Just curious to see what kind of mods it would take for an early LT1 to beat an LS1 that would say come in a 2002 SS.

 

Why are you limiting this to pre 96 Lt1's? 93-97 all run similar times.

It all depends. We talking A4 or M6

 

cai, free mods, sticky tires

 

LT1 A4, LS1 can either be A4 or M6.

 

Well i would say you would have to get a better launch then it. Also i think you would need cai, good catback or cutout, and headers. That should make it pretty a close race. Gears would probably make it easier for the win. But like i said you would have to have a much better launch then the 02.

 

good stall, gears, and stickies you would wax it.

 

I was able to beat some stock and close to stock LS1s with: Shorty headers, torque converter, custom computer tuning, muffler, and a couple bolt ons like underdrive pulley and K@N, AFPR, and a homemade ram air type set up. Total cost was about 1200 bucks. If I were you I would just get a nice cam in there, and walk all over a stock LS1 for about the same price. Or you could get your heads ported and get the same gains for about the same price too.
Basically all you need is around 1000 bucks. Hope this helps.

 

You could buy a stall/gears or full exhaust. You need to make up a little over half a second depending on his and your driving. Any way you go buy sticky tires, otherwise your not at your cars potential.

 

I have both and have had both..a 96 ta stock,97taws6 with some basic mods and 99taws6 with more mods.Now have a 96 stock z28 vert.
So lets see.Raced a stock a4 95 trans am with my stock ls1 99.It completely incineratied the 95 from a launch and roll.
Not pretty guess at least 10 car lengths..the ls1 have around 350 at the engine an the lt1 seem to put out close to their rated power.And my car was m6 his was auto. so at least 75 to 100 hp difference from amount of car lengths.He insisted I had nitrous on my car and demanded I open the hood.He is kind of bud now though and has done some mods to his lt1 but I have done quite a few to mine.His hp is now probably 300 to 325 engine ,Mine is 450 so we don't race much these days.
Now just ran stock vert .Its best was 14.66 at 98.3.I am 1900 feet so you guys at lower altitude will turn better times.The 99 usually turned 14 flat at my altitude and around 105 or so mph.
Thats when it was stock.I use a tazzo to test the cars..it was one tenth quicker than track timer and 2.5 mph higher than track mph but right on for 60ft.
Anyway not a chance with simple mods like cold air you will touch an ls1 and of course depends if you have auto or m6.
Of course any car with drag radials will have much better chance against street tired car. But assuming street tires..lets see stock
ls1 you need cold air,cutout,pulleys,rocker arms mabye and if auto likely a stall or better gears although then you probably won't hook up and preferrably at least a cam or good headers.
If you are an lt1 m6 then likely against stock lt1 would do ok with cam ,headers,cold air,pulleys but gears would still help too but from experience hard to hook up 4.10 or even 3.73 in m6 lt1 cars due to crazy lt1 torque.Most lt1s need some better rockers and springs to keep up top end with the ls1 cars they breath very nice up there.Of course a 100 to 150 shot of spray on the lt1 would give you a good edge on stock ls1 cars.
We do have an lt1 car at our track that is as fast as modded up ls1 car.The ls1 has heads,cam ,ls6 intake,long tube headers,lid,
ported tb thats about it and is on street tires..best so far is 12.5 or so at like 115mph.He has nittos but rear end is going so didn't
want to use them yet until he gets better rearend.He is stock m6 with 3.42 gears.
Lt1 is 94 z..has headers,cold air,no cat.actually neither car has cats.He ran a 13.4 at just over 100mph with et streets.With 100 shot of spray he ran 12.5 at like 115 with et streets.Hope that helps a bit.The ls1 car above is about 500 at the engine.
Of course driver is still very important factor and especially when we are talking m6.Buddy bragged he wasted an ls1 on highway with his 5.0 mustang stock and the ls1 was in fifth gear or mabye sixth I bet and he was in third..
Also quite a few ls1 have a problem with hitting the gears at high rpm.they need to do a mod to the slave master line to allow this ,some cars are worse some better.I used to lose all the time to buddies with lt1 and ls1 from quartermile type off the line as couldn't get third gear and sometimes second.Now that its fixed I run much better.

 

I have beaten a few stock LS1s in my almost stock LT1. The only thing you need is for the other guy to be a horrible driver

 

Yeah that is the truth ..so many variables on the street and even on the track.I have beaten lots of faster cars with my 80 ta.Its a 400 rebuilt with unknown cam stock intake,small edlebrock 625 no headers and too small dual exhaust.I have a stall in it now but even before that would win most races.As long as I was on my street tires and car I raced was on street tires.I actually had a bit of bad bog off the line which helped quite a bit.I would bog and then hook and barely got any spin,99% of guys I raced got excited floored it off the line..spun forever and then never could run me down.Now its faster since I added a stall but now since adjusted the carb and mostly fixed the bog I have traction problems like anyone else.

I would almost never be afraid to race anyone on street tires.they are a great equalizer..best times I have seen on street tires even for 500 hp cars are like 12.5 at 115 and usually you have to bog to get that so 6 speed ls1 cars have an advantage as long as you have gears like 3.42 in there.With more gear then it gets harder and harder to hook up an m6 ls1.

 

I have quite a few mods, including LTs, 3.73s, stall, CAI, Eibach drag launch kit, BMR TA, Nittos and other stuff like 300+.
I can beat lightly modded LS1s off the line and hold them for awhile but they are slowly creeping up on me at the big end.

 

It generally takes all bolt ons, a good set of headers, and a damn good driver for an LT1 to beat a stock LS1.

Sometimes it even takes a cam, in addition to the above, particularly if the LS1 in question is an '01 or '02 model.

 

i know my friend (lt1) and his sister (ls1) race all the time, the lt1 will pull for probably 1/8 mile, and then the ls1 pulls ahead...

lt1 has headers, and exhaust

ls1 just added a flowmaster exhaust of some sort but havnt raced w/ this addition yet

 

Dang guys reading this makes me kind of sad. I didn't know the LS1's outmatched the LT1's so much.