I was wondering, i always used to hear that lt1s top out up high and don't pull as much. I went on the highway for the first time in a while (for more than 10 minutes) yesterday and I was flying. I don't go on the highway often, mostly just short trips. I slowed down to like 40ish and did many wot runs till who knows what. IT was pulling better than even i expected.

Is this reputation just in comparison to an ls1? I only got bolt ons and as long as the tranny was in the optimum gear, i was pulling like crazy. So wahts all this fuss about?

 

top out about 5700 rpm. Its really not so bad, the exhaust is the restriction.

 

All they are saying is the power falls off up top on the LT1. I feel mine start to run out of breath around 5400 especially in 3rd gear. Its not noticable unless you know the car and are looking for it, other people when I tell them that think im nutts for saying that it "runs out of breath" up top but I"ve driven LS1's and 4.6 D.O.H.C mustang cobras and compared to those two, the LT1 DEFINATLY runs out of breath up top. The difference isn't as noticable in the cobra, but its there, The LS1 on the other hand is night and day in the higher RPMs when compared to the LT1.

 

It's all in your perspective.
Compared to the LS1 that replaced it, it doesn't run good up high.
Compared to TPI 350 it replaced, it runs great up high.
Actually, LT1s run better than pretty much all the gen 1 small blocks. The exceptions would be rare, like the original Lt1 or the L79 327. Modern LT1 is a d@mn good engine.
Just my opinion- Later

 

Long tube headers fix that "running out of breath" problem like you wouldn't believe. Just a cutout might help too if you don't want to go with headers.

Myles

 

i believe they have that rep because of their stock manifolds. the heads run out of flow too, but at stock hp levels they dont hamper you nearly as much as the manifolds.

 

The heads and the stock exhaust on an LT1 definately make it less of a monster on the top end compared to the LS1.