I just found out that my last smog check will be on 4/07 and not 4/05 like I had been thinkin' for the longest time. Damn! Now, I need more power and have to deal with the blasted CA smog laws so, I give you my options: Keep my original 350 and put some aluminum heads on with an awesome cam, maybe a nice intake manifold and carb that I can switch out every time I smog, put in some smog legal headers; or an LS1 with a six speed, I would throw in a nice cam and intake and whatever else my wallet allows for. Although an LS1 sounds appealing I don't know half of what is involved and what I do know already sounds intimidating. I know that I'd have to modify the fuel sender or replace the whole gas tank, I'd have to find a good place for the ECU (not a big deal), I'd have to get the new power steering pump to work with my system, I'd have to convert all of my guages, redo the exhaust (and I may not be able to find headers that will work with an LS1 and fit in my engine bay). What do I do? Help! As of right now I am planning on putting a T56 into my car before the end of the summer, this is why the LS1/ T56 combo is so appealing to me. But as I lack massive amounts of cash and patients I think that I'll probably end up stickin' with my original motor. Any info or opinions that you may have are appreciated, whether you know of a good set of smog legal heads/ cam, for my old 350 or have installtion tips for an LS1 retro fit it will really help. Thanks so much! Drive safe

if youre planning or making the swap to ls1 and t56.. then i pity you.. this is a pretty big undertaking. just the t56 alone takes quite a bit of preparation to be done right.

if youre ok making permanent mods to your car.. then doing either one isnt out of reach. but this is going to be expensive. it will nickel and dime you to death. if your short on cash... dont even try this.

my system for doing major work on my vette is make up an estimate.. then double it.. this is the cash you need to have on hand to begin the project. because once you pull the motor youll find 8 other things that need to be fixed while youre at it.

a turn key LS1 by itself is 6K$, factor in another 4K for the t56 conversion, factor in 500$ more for a new set of rear end gears.

and youre suddenly looking at 11000$ just to get started.. (11K is alot to double... so lets just say 4K buffer for added problems)... I wouldnt being this unless i was willing to drop 15K...

and really if youre gonna 6000 on a turn key ls1... drop 7500 on a turn key ls6

now for the other side of the problem.. I would not do a top half upgrade without doing the bottom half also.

you can hot rod the top half and youll tear the bottom half apart. you need to do it all at once.

|UPDATED|6/17/2004 10:39:11 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

If you want to make it simple on your self I would do one of the following. I have never done one of these swaps, but they are very popular among other muscle cars and should be fairly simple to perform on ours.

LT1 - Find a donar car like a 93 Firebird and take everything with it. Including all the pulleys and drive system. Do what you want to with the engine, cam, stroker, heads, etc. Once you have everything the way you want it and I know this is a product our company makes, but get Holley's 950 commander LT1 Retrofit kit and buy the Wideband kit to go with it. This will give you full tuning capabilities over the fuel and spark system of the engine. We have Several customers that have used these and said it was no problem getting through smog even with a radical cam. Obviously that means that you need to have the fuel system tune up dead on.

TPI - This would be the easies as the LT1 engine is further away from what a traditional 350 was. These engines can be found in 90 firebirds, and caprices. Once again take everything with it. And again do what you want and outfit with a conversion kit. The parts for these engines are probably a little cheaper since you won't have to work around the front drive opti-spark system. The TPI uses a distributor.

I have been told if you just do the swap and nothing to then engine these swaps can be performed for less then 1K. Obviously if you plan to tear into the engine then the door is wide open on what you can spend. Most of these engines will have 90 to 100K miles on them, but if it was well taken care of it should run perfect. Nice thing about both of these engines is they are roller cam engines.

Just an FYI if you watch NHRA super stock classes, Al Corda, and Woodro Josey, plus Greg Slack all are using our retro fit kits and other then a cam change and compression change on those engines, they are running 9.90's consitently in the 1/4" mile.

Hope this info gives you some things to think about.