[toomanytoyz]

I swear I miss out on a ton of posts because of that damn "view new posts" button. I only surf by using that, but if I do happen to look into the individual areas, theres a TON of stuff I miss!!!!

/rant

Sorry 'bout that! Had to vent!

Sal, the biggest restrictions for the stock motor are the intake and exhaust. You can easily open up about 15-20 horses if you "fix" both those poblems. If you delete home plate and first base (look at your engine and you'll see what I mean) and swiss cheese or cut out the stock airbox, it'll help A LOT! A plain old hockey puck will take car of home plate. I used two 45* 3" pvc bends and a 2" piece of pvc and a 3" rubber coupler (Home Depot, less than 10 bucks) to eliminate "1st base" by making a short "S" shaped path. And the airbox, just cut out the bottom side and front and you'll realy wake the car up. The stock mufflers are very restrictive too. I use Summit Turbo mufflers ($14.75 each!) to replace the stockers. The sound great and an exhaust shop should be able to install them for less than 50 bucks. And they don't intrude, noise wise. But you'll get PLENTY of compliments on the sound.

Also, the throttle body coolant bypass helps out too, and it's a free mod. There's a coolant line that runs from the coolant tank to the TB that circulates hot coolant through it to prevent icing in the winter. It doesn't get cold enough to worry about that where I am, nevermind where you are. So all it does is heat up the air charge into the plenum. Cooler air is "more powerful" air so any way you can cool it will help. So you disconnect that line from the TB side and route it to the intake where the outlet from the TB goes. It's a free mod. I have pics if you need them.

So if you do those, you're out less than 100 bucks and you'll have a big SOTP improvement. You'll probably be a few tenths quicker at the track too...

 

[toomanytoyz]

Sal, check out this thread from my local club for info on the intake. Great info there! There a few links in it you may want to bookmark, like the Impala Technical Archive page.

Here's a pic of my pvc pipe intake (sewer pipe) and you can see where the hocket puck would go in the elbow at the TB. I had an aluminum plug my friend made in there (with a chevy bowtie on it), but a plain old, ice hockey puck works fine! I had a Bruins one in there for a while.

You may want to join up on the www.impalassforum.com and search for the TB bypass mod over there. Tons of info and a great group of guys!

 

[toomanytoyz]

I tried taking a look at that link but the page must have been taken down.. Is there a replacement yet?

http://impala.homeip.net/impala/technical/tech.cgi?intake

 

[toomanytoyz]

I would hesitate to do any "internal" engine mods to the stock LT1 since they are well known to cause bearing failures. If you don't believe me, you can verify this by checking out the last edition of GM High-Tech Performance. There was a small mention of the issue in it.

I can't believe you referenced that article... Of all people who I thought would raise the BS flag on that one, you'd be at the top of my list. That article was a joke. Yeah, some people have noticed bearing failure. Most haven't. People having bearing failure on stock motors too. If you do it right, you've got nothing to worry about. But, that's neither here nor there, as he isn't going that way with his car...

 

[toomanytoyz]

Thank you! I'll be paying a lot of attention to this thread for awhile. And I'll sign up over at those other forums as soon as I can...

You don't need to sign up at the other places to view the threads. But I suggest you check the one from my local club. It's very recent, and there are some GREAT pictures in it. And some great links too... Very helpful link.

 

[toomanytoyz]

Bill,
Once again, I find myself scratching my head over one of your posts. More times than I can count, you post comments like this one and it makes me wonder what you are basing the statement on.
For a guy that admittedly has virtually no automotive experience, lets his freinds do the mods to his car while he either watches or aids as a "helper", you tend to have rather strong opinions concerning technical topics. Sal started the thread to gather the largest amount of technical info that he could concerning modding the LT1 and not necessarily just to aid him in his personal quest for possible mods for his car. My comment about the article was to point out that doing the mods described in the article to the LT1 DOES IN FACT pose a very real threat to the very life of the engine as described. I think it's rather wreckless to blatently discount an article like this, especially considering the parties involved. I'm sure Jason Cohen of Motorsport Technologies, Inc. would be more than happy to explain his comments to you.
IMO, anyone giving automotive advice should try to be as cautious as possible with other peoples money, especially people with such limited automotive experience.

Kevin, I do not claim to have " virtually no automotive experience" as you say. As a matter of fact, I believe I know quite a bit about the automotive world. I'm just not as comfortable actually doing some of the big jobs by myself. So I joke about it... That's no reason to go after me here. It just makes you look like more of an *******. This is supposed to be a friendly discussion board, and just because I don't agree with you, you once again lash out at me. And you don't just do it to me. It's getting tiresome and I'm getting sick of it again. You know, it is possible to disagree with someone without insulting them. You really piss me off sometimes. Ever hear the phrase "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"??

I read that article, and I think it's total BS, only published to make people worry unneccessarily. Yeah, there is always the risk of failure whenever you do a mod, especially a big one like heads and cam, but like I said, if you do it right, and pay attention, you most likely will be fine. I have seen both sides of the discussion, and I know people who have done this. There have been failures, but they had come down to assembly issues or poor parts choice. The big reason some LT1's tend to spin bearing after a heads and cam package is because some people go with such a radical set up, and rev the motor to the moon because their new heads and cam will do that, that they go well outside the boundaries of what is safe with the stock shortblock, and stock oiling system. You just have to know the limitations and plan accordingly. But like I said, this is not what Sal is planning to do, so it doesn't really matter.

 

[toomanytoyz]

Kevin, I'm not going to get into another childish pissing match with you. In a nutshell, all I can see in that artice is "If you do heads and cam without us, you'll grenade your motor, but WE know how to do it right, so pay the extra money and let us do the work." That's all magazine articles are anyways. The vendor paid a great deal to get their name in there. Yeah, magazine articles are gospel... That's the way I see it. And, Yes, I know what misaligned main bearing bores and thermal fatigue are. I'm not going to go into full definition mode to redeem myself in your eyes, because to me, it's not worth the effort. If you think I'm an idiot, or if you think I'm full of sh!t, then fine. Believe what you want. This is the internet and I've got nothing to prove. Believe me or don't. I don't need to get worked up over this with you, it ain't worth it. I come to these boards for fun. But it seems when I come to this one all I do is argue with you.

So much for putting together a LT1 mod list...

 

[toomanytoyz]

Gentlemen - We are grateful for the knowledge and experience both of you bring to the table. You have both stated your opinions in this matter and the reasoning behind them. There is clearly some disagreement. Please let's refrain from making this an unpleasant discussion. You are both entitled to think whatever you want about each other - *but* it is counterproductive to attempt to undermine each other publicly with barbs. The information from both of you is appropriate to the discussion Sal started - as long as it's done without rancor.

That's what i was trying to get at... But I didn't put it across as well.

 

[toomanytoyz]

Those movies are great! I've seen so many of them... And even though they're the same scenes over and over, they're still funny!

So Sal, what are your first mods gonna be???

 

[toomanytoyz]

As for that 1LE elbow - is it easily available?

Yup. it's about 50 bucks at your local dealer. It's for the Camaro Z28 1LE package. I have it on my car now. But a hockey puck is a good budget alternative...

I'll answer the K&N question too. I got an S&B 7" long filter. It's a 3" ID if I remember corretly. I chose the S&B because it has a filter element in the end of it too, instead of just a closed cap. But it's the same style as a K&N. The cold air box I have is a Mark Michna/Team SS box, but he no longer makes it. It's easy enough to make out of sheetmetal though. I can take some pics and measurements if you want... (unless Kevin can convince you I don't know how to use a tape measure )

 

[toomanytoyz]

That whole "I'm just going to keep it stock" mentality lasted all of a day and a half, huh? lol

Yeah, you sound like you understand everything. If you're going to use a K&N cone filter, then you'd also get rid of your stock airbox. And if you do that, you can just us a straight piece of 3" PVC.

Programming is required for the gear change. Everything else on your list can be done without it. I would recommend Tunercat (www.tunercat.com). It only costs like 20 bucks for the definition file that you need to program for your car, the software is free. It allows you to do all the tuning you'd need to do. That and a 80 dollar cable and a laptop and you're ready to go. The LT1 Edit software Kevin mentioned is great stuff, but it is out of control, pricewise.

The flowmaster cat back comes with an H-pipe. It just allows the exhaust pulses to balance out and it tends to tame the exhaust sound. Supposedly it is supposed to enhamnce the low end torque, but I didn't notice anything. If I were you though, I'd just save the money (500 bucks *or so* installed for a cat back) and go with the summit turbos for now. They're a great, cheap budget mod. And they sound great... You've seen at least one video of my car and heard them...

I went with the 3.73's and wasn't too impressed. I noticed a bit of midrange acceleration improvement, but mileage took a big hit and the highway RPM's were a bit high (IIRC, 2900ish @ 75mph). I'd recommend the 3.42's and an Eaton posi unit. You can get the parts for about 500-600 smackaroos and installation will run you between 200-500, depending upon your "connections." I know of a guy in NY (LI, I think) that will take care of you on the install for about 200 bucks, when you get to that point.

I can't wait to see it in E-town!

 

[toomanytoyz]

It really depends Sal. Some guys seem to get much better results than others. I assume it's do to WHO actually is doing the work, and WHAT specific parts are used. My car seemed to respond very well to the intake and exhaust mods. Hell, I haven't done much else besides those and the gears. My 14.5 is totally just the product of INTAKE, EXHAUST, GEARS, and PROGRAMMING. Hell, I haven't even done a tune-up to the car since I've owned it.

Kevin, does your car still have the stock converter, too? You must have a Wednesday car. With intake, exhaust and gears, my car would only run a 15.2! mines probably a Friday afternoon car... Hell, I had to do a cam and rollers in addition to what you did to run my 14.4!