I believe I toasted the lt1 in my t/a with my nitrous mishap. Now, I found a 97 lt1 that I might buy to get my car back on the road. I plan to transfer my heads, intake, cam, timing set, and maybe some other things. Basically, I just need the bottom end from the 97 lt1. Is there anything I need to know before I go doing this? Are there any differences between the two motors? I know the 97's were rated 10 more hp, and I believe I have hardened pushrods and the 97 doesn't. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Benji

 

The bottom ends are exactly the same, so you shouldn't have any problems. Good luck.

 

Someone told me they had a crank lock or something along those lines. ??? I've never even heard of that. Maybe they were wrong. Did the extra 10 horses come from the heads? tuning? Just covering all my bases here.

Benji

 

the 96-97 have a CPS reluctor ring on the crank, just put your timing cover/timing set on the crank and leave the ring out, and be sure to use you HUB.
the 10 extra horses are a joke, rated that way due to the 96-97 dual cat setup.
jesse

 

the 96-97 Heads are a different casting. my 97 had 561 castings and flowed about 8cfm better on teh intake and 11 CFM better on the exhaust side than a set #643 heads off a 95 Z28. Also they weigh less because more material has been takien out of the 561 castings.

This might have something to do with the 10 extra HP

 

Man, I wish I could hold onto those heads, but I already have too much in my heads to do that. Do the heads just have the runners opened up a little bit, or are they completely different castings? Like for example, if my heads were p&p'd to the max, would the 97' heads out flow them if they were p&p'd also? Just curious. So the reluctor ring is the only thing I need to worry about? Everything else will just bolt right up?

Benji

 

You can use the same balancer hub that came with the 97 shortblock with its timing cover which should have the CPS which would't be connected.
The 97 had different connecting rods.

 

actually you would be better off porting the older casting heads, they have more material for porting. The 97 heads are lighter and have alot of metal removed from the outside so you can port as far. I even used 95 heads on my 97 LT1 383 stroker for this reason.

However if your doing light port work the 97 heads would be easier to increase, but they are limited. As far as the look, they both look the same except for less metal on the 97 heads.

 

So, can I use my timing chain cover or should I use the one off of the 97??? Someone said I could use mine and someone else said use the 97. But thank everyone for helping me out. What is the difference between the connecting rods in the 97?

Benji

 

the engines are identical, and you can interchange all parts.

Ive heard the 96+ cars got a stronger set of rods but i have no idea if this is true.

Depending how much you want to port the heads would determine which set to use. IF you want a light porting job and polish to increse the flow to about 225 on the intake the 561's ( 97 heads) will be just fine. But if you want 260 plus CFM then the older style heads should be used.

 

the 92-95's got a PM rod..there good to about 450 ponies so there pretty strong...in later 95 they went full forged and also added "cracked caps" to the rods..there good to 500 ponies before theyll break

 

Well I like getting the stronger rods. Thanks for all the help and I'll let everyone know how the swap goes.

Benji