Question for those of you who have been there and know, is it cheaper or more beneficial to build an earlier 350 with a carb (or the TBI youve got sitting in your car already) or drop in a lightly warmed over LT1?

I ask because heres my dilemma. I have a 350 short block already and its a roller motor, i just stumbled across a good deal on a rather fresh running LT1 with computer and all the wiring and all. However i do have my TBI from my old car i could use with the short block i already have plus already having it makes it that much better. However i would still have to buy heads, which seem to be about the same price of the LT1 im looking at thats ready to run (of course id add a cam and a few other things before hand) so there it is. shortblock 350? Or ready to go LT1? Which would be cheaper? Which would be a better choice? How much harder is it to install an LT1 than a 350? Sorry if some of these questions can be answered in the stickies, i looked through those already and got lots of great info but some of it is kinda mumbo-jumboed together so i thought id ask and get all my problems out of the way in one shot. Thanks guys!

 

Well i can tell you that i went from a 350 roller vortec tbi to the lt1.
I like the lt1 but its essentially the same block as the roller 350.
So your only doing this for a better fuel injection and ready to go head setup. Its all in what cards you want to play. tbi can only handle so much

Theres more swap info on the lt1 than i could read and i got mine done.

 

Thanks. Yeah really my whole dilemma is that ive been looking for heads for my short block and theyre about the same price as the entire LT1 with computer and all. And thats before buying what i might need to swap the TBI onto the 350 and get it set up and working right. How hard was it swappin over to your LT1?

 

I think you'll find the fuel pressure for the LT1 is higher than the TBI motor, you may need to swap fuel pumps if you go LT1...

 

If you're needing good factory heads AND fuel injection... the LT1 is hard to beat. It's basically the same as a roller 350 block, but to me the big advantage is the fuel injection it has. It's not the greatest, but it's a lot better and more affordable than anything on a Gen I 350. Go price out a miniram (very similar to the LT1 intake) or figure out how to convert an LT1 intake to a Gen I block and you'll quickly see what I mean.

It can be done, but the LT1 is a hell of a steal in some regards. In others you're just better off using a roller 350 block. Just depends on specifics about what you want to do. There's not much you can do to an LT1 that you cant do to a roller 350. But if you want some cheapo fuel injection that works well and decent factory heads for one low price, the LT1 works.

Just be sure to factor in the costs of the LT1 swap. Im pretty sure the serpentine setups dont interchange, so you'll need new accessories. Also you'll have to either get a 4l60e or adapt your TV cable to work with the LT1 throttle. It's a solvable problem, but annoying. If you run a 4th gen trans you'll need a converter box for the speedo. Higher pressure fuel pump... etc. Just a lot of little things like that.