Excellent engineering job!

I was considering making my own headers , Bor did you fab your exhaust ? could you tell me more about the process ?

Ram , we build our own tail pipes ,as I have a friend thats real good in ss welding and have a lot of knowledge on this and everything exaly !
We switched the headers forward to get some length in the exhaust as that works better on the ls engine (proven on the dyno ) and we had a change to make some muffler to get the sound a little down .
Its quite a lot of work specialy the turns as it have to fit good and the radius on a 3.5" elbow is different then the 3" that need to go in the 3.5" and there not the same lenght so you have to think constanly about the next move or you can cut it and start over ,the straight pipes are easy .

I would not try to build headers my self it would be a night mare ! I also figured out that the price they ask for them is not that expensive anymore as its a real big job to do !

I might put my set for sale as I need two sets for my new boat and better look for 2 new sets as find a similar set .we have made them dry so you can build a pair dry tail pipes and you have no risk for reversion .

bor


Thx !

I use to race Camaro Mustang Challenge with NASA and that class allows 305's, 350's, LT1's, and LS1 motors. The LT1's seemed troublesome. Lots of issues with corrosion in the Opti's and top end/hi power RPM response. The wiring/computers also caused issues when trying to run headers and no emissions. The LS1's were less problems and a few guys are running 5.3 LS truck motors with Camaro/Firebird intakes (hood clearance issues with trunk intakes). Since you won't be running a radiator...changing Optisparks might be easier but remember it's location and where that puts it in a BOAT!

Sidney

I wouldn't touch anything with an OptiSpark if I could help it. They are a nightmare in a car and I can only imagine a marine environment.

A longtime ago we broke the code for Opti. It stands for Optional Spark, not Optimum Spark.

An LT1 in a boat would be really cool but I agree with the guys above that the OptiSpark could be a pain. I had a lot of issues with mine in my Camaro track car. The Opti is very sensitive to moisture... Also, I would be a little concerned about running a stock bottom end LT1 in a boat because the LT1 wasn't built to run at sustained high rpm for hours at a time. I was always under the impression that almost any car motor wouldn't stand up to boating abuse for very long, but is that not true? For example, I just finished building a motor for my Subaru which will be used as a dedicated road course car and I set all of the ring/piston/bearing tolerances looser than stock spec with the idea that the motor would constantly be at high rpm and the components would heat up and expand.

An LT1 in a boat makes little sense to me. They are heavy, old, OptiSpark sucks and the aftermarket abandoned them largely in favor of the LS series. Every LT1 guy I know has a master plan in the back of his head to get an LS engine.

LS is lighter, bigger aftermarket, tons of them available cheap at junk yards and Craig's list.

LT1 for a boat is a waste of time.

LT1 's were used in the boats and the power and torque curves make them ideal candidates for the job but I am concerned about the opti , I could switch it out to the COP plug setup for a couple bucks but I would rather not. This is a budget project for a sport boat that will sleep on a trailer , I don't understand all the concerns about water , all of my old boats never had a drop of water in the bilge and I would like to hope that if you guy's have water you check were it's coming from. As far as LS I would love to run one but I did my research and the cheapest headers I could find would set me back 2500$ us + the exchange rate and taxes to get this in Canada. Here's the budget gone out the window.

Do you have good access to the front of the motor in your boat? If so you could carry a spare opti and replace it on the water if you absolutely had to. It would kill a day of boating but its definitely a "do-able" job. Half the pain with the opti in my old Camaro was just getting access to it, but if the front of the motor is clear then it's not that big of a job. And as for the water in the bilge, in my experience the opti goes bad with just a slight amount of moisture usually from a leaky water pump on the LT1. If your bilge is completely dry and the water pump is good then you might be ok. I would just be concerned with the condensation that usually forms in the bilge because that will definitely screw with the opti. But if you can change one out on the water then maybe its worth a shot.