Hey everyone, new here. Thought I'd introduce myself and tell my Camaros story. I'm a member on other F body sites, but you really can't learn enough info about LT1s lol.

After owning my Yamaha Raptor since I was 14, I decided it needed to go for a new toy. I eventually found a cheap 1996 z28 that I traded it for in April 2012. Needless to say, it needed a lot of work with 184,000 miles but came with a K&N cold air intake, BBK shorties, Flowmaster 10's, fresh rebuild 4L60E, and a Hypercrap tuner. The previous owner neglected it and actually sideswiped a tree while doing a burnout which caused a lot of damage. Within the first month of owning and playing with it, I finally made myself stop driving it because of all the symptoms it showed of a blown head gasket.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731103486/http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731103486/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/94604487@N02/, on Flickr


I just graduated high school May 2012, so I'm not exactly the master mechanic that I'd like to be. In June, I made some plans with a good friend that is a great mechanic after he let me help him rebuild the 5.0 in his mustang. So we slowly started tearing my LT1 down as my first project just planning on replacing the head gaskets. Sure enough, the driver side head gasket was in bad shape.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731102982/http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731102982/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/94604487@N02/, on Flickr

Well after getting halfway through the process over a few weeks (just working a few hours a week on it), he became preoccupied with his job and new fianc%u00E9 and wasn't able to help me finish (understandable). I had just torqued down the heads when I eventually gave up after working on it everyday out in 110+ degrees of humid summer heat lol. So it sat and sat in my shed all year after I had lost interest.

Fast forward to this year. Started talking to another good friend of mine with a nice shop down the road from me and a lot of experience with LT1s that got me hooked onto working on it again. We decide to begin working on it with many new plans i.e. full bolt ons, cam, stall, etc. The goal was pretty much to be a fun 7 second (1/8th) daily driver.

So I found a cheap 79,000 mile 1993 LT1 engine for sale that I jumped on.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731102440/http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731102440/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/94604487@N02/, on Flickr

Then after saving up and buying most of the parts that we needed to do the swap, we began tearing down the motor. To my disappointment, all 8 cylinders had small amounts of water in them which caused rust. We tried honing them out with no luck.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731095496/http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731095496/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/94604487@N02/, on Flickr

Hoping I could get lucky and use my 96 block with the 93 internals, we pulled my Camaro to the shop and began working to drop the motor. That's when I found out that keeping the hood closed with a car cover over it in a (open) shed for 11 months still doesn't keep rain water out of the engine lol. Removed the oil dipstick tube and water poured all over the ground, same with a spark plug and oil drain later on.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8729972343/http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8729972343/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/94604487@N02/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731093530/http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731093530/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/94604487@N02/, on Flickr
You can also see the Jet performance chip I didn't know about plugged into the PCM in this picture lol
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8729974217/http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8729974217/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/94604487@N02/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731084388/http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731084388/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/94604487@N02/, on Flickr

Pretty much lost hope in that motor so I went ahead and ordered Speed Pro .030 over pistons (on a tight budget) and made plans to have my 93 motor bored over. And that's where I'm at now lol. Hopefully when it's all said and done, this will be a fun street car. Here's a list of the mods so far.
UPDATE: Decided to go with a bigger cam since im buying stronger rods now
355ci 11.5:1 comp
Speed Pro Hypereutectic .030 pistons
Scat forged I beams w/ARP Bolts
Lloyd Elliot 232/240 .578/.574 110LSA camshaft
Scorpion 1.6rr
Lunati dual valve spring kit
Pacesetter LTs and Y pipe
CSR electric waterpump
3.73s
3600 stall
Weight reduction: !AIR, !EGR, !A/C, !ABS, sway bar, spare tire, back seats, little things

I can't wait to hear this thing running! I have to buy a couple more odds and ends like piston rings, poly motor mounts, ARP rod and head bolts, plug wires, pcmforless tune, etc and it will be ready to go! Then I'll be working on the body of the car. I will be updating this thread as more things get done and it will hopefully be running soon with a little luck! Sorry for the long read but it's my first build thread lol

 

Some goodies pictures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8730001773/http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8730001773/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/94604487@N02/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731083754/http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731083754/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/94604487@N02/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8730002721/http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8730002721/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/94604487@N02/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731124428/http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8731124428/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/94604487@N02/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8730084811/http://www.flickr.com/photos/94604487@N02/8730084811/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/94604487@N02/, on Flickr

 

Welcome!

Good luck on your build, just got done with my very first lt1 build. My cylinders were pitted from water sitting in them also so I had it .030 over.


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Another MQB, welcome

 

MQB? Lol

Edit: Oh Medium Quaser Blue lol yes I love the color of the car

 

Hey dude good stuff. I built my second lt1 motor about 2 months ago that sits in my car now

 

Just ordered all the new parts this morning that I'll need i.e. bearings, piston rings, oil pump, head bolts etc. My builder and I knocked out the old cam bearings last night and are dropping the block off at the machine shop today to be bored .030 over. After discussing rods today, I decided to go with some forged Scat I beams with ARP rod bolts just for some added insurance in the bottom end. Might end up going with a slightly larger cam as well

 

What did it run you guys to have the block bored over .30. Im also in the process of rebuilding an lt1.

Thanks,

 

The shop I took mine too is only charging me $125 to bore it .030 over. I think I got lucky with finding him though. Other larger businesses might charge more

 

Might want to talk to the machinist about using plates to bore the block. Makes for better ring seal. Also, be careful with the bigger cam, bigger cam mentality. That 232/240 is already pretty big for a 355 especially if you're using stock heads. Just to give you an idea that cam is nearly as big as the one I'm running in my 408 with heads flowing well over 300 cfm.

 

We've already ported the heads. When I can afford them, I'm sending in the 93 heads to be ported to LE2 heads.

 

Just dropped my block off at the machine shop this past week. Getting bored over .030 as well. They will be using the plates as mentioned above to simulate a head that is bolted down to ensure that the bore does not have any out of round areas. Did end up costing me a bit more than you mentioned, looks like you got a good deal.

 

Ehh I'm not sure. The shop owner/worker had a heart attack a week after I dropped my block off and now it's been a little over 3 weeks since I left it there and still don't have it back yet

 

good luck with the build. its a fun experience once its all said and done and you'll feel proud that you built it.

I might be looking for a new machine shop though.

and, which cam did you go with? the 226/232 in your sig or the lloyd elliot cam in your post earlier?

 

Maybe, there's things I'm not aware of here but I personally would be working with the 96 motor. It's set up to use the later style opti spark and idk but are there any issues running a 93 lt1 with a 96 harness? I mean, the 96 would pretty much snap back into place with a lot less thing to change I would think. What with 93s using speed density instead of mass air flow. Mab those can just be swapped tho being that there will be a connector there for the maf. Someone tell me if I have legitimate concerns