Here is a basic mock up pic of the 302 I'm putting together. The crank is not in the block as you can see. Its in the basement and the rotating assembly hasn't been balanced yet. Its a 880 4 bolt vortec block, lt1 heads and intake, 4.3l crank and rods, 2vr 350 sealed power pistons. With upgraded bolts I hope the rods hold to 7,000 rpm. I still have a long way to go (which you can bust my balls for) but I do have all the main pieces. I'm hoping for about 320ftlb and 420hp by the time I'm done. Oh, and the intake has not been modified for a distributor, it will be crank driven wasted spark dis. (Lt1 oil pump drive being used).
I know its not a race winner but its something different and since this will be my last sbc that's what I was going for. I was going to put it in my 280z, but since I like the l28 in it so much I'll be buying either another z or just putting it in a 95+ 2wd s10.
So far I have about $750 in this engine but still need a few things, probably have about 1250 when I'm done.
Why is that "for cobalt"??? I'm NOT the guy who called you out (post #25) wanting photos of your stuff, guy. In fact, I was always confident you were building this thing.
I AM the one who said that for as long as you have been building this mongrel 302 that if you torqued one fastener per day you'd be on your fourth engine by now, though.
i don't really know the other poster so i don't care if he gives me a hard time. and you are right about one fastener a day, lately its been all about the job and the house though.
Is this the engine that's gonna get the Mega Squirt? How's that coming? Have you thought about starting a project journal on this deal? The baby LT1/302 does come up fairly often.
There was also a 4.3L LT1 available in the big cars which is indistinguishable from the 5.7L, except for the different casting number and 4.3 cast into the top of the block just ahead of the bellhousing flange.
Baby LT1, is the L99. Its not very well known as it was only made 2 production years of 1995 and 1996. It shares the bore and stroke of the 1st small block, the 265 with a 3.750 bore and a 3.000 inch stroke. The L99 used a longer 5.940 PM rod. It was also reverse flow cooled. It was my idea years ago to use these cranks in a 350 block to create a 302 for those interested. I'm sure I'm not the first one who thought of it, But I was the first on this board.
You can take the longer rods, slap a 307 crank in a 350 block and use 383 pistons and land on your feet with a .010 block decking which results in a long rod 327 which gives it a rod to stroke ratio of 1.82:1. I have a set of these rods and a 307 crank, so I plan to build one later.
The only issue I see with your build AP is the heads. While they bolt right on the older small block LT1 heads are reverse flow cooled so none of the coolant ports match up unless you bought some that had been welded up and refinished with the old school coolant passages.
I am running megasquirt on my 280z right now, am wiring it up on my bobcat (spark and datalogging only unless I can't tune the carbs adequately), and will also run it on this engine.
The lt1 heads will have plugs welded in the bottom and be surface when I'm done. Coolant will be taken from the front and rear of each head from the existing holes, if they are too small I'll enlarge them.
The one major concern I have is the l99 rods I used, I'm not a fan of PM rods but I have upgraded bolts and clearances a little on the large side so hopefully they'll last.
Any reason a 5.7L LT1 block couldn't be used w/the L99 crank and rods/pistons?
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