I have been doing some research online, and I have found that people have successfuly bolted lt1 heads onto an l98 and early style sbc's. Can this be done in reverse and has anyone done it?
I have a set of fully ported sportsman ll heads that came off my last drag motor. They are good for high 10s low 11s all motor....so I was thinking if there is anyway that I can get these heads to fit on my car...I want to do it.
Any info is welcomed! Thanks

 

reverse flow cooling design isn't going to allow this. For the same reason you can't bolt standard SBC heads onto an LT-1.

 

Check out yahoo...people are putting lt1 heads on old small blocks and making it work.....I wants to put old heads on an lt1.

 

Yeah you can put LT1 heads on standard SBC's just have to weld some ports shut. However the other way around wont work since you would have to drill/port for the reverse cooling design to flow through the heads.

 

Dam! Thats what I thought the answer was going to be. Thanks for the info though!!

 

Yeah, That's unfortunate sounds like you've got a pretty sweet set of heads there.

 

Why couldn't you? You could drill the reverse coolant holes in the decks, drill and tap the back of the heads for the steam tube, and either use a different intake or modify the heads for the LT1 intake pattern. It's been done...it just takes some work and research. I know I did some LT1 heads for an L98 that came out ok so I dont see why you couldn't do it the other way around.

 

the whole reverse flow thing might make it too expensive to to machine to even bother...unless you DIY it

 

It's a lot easier to plug some holes than it is to make passages that were never cast there in the first place.

 

True. I guess it depends alot on the cylinder head and the person doing the work.

 

A vendor on ls1tech.com recently posted about charging $500 to convert gen1 heads for LT1 use.

When I first saw the topic I about choked because stock L98 heads flow 15% LESS than the iron LT1 heads or the 96-7 aluminums so even ported those would have been a waste of effort.

 

I have heard of l98 heads on a lt1 too. It might be expensive...but if it works, it would deff be worth bolting up a set of 3000$ 18 degree heads where you could easily make 750-800hp, all motor. I would have to buy aftermarket lt1 heads plus put atleast 1000 into porting them to even come close to my l98 heads. . 500$ I would pay any day of the week.

Could you point me in the right direction on what topic to go under inorder to find that guy that will convert them? I would really appreciate it.

 

I really dont see what could be so hard...given that all heads are different, but anyone should be able to take a nice set of 18 degree heads and pop them into an LT1. Problem for me is I dont know of any small chamber high-flow 18 degree heads. A buddy of mine had some brodix 18 degree heads I was thinking of trying that on...anything's possible. I bolted an optispark on a 400 SBC just to prove it could be done so I'm sure the heads aint $hit.

 

You could slap a regular sbc in there, have the LT1 intake modded to bolt to the sbc heads, have a machine shop fab up a timing cover that allows you to bolt on the opti, run an electric waterpump and be done with it.

 

Been there, done that. Takes a little more work than that...but it's doable. The waterpump is also a PITA to deal with since you need clearance for the optispark when using a gen 1 small block and even more of a pain if your rotating assembly isn't internally balanced. This is one of my little projects right now...