrecked or stolen vettes and parting them out. He had three other LT-1s with more mileage on them, but they were complete motors. It turned out that I was one the few people that just wanted a long block. Most people want a complete motor, wiring, accessories and all. If you need any stock G4 & G5 vette parts, he's the man.

 

I hope he's not on the bad end of that business...I wouldn't trust anyone dealing with stolen cars. I used to have a beautiful 72 chevelle that was stolen, i'd be pretty pissed if it was just parted out.

 

Perhaps I worded that incorrectly. He doesn't buy stolen cars. He buys cars at auction that are totaled by an insurance company or recovered after being stolen. So they have legit titles.