so.. wikipedia says "The 1992 LT1 in the Y-body was factory rated at 300 hp (220 kW) and 330 lb·ft (447 N·m). 96 LT1 Y-bodies were rated at 300 hp (220 kW) and 340 lb·ft (461 N·m). The 93–95 F-bodies were rated at 275 horsepower (205 kW) and 325 lb·ft (441 N·m), while the 96–97 cars were rated at 285 horsepower (213 kW) and 335 lb·ft (454 N·m). The 96–97 WS6 and SS F-bodies were rated at 305 hp (227 kW). The 94–96 B and D-body version was rated at 260 horsepower (190 kW) and 330 lb·ft (447 N·m)."


I have the D-body version.. unfortunately, the LEAST powerful of them all.

I'd like to know what the differences are, and how they gain or lose power.

is it just tuning, or cam, or heads, or both, or intake etc ???????

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long story short, 260 hp really isn't a whole hell of a lot of gain from the POS 305 TBI i just yanked out of my car... i'm wondering if it has to do with tuning, because... if it is, im sure i can get it at least to F-body performance specs....

right??

i have more questions but will start a thread for it .... keep this one simple... what are the differences ????

 

The differences in hp ratings you listed are ALMOST entirely due to vehicle intake and exhaust configurations and tuning; cam and head differences in the engines account for 10 hp at most.
The B/D body LT1 has the iron heads which flow marginally better on the intake side than the aluminum heads>>advantage B/D body.
The F/Y cam has a later closing intake and earlier opening exhaust which makes only slightly more peak hp and less lowend torque. Overlap area of the cams are identical.>>advantage F/Y.

With all the bolt-on mods to my B-body stock cam/heads LT1, it made 309 rwhp STD and ran 12.3's at 4000 lbs. It made peak power at 5250 rpm and I shifted it at 5900 for best ET with a 3600 converter.

 

The B/D body LT1 was a slightly different animal than in the Camaro/Firebird/Vette. Like Bird said, they had cast iron heads on them. Ports and chambers in those heads that were the pre-cursors to the later (really excellent) Vortec heads used in truck applications and were also "copied", but in aluminum, for use in the more powerful LT4 engines. BETTER heads than the F/Y body versions of the LT1, in other words. Offsetting those better heads, however, was a smaller cam that worked better in heavier cars with more restrictive intake and exhaust systems.

Open up the intake and exhaust on a B/D body LT1 and it'll belt it out just as good as an F/Y body LT1, despite the slightly smaller cam. Give it a little more cam and it'll rip real good. Just like Bird posted, above.

 

Cast iron LT1 heads apparently outflow aluminum ones by an insignificant amount. Biggest difference between them all is cam/exhaust.

 

nice... actually that makes me feel a little better about my purchase.

as for exhaust, um........ well..... i had 3" exhaust running on the car before i yanked the motor, and the muffler is pretty much just a can in the shape of a muffler, there are no baffles or anything to speak of, and, well............... since the car is registered and inspected in a smog friendly county, uh................ *cough* i cut the cat off of it and replaced it with 3" pipe to the Y-pipe... don't tell anyone...

anyway.... i don't think the exhaust could breath much better short of running straight out the stock headers (which obviously isn't a good idea)..



you guys mention intake.


do you mean the throttle body itself is restricted (i.e. smaller), orrrrr, that the caddy had a screwed up constricting intake / air filte... which it did... that thing is like a maze for the air to go through.


From what i've seen, people use the SS intakes from the TPI motors on the LT1 with no issues, i'm sure it would be far less constricting than what came with the motor.

but........ i don't have one of those, my car had an air cleaner on it like the old carb type, and come to think about it, i think the entire intake thing where the hose originally went to is missing. never thought about that until now... thanks... lol

anyhow, i kinda thought the same thing. the motor is set up for a heavy *** caddy, so should have a lot of low end torque. and, really, low end is important to me, i plan to turbo it in the not so distant future. and.... at least from my point of view, while the turbo is spooling, i'd need to rely on the low end torque, vs the turbo pushing the motor once it spools.

of course, i think ONE thing i read somewhere said that the caddy motors had slightly lower compression than the vette and camaro motors, which got me excited for the same reason.... but. i don't think that's ACTUALLY the case.

i'll have to find / write another thread about how much boost can be put to a stock motor without compromising it, and still running reliably.

The only problem with the mild *** cam though, is that it just..... doesn't have that sound... glag-aglag-glag-glagalag-glaglag etc....

more like putputputputputputputputput.... just not the same....


but long story short, there's NO reason for me to go out and find vette heads and cam used, i can use the same heads, and put a bad *** cam in it and get much better power, as long as i change the springs, possibly valves, and other related parts...




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so.... BOLT ONS..........


like what???? i'd be happy with 350-400hp at the flywheel for a while... especially if i can get it from bolt ons and a cam... (and a tune of course)

 

Lt1 aluminum heads are a dime a dozen, 150.00-200.00 used.... the advantage with them is they already have screw in studs whereas the cast iron b body model does not so you either have the studs pinned or you have them machined for screw in studs + extra goodies if you like.....

You can bump the compression UP with the aluminum heads without having detonation issues..
Lt1s are great motors especially when attention to detail is applied, granted I have been running them for 14 years and done many things to get the last bit of power from a bolt on car on up to all out builds. Just remember Lt1s love compression so thin head gaskets and some milling will make great power plus add a cam like the cc503 and you have a dependable set up that wont break the bank.
These guys can help you greatly:
WWW.advancedinductions.com
WWW.elliotsportworks.com
WWW.madtuner.com

 

[quote=92droptopws6;5383005]....These guys can help you greatly:
WWW.advancedinduction.com (corrected the link)
I can vouch for that I have a heads/cam setup from them on a stock bottom and have run 10's @ 122 in a 3800 lb car - naturally aspirated.