My friend has a 1988 L03 firebird, his father has a 85 L98 from a vette, we want to take the roller cam stuff (retainers, hold down spider, lifter guides, cam and thrust plate) from the L03 and put them in the L98, and swap it for the 5.0L is this possible? Has anyone done this? What machining is necessary and can this be done without complete dissassembly of the engine. this is a 75K motor that ran perfect when it was taken out and swapped for a ZZ383 in the 85 vette. Also, will the 2 peice rear main seal on the vette motor allow it to bolt directly to the flexplate of the L03 or can we use the stock vette flexplate as the vette has a 700R4 also... thanks for any help and if there is somewhere i can find the answers to these questions please just pm me with them and delete this post as i did search and was unsuccessful

 

I knew I saw someone do this a couple years back on the board, take a look here:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...ck-accept.html

 

Making that mod calls for disassembly of the engine in order to drill and tap holes for mounting the spider at a minimum. Camshaft movement, fore and aft, has to be addressed too (thrust button and Torrington bearing).

Once all the effort and money involved in going that route is, for me, is much more involved than to just go with a retro-fit kit. Retro-fit is the way I went when I did my 86L98 TPI.

Just my view.

Jake

West Point ROCKS! Nation's TOP COLLEGE per Forbes Magazine!

 

yeah after reading that thread im thinking its too involved, what about the "solid roller"? is that feasible for a street engine? and is there any machine work involved or just new lifters and a cam? springs too obviously

 

The "right" way to put roller lifters in an '86-earlier block is to get "retrofit" roller equipment, including lifters, cam, and some sort of cam button. It was done for years before 1987. The parts are still available, including hydraulic roller, but are very pricey. You really don't want solid lifters on the street, even roller.

It's much cheaper to get an '87-later roller-ready block and do whatever it takes to get it ready to run with the stock-type roller set-up.

Bottom line is you aren't giving up that much with flat tappets. Unless you already have factory roller lifters, just stick with flat tappets.

I'm not sure about the Vette flexplate. If it's 153-tooth (12-3/4" diameter), you should be able to use it.

 

No machine work is needed if you buy a timing chain set that's already designed and comes with the 3-piece Torrington bearing to control rearward movement of the cam.

There's little difference between the cost of solid and hydraulic roller cams. However, solid roller lifters are lighter and less expensive. Also, solid roller lifters do take more of a beating due to the valve lash.

In either case, you'll need a thrust button and different length pushrods. Full roller NON self aligning rockers and guide plates are the way to go, too.

Jake

West Point ROCKS! Nation's TOP COLLEGE per Forbes Magazine!

 

how much difference is there between an L98 and an L05? since the L05 is the cheapest roller block, are the pistons that much different or will they net approx the same CR? so L98 heads and LT1 cam on an L05 with the stock intake a throttle body spacer the 5.7L injectors and ecm with headers sound ok? or should he be using a better intake manifold? should he get a throttle body from a 350 or will the stock one be ok ? he says his plan now is to stroke the 350 to a 383 btw but we are trying to come up with a cheap way to make it faster NOW lol