GarvinMJ

Good afternoon everyone, I had a few questions and figured this would be the best place to get the answers to them. I'm looking at swapping an LT1 into my Jeep and could use a little insight from the more knowledgeable people on here (I can easy build suspension systems and axles but don't know too much about Chevy engines).

The background on the vehicle to give you guys an idea where I'm coming from. What I have is a 1986 long bed Jeep Comanche with one ton axles and 38.5's on it right now. I'm looking at going with a larger tire (up to 44's, most likely in the 39-42" range) and am needed more power. Right now there is a '87 C20 5.7L in there that was converted to carb that is on its way out (didn't have the time to convert to fuel injection since the 2.8L V6 that was in it was carb'd and the Jeep is ran for carb). I'm running a Jeep AX15 (will be rebuilt with heavier duty components to put up with the 350 power) and NP231 transfer case behind it, both of which should hold up since I know of people running them behind ZZ350's with no issues and they wheel their Jeeps hard.

So to the questions...I have everything setup for that TBI engine. I have read that the exhaust manifolds and starter and whatnot bolt right up to the LT1 engines, a second confirmation would put my mind to ease in that case since I'm running 2.5" exhaust off the manifolds that Y into a 3" exhaust with a high flow cat and Magniflow billet race muffler. I'm looking more towards the cast iron head LT1 since the thought of hitting cold water and the contraction rates of aluminum heads vs cast iron have me a little worried. I'm also looking at adding a few minor power adders (roller rockers being the main one) but keeping it essentially in stock form. I've heard that putting 1.6 intakes and 1.5 exhausts let you keep the stock valve springs without issues and increasing power and fuel economy slightly, any truth to that? I will be removing any additional accessory on the front minus the power steering, water pump, alternator and crank pulley since there isn't enough room in the engine compartment for the rest of them.

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any input. I can provide pictures if wanted but the Jeep isn't exactly show quality (built the whole thing with wheeling in mind while still being street legal and having some street manners).

Hotrodblazer

You are facing several difficulties. First in my mind is the LT1's optispark and the chance of water splashing the front mounted distributor in a Jeep.These units do not tolerate moisture. One good splash and you are done for the day, as the water pump must be removed to dry out the unit.
One option is to find a carb conversion intake and do away with optispark and fuel injection.
Good luck,, Danny

GarvinMJ

You do make a great point, thanks for the response. I'm not sure how I missed the optispark distributor issue, guess I was too busy seeing if it was feasible more so than checking out the issues with the LT1. Looks like I'll be going the L98 route after all. The LT1 really sparked my interest with the low intake but nothing a grinder and welder can't fix.