GEN 2 LT1-THE OTHER GUYS SMALL BLOCK-HOW MUCH ARE PORTED HEADS & TPIS ZZ409 CAM WORTH ON THE LT1? 

Lloyd Elliot, the owner of Elliot Port Works is the LT1 cylinder head porter of choice for all of us LT1 guys. TPIS is good too but Lloyd has been the go-to for quite some time. His LE2 package with a cam spec's by him is VERY popular.

Thank you for the LT1 content!

RH - I had a GM Hot Cam on my high compression 383 LT1 with big injectors, Beehive springs, a ported TB and Intake - Snow Performance Boost Cooler and a STS kit running 13 lbs of boost. ARP studs on the top and bottom - and a tune. 550 HP at the rear tyres - good times! : )

If you’re sticking with stock castings why not go with lloyd Elliott? He’s been the go to for lt1 guys for many years now. Check the lt1 forums. Nobody ever talks about tpis heads or even cam for that matter. LE2 (LE stands for lloyd Elliott) heads and one of his custom grinds is a proven 490+ hp combo. That’s what just about all us lt1 guys are running so why go with anything else for this test? You’re just going to annoy the lt1 crowd by making the engine look bad because you’re using sub par parts. Btw, the tpis zz409 cam is TINY compared to what most lt1 guys are running. It’s a 226/226. Pretty much all lt1 guys are running 230+/238+. My LE2 cam is 231/238 and I wish I went bigger. 355 ci btw.

Gotta talk to Lloyd Elliot for head work to really wake these suckers up. Chad Golen and Karl Ellwein are the big names in LT1 engine building. Would love to see you compare LE2 or 3 ported heads to AI or AFR heads on these

Lloyd elliott heads and one of his cams. His customer service is top notch and pricing is crazy. I dont understand how hes making money in this economy. I had him do my 113s with the typical 2/1.55 valves. Looking forward to my stealth ram 350 for my c4. Custom plenum to clear the hood. Should be a good little motor.

I love that you're testing on my favorite engine. I agree that the numbers both on the intake comparison and here seem unusual, but keep doing more videos with it and we'll get to the bottom of that I'm sure. Do we know it's mileage, compression, etc? I would have like to see that cam with stock heads, or a fuel injected version of the carb style intake, to narrow down what might be giving you the unexpected results.

@10:36 that cam is very mild for the LT1 Richard! That’s why I preached every chance I got to tell you do not go under 230 degrees intake duration. A Comp XFI 230/236 110-112 LSA .580 lift cam would have been warm and cozy inside that LT1. I ran that cam with AFR 180cc heads and made 390rwhp to the wheels thru an automatic. That’s about 410rwhp in a 6spd..

I've always thought an LT1 based 383, with that 226⁰ / .520 lift cam would be an awesome combo.

Good stuff TY! I am a C5 guy right now but I have a lot of lv for the LT1 C4s as well. I was hoping to see some LE stuff on your dyno.

I’m kinda glad to see this even though it’s an unusual combination in the LT1 world as most people have said. I have Lloyd Elliot’s LE1 heads which are very similar in flow to the TPIS heads. With new valves and porting (I had the springs, retainers, keepers and set them up myself) I still came in well under $1000. My cam is a Howards cam very similar in spec to the ZZ409 cam, single pattern, very close duration, very close lift, 2* narrower LSA. I built it to build mid range torque and power, not top end drag racing power. So it lets me see a result that I might expect to make. What’s the compression on this machine?

Appreciate the LT1 getting some love! but I think this was the parts combination. LT1s are a little more sensitive to what works and what doesn't than other platforms. My 95 Z28 dyno'd 373 at the tires with a 226/234 cam and milled stock heads. dyno video is on my channel. It's a really fun engine, been thrashing it since i put it together in 2008 with no issues!

It’s not proper lt1 testing unless it involves Lloyd Elliott ported heads, intake, and custom grind cam imo. Le2 setup would’ve made another 75hp.

Just as a comparison my 94 lt1 with advanced induction 200 cc ported heads and 228/234 cam put 406 hp to the tire with headers and full exhaust. This is an expected outcome for those mods. This lt1 is sick.

Shout out to Katech! Those are my guys! Clinton Township represent! 😂

The spline drive pin for the opti indicates a 92 or 93 LT1. The later engines had a much larger hole for cam pin drive

Been nice to see a lt4 package on it

Mr Holdener, around 4 years ago you did some LT1 testing. The engine made significantly more hp and tq, and particularly the shape of the curves made more sense compared to my dynojet lt1 runs. I can't help but feel something is going weird from even the baseline of this new series of tests.

That thing is way down on power. The following numbers are on my LT1 on engine dyno, but with all accessories and full custom exhaust (free flowing mufflers) - But fine tuned PCM by me: 1. Stock LT1 but with cam 218/218 112LSA, stock heads - 338hp @ 5440rpm and a lot of valve float . 2. My own crappy home ported heads, upgraded dual springs and Lunati 219/227 112LSA - 418hp @ 6051rpm. A year after that, the engine ate piston 7 and 8 ringlands in a run turning the timing way up. Excuse to upgrade to a Golen 383 fully forged bottom end :-) 3. XFI 280 cam (230/236 113LSA), 58mm TB - 446hp @ 6206rpm. 4. XFI 280 cam (230/236 113LSA), 58mm TB, but now with LE2 heads - 506hp @ 6631rpm (still going up but release throttle, didn't feel like spinning it higher) 5. TrickFlow 230/234 110LSA (almost same as XFI cam, but tighter LSA. Wanted to narrow the powerband a little and use more power) - 525hp @ 6102rpm. Lost about avg 10hp below 4500rpm and a little more torque. 6. Swapped out the 58mm TB to the stock 48mm with airfoil, because I didn't like the aggressive on/off feeling with it. HP went down to 518hp @ 6100rpm. and only lost 5ft/lb of torqe. I actually thought I would loose way more, but the stock TB is actually pretty good with that airfoil when you approach 500hp.

I wouldn't bash this at all. That power curve is very useful. Percentage wise, the gains are lovely. Sure, we could toss a long runner intake manifold on it, but even so, it runs rather nicely. Nice work with the hole saw, I've never seen that done before!

Great video. I have a LT1 and really love your videos! Keep em coming!

Im loving this content! I KNOW Richard will figure out the best combination.

Either advanced induction or lloyd Elliot are pretty high up on the hierarchy of good heads

I ported a set of these lt1 head for a friend of mine. He didn't want to do aftermarket. So, i did them up like a real nice set of after al heads. They were very serious! His car was serious as well. I put a very mean camshaft in it. Radical as i could live with as far as .050 to .200. It would really get down NA

Thats actually really good for just a cam that just made 450 460 lift. Stock steel rockers wont let cam show off its lift At 1.324 instead 1.5 is spec but gm jews you on that its cause the old cams were cast so 450 460 is like 390 400 cam 1.5 crane gold or 1.62 scorpians will get advertised lift with stock cam 1.5 cranes get 510 520 almost hot cam size id call the heads stock looked in video that the ruffed up intake runners and didnt port match and it was going up walls like they copied a vortec with tiny runners probably slower than stock thats why you expected more 450- 480 horse with Cam and rockers easy

cant wait for the next one

Much THANKS AN RESPECT for the LT1 stuff an other knowledge ! I am grateful ! Awsome im redoin my 93 Firebird Formula F1 now ..its bone stock , non t top just hit 190km an tranny coped out ...now im gonna do the work i wanted to do on it !! What tranny should i go with , now we have those adaptor kits lol ..im looking for around 500 with nos , what tranny would b best. Have the 700r4 rebuilt ..will it handle that ? Not many old timers to talk to about these engines

Richard, I know you are playing around with the L99 crank and rods in the LT1 block. In 2020 I built a 75 Cosworth Vega with this combo. 11.25 CR, stock alum heads, 350 domed hypereutectic pistons and a Lunati camshaft. Excellent combo for a light car. Not my first 302. Had one in 1975 in a 74 Vega GT. 10.97 on stock width tires. Scary fast. Would be happy to share info and specs with you on the 'LT302'

I ve seen Hotcam combination make more than that Id bet the exhaust ports were not done on short turn and in ports to flow much better than stock. If the exhaust ports are over efficient to cause soggy bottom end or on circle track cars mushy out of the turns sometimes a single pattern cam is suggested to provide better torque and throttle response. Crane cams always added more exhaust duration to chevy grinds even designed LS cams 210 227 Z6 cams to pull low and mid range with exhaust duration for top end. If porting LT1 heads flow 212cfm intake and 162cfm exhaust GOTO ported say 249cfm intake 180cfm exhaust 27cfm intake 2.2cfm per HP+ 13HP 18cfm exhaust 9HP good LT1 heads make so the heads unless exceptional are worth say 20HP exhaust valves 1.5" stock but not alot of room to go 1.55 or 1.6 valve and pocket venturi to match so the exhaust port has to be done right or split pattern cam. Just as a test try some 1.6 rocker arms on the exhaust and see if it goes to say 410HP. Then change heads and or cam.

Both the stock setup and the one with the ported heads and cam seem down on power for an LT1. Idk but you may want to double check this setup.

Hi torque, even with a good larger camshaft is often an indication of really great airspeed on head porting. I’d say it’s factor of both port volume and the way the port work was done. Also you can’t make a high rpm climbing ignition curve cause you used a distributor so it may not be viable in this scenario. Sone engines just want more timing up top.

Thank you Richard with this awesome tryout! Did you happen to flow test stock heads before and after the porting? I believe the stock LT1 max out somewhere around 210cfm. Will you possibly try the carb-dualplane combo with the upgraded cam? Another thing: As you've th experience of changing plentyful count of heads, did you find these stock LT1 heads to be a bit challenging to remove and put on again? I've a pair here as well and i feel the quiding pins don't quite line up with the holes in the head. My question is, is it safe to kind of force it and just assemble it anyways?

Wrong cam. Look at a llyod elliot 227/235 .565/.579 with 110 degrees. That cam has been shown to make good power to the wheel. It should easily make over 400 flywheel, especially in the configuration your motors are dynoed with.

Can you change the crank shaft too.. 😅I’m tryna see something cause I have this build going with a eagle cranks and engine tech rebuild kit and a 306 comp cam

Much better!!!! But we want more! More HP than TQ!

I amazing what grubworm was does with a gen 2 small block

@Richard Now bolt on the split plenum and sexy edelbrock 750 and see what it will really do Eta: yeah, I really like the top of that carb. Oh yeah, are dimpled ventris a reality yet?

please do a dyno test comparison between a floater gear drive and double roller chain in a sb chevy

Richard Holdener I bought a turnkey SF902 dyno package with a sound room, air handling etc last November for my personal shop because i am a crazy person. I have had it running since February this year just running personal stuff on it. I obviously have limited info on how to fully utilize it. Can i slip you a few bucks for your time and do a call or teams meet8ng or whatever to walk me through how to fully use this thing? It is functional and ive put 50 hours or more time on it but i think it can do more than what ive figured out.

I would think the guys at TPIS would certainly address this and give answers especially since they are notorious for months long shipping delays currently per Facebook lt1 groups. I thought they were out of business

Even the stock number seems a little low, not much more than a 1990 and up l98 corvette motor. I've usually seen them around 350hp. In fact, you've dynoed a stock one around that in the past.

We've been waiting a long time for our 351 Windsor Big bang motor again you do a lot of Chevy stuff. We need more stuff for the Ford guys

I never understood why GM thought that super short runner intake was the best choice for a 350 ci factory street engine. Hood clearance?

SHOP APRON RICH ... 😂😂❤❤🥇🥇🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Advanced Induction LT1 heads

///////////////////////////// GO WITH THE FLOW>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Wicked sound 2

I would like to see what the max horsepower na is for the stock head

Should’ve been 450 or more easy with just a spring upgrade on the heads. Yeah something is wrong definitely

Hehe, "Wrong cam" Mr. Holdener. ;) IMO this engine probably needs the overlap of a true 108 LSA single pattern cam, so if 112 LSA is your preference, 225/241/112 is what is needed. At 4 degrees advance, valve crossover will then be at TDC, right? :)

@richardholder1727 Richard, I am sorry but I must roll my eyes at this one.. Nobody uses TPIS STUFF FOR LT1... and the cam used is too small... most are using 230ish duration... I'm not sure why you did not contact Lloyd Elliot from Elliot Port Works... for most of the LT1 guys, this is the "go-to" person for stock-ported LT1 heads and intake (plus his custom cams for this application).. TPIS is ok but Lloyd's combos have been proven time and time again...

Vroom vroom!!

Ричард, а как правильно на моторах GM рассчитать распредвал, толкатели клапанов, чтобы при смене головок был достаточный зазор между поршнем и клапаном?

There's something going on with this engine. Base power seems quite low.

rebaselining the speed density system fuel tps/rpm tables interesting venture

I'm not really digging the distributor seal you have on that set up Richard. 🤣

Advanced induction put out some great heads and cam combos. I owned one. Still have the heads sitting on a shelf. But I’ll say this… The LT4 195cc Airflow Research Heads I currently have are excellent and maybe even better than the AI 200cc heads.

Can you run this again with the carb intake and see if the gap you got before with about a 100ftlb difference is still similar?

The reason the tork is so much higher than Horse is the Throttle body doesnt deliver enough air its a 732 cfm throttle body 52 mm with air foil blocking idle hole its 48 mm 52 mm 632 cfm . i drilled mine to 1/8 inch its 807 cfm 54.5 mm what I gathered from this with port matching exaust manafolds and heads is the vortec coming in around 5000 rpm is coming in at throttle 1200 Rpm with 561heads its 350-400 wheel horse and thats down playing it its TorQ monster . Still But now goes through all band harder and more violent with what your doing id go 58mm tb and youl get bigger ponies

Why even use such a tiny cam? 20 years ago i ran a gm847, comp pro mags, and longtubes and made 360 to the wheels. The is some weird thing where everyone under cams these motors. I used to laugh at the guys with ported head and an lt4 hotcam barely making 350 whp lol.

Thanks Richard! Any idea of the original cam?

LETS GOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!

HP let down...the zz9 cam is single pattern, hmmmm

I have many pairs of shorts with those exact same stains on them.

LT1 guys: cam too mild, heads too mild! Me: how wild do you really have to get to make more HP than a junkyard 5.3 with nothing more than LS2 cam/springs??

Looks like the factory cam duration was similar to the aftermarket cam. I guess the factory heads were very restricted.

Why is it that original Other Guy's original stock LT1 you tested 4 years ago put down 360 hp numbers for you and then the LT1'S you've tested since put down around 30 hp less in stock same stock configuration as you test them? Are you not using that same LT1 from 4 years ago and it's not how many different LT ones have you worked with since starting the other guys testing? Also I'm really hoping that you're going to do some testing with some forced induction because these lt1's run higher compression and people are hesitant to run any kind of forced induction 👍

My 383 lt1 has tea ported 200 cc trickflow heads and 12 to 1 compression 248/258 .576/.576 114+4 . The cam in the motor on dyno is to small as seen with more tq than hp

Are you positive you didn’t send the 4.3 heads to the porter? I know you sold the good heads you had previously for the lt1 ?

👍💪

I think your engine is the 260 hp Road master version and not the 300 hp corvette mill. that could explain the missing power .

Were the stamped 1.5 rockers used on the heads and cam setup?

That was lt1 biggest problem small ports

Hi rise duel plane and 750hp would get you over 400hp

Gross, you used the stamp steel rockers on the new heads lol

Flopti-spark.

Single pattern...eeeps 😬

richard RICHARD advance induction have lt1 cam ai 228 /234 .614 ''/ .614 - 108 lsa used for f and b body short block 😈 record holders, 👿 good option .