Anybody here running LT1 injection on Vortec heads?

[shovelhead90*]

I made some serious progress this last weekend. I got my donor car, a '96 9C1 Caprice, disassembled and the harness and sensors removed and sorted out. The car had a brand new radiator and several other new peices that I plan to incorporate into the Jeep build. I had planned to add a couple of stand alone remote oil and trans coolers and this unit already has both. The big one for me was the engine oil cooler setup extended from the filter boss! I'll piggyback my new, (purchased before I bought the Caprice) high volume oil coolers and fans out front using this setup, and double up the two coolers that came from the donor for the tranny. Because of the way the Jeep cab is made, I'm relocating the radiator to a spot inside the frame under the bed and plumbing it back to another small radiator behind the grill. The donor car had new fans as well.

I also talked to John at Speartech. He was very helpful!! He built a small diameter HEI distributor with the Optispark internals transplanted into it a few years ago that I spotted over on the LS1 forum. He says he still may have it put up and will try to find it for me. I got to pick his brain for a few minutes and he said it wasn't that hard to do, so if he can't find the ones he built, I'll build one myself. He told me that the '96 ECM was really programable and if I can get this distributor thing done I won't have to crossbreed a 0411 into the mix and use that ******* Vortec distributor.

The Vortec V8 distributor has been the only really unreliable part of my '97 big block truck. I've had to replace that damned crab cap three times and had to replace the whole distributor once. If I could get rid of the one I have and find something that would fit in behind the Vortec manifold with a vertical cap, I'd probably do it in a heartbeat. With as many miles as it has on it I shouldn't complain, but I HATE working on that .............................thing!!

Anyway, I'm gonna try to post some pics in the next couple of days. Anybody with some helpful input, don't hesitate!!

 

[shovelhead90*]

I stuck a few pics in an album over on my profile. There are a bunch more that I have to rerteive and some I'll need to retake so they are worth looking at.

Jimmy Bridges, my cylinder head specialist, threatened me with death and dismemberment if I didn't let his shop do the port match and bolt hole relocation on the intake and heads when I went over to his shop today. It DOES mean that they'll do more flow bench work and improve flow and mix even more. I'll try to get some pics of him and his help in action. The guy is a multiple NHRA World Record holder and he's been racing for fifty-seven years.

Also, John Spears called today to tell me that he has found those old Optispark distributor conversions. That'll save me a bunch of work. He has more thasn one and if someone wants one, I'd recommend you give him a call at Speartech!! I'll try to upload a picture of one in a little bit.

 

[SixSpeedSS]

FYI...The vortec 5.7L trucks use the oil filter cooler attachment as well as the Mark IV 454 (1990 & older). Even Camaro V6 cars use the same setup. One thing to keep in mind - the fittings are prone to leaking and the ends are fairly cheap. When putting your setup together, look into using new fittings to make certain you don't have any cooler leaks.

Looking forward to some pics of the intake and the Jeep. We all like pics on this site.

Welcome to the site.

 

[shovelhead90*]

FYI...The vortec 5.7L trucks use the oil filter cooler attachment as well as the Mark IV 454 (1990 & older). Even Camaro V6 cars use the same setup. One thing to keep in mind - the fittings are prone to leaking and the ends are fairly cheap. When putting your setup together, look into using new fittings to make certain you don't have any cooler leaks.

Looking forward to some pics of the intake and the Jeep. We all like pics on this site.

Welcome to the site.

Thanks for the heads up on the fittings. I've got that settup on my '97 big block truck and I've never had any issues with it. I didn't know until I bought the Caprice that they were a common item. Beats hunting around the junk yards or going aftermarket.

I did put up some pics in an album over on my profile last night, including one of the old Jeep truck and some of the heads and intake as well. I'm delivering the heads and the injector intake back to my machinist/porter later this week for a final port match, bore the hole and modify it for the distributor mount, and to relocate some bolt holes to facilitate the build. He was gonna' be offended if I didn't let him do it and my little brother, who's handling all of the machine work and hard parts purchases, said he'd just feel better if we did it that way.

I appreciate the welcome as well. It'll be fun to work out all of the kinks and share the info. I spent twenty odd years hiding all of my stuff from other racers to try to keep an advantage, and trying to steal from them to overcome their advances. This will be different.

 

[SixSpeedSS]

Thanks for the heads up on the fittings. I've got that settup on my '97 big block truck and I've never had any issues with it. I didn't know until I bought the Caprice that they were a common item. Beats hunting around the junk yards or going aftermarket.

I did put up some pics in an album over on my profile last night, including one of the old Jeep truck and some of the heads and intake as well. I'm delivering the heads and the injector intake back to my machinist/porter later this week for a final port match, bore the hole and modify it for the distributor mount, and to relocate some bolt holes to facilitate the build. He was gonna' be offended if I didn't let him do it and my little brother, who's handling all of the machine work and hard parts purchases, said he'd just feel better if we did it that way.

I appreciate the welcome as well. It'll be fun to work out all of the kinks and share the info. I spent twenty odd years hiding all of my stuff from other racers to try to keep an advantage, and trying to steal from them to overcome their advances. This will be different.

Don't be afraid to post pics in this thread. Much easier for the rest of us when you need to explain the photos.

A cab over jeep huh? My father built a 4wd studebaker c cab pickup when I was a kid. The cab over jeep used the same axles as the few OEM stude 4wd trucks. He parted one of those to build his studebaker.

 

[shovelhead90*]

Don't be afraid to post pics in this thread. Much easier for the rest of us when you need to explain the photos.

A cab over jeep huh? My father built a 4wd studebaker c cab pickup when I was a kid. The cab over jeep used the same axles as the few OEM stude 4wd trucks. He parted one of those to build his studebaker.

Yeah, my dad had one like this when I was a kid. We plowed snow with it. He always wanted the dual wheel rear end, so it was the first change I made.

I've figured out how to get the pics into an album, but not being computer literate, I haven't figured how to get them into the thread. I'll get it down in another day or two.

Those drivetrains were sold all the way across the industry back then. Dana, Spicer, and Eaton were used by nearly everybody as well as Rockwell. Some of those companies still supply major portions of today's drivetrain parts and assemblies to the big three.

I bought this Jeep up in PA several years ago.

 

[shovelhead90*]

I stumbled onto the Chevy Thunder website the other day. MAN!! There's a lot of useful information over there!! In mu quest to get the Optispark unit set up I contacted Leonard Sparks, the sites producer and EFI guru. What a helpful guy! I asked him about the timing marks and indexing of the trigger wheel and he rewrote a whole section of his page to include answers to my guestions.

Before you throw up your hands when you can't get it figured out, pay a visit to chevythunder.com and look around.

 

[SixSpeedSS]

I never saw that site. Thanks for sharing.

 

[shovelhead90*]

I put some more photos on the album. The one that jumps out at me is the comparison of the LT1 intake to a Victor Jr. Those ports on the LT1 are huge by comparison. Man! I was suprised!! Y'all take a look!!

 

[shovelhead90*]

My head specialist called today to tell me that he had matched the ports and moved the bolt holes in the heads to match the intake. I drove down to look them over and the stuff looks fantastic!! The heads were opened up even more than what the pics in the album show. He has decided that he wants to tackle the distributor relocation as well. I can't wait for this stuff to get done!

Flow numbers are 270 cfm on the intake and 210 cfm on the exhaust and the intake numbers improve with runners attached. In other words they work better with the intake manifold installed!