I know this isn't Camaro stuff, but I've watched a number of you and your experiences with this engine. I have a chance to purchase a caprice 9C1 with the LT1 engine, but I've heard that this is an expensive and difficult engine to work on. Would anyone give me an opinion before I take a plunge on this? Thanx in advance.

 

Working on an LT1 really isn't that much different than a Gen I small block. The basics are the same, and really its all the same except for reverse cooling, a cam driven waterpump, and an optispark. The opti is the weak link on those motors IMO. I have had to replace them a ton several friends cars.

The LT1 is a good motor though. The Caprise LT1s had the Iron heads if I remember correctly though. Not a problem really though. I personally haven't worked on either a LT1 Caprise or Impala, but there are ImpalaSS sites out there which are pretty good w/ a ton of info.

 

The engine compartment is hugh on the bbodies, you can almost pull your cam out without anything getting in the way.

 

Like said before, the Caprice/Impala LT1 has the iron heads. Plus IIRC, they have different tuning and all for better daily "soft" driving. LT1s are a very good motor, no doubt. There are many fixes for the Optispark, and one of the reasons why the optispark gets destroyed is that when the water pump goes, it goes right into the optispark, and fusing it out. Of course, there are many other factors that can also destroy a optispark, but there are MANY sites and forums around to help ya out.

Oh, and the potential just isn't a comparison to the motors in our 3rd gens