I just bought an engine and transmission out of a 94 police package caprice. It is an LT1 and 4L60e combo. I only paid 100 dollars for the pair as it was missing some front accessories and brackets. Two questions for now...I have heard of motor mount problems between LT1's in caprices and of those in my 86 iroc. Is this true or false? And, is it possible to purchase a fuel rail and how much is it?

 

Just wondering, but do you get it from a 'yard in Maryland? I saw a police car caprice with an LT-1 in it at a yard that I go to.

 

Nope, I am in MA

 

Ok. just thought Id ask. BTW, get rid of the iron heads and put some aluminum ones on that thing. The iron LT1 heads that came in the caprices and impalas suck.....alot!

 

Arent they the same iron heads that came on the camaro? What size valves are they? What size intake runners and combustion chambers do they have? Are they really that much different in design from the aluminum heads?

 

no, the F-bodies and vettes all got aluminum heads that are much better and much lighter than the iron heads. I dont have any specs but I know that the iron heads did not flow as much as the aluminums.

 

Before you go chucking the heads into the trash I'd reconsider. Everything I've always heard/read has said that the iron heads used on b-body LT1's were a better design than the aluminum LT1 castings. The LT4 aluminum heads were better than the iron ones though. Supposedly, the Vortec heads' were designed after the iron LT1 castings. One of the car magazines (CHP I believe)tested the then new LT4 HOT Cam kit on an iron head LT1 and made 420hp and if I remember correctly, they said that the alum heads made a little less power. Food for though. Check for yourself. You'll also want to consider which one responds the best to porting and modifications. I'd definately check with some veteran Impalla SS owners first, they can tell you if your heads are worth keeping.

 

check out thirdgenresource.com, I think they might be able to help you with your question about the motor mounts.

 

Interesting topic. What's the difference in weight? I am curious if the extra hp of the iron heads would be negated by the additional weight.

Also, if you plan on removing the heads I would consider a rebuild. Since it was a police engine I am sure it needs it.

 

I would aslo consider weight. And that is a good point about the rebuild. My neighbor bought a couple of 9c1 caprice's and both came from a small town police dept about 20 miles from here. The engines were alot more worn than I would have thought. The LT1 not only had to be rebuilt, but it had to be line bored as well, and the cylinders were very out of round and ridged real bad. It's easy to forget that the mileage on these cars only tell half the story. Think of how many thousand hours the cars sit idling. And how hard they are driven to catch up to a speeder. Cops are some of the most crazy, speedin, "drive it like you stole it" driver's out there. They'd run tit for tat with a 16-17 year old kid with they're first v8 in how much abuse they can put on a car.
$100 bucks though, I would buy it. You can't go wrong for that price. I'd venture to say that the intake, and fuel rails would cost you more than that if you were going to do the LT1 intake conversion on a gen 1 engine.
food for thought.
Good Luck, Draino

 

Iron headed LT1's will outflow the aluminum ones. And they have more material for porting.

But with the aluminum, you get lighter heads and higher compression right off the bat.

As far as motor mounts, I'm pretty sure you can use the stock mounts in your car as it should bolt up to the block.

 

You only have to swap the passenger side motor mount from your existing smallblock onto the lt1. The Drivers side b-body is the same.

LT1 Iron heads used a thinner head gasket to bump up the compression. They also do flow 20% greater than aluminum stock.