My buddy has an 04 Cobra. it has a cold air, pullied, and some other small things. I couldn't keep anywhere close to him with my SS with the mods in my sig. He ran a 12.3x with it. I haven't got any track times lately, but I'm not close to that. More like a 13.5-13.7 I'd say.

 

I wouldn't think it would hang with an 03/04 Cobra at all, but I also don't see a stock LS1 doing much better...

 

well for a 97 and an lt1 i guess thats not that bad. Stock cobra is 360 and pullied makes them a lot more HP. I thought stock z28s with lt1 ran 13.5 stock?

 

i guess thats what the z06 is for lol.

 

No, more like low 14s for lt1 and mid 13s for ls1 stock. Although I read in gm high tech performance they got a stock w/ out bolt-ons ls1 to break into the 12s...it had royal purple, different tires, and the baffles removed.Basically all the free horse power mods,but barley.

 

No, stock an 03-04 Cobra is 390hp 390tq

 

I had always wanted a 4th gen, but could never afford one. Well, a year ago, I got enough to buy a clean LT1 for 5k, couldn't get a decent LS1 for under 8k. I figured hell, its a chevy and parts must be cheap right? Wrong! The LT stands for "luxury tax" and everything on this car is expensive. Rear end, water pump, opti, supercharger setups... if I didn't LOVE this car so much i would have sold it when I figured all this out.

Here's some positive light on the LT1 and why I will keep mine...
1. Looks way better than ls1
2. Cheaper to buy
3. Most mods are cheaper
4. Rare to see other clean LT1 cars, make yours feel more unique
5. More reliable- always see these cars with 150k+ miles running strong, rare to see ls1 at 100k+ that does need rebuilding/or beat to hell
6. Exhaust sounds way better

James

 

The LT1 engine has nothing to do with the cost of the rear end.

 

Ya I'm just talking about 4th gens. How they are not like the old SBC's.

 

If you want to talk about luxury tax go look at Corvette parts.

 

the LT1 IS an old sbc with reverse flow cooling, front mount dist. and fuel injection

 

well i have had mustangs and camaro's and it seems like bolt-ons are about the same on every one of them, depends on what you want top of the line or bottom. Rear end gears and axles are gonna be close to the same. Best advice and what i did was try to find some used parts cheap. Hell i got a tuner that is 450 new for 200 and a polished plenum and tb for 200 which is 425 new and now im selling it for 275. Also do the lt1"s sound better? I dont see any fixed up camaro's around here just stangs so its hard for me to tell nowadays

 

your argument stinks

according to a random autoparts store Oreillys

2000 z28 water pump is 190.99 new and 152.99 reman
1994 z28 water pump is 157.99 new and 69.99 reman

rear end is the same even though lt1's tended to have an auburn diff rather than the ls1 cars that had torsen's

according to vortech's website the cheapest i'll quote the cheapest price for their supercharger set up, the cheapest meaning just getting started if you plan on buying new

lt1 system 4655.95
ls1 system 5623.95

as far as the opti goes its a damn distributor they wear out get over it, when you buy a new one avoid some of the cheapo ebay ones and install it correctly and dont drown it in coolant and you should be in good shape

 

The items I listed in numberical order are LT1 vs LS1. The paragraph above is a reference to older SBC parts. I've owned 3 1st gen SBC's vehicles and I figured LT1 parts fell in that catagory before I bought the car because after all it is "the same motor with reverse cooling". I was wrong.

autozone routine repair/maintenance parts:
SBC alternator $49.99 LT1 $134.99
SBC waterpump $37.99 LT1 $141.99
SBC distributor $34.99 LT1 re-man opti $149.99
SBC double roller timing set $91.99 LT1 $347.99
SBC starter $44.99 LT1 $169.99
ETC.

 

What does all that stuff comparing a LT1 with the older SBC's have to do with the OP's question? He wanted to know about LT1 Vs LS1 cars.....

Anyway, the original question is one with no answer....the newest LT1 F-body rolled off the line in mid 97, making it 12-1/2 years old. You'll find nice 12-1/2 year old cars out there, just not for $5K. Expect problems....not necessarily from design but from neglect or abuse. The same is also true for the LS powered F-bodies. The oldest are 12-1/2 years old, the newest almost 8 years old. The older ones could be abused adn modified, the newer ones are less likely to have been molested but could have been.

Bottom line, every car will be different. Look several times before putting your money down. ...