hey. im new here. i have a 88 firebird v6 and im wondering what is the best swap to do. my goal is for a street/strip car, mostly for crusing on fridays/saterdays and shows and racing at the strip. i was wondering what would be the best route. LS1 and fix it up as i go, or build a Supercharged LT1 and be good to go right away. thanks.

 

Depends on how much money you want to spend

Anything with the letters LS1 in the description costs 5 times more.

 

What is your budget? How much power do you want to make? Both are great platforms to work from. If money is not an issue you shouldn't consider anything less than a basic Gen III motor.

 

well, i dont really have a budget as of the moment, im still trying to find out a number so i can get some money from the bank.

 

Money from the bank and my credit card is how I did it.....

I'm gonna be paying this motor off for a long time to come, lol

 

LS1 is a better motor swap. But that doesnt mean the lt1 is a waste. What do you want the car tor do?

 

"for crusing on fridays/saterdays and shows and racing at the strip."

I can get an Lt1 for $1200 with no trans, but i just emailed some places to see if they have any LS1s. i would prefer an ls1, but they seem hard to find around here.

 

LS1's are going to range anywhere from 2k-3k depending on milage and year. For a good Engine/trans set up your looking at about 3500 for a auto and 4000 for the manual. These are just the average but i have seen ocassionly really good buys under 3k for trans and motor but not very often.

Either one you will spend a good chunk of change on other parts to get that engine in there and running. LT1 again being a little cheaper then the LS1 to do so. Average going cost i would say to do a LS1 swap(motor and all) is anywhere from 6k-10k depending on how you do.

Dont really know the exact cost for a LT1 swap but i'm sure someone here that has done it will chime in but i would guess anwhere from 3500-6k again depending how much you do.

LS1 is going to be the better engine making more power out of the box, and responds great to aftermarket support, but the LT1 is no dog. My dad drives a 96 trans am and its a blast to drive and can be a good porformer with some mods, biggest difference is above 3k rpm's the LS1 just pulls a lot harder up there.

It really comes down to your budget either one is going to be a lot better then your TPI motor and will get you where you want to go. Just make sure you search a lot that way you get a very good idea of needs to be done becuase there is a lot of little things that need to be done to get these engines up and running in our cars.

Justin

 

One side note, its cheaper to mod a LT1. LS1 parts cost alot more, all the way down to bolts.

 

LT1 sounds better

 

I beg the differ

 

I did a LT1 swap and am very pleased with it, but now that I look at it, it would have been nicer to have the extra power of the LS1 to start with. Either swap is worthwile and will generate a few compliments where ever you go.

 

I love my LT1, the LS1's are nice, but you gotta be careful on which one you get in them because some had some awful piston slap. I can get you an LS1 as I know of a place that has a few of them, but you're looking at about twice as much for an LS1....around $2500 or so just for motor, wiring, PCM.

Performance parts for the LT1 are less expensive. Rebuild kits are less as well if you ever had to do that, I got a complete kit with rod bearings, main bearings, rings, gaskets, oil pump for less than $400 and that's top name stuff, not the autozone stuff you get in their kits.

 

thanks for the imput guys does anyone know where you can get on around BC canada, or anyplace close? cause i dont know how much shipping would be from some of the places i found (texas and arizona)

 

last week i saw a ls1 t56 combo go for 610.00 on ebay

 

i'd look into turbos before superchargers. LT1 is good bang for the buck. It would be cheaper to buy a whole donor car, well, if you could find one cheap. If you go with LT1 try to find a 95. If you find an LS1 really really cheap, um, buy it. I dont know which engine is easier to put in.

 

i'm on my third TPI motor and i also have an LT1 in the vette. after heads, cam, springs, intake, throttle body, headers, torque converter, gears and everything else, i'll be running high 11's.

ls1 may be more initially but it is a way better platform to mod to get power. i will one day swap in a LS* into the GTA

my vote goes for ls1!

 

you ever look into a crate engine or turnkey package?
i dont care what anyone says
if i had the budget i would do it in a heartbeat

i still have wet dreams of a nice efi lsx though
just cant even afford to finish putting together and old push rod v8 on my budget

 

could i do something like this? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/98-Tr...08341356QQrdZ1 and convert it to a T-56? could i re-program the computer? or just sell it and buy a t-56 computer? thanks

 

just look for "fparts" (sp?) on there...its contemporary corvette, a seller/junkyard in PA that sells a ****load of fbody and y body parts. they have ls1/t56 packages starting above $3K

 

Call Tennessee Auto the site isn't updated currently, but he always has both LT1's and LS1's in stock.

 

LS1 all the way