I have a few questions about my motor choice

I have sourced a 5.7L 350 engine from a 1996 chevy silverado truck. I was wondering if this is a good choice for my V8 conversion. From my understanding, this is essentially the same as the LT1 with a different intake? Right? (feel free to tell me otherwise) I would love to use an LS1 for my project, but this motor comes with good history and no known problems to date other than high miles. I'm assumming that I can change the intake to the lower intake from an LT1 so that it will fit under the hood of my car. I'm not looking to create a race demon, but a dependable, easy to work on, daily driver that could potentially be a sleeper if the power is needed. I know this site offers a great information about the conversion. I guess I'm not sure about the differences between the SBC and the LT1. Any information that anyone can share will be greatly appreciated. I was planning on sourcing the 5.3 truck motor until this free 5.7L 350 motor was offered to me as a donor from a friend who will more than likely be helping with this project. I'm not so much concerned about weight issues (iron vs aluminum). Just wondering if this is a good engine to start my project with. This will be a do it yourself project with as much information from this forum that i can use.

Yes it will work , you will need to modify the LT intake to accept a distributor and install F body style accessory brackets. Everything else should be an easy bolt on .

Thats a Vortec engine. The LT1 intake will not work on Vortec heads. You probably want to look at stealth ram intakes. They are about $300 new but Im sure you can score one for less. You can also use a marine vortec intake (mercruiser) which is pretty cool. Visit the following address for more.

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944-LT1 wrote:Thats a Vortec engine. The LT1 intake will not work on Vortec heads. You probably want to look at stealth ram intakes. They are about $300 new but Im sure you can score one for less. You can also use a marine vortec intake (mercruiser) which is pretty cool. Visit the following address for more.

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Or he can look into buying a good set of lt1 or lt4 heads to plop on, although IIRC the reverse flow of the LT wasn't compatable with the standard flow blocks.

Or he can look into buying a good set of lt1 or lt4 heads to plop on, although IIRC the reverse flow of the LT wasn't compatable with the standard flow blocks.

Yeah, the vortec L31 is std flow with a reverse rotation pump.

He could buy a set of aftermarket SBC (non vortec) heads and then mod the LT1 intake to fit them. Some aluminum heads would cut down the weight of the L31 as well.

I vote for the 5.3, stick on an LS1-6 intake and call it a day.

You can use the LT1 heads by having the reverse flow ports welded closed, then have the heads milled and re-drill the water hole using a head gasket as a template. Then you can use the LY1 intake. You can drill a hole into the front of each head and tap it for 1/2 pipe using the steam holes. Then you use a remote t-stat housing and run a hose from each head to this. Although the serpentine belt system may not fit. I am using standard v-belts.

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You need a FI system as well. I will be using Dynamic EFI. They are very reasonable and have a very nice system.

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Thank you guys for all the input. Seems like I still have a lot of work ahead of me and then some. I was hoping that the modifications to the 5.7L were simple bolt on then go. I'm going to do a lot more homework. First part of this project will be pulling the motor from the truck. But anymore information that anyone could share would be great. I will defiantly continue reading and I will kept you all posted with my progress. I'm sure I will be in need of a few parts as well. Thanks!