Ok, there is going to be a few questions involved in this one. I am in the market for a Camaro Z28. Not sure on the spending limit yet, depends on how much my car sales for.

Anyway, my first question is, is it worth the extra money to buy an LS1 over the LT1? I am going to put a forced induction kit on it no matter what one I buy. I can get an LT1 plus put a forced induction kit on it for the price of an LS1 without the kit.

Next question: What is a better choice for these cars? Turbos or Superchargers? I have heard ups and downs about both, and I just want to know what one is better for street driving. I don't know if I am going to take it to a track or not.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Most power per pound of boost = LS1 + turbo, but the priciest also.

An LT1 can match LS1 power with any given turbocharger, albeit at a higher boost level. If you want max power regardless of boost level, but are on a budget, then get an LT1. You can go well over 1000 hp on a production LT1 block. I'm pretty sure you can't go over 1000 hp on an aluminum LS1 block, especially not at high boost with only 4 head bolts.

Mike

 

LT1Jay,

The LS1 has an advantage over the LT1 in cylinder head flow/design. For instance, my ported LT1 heads with large valves flow somewhere in the area of a stock LS1 (240 CFM on the intake and 190 on the exhaust) Now, my heads are not a good example of what an LT1 head can flow with the right work.

What Mike says is accurate. So what do you really want in your next car? 400 or 500 horsepower to the wheels? You can do that with either the LT1 or LS1 by lowering the compression and adding either a supercharger or a turbocharger.

-Scott.

 

I probably am going to go with the LT1. So what in your opinion is a better choice? The turbocharger or supercharger? I currently own a twin turbo 3000GT VR4 so I know what turbos can do and how they perform, but I do not know alot out superchargers. Thanks again for your help.

 

Turbo's are more expensive, but clearly make more power (unless it's STS, which about break even).

 

Ok, so I am going to get the LT1. I found this web site that offers twin turbo set ups. http://www.turbochargedpower.com/ I know they do not offer one for the Camaro yet, but they say that they are going to soon. Anyone know anything about this place? Also, do you think that the kits that they offer are reasonably priced considering what all they offer? Thanks again.

 

err... I would probably use the search button for a variety of vendors who supply turbo kits for an LT1.. thats a big investment and I think you should put some thought into shopping before making a purchase.. waiting a few weeks to pull the trigger while researching will save you quite a bit of headache in the long run.. this isn't Kansas anymore where the turbo was on the car from the factory.. this car you are preparing to purchase will need to be configured for either the turbo or blower.. its dumb to boost and not adequately setup for it. there was a very good question you asked to start the thread.. it was what to begin with.. you have not answered the question asked to that one.. what is your goal? in my opinion... it will be much cheaper in the long run if shooting for ~550 to the wheels by going LS1.. getting compression down on this motor is relatively simple with a set of GM heads which flow great and are relatively inexpensive. LT1's on the other hand.. will require a very expensive head to drop compression enough to a semi safe level to even attempt that HP goal. you may outlay an additional $1K just preparing the engine by using heads. now, once you decide to go into the engine to beef it up.. the LT1 will gain that monetary disadvantage back by offering a wide array of less expensive but just as strong parts due to them using mainly Gen 1 aftermarket components which have been around and are not still carrying the tooling and production costs of their younger LSx brethren.

tit for tat.. you need to determine your overall goal to better decide on which platform even to begin with. my break down would be as follows per budget oriented monetary layout and power goals..

< 500rwhp for a while but plan to build a bigger engine/turbo setup, LT1

~ 550rwhp and are positive you will be content here for a long time, LS1

> 550rwhp both will need major platform restructering (read - internal engine mods)to RELIABLY support these numbers, ultimately building the LT1 platform will be cheaper.

these are based on your financial mentions of having a budget and not an open wallet to stroke checks without balancing and be fine.

If the sky was the limit, go LS1 get a warlock block and heads and the Gen 2 platform will never be able to catch up mod for mod it is not as efficient. you may come close with a Little M and some 12*, 15*, or 18* heads and intake, but in this dream world you are several 10's of thousands of dollars above the original cost of the car and it didn't really matter which platform you began with, it will never leave your hands as a stock F-body when/if you can stomach taking a massive hit when it sells.


think it through.. I may get flamed here, but I am sure there are a few people who are only after power and speed here and not F-body loyalists who can tell you if you are dedicated to force inducting a car, it is easier to begin with a car that is already prepared from the factory to be force induced. 1 car comes to mind I don't think anyone would squak at is the supra. the stock long block is capable of handling upwards of 750 to the wheels with only a spring change and fuel system and turbo upgrades.

the initial outlay is more, but unless you have done your homework.. an F-body with a turbo and hopes of glorious big power catch up very very quickly. The other obvious bonus to a supra is they seem to continue to appreciate. Mods on an F-body will increase the overall resale of the original value of the purchased car but almost ALWAYS the supra will net a break even or closer to margin of dollars invested. its just a matter of current availability and the fact that these sports car lend themselves so easily to modifications of extreme levels.

over all the V8 can be made stronger and faster then a supra but the cost in doing so is exponentially higher once you get to those power levels.

Flame suit off.

I am a corvette guy, I love corvettes I had to turbo a corvette because thats what I love.. I also like F-bodies and would like one, and Supras and Vipers.. pretty much anything thats fast and exotic appeals to me but deep down I love my vettes and thats what I wanted to build.. so unless you are in love with an F-body... think it through if your gung ho forced induction.. it gets pricy VERY quick regardless of how you figure the initial cost of the car.

Chris

 

Ya, I looked at Supras and all that, but there is just something about the F-Body that I can't stay away. I might have the opportunity to get a 1995 Z28 with 50k miles for $5000. That would leave me with about another 5000 or so to mod the engine. I want to leave the body stock. I can get a 98 Z28 for about 8000 with the same mileage. That would only leave 2000 for mods. What would be the better way to go, LT1 or LS1? Also, what mods should I do for the greatest gains with the money I have left over? Again I am used to the 3000GT VR4, so I am not extremely familiar with the V8's capabilities yet, but I am learning.

I guess you can say that my goal is to be able to beat pretty much anyone I will meet on the street. If someone rolls up next to me in an import car and thinks he can take me, I want to smoke the hell out of him. Understand what I am asking for?

Do I want to use forced induction? Not really, but I know they offer alot of power. I will never use nitrous, sorry but I don't like it.

Thanks again.

 

Well. . . you've sort of unknowingly answered your own question.

$5000 won't get you a good turbo setup. End of story. You could maybe piece together a home-built kit if you fabricate all of the piping yourself, but you won't have enough money left over to do anything to the bottom end, which means broke pistons eventually. The limit of the stock bottom end is about 425 rwhp with a turbo or 380 with a supercharger. Anymore than that and the stock pistons are on borrowed time.

For the LS1, $2000 won't even begin to touch a turbo. It would be best spent on CAI ($150), a set of headers ($550), catback ($350), and a cam kit ($700). That sets you back just under $2000 with shipping and will get you just about 370-450 rwhp, depending on how aggresive the cam is. Note that any cam over ~375 rwhp will require a custom tune for another $400.

Pick your poison. . . Even though I'm an LT1 guy, the LS1 will probably be more reliable given the options.

Mike

 

on that budget... nada.. like Mike said.. your not a candidate for having a driveable car with forced induction anytime in the near future... unless you find a used blower kits and piece together a decent fuel system and even then... your gonna run into problems with the hyper pistons letting go if something goes sour in the tune for a few seconds and your at the envelope of the engines ability to handle a bit of burst knock. think about it.. what is your time frame and how determined are you to go FI? if you can save money.. get the LS1, start putting money away until you can afford to buy whats needed otherwise.. you won't even get half way there before running out of funds or short changing something and winding up with an undriveable broken car you can't afford to repair.

Chris

 

I'm awfully fond of my blown LS1

Mike, you should check this thing out! My wife gives her apologies...she was a little intoxicated when she took a ride in your car a few months back and didn't understand how fast it was because it was so smooth!

 

If I can get away without going forced induction, I would rather do that, but I want big power and I won't use nitrous. This is not going to be something I want to do all at once, I was planning on taking a few years at least to get to where I want. I guess I will try and find a decent LS1 and do what Mike said. I do have over 10,000 in spare cash for this, but I need to save that to help pay off my student loans until I get a good enough job. Well thanks for all your help with this. It also really depends on how much I sell my car for and how much I end up spending on the LS1.

 

I would buy an ls1 car and get full exhaust, cai, mild suspesion(lca,sfc) which should be capable of high to mid (maybe?) 12's depending on driving. Items your going to need for the blown setup. Then when more money comes along, blower, fuel system, rearend, shortblock, this list never ends...
You said before that you didn't want to get beat on the street. A modded ls1 can hold its own, if you lose its going to be something real quick. The stock bottom end on the ls1 cars hold boost much better. I would get one and slowly build it for more and more boost as my funds would allow.

 

Yea that's one of the problems with having a relatively fast car. People only get enough ***** to ask for a ride when they're drunk, then don't remember / don't realize how fast it is.

Mike

 

That is 100% truth, I'm up to 13 grand on the current build and it's still not running yet (very close though) and that doesn't include the purchase of the car. I started with a t-trim that I bought for 2k, but dont forget that when you get to these power levels you are also gonna have to spend thousands upgrading the rest of the car (tranny and rear end at least) to live behind that engine.