Sooo,
I bought this 1985 Camaro Iroc z with a swapped 350 LT1 corvette which was new when installed and only has 20k in it if that. I got it from my brother in VA. Ran before it was parked over 5 years ago and is in good shape… Problem is I live in MA, been trying to find a shop I can tow it to to get it running so I can drive it up I’ve called every single one in the Norfolk area, none have time or flat out don’t even want to do it.

pretty certain it’s just a fuel issue and some TLC. But I can not find ANYONE who can look at it before summer.

I need recommendations or a mechanic willing to do it in the Norfolk, VA area.

 

well based on the pictures posted, that is not an LT1 motor

Looks like the stock style TPI motor, so that might help get you in somewhere. Don't mention the motor swap, most shops will avoid that like the plaque

 

I can understand the confusion sense fully assembled they look identical.

Brother is a Diesel and aircraft mechanic so unless he got scammed 10 years ago and doesn’t know the difference between a 305 and 350 I’m going to assume he is right in telling me it’s a 350 LT 1 swap.
he also did work on it such as headers etc. So hopefully he knows what he’s talking about.

I also don’t think it’s in my best interest to be disingenuous about the car just to get it into a shop that can cause more issues than solve.

 

That is a Gen 1 SBC TPI intake manifold in the picture, not an Gen 2 SBC LT1. Another way to tell: LT1 spark plug wires come from front of engine, not the back like other small block V8

There was a Gen 1 350 SBC carbureted engine called LT1 around 1970-ish.

 

hopfully it isn’t. One thing that sucks about buying cars remotely is I have yet to see it. Did see it in my brothers garage about 4 years ago. But for $1000 figured I would give it a whirl.

local performance shop said this to me.
“The biggest issue with putting a LT1 in that car is we cannot tune it. So if there are any differences when crossing the motors we cannot tune around it. This pretty much leaves us dead in the water if we need to make changes in the computer. I’d love to remove the cats for you but unfortunately we cannot since Va is a emissions regulated state. I’d love to take a look at it. But I cannot guarantee being able to make the LT1 Work with your application. There are other options, we can remove the LT1 and go back with a carbureted 350, and or Holley sniper fuel injection and a intake manifold”

He told me this without even looking at the car yet, bringing it in Monday since it’s only shop that can even look at it next week instead of summer… Wish I knew more about cars, had a $2500 budget to get it going thought that was more than enough now I’m unsure lol.

 

QwkTrip is right. It's most definitely a TPI. The LT1 motors have the spark plugs coming from the opti-spark up front, mounted over the timing cover and behind the water pump. It's like a big, flat retarded looking distributor.

 

Tune Port Intake


1995 LT1 Engine

 

is it possible to know what exactly could be in it then? Because it was %100 replaced with something.

 

Was told it was a corvette engine, so could still be a 350?

 

At this point any talk is fruitless. Best to just wait to see things when you get the car. Can't go wrong for $1K, wouldn't sweat about anything yet.

I interpret the answer from the shop as, "We don't know how to tune OBD I cars". It's definitely able to be tuned, just not a common skill set with the older computers.

 

Thanks for the help, talked to my brother again and he did confirm it’s a Corvette tuned port. He told me me he said a tuned port and the engine says tuned port all over it apparently, then I said no you said LT1 and he thought they were the same thing lol.

Goes in Monday, hopefully this makes it cheaper to fix and work on. We will see.

Thank you for clearing this up for me.