Greetings all. First let me say I have been lurking here for months
and I had a recent " event " that prompted me to post.
I have a 1996 Z28, pretty clean car, Teal in color and an
automatic transmission.
It has a k&n cold air intake, Arizona Speed and Marine throttle body,
flowmaster cat back, and tuning by Pro Dyno in Tempe, AZ.
The car pulled ( past tense ) real hard and still got 20 mpg on
the expressway. With 92,000 miles I began by replacing the wearable
items, brakes, tires, upper radiator hose, belt, fluids, fuel filter. Trying
to keep it a reliable driver. Oh, and about 4 weeks ago I was at
Speedworld, a drag strip on the northwest part of the valley. The air
was good, I cut a killer light, and was rewarded with a 13.14 @ 101 mph
time slip.
Then, mothers day hit. I was driving to my folks house on the expressway,
and saw steam/white smoke from under the hood. Took about 20-30
seconds to find a safe place to pull over and by then the car had
stopped running. Fluid loss seemed to be on the drivers side upper part
of the engine. Filled the radiator with water and started it up, loosing
compression out the passenger head.
As most old hands already know, GM performance crate engines won't work.
They suggested I contact a dealer about a replacement LT1. This site
put the idea of an LT1 383 when the loan was paid for. Rebuild smoked
LT1 ? Try and secure LT1 from dealer ? I searched on ebay, I
don't know about buying a used one. LS1 swap ?
What say ?
And thank you in advance for the input. It is most appreciated.
Ken

 

Before assuming the worst, why don't see if you just blew a head gasket?

 

yeah it prolly is a head gasket. if you do replace the eng., I highly recommend doin the 383. I love mine, too bad I dont have time yet to hit the track. but it feels really strong. check out our sponsers for a company called "rpm" they offer strokers and seem to be a great company. I almost bought one but decided to do it myself to save a few bucks and I love that I built it myself. I am a mechanic by trade so it wasnt as big a deal for me to do it as it would be for most people. anyways, good luck and let us know how it turns out and what you found was the problem.
http://www.revolutionaryperformance.com/



chris

 

I appreciate the comments, thanks. I have one of the clymer manuals
for the car, guess I need to step up to a more detailed LT1 manual. I'm not
a mechanic, but a pretty fair parts replacer with the right instructions.
Besides my Z28 I have a 454 Chevy pick up ( I rebuilt the 454 ) and
a Kawasaki ZRX 1200 R. I do most of the work on the scooter too.
I guess the bottom line is I won't know about internal damage until
the heads come off. There is no anti-freeze in the oil I could detect,
maybe some good news. If this was a hose or radiator fitting that came
loose, if it had happened at a stoplight instead of 70 mph I suppose
it would have been minimal damage.

 

As stated above, don't assume the worst case senerio. Look it over good and find the failure (radiator hose, busted radiator, coolant line feeding the throttle body, water pump, thermostat housing cracked, etc.).

 

Probably just "blew" a head gasket. remove the heads and assess the damage. You should be able to get out with some gaskets and a weekend .

Ryan