Ok so to start with, I read the swap tech article thing nd it still left me with my thmb up my @$$. So that being said and me and the search buttonnot getting along I have this to add: Hi, My name is Dane and I own a 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Mecham Racing Motor Sports Edition with 77,550 miles all original. I recently picked up a 1995 Caprice LT1 with 2500 miles on it after rebuild, the headgaskets were blown. I plan to use a Painless wiring harness and a 1995 Caprice computer since the painless setup makes it stand alone an I know someone who can tune it for me. Along with the Engine I'm using a TKO 5speed and keeping my stock 4:10 gears and my LSD. How much trouble am I looking at? A/C is of no concern to me, and neither is the smog system if I dont need it, so it will pretty muchbe a straight forward install. Thanks In advance for any advice and help.

First thing you should do is verify that its an LT1. My parents bought an engine for an a 4th gen I had as a christmas present one year that turned out to be the L99. The ONLY way to tell besides casting numbers is that the Lt1 will say 327 on the passenger side of the block near the engine mount location. That might keep you from running into problems later on down the road.

It says 588 on the side of the bloc, boths sides, and in the front, WTF does that mean then?

ok as a side note, on the drivers sid front of the block it has G-7 327 so whats the deal here

ok after reading some Wiki I have th 4.3L, so what do I have to do to make it an LT1? Punch it out, ported heads and bigger valves along with a cam and what not?

You can do the machine work if you really want to. It will cost WAY more money to do than then it would to just buy a real LT1/ However, the best bet is to contact the person you bought it from about returning your money for an improperly listed item. If that doesn't work then there's not much you can salvage from the engine honestly.

The intake is the exact same as the LT1 but the fuel rails are NOT. DO NOT USE THEM. I made that mistake in my old Camaro and found out after I sold it that the disconnect fittings are different on the Caprice and Camaro engines even though they physically plug in and work. After fitted together they will NOT come apart.

The accessory bracket is different, as is I believe the belt driven accessories. Even the bolts are different between the two brackets. Your best bet is to find a complete LT1 from an fbody and go from there. That way you know exactly what you have and don't have to worry about the small stuff.

I think all I was able to use off my L99 was the belt tensioner, like one or two bolts that luckily fit in other places, the throttle cable bracket, the fuel rail (which bolted in but was a huge mistake), the coil and ignition control module/bracket and the PCM (which needed retuned obviously).

A couple other problems you would run into later on is injectors (I think the L99 uses 19lbs vs. 24lbs from the LT1), the heads (which can be ported but none of the big LT1 head porters will take them as core refunds), and the MAF. All the b-body cars (Caprice, Impala, Roadmaster, etc) uses a 3 inch MAF instead of the 3.5 inch that the fbody and y body got. That would cause a lot of problems especially.

Unfortunately in my situation, I found out it was an L99 way too late to get money back so I am now stuck with this engine in the shed I can't do anything with.

Now I'm stuck with an engine I can't do anything with as well. Dammit, I thought I got a deal too, I figured it was too good to be true. i only paid $250 for this thing and there is no way I can get my money back so now I'm screwed. If I could I would buy and F-Body LT-1 but unfortunately I'm not particularly made of money ya know.

can a Mod or Admin delete this thread? I guess im back to day dreaming!


Time to do it old skool, now on goes the search for a 350 crank to put in my 4-bolt block, gotta love ground up builds!

There's an old saying, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

No need to delete this. Someone else might be able to learn from it.

maybe someone will want a 4.3 to put into there S-10 or something. Sell it outright and get your money back...

The next quote could be "All that glitters isn't gold"

Sorry to hear what happened.