Hey guys. I have a 1995 Camaro Z28 Auto, factory aside from cold air int. and cat-back exhaust. The vehicle not long ago blew a headgasket which I am about to have fixed. I have two options on how to go about this.

One is of course get the heads, HG kit and pay my mechanic to do the job.

My second option is; the mechanic I use also owns a junk yard. He says that he has a Caprice Classic with an LT1 engine in it. I am allowed to check out the engine, start it, play with it and drive the vehicle before deciding if I want to buy the engine.

When it comes to the price of the jobs, I can buy the Caprice LT1 and have it installed for about $350 less than it will cost me to get the materials for my vehicle and pay him to do the headgasket job. Provided that his motor is in good shape, I am considering it.

I researched the specs on the motors for each vehicle. I used consumerguideauto.com for a review on the two. It claims that the Z28 I have is a factory 275hp and 325tq. It says that the Caprice LT1 is 260hp and 330tq.

I do like the additional bit of torque, but if the review is right on the specs of the motors, I am definitely wanting to raise the HP of the Caprice motor if I buy it and install it.

My real questions are:

Are these specs (at least for a new vehicle hp/tq) correct?

Being as they are both LT1 motors and Auto transmissions, will I need to do a computer swap or can I just keep the same one?

What main things make the Camaro have more HP than the Caprice? My guess would be the intake on the Camaro being a bit better, but what else?

I appreciate any information I am given. When answering, just assume that the Caprice motor is just fine and dandy and not worry about any HP loss due to age and such. Will it be easy and cheap to get my 275 hp or more? Can the items that give the Camaro more HP be taken off of my motor and put on it?

Thank you dudes for the help. I can do my own maintenance and replace a few things but when it comes to internals that make power different on the same motor, just modified differently, I am rather clueless. Has anyone done this before? How did it work for you?

 

The caprice engine has iron heads while the z28 LT1 has aluminum, this makes your camaro engine obviosly a bit lighter, if you put you aluminum heads and you intake on the LT1 out of the caprice you will be at the same place as where you started. This however requires you to remove heads and intake, something you have to do to get the gasket job done. It would be easier and quicker to just have your head gaskets done on the car as it is now and not drop any time or money swapping engines only to swap the parts you remove fo the gasket job to have an ebgine equal to what was in it before.

 

The B-Body engine also has lower compression ratio and a milder cam.

 

The b-body was tuned for 87 octane and the intake and exhaust were grandpa quiet, there is a big part of your 15hp difference. 3" MAF and the mufflers were 1 3/4" internally as well as D-shaped pipes, the air filter box only flows 450fm big choke there. In bolton form the b-body and f-body make similar peak numbers with those who have driven the same car with both engine swear a little more lowend for the b-body motor.

If it were me I would use the b-body engine and set your stocker aside and fix/upgrade it as you can for later swapping back in once you are more comfortable doing such work yourself. Just make sure he is fine with you taking your engine back and was not counting on it as a core.

Your stock programming should be fine.

 

It sounds like your main reason for considering the B-body engine is that it will cost less. But once you modify it to bring it up to the F-body power level it will end up costing more.

Just do the headgaskets yourself. Shouldn't cost you more than a couple hundred $ even if you need to have the heads milled.

 

Read my post. First paragraph explains things well.

 

Everything about these motors bolting up is the same. I've heard that the caprice LT1's iron heads actually flow a bit better, but with all the other factors the HP is slightly lower.

Is the Caprice's motor the same year as your car? They put LT1's in from 94-96, in 96 they made the switch to OBDII but in 95 there were some slight changes in the way the TCC switch worked.

I would use your PCM and wiring harness if you can.

I agree with 96capricemgr. Swap the caprice motor in, don't worry about the 15 HP (you won't even feel it) and take the time to rebuild your stock motor the way you want it.

 

Wouldnt it just be eaiser to just do the head gasket change yourself?? Its not rocket science. Your Going the round about way to change head gaskets.

 

What happens when he changes the gaskets and finds it knocks on startup?? Not a definete but certainly a possibility. Should have said sooner to have the aluminum heads inspected, overheating can warp and soften them.

 

I don't think it was a 350ci motor either. I can not remember the exact ci but it was a 4.3 liter not a 5.7 liter like in the F-body. I sure someone here can tell us the ci.

 

The LT1 was optional in the Caprice sedan, STANDARD in the wagon, Impala, Roadmaster and Fleetwood.

The 4.3L you are talking about is the L99 and it was ONLY available as the base engine in the Caprice sedan.