My vote goes for the 94. 93-95's got hardened pushrods and if you got the 3.23 A4 you also got an oil cooler. 93-94's also got the "pink" rods which are forged as opposed to the powdered metal kind which are cheaper to make from 95 on. Only negatives with the first 2 years is the unvented opti which can be converted. One thing I like about the 93's in A4 trim is the 700R4. It has firmer shifts in normal driving cause its non electronic controlled. This basically keeps in the same mode all the time as far as shift quality. The electronic ones are variable depending on driving. Most of this comes down to mileage and condition, but I do think the 93's and 94's have an advantage over the later years.

Jason

 

This is true.......I have had a 94 LT1 now i have a 95 . And my buddie had a 96 that used to hand me my ***....he also had the dual cats . My 95 is way faster then my 94 and my 94 had half the miles . I think they are just tempramentle.....I agree 97 is the stongest . I think

 

I would say 93 is the worst year of the lt1 due the gay OPTI, and crappy speed density. 95 i like the best cause of obd1 and vented opti. 97 has most power from factorylt1, but you get obd2 which is no fun.

 

i thought they went to the 460L tranny in 93 and 460LE ( electronic control) in 95-present

 

I think it all depends on how well it was taken care of it's whole life!! My vote goes to 95 because of OBD1 and vented Opti

 

I like the 1995 because of the OBD-1 (I love tunercat) andthe vented opti (NEVER replaced after 98,000!) I probably just jinxed myself.

 

except for the unvented opti and single cat, id say '94 for sure. this is due to the larger cam and lower LSA (even though its only marginally bigger) than other LT1s and the OBDI rating. but hey, maybe im biased

 

true but im pretty sure the cast rods were rated for more hp than the forged pink rods.

 

Wait a minute now, the 93-94's had forged connecting rods??? That's news to me. I've heard that 95's had hardened pushrods but I thought the connecting rods were the same from 93-97

 

I've heard the same thing, but someone on this board has seen to many bad experiences with the cast rods that virtually exploded where the forged pink rods didn't. The pink rods were also used in the first LT1's made in 70. Do you see any high hp motors running cast rods instead of forged rods?

Jason

 

Stock would be 96-97, dual cat, all things being equal.

 

94 Z28 has the nicest ***

 

You guys are NUTS!!!

Everyone who is anyone knows that '94 was & is the badest of them all!!!!! It will blow the doors off a Viper!!!

If you don't believe it then I'll let you talk to the guy that knows of a guy that's sisters husbands great uncle used to beat the Vipers in his all stock (Except K&N air filter) '94 Z28!!!!

 

i am going to have to agree with the theory that the 97 is probably the stongest stock lt1, they should have the bugs worked out of it and everything tuned to perfection. i'm not just saying this because i now own one. i had a 94 lt1 m6 and i thought it was fast but could only turn a best of 14.38@98 in the quarter with a 2.1 60'. then again i do believe that if my buddy would have drove it he would have shaved a good 2 tenths off that time.
on the other hand, my 97 is an a4 and only has the 273 gears in it...i feel that it is actually faster than my 94 with 342's. i always thought it would be the 94 which is stronger because of tthe higher compression and the cam. i'm anxious for spring to come so i can see if the 97 really is faster, but again my vote is for the 285hp 97lt1.

 

I did a lot of research, and when I decided on my camaro, I was EXTREMELY specific (which made it hard to find). I had to have a 1994 M6.

IMO, the first years SUCK...there's always bugs. The next year (1994 in the case of 4th Gens) has usually addressed all the kinks and problems. And, IMO, when you try to improve on a good thing, you can often create new problems. My friend's 97 had SOOOO many problems, before 80K miles, it'd had 4 transmission failures!!!

My 1994 has 156K miles and no major parts replaced (opti WP clutch).

DJ