I've pretty much given up on swapping a Buick 455 into my 81 Formula and I was looking around for something to swap in. I was toying with the idea of putting an LT1 in there and doing to the carb intake swap. I'm very comfortable with the LT1 as I did lots of maintenance and mods to my old 93 Z28 and one of the things I've always loved is the sound of an LT1 with ported heads, a CC306 cam, and longtube headers. The carb or FI setup shouldn't really make a difference in the exhaust sound should it?

 

Just curious -- why did you bail on the Buick?

Changing the carb won't change the exhaust sound. However, there is more to the sound of an engine than just the exhaust! The intake is probably the next biggest source of noise (for a naturally-aspirated car, of course). It's hard to say exactly how it might sound different with a carb -- after all, air whooshing sounds like air whoosing. It might be a little more, or a little less, noticeable, and the pitch might go up or down. Air filter size and location will play a role in determining what it sounds like too.

If you pick the right exhaust, though, nobody will ever know or care what your intake sounds like.

-Jake

 

Like any other carb'd sbc 350

 

Even though many people don't like quadrajet carbs, I absolutely love how they sound when the secondaries open up

 

Incidentally, if you're getting one, you have to start spelling carbureted correctly.

 

Well, the Buick 455 would have to have custom motor mounts and I really just got tired of messing with it. Not to mention parts for the Buick 455 cost an arm and a leg. I'm not concerned with the intake noise, I was just wondering about the exhaust tone. Also, I know how to spell carbureted, I was in between class and lab and just typed this up fast. I know most of you are probably wondering why I'm even asking this. I go for a walk around my campus every evening and there's an older gentleman with a mint 78 Trans Am and I usually stop to speak with him if he's outside. When he asked what motor I was going to put in the 81 I told him an LT1. I told him that I really liked the sound of the engine as well as the performance. He started saying that a fuel injected engine that's converted to a carbureted engine would sound completely different. I wasn't so sure about that, which is why I was asking ya'll.

 

I dont think it would sound a whole lot different. Just that most cars with old 350 sbc's had dual exhaust and most lt1's came with catbacks.

If i was you i wouldn't bother putting in an lt1 if it wasn't fuel injected. The only benifit an lt1 has from a standard sbc would be fuel injection(you dont want to use), reverse flow cooling and the opti spark(not sure if you would call it an advantage though....). And there are disadvantages...like intake and head selection, i know you can use them on an lt1 but they have to be converted. Also a good sbc 350 is fairly cheap compared to the lt1...a used one.

Oh and for the carb...either use a good old q-jet or spent the bucks and get a demon. Holley is good, but demon is like a holley just with improvements. I wouldn't even think of using an edelbrock carb.

 

Well the main reason I'm thinking of an LT1 is because I'm very familiar with it and I know I could get it done quickly. I would get a gen 1 sbc, but those are getting harder to come by in rebuildable condition that are priced like the LT1. Not only that, but since GM performance parts offers carbureted intakes I can build the engine like I would for my old 4th gen and just put a good carb on it and not worry about all the electronics. It just seems like a win / win situation.

P.S. - Just to clear this up, I'm NOT worried about fuel mileage or anything like that. This is just going to be a toy car to keep myself sane after all the bullsh!t that's happened to me lately.

 

this is how it sounds with a 224/230 cam with a 650 db pumper longtubes and 40 series flows

http://www.pnw3.org/fcrazy/IdleMovie.MPG this is a cold startup on a 30 degree day with no choke...idiling at about 500 rpms

http://www.pnw3.org/fcrazy/john%20force%20burnout.MPG

this is warmup idling at 800

also theres NO crossover in the exhaust..

 

Awesome! You hooked the LT1 up to a T-5? What type of T-5 did you use? Just one from a third gen V8? Did you have to build up the internals?

 

I agree with James that you should just go gen 1 sbc. It would be much cheaper to build and the only real gain to having an LT1 would be the injection setup.

 

Yea the LT1 is just a SBC...the LT1 flywheel and clutch assembly is 11 inches..the 3rd gen is 10.2 iirc...so in order to use a T5 behind an LT1 you have to use a 3rd gen flywheel and clutch..no big deal..the tranny lasted quite a while behind it...i put a stock cam in the LT1 when i first buil tit and it ran real good..trapping 108 at the track...id powershift the F^$k out of it and it would lite the tires up...i put the 224/230 in it and it was even more traction defficient..i couldnt get any traction so the tranny had no problem holding 425+ ponies..i took it to the track with street tires and had no problems with it..went back with slicks and after 3 passes broke it during the 1-2 powershift...

 

Sweet, that's something I've been wondering for a while. I have been wanting to put a manual in there, but the T-56 is pretty expensive and the T-5 is readily available. I probably won't be putting any slicks on my bird, it's just going to be something to enjoy on the weekends. Thanks for the information, I appreciate it!

 

not true..becasue of the reverse cooling the timing curve can be much mmore aggresive...im running 38 degrees all in by 2,600 ..no knock whatsoever

try that with a normal cooled SBC

 

Are we forgetting the LT1 has reverse flow cooling and that in itself allows more compression to be run on pump gas whether it's FI or carbed.
IT AIN'T YOUR DAD'S CHEVY.