well, as it turns out, my LT1 has a rod knock now. thinkin something must have gotten in the pan when I was doin the head/cam install over the winter. there is metal specks in the oil filter to go along w/the noise. Im plannin on replacing the bearings w/o taking out the eng. since I can use my hoist at work and hopefully save myself alot of time. but if something looks messed up other then just the bearings themselves, then the eng. will come out and I'll go through it all.

I want a high press/volume oilpump, but what one works good in these LT1s? same as standard small chevy? also, if the crank/rods look damaged, I'll take it all apart and install forged crank/rods/pistons. what crank has the best strength-vs- price ratio? how much power can the stock LT1 crank take if I just get rods/pistons? if I get a crank/rods/pistons, I'll do the 383. what crank/rods/pistons work good for this? just trying to see who has used what with good results. guess I'll have to start doin some homework.
chris

 

Hey Chris, that sucks that it might have a rod knock. As far as your questions go, I have heard that the standard melling high volume pump for a standard 350 will work good in the LT1, if you end up doing pistons and such you should go ahead and get some pistons to lower your compression ratio so you can put a blower on it, or make it a 383 if you need to overbore the cylinders. Try posting this over at www.corvetteforum.com, there are a lot of people that have upgraded rods, pistons and crank, someone over there should help as well. Anyway good luck, if you need any help with working on it just let me know. Also I can try and get some info from the GM engineers who designed and tested the LT1/LT4 to see how much power they ran out of those stock cranks.

 

thanks john. this really does suck. hopefully all I have to do is replace the bearings. if I have to go through the whole eng., I'll have to do that at home w/o the lift. I know I'll spend along time if I have to do that. wish me luck. Im geting started on it tomorrow at work.

 

Chris,

Yeah, I saw that you were done with the project when the Z was out of the garage a few days back while driving by. That really does suck though. I hope that doesnt happen to me this winter when I do the heads and cam. As for an oil pump, a stock pump blueprinted along with a white high pressure spring is all you need. The melling stock replacement pump would be just as good and cheaper. Get that pickup tacked on and you're set. Our stock pumps are damn good and will easily do the job. Good luck with your project.

 

Hey Chris, let me know how it goes tomorrow. If you need to pull the engine let me know I'll give you a hand. Good luck.

 

thanks scott, I'll do the melling pump/pickup. yeah, I know to tack weld it on. us dearborn heights area guys need to get together some time and go to tele. or something.
john, I'll keep ya posted. I wont get to it till later in the afternoon though.

 

Hey Chris sorry to hear of the bad luck
if you do a 383 remember i have the gm 3.8 stroke cranks by cola
there new in the box $700
see what you can get them for let me know

 

Yeah we all need to meet up somewhere one weekend. I'm always on Tele on the weekends just cruising with all my friends and up at 50's. If you see like 10 fox-bodies and a silver Z28 w/ chrome Z06's, thats me. Rain or shine, I'm ready to cruise.

 

damn, when did you change your screen name? yeah, I did remember you had those cranks, couldnt remember what/how much you had though. if I go that route, Im thinkin I might get a prebalanced package. where did you get those cranks from? I have heard cola cranks are one of the best. if so sounds like a good price.

 

A note just in case. About 3 years ago on the f-body.ogr event list right after the event 3 or 4 people had lost the bottom end of their motors. Well after several weeks of cyphering it was found that they all had done top end work and they all had the factory oil cooler. And every one of them found the screen in the oil cooler to be plugged starving the motor for oil.
Something for you to check if your's has the oil cooler. It would suck for you to rebuild it just to have it burn up again. Like one hard headed kid on the SS list did

 

damn, good thought. I will def. check that. I fig. that Id find something like that and I will def. check that . thanks alot for the info.

 

SCAT makes reasonably priced components from mild to wild. Check them out at www.scat.com

Check on Ebay also... many small, lesser known manufacturers sell there. Thats where I got my kickbutt converter.

Kevin

 

Opps... wrong addy. Anyhoo... check Ebay.

Good luck.

Kevin

 

yeah well the website could have been a WHOLE lot worse than that one ifya know what I mean. I have there website, the only prob. is they dont list prices on there for some reason. Im goin to look into that and eagle products. thanks for the thought though hink.

http://www.scatcrankshafts.com/specialsmblckkits02.html

 

Chris, you might try doing an oil analysis before you pull it down. Blackstone Labs only charges about $30 for it and they will interpret it for you. An oil analysis can tell you a lot about what may have caused the damage and how bad it is before you start taking out bearings.

You and I have something in common. My first race after we did the cam install brought to light some engine problems. An oil analysis said very high aluminum, lead, tin and copper. The aluminum I'm confident is from my Scorpion rocker arms. My studs were gouging into the base of them. The lead, tin and copper are obviously bearings. My knock sensor goes crazy even at idle. Oh well, we both had good mileage out of our stock bottom ends right?