Got a 95 LT1 & 6 speed trans today

If you can do it more power to you. Im all about being different. A big block would have lots of power but that LT1 with the 6speed would be a blast to drive in a light weight Maverick!

 

454? you mean a 455 right?

being a ford owner who actually likes GM I gotta tell you, ch3vy engines bore the hell out of me. go to a car show, 80% of the cars there will have a sbc in them of some kind. If you were to go with a GM engine i'd say 0ldsmobile. IMO they had the best engines out of GM

 

My daily driver is a 98 S-10.
I say find a nice S-10 for the LT1 and Six speed.
I would love to see a 03 Cobra Motor in the Maverick.

 

455=Buick Stage 1

Prob. need to remove shock towers and inner fenders to get that in there.

 

^i would have said buick, but i heard they have a tendency to crack a little more often than olds but still an excelent engine. how about a caddy 500? lol

Im more of a purist myself though, chevy in a chevy, ford in a ford, olds in an olds, know what im sayin? they dont have to be period correct but i like to atleast see brand correct engines.

im sure its not a big problem getting a sbc in a mav, but with an engine like that i'd be more concerned with the miles of wire that needs to be connected somewhere. i'd probably end up bolting on a 4bbl intake out of frustration lol

 

or just a 600+ cube BBF

 

Not exactly what I would do, but it will be an interesting project to watch. I hope you stick with it and can keep us posted. I'd love to see how you get it in there without a MII suspension. Those Chevy small blocks are bigger than the 302/351.

 

That's what I was gonna say.
The SBC is wider than one would think.
It also has the exhaust ports exiting straight out of the side, even worse than a 351w. So with towers, exhaust is going to be a nightmare.

I have seen LT and SBC, basically same engine, both done in a Maverick, but never with towers too.
Another thing that would need contending with if you keep the towers is the fact that the SBC is a rear sump pan/rear oil pump.
If you don't do the M2, I see issues with the oil pan and rear steer.

If you can do it, and do it clean, more p'wer to ya!
If you are going to 'hack' it in there,

 

whats that small chevy 2 door car made throughout the 1970's? i guess it would almost qualify as the GM counter part to the maverick. I think it starts with a "N" an LT1 might look nice under the hood of one of those

 

Are thinking Vega? Or possibly, from the late '70s, the Monza.

 

I was thinking n0v@, but yeah those are good too FI V8 with those kind of hp #'s would move vehicles of that size pretty well, i think the n0va was tho only one of that bunch to have a v8 option so it shouldnt be too hard to get a late model sbc in there. with a veg@ youll probably have many of the same shock tower issues you would with the maverick, i wouldnt even know about the oil pan/pump issue.

 

Sorry. That part about the "counterpart to the Maverick" threw me for a loop. The Nova is a very good body for a V-8.

 

im thinking about this 78 m0nte i got in the back yard and how much it would like to have a nice little fule injected v8 to replace that little 305

 

I have seen a SBC 350 in a late 67 or 68 mustang b4 with shock towers and original front suspension. As for the oil pan issue we have a couple of ideas here, but will open that can of worms after we do some measuring this weekend.

I like the way the LT1 looks; I think it will look really good under the grabber hood.

The wiring not that bad if you can read wiring diagrams, but the diagrams in your Haynes repair manual is not good enough. I have factor wiring diagrams for the LT1 and there is not as many wires to run as you think but if you go extending the wires to give a good clean look it can take some time. It took me about 9 hrs to extend the wire on the LT1 harness to hide the wires under the finder to locate the ecu behind the battery.

Jim

 

If Im not mistaken the 67-68 Mustang engine bays are wider than a Maverick. They did put big blocks in those cars where-as a Maverick never was designed for a big block. So if you were counting on that...better come up with something else.