4th Gen Carbureted Motors & Legality?

[kammi10]

he already has the ls1 in his car JJ

[archemedes]

I can honestly say I have met a total of 2 people ever who can actually tune a carb (one can do it by ear and is probably the best in the world at it, and makes a living running them) and both told me to run fi. Many guys can get some power out of them, but it is easier to tune fi if you have the proper tools (to properly tune a carb takes specia tools too) for a swap when it's a junk yard pull, go with whatever induction came on the motor. I have also done emissions testing (in GA it is a sniffer test) and one of those tuners got a car to pass with carb, but barely a week later we put on an edelbrock fi system, and it was cleaner

[CHMLEON]

You would pretty much hate yourself when you put a carbed motor in and you can never drive it because youre getting crappy mileage or the carb is out of tune or whatever.

Plus you'd have to hack your cowl up to put it in.

Oh, hell no. There is no way that i am going to screw with the bird on my hood. I think that the deal has been sealed with that post.

I am going to go with a LS1 V8 and a T56 Transmission. FTW!!!!!

[GETGONE]

He's not talking the hood itself(although it might require it), he means the wiper cowl that extends over the engine. The guy with the yellow Pro Street Camaro at Berger had a built big block that was carbbed and he only had a very small cut in the cowl to fit the carb, but he wasn't running an air cleaner and had a big scoop on the hood with a paper filter rigged into the intake of the scoop. Look for pictures of some Pro Mod or Pro Stock Camaros and you can see they have to cut the cowl and sometimes the windshield and dash for clearance for the carbs, depending on the setup they run. It would be a bit better for a street motor but not much.

[hgffrank]

I also think that FI is the way to go. I recently bought an LT1 and was considering a carbed setup. But I have had so many carbed engines that I am just tired of them. The mileage sucks, cold starts suck, dependability sucks. Plus why go through the trouble of a modern engine just to use old technology on it. Sure you might get a bit more power out of it, but you certainly arent maintaining the FI systems streetability and dependability, not to mention you cant just plug in a computer and tune your carbed setup to give you nearly infinite air/fuel ratio control. Sure rebuilding carbs and all that isnt a huge job, but why go through all that work when you can plug in a laptop and let it do the work.

However the statement that an Ls1 is "just a little more" and therefore we should not consider an Lt1 is a bad statement. Sure you hear about people getting some nice deals on ls1 setups, but in the real world not everyone gets nice setups for cheap, in the real world going to an ls1 is a huge expense. Just what little I've seen an ls1 will run a good 2000 or more for a decent mileage engine. How is that "just a little more" than a 250 to 500 dollar lt1? I guess if you have money plants growing then its no big deal, but the difference in price is enough to build a complete carbed 350 chevy engine from scratch.

I'm not arguing against the ls1, cause I'd love to have one, but to imply that its not much more and if a person can afford an lt1 then they should just go for an ls1 is just crap. I got my Lt1 for $450 complete with harness and computer, can you get an Ls1 complete with harness and computer for that? how about twice that? triple? 4X? yeah, now we are in the range, and I dont call triple or quadruple, "just a little more."

[WMCCjames]

However the statement that an Ls1 is "just a little more" and therefore we should not consider an Lt1 is a bad statement. Sure you hear about people getting some nice deals on ls1 setups, but in the real world not everyone gets nice setups for cheap, in the real world going to an ls1 is a huge expense. Just what little I've seen an ls1 will run a good 2000 or more for a decent mileage engine. How is that "just a little more" than a 250 to 500 dollar lt1? I guess if you have money plants growing then its no big deal, but the difference in price is enough to build a complete carbed 350 chevy engine from scratch.

I'm not arguing against the ls1, cause I'd love to have one, but to imply that its not much more and if a person can afford an lt1 then they should just go for an ls1 is just crap. I got my Lt1 for $450 complete with harness and computer, can you get an Ls1 complete with harness and computer for that? how about twice that? triple? 4X? yeah, now we are in the range, and I dont call triple or quadruple, "just a little more."

Meh, you just need to shop around more. LS1's can be had for cheap.... And ebay is NOT the place to shop. Get out and ask around. No, you probably won't find a complete one for 450....but then again I would be very hesistant paying 450 for ANY motor, tranny no matter what it was. You might just have a 450 dollar pile of junk. The point here is to be realistic and take your time shopping around. I spent a long time shopping for my motor until the right deal kinda fell into my lap one day. If you put the word out and you know enough people, something is bound to shake out.

I did however talk to a guy at superfest that bought a complete pull-out LS1/A4 with harness and PCM with 110K miles on it for $1100...not too bad I thought for a motor that probably has 50K good miles left on it and can still hand an LT1 it's ass any day of the week.