Hello TGO.

A quick history lesson on what's going on here. My stock 89 L98 spun a bearing and rather than turn the crank and put in oversized bearings I decided to tear the whole engine down (around 200k). I came to the conclusion to fully rebuild it (not an easy task in Germany).

In my quest for knowledge and more power, this was what I was planning and would like some second and third etc. Thoughts.

.030 over, standard rotating assembly.
LT4 hot cam
Patriot Performance Freedom Series 225cc Bowl Blended 2.08"/1.60"/64cc heads
(Now the interesting stuff)
EFIconnections LS1 PCM kit
96-97 LT1 timing cover (takes care of crank and cam position sens.)
since now completely distributorless
LT1 intake

From what I have gathered the problems here are as follows:
1) Thermostat housing: solved with remote housing.
2) LT1 intake mounting holes: solved as we've all read here, can be changed for gen1 heads.
Now the tricky stuff
3) timing cover has different mounting holes, but is it a different shape all together? or can this be fixed? unsolved
4) With no distributor, the block will need to be drilled in the lifter valley to mount the oil pump drive gear. See pic of problems here. The LT1 had a raised area for the drive shaft where the Gen1 block is flat with the rest of the valley. I believe this can be solved by drilling and spacing with washers or a single thick shaft. status: unsolved

These are/were my plans if I can figure out the 2 problems holding me up they will go on unless I'm missing something which is one of my ulterior motives to this thread. Which I hope someone here can point out for me. I figure to find out for myself it'll cost around $150-$200 which I may do after I fix another BMW to sell, and have a little spending money.

Thanks in advance, Kenny.

 

Well for a moment lets say that anything can be done as with enough money anything can be. However lets talk about the practicality of it for a moment. I mean for example the oil pump drive issue. It wouldnt be terrably hard to have some mettal welded into the block to account for the issue you were discussing. However being that its cast iron you have to know what your doing to weld it. That means youll probably need a certified welder to take on that project. So again even though it can be done it will cost you a fair amount to have it done. The LT1 timing chain cover for the cam sensor again im sure it can be modified to be retrofitted onto your block but at the expence of doing it it might not be worth while. Now this are ways to run the LS1 computer using existing factory production parts that already exist at much less expense. I know that cars like these by their definition are expensive but with the money you saved by going a more conventional route you might have been able to buy a supercharger. Or for example your talking about useing alot of LT1 parts at the cost of getting your L98 rebuilt and upgraded to LT1 parts run by an LS1 computer you probably could have just bought an LT1 and the parts to do the swap or perhaps even an LS1. Thats just my opinion though other than that your build seems fine the heads I think are a little to big though. Ide say AFR 180"s or vortecs would be better.

 

Yeah, you're right I liked the idea of running GenI block, GenII intake and GenIII ignition. But it is very impractical and a LT1 would make a lot more sense. The only reason why I was looking to do it this way is because I already have a GenI block, and to ship a LT1 over here isn't worth it. There is still enough GenI blocks around here in Europe that it wouldn't be so bad if I had to do an engine swap "on the fly". But of course I would have to do the same machining on the replacement block. So I'm looking at just a regular old rebuild with a little more power.

Thanks for your input I do appreciate it, Kenny.

 

Well if you wanted you can still run the LS1 ECM as chevy already makes all the parts you would need that will bolt right on no real fabrication or modifications needed. Shipping if you couldnt find them locally might be a bit crazy but i think it could be reasonably done. However i think the benifits of doing such don't justify the expense. Other than that though some decent heads whatever you decide the lt1 cam a good intake of your choosing and you'll have a healthy motor.