what do you guys think...i got 3500 bucks saved up for this winter...i just got my iroc i paid 3400 for it...i know i can get a nice 4th gen Z28 for around 6 grand...what do you guys think i should do, put a Lt1 6 speed into my iroc or just buy a 6 speed z28 or transam around a 96 or so???

 

if you want a 4th gen, you're going to have to sell your Iroc. You're not going to find a decent 6 speed LT1 for less than $5K. on the other side though, you could probably do the entire swap for $2500 and have some left over for some mods.

 

yea i realize i would have to sell my iroc...i figure i can get 3500 for it, cause it was quite dirty when i got it, and i've put like 500+ into it...lately i've just been thinking about what to buy for my iroc, but i worked 5 months for this money, and i'm 18, going to college in a year, and i'm wondering if I should get something a little newer and a bit more practical and more reliably than what i have right now...i'm just wondering if it would be worth haveing a Lt1 in a 3rd gen, or if i should jsut step upto a newer 4th gen...

 

If it were me, I'd get a 3rd gen w/ LT1 engine. Not only will this impress people (who know about cars, chevys in particular) but a 4th gen already has the LT1 in it so there's no "hoo-haw" about it.

Do you want the newer gadgets and newer/better aesthetics on the inside of the 4th gen, or the nice body lines of the 3rd gen?

Some say that the 3rd gen looks like poop, but the only 3rd gens they've seen are rust buckets and are a poor excuse for a vehicle in general.

I've noticed lately that the 3rd gens are STARTING to get 2nd looks because they're becoming collectibles! They arent quite the "stare at the 1st gen camaro until you a) hit something, or b) it leaves view" but it's at the starting point back in the early 80s the 1st gens were viewed very similarly to the 3rd gens now days.... you some day might regret getting rid of your 3rd gen.

So.... why not get best of both worlds? Do the LT1/T56 swap for the 2500 quoted above, spend some time in a junkyard and doing some wiring and upgrade the interior with 4th gen (from a 98+ even if you wanted), then everyone would be impressed with the ride all around!

 

i like the body lines of both cars, my 3rd gen and the 4th gen trans am..i'm nto a big fan of the 4th gen camaro's...i would also just like the newer technology that the 4th gen offers...new dash, the suspension is a bit more luxury instead of riding on the haywagon 3rd gen suspension....it would be really hard to get rid of my 3rd gen and would definatly take some smooth talking with my dad because i already bought lowering springs and a ss hood for it, and he's really excited to start working on it this winter..but i think it might be a bit mroe practical to get a 4th gen, but maybe i'm wrong...how hard would it be to put a 4th gen dash/interior in a 3rd gen??? would it be easier because i have the 4th gen motor???

 

It sounds like you want the guts of a 4th gen wrapped around a 3rd gen skin. I would buy the 4th gen. You will need more than $2500 for a complete swap. I am sure it can be done for that but you are young and will most likely need a little more cash here and there to complete the swap. A 4th gen will give new newer asthetics with decent stock power (that is already assembled). Plus you need a bunch of other stuff for your swap other than the motor and trans itself. I own both a 3rd and 4th gen car and I did spend 5 years in school trying to pay for both of them all the while modding them. Stick with one that is already put together for now and mod it as is. You will thank yourself later when you don't have to find time and money to complete your half finished LT1 swap project.

 

Sounds like you wont have a lot of extra time and cash. Buy the 4th Gen and be done with it..for the ride and performance, you wont be disappointed. I like them both, but they are two completly different cars!

 

okay, i thinki i'll have to do that...but i gotta sell my iroc first..but the thing is, i got a new ss hood for it and sportline lowering springs for it...so what should i do??? put the springs on, put the hood on, and get a decent paint job and sell it??? also, how much could i sell it for...its a 86 iroc, it has a vette motor in it, and i could pull the motor thsi winter, and clean it up and paint some acents on it, so it looks good, it would have the ss hood on it, lowered 1.6 inches, the interior is perfect, there is 120,000 miles on the body and less than 20,000 on the motor...do you guys think i could get 5 grand for it???the nice ones are selling for a lot...

 

If the interior is perfect, and the driveline and body are good, you should be able to get $5K for it. Just be sure to mention it is a motor swap, otherwise someone who knows anything about these cars will think you're an idiot.

 

alright..i got a bad motor mount, so i'll prolly pull the motor anyways, then maybe paint red accents on the intake and valve covers or something...but yea the drivetrain is good, and underbody is rust free because it was a South carolina car...i won't forget o mention the motor swap, because most people that i say to "yea its a corvette motor" they are usually like wow, thats fast, but really its not much different from the stock 350's they put in em other than the aluminum heads....but that will be awesome if i could get 5,000+ for it...they sell better and for mor ein the spring too usually so that'll hlep out...

 

I just got those same springs, but if you want to sell the SS hood maybe we can work something out. It'd have to be shipped to CA though!

 

i'm gonna try to work something out with my dad i think...trade him my car and the hood and springs plus a grand for a 97 ford f150 Lariat Extented cab 4X4....then i'll have the car forever, but i won't be the one paying for it, but i'll be able to drive it whenever...

 

how hard is it to get LT1 parts across the border? I work at Carquest and I have a client that owns a 96 Z28 with an LT1, he's pretty rough on the thing and he got a hard time finding internal parts for the beast (GM, as usual, tries to rip him off with every piece) so, hopefully it is easier in the US to find parts... otherwise stick with a good 350 TPI from a late 3rd gen model...

 

easy...i drove to buffalo picked up a whole load of parts went to niagra while i was near and then returned to the us with no probs.

 

lol no sorry.. I was just wondering if it was as hard for them to get lt1 parts as it was for us

 

Why don't you just put a T56 behind your L98 "corvette motor" and be done with it?

The LT1 is not that much better then what you have. If anything, what you have is cheaper to get performance parts for.

Mod what you've got, don't worry about the 4th gen stuff, unless you really want to get rid of your car.

I know if I would have had the TPI 350 in my Formula, I would have never bothered to get an LT1 setup unless it was dirt cheap.

Instead I bought a cheap LT1/T56 setup to replace my 305 TBI.

 

o yea it is. there a totaly redesigned engine alot different and alot better. the bottom end, heads and cams are better too as well as far more potential from the stock intake.theres a list of positives about the lt1 that the tpi engines dont have. aside from the opti the lt1 is way better. many have even shown 12s with just a cam swap. theres now way that im aware of the restrictive tpi could do that.

buy them both

 

Lets go over that list of positives, shall we?

Better Heads
Better Cam
Better Intake
Flashable PROM (94+)

Still though, he'll have $1k or more into just a used high mileage LT1.

Not to mention he'll need fuel lines, and a lot of time if he's going to do it himself. If hes not going to do it himself, then the money is going to be rediculous.

Why bother?

Port his stock heads, port out the stock plenum and runners/replace runners, get a cam, or get some headers and cat back.

All of that can be done for $1k or so.. and those steps would really put him right in line with the LT1 or better.

Either tune/hop up what you've got or get a fourth gen.

I'm going through an LT1 swap right now..and its worth it...but if I had a 20k L98 with aluminum heads I would not even think about swapping to an LT1... maybe an LS1.

Hell get a supercharger and be done with it!

 

Exactly. If you've got an low mileage L98, keep it and mod it. If however you had a 305 on its last leg, like I did, I'd go for the LT1.

 

Stock vs stock, an LT1 isn't a whole lot better than an L98 IMO. LT1 has a little more hp, L98 has a little more torque (right?) but the LT1 has ALOT more potential, but will cost more to make power beyond easy bolt-ons than the L98 will.

4thgens are a real PITA to work on though. The engine compartment is so tight, changing spark plugs might make you cry.

 

If all you look at is hp and torque numbers, yeah there's not that much difference. but what everyone forgets about is the totally superior intake of the LT1 which has pretty much no rpm limit for a street car. What does an L98 stop at rpm wise? you do a simple cam swap to a CC306 in a stock LT1, turn it to 6500 rpm, and you're going to be running low 13's.

 

i agree with texaslt1 there are alot of cam only lts running 13s and 12s. so i would have to say the lt1 is the cheapest to get results out of.