Hey I’m thinking about buying a lt1 out of a 92 corvette and was wondering if this is a good idea as in will it cost a lot and what parts do i need to do it

 

I have no idea what you're working with, or your skill level, but in general:

If you have to pay someone else to do all the work, it will definitely cost a lot, IMO making an LT1 swap pretty much impractical (if I were moving away from stock, I'd step up to an LS-based swap). Traditionally, shops that do this type of work---and who do it correctly---don't come cheap.

If you're doing all the work yourself, figure the total cost of all the parts from the donor car (including the PCM, wiring harness, and everything else bolted to the engine, then double it; 'incidentals' add up quickly.

 

The LT1 is a relatively "fragile" motor. Not in terms of durability, the bottom end or anything like that; just, go back and read all the trouble people have been having with water pumps and Opti-Spark over the last 30 years. Any number of really little details about it can go wrong, that take it completely out of commission. It's not an easy motor to keep running trouble-free because it represents (kinda like the computer-controlled carbs did) the absolute maximum possible that could be attained by glomming a now-obsolete "technology" onto a platform that was already obsolete, even though the "technology" itself might have been "state of the art" AT THE TIME.

Keep in mind, 92 is among the oldest, and therefore most prone, to all of those problems.

The LT1 was discontinued in 97. That's almost 25 years ago. 25 years old = ANTIQUE. An ANTIQUE motor is never a good choice for a swap, unless it's for the sake of pure car-show nostalgia. For something you're gonna drive? not so much.

There never were very many LT1s. Consequently there aren't many available "upgrade" parts available for it either, except for what fits other small block Chevy motors as well. Any and all parts that are unique to LT1 are disappearing FAST as those ANTIQUE cars vanish from the roads. Even "repair" parts are getting even less common that they once were, all the time.

You're going to be biting off on a YYYUUUUUUUUUUUUUJJJJJJJJJJJJE swap project. It will take an outrageous amount of time, money, effort, and technical knowledge. You'll have to have detailed knowledge of wiring, tuning, fuel systems, and lots of other details, before it will have any hope of even running, let alone driving.

In 1996, this might have been A Good Idea. In 2021, not so much. That ship set sail LONG ago.

If you're asking on the Internet questions like "what parts do I need", it's OBVIOUS you haven't done one damn bit of research. You're not prepared for a project of this magnitude. My advice would be, forget about it. If you're determined to swap something into your 87, make it something you can get parts for. I'd recommend a LQ9 (6.0 out of an Escalade and a few other similar top-end vehicles).

And of course, DO SOME RESEARCH (read, read, read, read, read, read) BEFORE asking ANY questions like that about ANY swap. Like, go read the LS & LT swap forum on this site, LS1Tech, performancetrucks.net, and similar places with MODERN swap knowledge on them, and DON'T EVEN REGISTER on any of them, to eliminate the temptation to make stupid posts. JUST READ. Once you've read everything there is to read, if there's something that hasn't been covered (which there won't be), THEN AND ONLY THEN, ask questions.

 

Collin, LT1s are badass. Definitely do it. Be different. Ive owned 7 thirdgens and three 4th gens. I have a LT4 going in my 93. I have over 15 years experience with owning them. Btw, probably over 1 million LT1s built by GM. Autozone summit jegs and oreillys sell reman engines.

There is a whole die hard internet presence for the LT1. Its not going anywhere. Half the C4 crowd have LT1s and caprice and Fbodies and all will keep the opti business alive for a while longer anyway.. and IF NOT...

Look into 24x or TorqHead aftermarket LS style coil per cylinder engine control systems. Elininates the opti. Some like systems only use the fail proof side of the opti. Those systems are good too. You can mod up and go to any dyno or tuner that knows LS systems and you got tuning at your disposal.

Join AND post on LT1 forums. Impalla owners association, Corvetteforum.com, LS1tech, Ltxtech, Ls1lt1.com, Camaroz28.com, ebay Amazon here for parts.

Lloyd Elliot (LE) Advanced Induction (Ai) AFR, Dart, Edelbrock and a few more all make or port LT1. Both LE and Ai do complete head intake and cam packages. Golen makes 383 and 396 LT1s. Dart is supposedly still working on aluminum big ci 400+ LT1 blocks <----taking forever though.

Current cam only record is around 11.2@118 with some light weight reduction, def not gutted. A/c, Stock A4.

My old 210k 94 with just intake, gutted cat, Borla catback, and heavy 17x11s easilly pulled away from a modded G37 330hp 4dr on a cold az winter night from a 130 mph roll. Fun race.

Local guy bracket races his 94 z28 with intake, 2400 stall, long tubes, cutout, gears, DRs does high 12s at 108. Stock tune. His car stock with 2.73s did 13.7s.

 

Aside from a little higher static compression ratio due to the reverse flow cooling, I don't see what the advantage of a LT1 is over a Gen1 SBC.

A Minram Intake and a good set of cylinder heads on Gen1 and you're right there. Or even a Stealth Ram.

I suppose the tuning required on a Miniram can be a challenge sometimes, but the work involved in a total engine swap wouldn't be trivial either.

 

LT1s are strong, and reliably Rev really high for a stock SBC rotating assembly. 7000rpm is no problem for the rotating assembly.

The weakness is the Optispark, its too fragile, prone to errors that gut the car power wise. Its actually super accurate in terms of timing, but just too prone to break-age.

the Cam/Crank COP setup of Gen3's is much more reliable.

 

Among the other things the guys here have said, the variety and availability in parts for the LT1 won't be as robust as with a SBC or LS motor. The LT series is a middle child that lived a very short production life relative to what came before and after it... that said, I daily drive a 95 Caprice 9C1 that has an LT1 in it so I've got some experience with it and I will say that it definitely has it's strengths and weaknesses.

That said, my opinion having owned one of these engines is this... the LT1 is incredible to work with, and because of the fact that it is a middle child engine, it's got the best of both worlds. You can mitigate the natural faults of the engine (that being Optispark) by putting the distributor where it belongs... in the top back of the engine. Yes, it is possible. No, it isn't easy to do. No, I haven't done it, but I know it's possible. There's a lot you can do with it that isn't easy, but potentially worth the effort if that's what you want. The intake manifolds from a SBC use a different bolt pattern/angle to go into the heads, but with some modification you can make them work.

On the other hand, it has a few big drawbacks which you ought to be aware of before you pull the trigger...
If you need to pull the timing cover, you either need to get a relatively expensive tool to pull the crank pulley hub, or fabricate something. A regular puller will not work.
The water pump can, and will fail, and when it does, it will leak coolant through the weep hole on the bottom of the pump body, directly onto the optispark distributor located directly below and behind it when it fails. This usually (though not always) results in the failure of the distributor which means pulling the front of the engine apart to replace it. There are some tricks to make sure this doesn't happen... you hollow out a 45 degree angled zerk fitting, put it into the weep hole on the bottom of the water pump, and attach a tube leading the fluid away from the distributor. Easy fix, cheap insurance.
When the Optispark inevitably fails, aside from taking the whole front of the engine apart, you have to line it up properly... blind and likely in a fairly crammed area unless you pull the radiator and make some space for yourself. There are two different versions of the Optispark distributor, early (92-93) and late (94-97) versions. If you need to replace it, you SHOULD take the original off first BEFORE buying a new one. The good news is that if it's properly maintained, the distributor SHOULD last at least 100,000 miles. You should also go out of your way to either get the ACDelco version, OR a rebuild kit. Aftermarket units are absolute garbage!!! Aftermarket replacements are the reason for Optispark's undeserved poor reputation. (With some notable, but EXPENSIVE exceptions)

That all said... every engine has it's ups and downs. Its advantages and disadvantages. The LT1 has the potential to be a fantastic swap if you want it to be. Relatively speaking, I would say confidently that it is more reliable, and user friendly than a SBC, with the caveat being that there are a few issues that it can have which are much harder to fix than on a SBC. If you compare it to the LS platform, then you're doing it wrong. The LS platform was designed to be better than the LT1 in almost every conceivable way you can think of, and it accomplishes that goal.

To make a long story short though, at the end of the day it's your vehicle, you do with it what you want to do with it. If you like what you did by the time it's finished, then mission accomplished! That's the point of what we do here, don't let anybody take it away from you. If you don't like it, then it's a learning experience for you... and a data point for the rest of us! Good luck, hope this helped!

 

This is a great video on learning some of the little differences between a GEN I SBC and a GEN II LT series engine.

 

A 350 Vortec engine with a mild upgraded camshaft will make as much power as an LT1. Vortec heads are a bit heavier but they flow just as good as the LT1 cylinder heads. Be a much easier and cheaper route to go Vortec.

 

Not only that, but parts for the Vortec will be much more plentiful, there will be much more variety, they won't need any sketchy modifications to work, and they'll probably be cheaper too. From a rational perspective, I'd be much more apt to jump on the Vortec SBC than an LT.

The LT brings its reverse flow cooling system which may help you squeeze out a little more compression and power, and many of it's faults can be mitigated... the question is whether one believes it's worth the money and effort. If they want something cool to talk about which may actually be a pretty strong performer, then there's nothing wrong with getting an LT. It's just a matter of seeing how much you're willing to spend vs how much it'll cost to do, and how much work is involved even if you leave it stock and bring over the computer controls to make it all work.

 

The Gen-2 SBC LT1 (Not the Gen-1, and not the Gen-5) was a temporary Engine Platform to replace the Gen-1 SBC Engine, while the Gen-3 Engines were not ready.
If the Gen-3 Engines were developed and produced on time... there would have never been any Gen-2 Engines in production Vehicles.

As others have already stated...
The Gen-2 Engines were very short lived (since they were only a temporarily solution), had some dumb issues, and do not have much Aftermarket support compared to the other SBC Generations.
There was very little development compared to the other Generation Engines...
And very little Engineering done to remedy the issues with the Gen-2 Engines.
I almost always recommend that People pass on a Gen-2 Build.

Yes the Gen-2 Engines can be built to be a nice 400+ HP Engine... but they are far from ideal.
The recommendation to build a Vortec Gen-1 SBC instead was a great recommendation.

They are generally less expensive, can be built mild to wild, have much more Aftermarket support, can easily be run with anything from:
-An HEI Distributor and Four-Barrel Carburetor to...
-Factory Ignition and Fuel-Injection, or...
-Distributorless Ignition with one Coil per Spark-Plug and Holley EFI.

There are so many options.
Keep the Engine mostly STOCK, but make a few upgrades:
-A hydraulic-roller Camshaft with roughly 0.480" to 0.500" Lift and 220 to 230 Duration @0.050"
-BeeHive Valve-Springs that match the Camshaft.
-An Edelbrock (Vortec) Performer RPM Air-Gap Intake-Manifold
-A 650 CFM Carburetor... Vacuum Secondary Edelbrock or Holley

Now you have a 425 to 450 HP Engine that is a stock Long-Block with a Cam and Intake Upgrade.