I wanted to know if anyone out there has any info on an engine swap from an LT1 engine to a carburetor and distributor type engine.

I have raced my 94 camaro for 4 years now with the LT1. It is a 383 with all the extras for drag racing. I want to make my car more of a strip only car.

Just wondering if anyone knows if a distributor will fit under the hood, and any other major problems I might encounter.

Thanks

Tommy

 

Who says you need a carbuerator to make it a strip car?

Doubt youll be surpassing the low 9s LT1s with stock type fuel injection out there already.

Anyway, never heard of a carb fitting under the cowl without some/a lot of cutting. A short distributor will fit no problem though, just might have to pull the engine to pull the dist.

 

Thanks jon. I'm just trying to decide which to do. I just sold my 1968 camaro drag car. It had a 355 with a 6-71 blower. This car was not steet legal. Kinda thinking to do the same with the 94.

 

You can run a carburated engine in the gen 4 without major difficulty. I've seen big blocks in these cars. The carb will sit just in front of the cowl. I'd recomend using a front mount distibutor to make things easier though. They make kits for both big and small block Chevys. You'll need to change your fuel pump or at the very least buy a good regulator to get it down to where you need fuel pressure to be.
I did the swap in my C4 Vette and it was a piece of cake.

 

If you look at the information on those big blocked 4th gens, you will notice MAJOR DIFFICULTY. Most people that have tried to tackle this job say that it was alot more than they were expecting. If I'm not mistaken, nearly everything in the engine compartment needed modification. Maybe somebody will post the links for a 454 for ya. I think that had useful information... or at least it would give you an idea.

EDIT: http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/commun...geid=28387&ck=

 

Whew............thank god I never said putting a big block in 4th gen was easy. A carbed small block is no prob though.

 

Still isnt EASY...fuel, cowl, WW wipers, Kmember (easy now thanks to BMR), hood, distributor.

Not sayings its impossible, but sayin its EASY is misleading.

Any engine going into a 4th gen besides an LT1 is at least semi difficult.

 

A drag prepped small block ( like the post author was talking about) will bolt right in the engine bay of an LT1 equipped car without difficulty and is considered EASY for most of us. Not everyone is sold on the idea of aftermarket fuel injection systems that run nearly $3,500 bucks let alone the software and hardware required to tune it.
Fuel is handle with a regulator and return line. Carb clears cowl with room to spare. WW wipers arent even an issue. Original K member remains in the car. Hood has room to spare. You can use a standard distributor or do as I said before and install a front drive dist from MSD. You will have to change the throttle cable and if running a 460le Jet offers a seperate computer to moniter shifts. However in a full drag car I doubt the a 460le would be the trans of choice.
So yes it's easy. Is it harder than changing oil? Yes. Now as far as a Big Block goes, I mearly brought that up to say that if a Big Block can go in an engine compartment that was designed for a small block, then a drag prepped small block will go right in.

 

i'm in the process right now nothing hard. The hardest part is the making the car lighter.


Kevin

 

Remove the front bumper cover and unbolt the inner bumper support (4 bolts). Saves about 25- 30 lbs off the extreme front of the car Then of course put the cover back in it original place.

 

Dont know what kind of SBC you have that will bolt directly to a stock kmember?? Unless its just a carbed LT1, you wont be bolting it to the stock mounts.

Also never ever heard of a carb clearing the cowl without cutting, I made a post in advanced just to find out if it is remotely possible, and no one had ever heard of it, except maybe with a cheap intake/carb setup that wouldnt even be worth it.

Fuel can be regulated fine up to like 450hp, but not recommended past that point unless you upgrade to dual high volume pumps, because sure carbs require less pressure, but they require much MORE fuel, enough that the stock wont keep up, so you will need to weld a sump on the tank and run an inline with all new AN line.

Tranny is easy, dont know who would want to go through all that trouble and bolt up a 4.60, but if so, $700 will get you a controller for it.

Distributor can be done with a short type, dont know if they make good ones in short, not very familiar with standard distributors, but Im sure a front mount conversion is expensive.

Basically what Im saying is its not EASY, easy is putting an LT1 back in, all I said was that it is relatively difficult.

But still, doesnt change my opinion on the fact that is is pointless and going in the wrong direction. If I wanted my engine to be less efficient and less potential power maybe, but who wants that. This is all my opinion, but I believe it to be fact, no one will ever change my mind that more power can be made with standard carbeuration, and that it can be near as efficient, and those that argue power and efficiency arent related dont know what you are talking about, power comes from efficiency, the more fuel and air you can burn and more consistent it happens in every cylinder, the more power you will make.

Just compare it to nitrous, why are direct port systems basically the best?? because it is the exact same mixture in each cylinder ever cycle, a nozzle system before the TB works just like a carbeurator, it relies on intake tuning to equal out the mixture to each cylinder, which is surely not alwas going to be right.

 

Hey blwn bird, what are you putting in your car. I have not decided what to do yet.

Thanks for all the input guys! I need to do more research before starting this project.

 

Thanks ,but way beyond that I've totally gutted this thing I've even cut out every meaningless bracket on the whole car this thing is beyond a stripper.


I've got a Lt1 based carb motor. lot's of little tricks done to it should run very well.



Kevin

 

The only reason I see to ditch the factory injection system is if you HAVE to rev it over 7200rpms, that is the limit for the pcm it can't control sprk beyond that. Other than that it can be made to handle very large injectors and the timing and fueling will be much more precise and adjustable than a carb and standard distributor ever dreamed of. Think about it what is better the timing curve in a HEI or the ability to reference spark off of MAP and different at every 5 kpa you could even program a flat spot or dip in the timing curve with the factory setup if that is what the engine wants, you just can't relably do that with a standard distributor.

As far as fitting the carb, a lowrise dual plane might fit perfectly, but would be wrong for this application a highrise songle plane might not fit, maybe that is where the disagreement on that is comming from.

 

I am in the process of doing the swap right now. I have ordered the k-member from BMR already so that part will be easily done. I will be running a Holley 750 to start with mated to a edelbrock super victor intake. I don't care what it takes, the motor will fit or I'll make the bitch fit. Either way, its going in no matter what. Parts are a hell of alot cheaper and easier to come by, and its so easy to work on and much less of a headache.

If you want to spend thousands on fuel injected crap just to be able to tune every single thing piece by piece to get everything as close to perfect as you can then go right ahead. I'm going with simplicity and thats what I'm gonna get. The dist. will fit fine without any problems and the carb should too, but with a super victor intake I might have to do some slight trim work on the cowl. Which wont hurt anything.

No more optispark **** to screw up, no more sensors, wires out the butt, computer problems, etc etc.

Pop the hood and all you see is a carbed small block chevy sittin in there all by itself with no bull**** to get in the way or **** me off on a regular basis! No power steering, no A/C, no ABS module, no battery... Just a motor!

If you are gonna build a drag car and run nitrous on it there is no better way to go than with a carb.