Getting ready for an LT1 conversion
Posted by Carl King - 17/10/09 at 07:10 pmWell, I have to get this LT1 off the garage floor so I can park my wife’s Karmann Ghia in this bay for the winter. I’ll be putting it in my 86 GMC Sierra Classic to replace the worn out 305. I can’t imagine a 305 ever being a good engine in the truck even when new. It has no torque and gets lousy mileage.
This is the LT1 I pulled from a 94 Buick Roadmaster over the Thanksgiving weekend last year. I took everything I thought I might possibly need from this car including wiring harnesses under the dash, and the instrument cluster. See the short piece I wrote on it last November; http://www.classiccarauto.com/wordpress2/2008/11/ . I power washed the engine in July; http://www.classiccarauto.com/wordpress2/2009/07/ .
Parts removed
First I needed to do something about the way the engine hangs on the chain. It was hanging a bit too lopsided for my tastes. I decided to use the factory eyelet bolted to the rear of the passenger side cylinder head. There was no eyelet on the drivers side front of the cylinder head, and the coil was bolted there. So I removed the coil.
I used a standard small block eyelet, the one you find on the last intake bolt next to the distributor on most chevy small blocks, flattened it out and bolted it to the front of the head. When I picked up the engine the eyelet was pulling to the side against the aluminum pvc tube and the chain was against the throttle cable bracket. I couldn’t risk damaging those parts so I removed them as well.
Rear eyelet
Front eyelet
So now the engine hangs more level, even with a transmission bolted to it.
Tomorrow I’ll pull the parts off the front of the engine so I can replace the timing chain. I’ll also replace the oil pump, valve cover gaskets and adjust the valves before dropping it in the GMC.
Look around and you'll find articles on my 64 Impala restoration activities, how-to articles, a motor book section, and product reviews.