I have the oppurtunity to get a LT1 out of a 94 roadmaster for 1000 dollars for the whole car. would this be a good deal? it runs and has i think 150 thousand miles on it. i was also thinking that instead of tryin to use the car harness i would pull the motor out of it and then either sell the car for parts or take it to the scrap yard and use that money for a stand alone harness and then get the PCM reprogrammed to take VAts and emissions off. does this sound like a good idea? what all else would i need just power steering lines and a clutch for my T5 and flywheel? i would greatly appriciate the help becuase i would like fuel injection but all the wiring scares the hell out of me seeing that im only 17 and tuning is exspensive. btw the car is a 89 Irocz with swapped t5

 

Is the car driveable? What kind of shape is it in? If good, for $1K it might make a great cruiser. Otherwise, IMO it's not money well spent if all you want is the motor. The LT-1's in these cars were equipped with less than steller performance goods, noteably the heads are iron. So after pulling the motor, all you'll end up with is the motor which will need to be rebuilt or improved upon, in which case you'll only end up with a short block. See where this is going?

If you shop around you should be able to locate a more desirable compelte 92-97 LT-1 from a Z28 Camaro, Trans Am, or Vette. Prices will vary according to mileage and condition. However, you should be able to find one for well less the $1K that your now considering putting out for the Roadmaster.
For example, I just purchased a complete running LT-1 motor out of a 93 Z, with 68K miles on it for $450.

There are several aftermarket companies that make custom wiring harnesses for LT-1's and whatever transmission you'll use. Dont let that be a limiting factor. Just do some more research.

Good luck

 

thanks alot, i never really thought about it like that. i guess il look around for a Lt1 out of a Z28.but thanks again for your help.

 

If you dont mind me asking... Any specific reason as to why your considering going the LT route? For the fuel injection? Does your car currently have a TPI motor? If TPI, 305 or 350? Does it have a motor at all? At what point are you starting from?

 

Well it did have a 350 Tpi motor but the third cylinder on the passenger side dropped a valve and tore the piston to hell and the head was trashed also, the block had already been bored .030 over so i trashed it. then i decided i wanted to make it easy and just go Carb so i pulled all the wiring out for the fuel injection because it wouldnt be used and ive found a carb motor i want also but then the other day my uncle called and told me he had that Roadmaster so i thought hey maybe i should consider it because id get better gas milage and performance. So since the other day i considered Lt1 alot but i have thought about it before. I really just wanna get this thing going lol, ready to drive it.

 

Did you keep the wiring harness (hopefully you didnt cut it up), the computer and all of the TPI stuff? Not trying to steer you or impose my opinion but you might have been time and money ahead to purchase a rebuilt crate short or long block, and reuse the TPI system since you already had it. Otherwise, you might at least want to consider an inexpensive carb'ed crate motor to get you back on the road. Some crate packages even come with warranties if that's important to you, but expect to pay a little more.

Dont be surprised that in the long run, a conversion from the original power format will end up costing you more $$ than you'd planned on spending.

Good luck

 

yeah, well the carb motor i was considering is out of a 72 C10 truck with 4 bolt mains and a pretty much new Q-jet carb runs great and stuff. not sure of miles though for $400.00 from Carb to oil pan. i would use that to get it atleast driveable and save for heads and other goodies for the summer time.

 

I can agree with the recommendation to pass on the Roadmaster if you're just going to scrap the rest of the car - too much work and you can buy used LT1's all day long for half that.
Personally, if I were putting an LT1 in the car, I'd want the factory EFI to go with it. Programming for the OBD1 (94-95) cars is dirt cheap!
I disagree totally with the remarks about the iron-headed LT1 being inferior to the Al-headed one found in the F and Y bodies. Whoever makes a comment like that has not had experience with them. The iron heads are superior to the early year Al heads and equal to the final years' Al heads. The cam in the iron head LT1's is superior to the F/Y cams below 5000 rpm. For the F/Y cam to be quicker at the track, you need a lot more gear and converter. There are 4000+ lb ImpalaSS's running low 12's with bone stock cam and heads

 

jump on it and i will buy the body from you let me know as $1000 is pretty good let me know woot woot.

 

Actually, those iron headed LT1 engines are pretty decent - give it a better cam, like the F/Y-body stuff, or the LT4 stuff, and it would be a great engine. Those iron heads are fairly well known to outflow the aluminum heads (LT1 aluminum, not LT4) by a pretty good margin. I would keep the iron heads on there, just put in one of the better cams.