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1970 Chevelle LT1

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Brambles

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hi All

I'm new to this forum and not very knowledgable regarding Chevelle's, never owned one before but have always loved them.

Right now I'm looking at a 1970 Chevelle Malibu 350/auto that the owner says that its a factory LT1 car. Is this possible?

Are there any sites that I can use to verify the info, maybe run the VIN. If it is indeed a factory LT1 car how rare does this make it?

Thanks for any help and sorry for the newbie questions

P.S. I'm fairly sure he said it was a 1970 but that was a couple months ago, slight chance that he said it was a 1971, I'm going to go look at it again later today and hopefully get the VIN

Brambles
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
Well I went and looked at it again, got the vin number but that doesn't tell anything about the engine I guess. Couldn't figure how to get the hood open. Last time I was there he said the engine was out getting refreshed. The car is a 1970 chevelle malibu 350 cid floor shift automatic, no engine or tranny in it right now.

I noticed that in the 1970 Factory Advertisments it refers to a 330 hp smallblock with a TH400, but the 1970 engine list doesn't specify this horsepower rating for 1970 but it does list a 330hp for 1971. Confusing

If I remember correctly the Corvette LT1 for that era had 330 hp, are they indeed separate engines, if so what is the difference
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
70ElkySS said:
I thought the '70 LT1 was 360/370 hp - Camaro/Vette. It was listed at 330 hp in '71.
Click to expand...
I think your right regarding the camaro/vette engines.

I'm still wondering about the reference to the 330hp smallblock engine in the 1970 Factory Ads and how it differs from the later 330HP LT1. It seems that a 330hp 350 WAS an option in 1971 which puts the HP levels right in line with any other 1971 LT-1. I'm wondering if it was an option for 1970 that wasn't well documented???????

What info from the car would I need to verify the original enigne and transmission, where would I have to look for this info.

Thanks again for the help
 
#7 ·
GM built some COPO Novas in 1970 with the LT1. 360 hp Camaros. 370 hp Vettes. Never heard tell of an LT1 Chevelle from the factory. He would need factory documentation to back up that story.
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
What do you guys think about this, I found a website that does list a LT-1 engine as an option for a 1970 A-Body engine code CRT 360HP solid cam motor, it also specifically mentions a 1971 LT-1 Chevelle engine code CJK 330HP engine. Here's the list, take a look and let me know what you think.

How does a guy get GM documentation, My uncle works for a GM dealer, does that help?


http://www.metalmonsterclub.com/technique/sm block codes69 73.htm
 
#10 ·
One item of interest with any factory LT1 400 Turbo combination would be the converter....Next time you see the car ask to see torque converter and count the mount bolts. If indeed it is a LT1 it would have a few unique parts. I have never heard of one being factory installed in a Chevelle but that doesn't mean it didn't happen or couldn't have been special ordered?
 
#12 · (Edited)
Brambles said:
What do you guys think about this, I found a website that does list a LT-1 engine as an option for a 1970 A-Body engine code CRT 360HP solid cam motor, it also specifically mentions a 1971 LT-1 Chevelle engine code CJK 330HP engine. Here's the list, take a look and let me know what you think.
Click to expand...
Brambles said:
How does a guy get GM documentation, My uncle works for a GM dealer, does that help?


http://www.metalmonsterclub.com/technique/sm block codes69 73.htm
Click to expand...
On that list, for 1970 CRT is stated as being a 360 horse solid lifter 350 LT-1, but in a Chevelle (I doubt it).
My source shows CRT in 1970 as being for the 360 horse 454 with manual trans in a Chevelle.


Your link shows 1970’s CTB is given as high performance solid lifter 350 360-horse for F X & A body. I’m with you on the F body (Z/28) X body (COPO Nova / Yenko Deuce) but not the A-body.
My source shows CTB was 350/360 LT-1 for Nova & Camaro; manual trans.
My source also shows CTB was used in ’72 for the 402 in Camaro (F), Chevelle (A) & passenger (B-body, i.e. Impala etc.)



The link shows CTC as 1970 passenger (Impala) & Chevelle 350, 320-horse (never heard of that!) & a TH400. It also lists CTC in 1970 as Camaro & Nova 350/360.
My source lists CTC in ’70 as an LT-1 in Camaro Z/28 & Nova (COPO & Yenko Deuce), all with TH400.





An engine code could be for 1 engine in 1 or more car lines, especially after 1970. A single common engine code will not be used on 2 or more different engines within the same car line in a given year. How could it?
 
Discussion starter · #13 ·
I borrowed "Chevrolet by the numbers" by Alan L Colvin from a friend and am working on the VIN number. It all checks out until I get to the Sequence number and the book says that the sequence number is for a Camaro??????
The book says the sequence number would work if it was a 1971 but the vin indicates that its a 1970 and so does the registration, plus it has 2 headlights per side!

I don't know what the sequence number does but it seems odd, maybe it had camaro goodies as a special order?


Aparently I can get GM to give me a breakdown of the vin that would tell me everything about the car online but I don't have the website,
Does anyone have the website for GmCanada's old car vin decoding?
 
#14 ·
For what little this might be worth the 1970 LT1 was an 11 to 1 compression ratio engine. Not exactly a friendly street engine on todays gas.

I had a 1970 Chevelle that I bought from a friend and it was very quick. That was back when gas still had a decent octane rating.
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
It won't be a daily driver so some octane booster won't bother me too much. Plus I'm up in Canada and our fuel doesn't ping as easily as the fuel in the U.S..
May sound weird but I watched a program on Canadian fuel and they put an additive in from the factory. This was confirmed when my buddy with a 68 barracuda formula S 340 10.5:1 compression was running on regular 89 octane in Canada but as soon as we put U.S. 89 octane in he pinged link mad and had to put a bottle of booster in..

Since its a Canadian car I'm going to go through GM Canada and find out for sure if it was a special order LT-1 or not and get documentation if it is. Definitly be something special if it was a factory LT-1, it'll have to wait till tuesday however...
 
#16 ·
If it is a Canadian car then all you have to do is call George Zapora and give him your VIN and some money and you will get the information on your car. Then you will know for sure what you have. We have it for our cars and is nice stuff to have.
 
Discussion starter · #17 ·
Yeah I think thats the guy from GM Canada that does the breakdown, I might be able to call tomorrow before work and get it started. Does he tell you how many were produced with the same options ie: 1 of 5000, 1 of 1 etc.
 
Discussion starter · #18 ·
No need to get GM Canada to run the VIN.

I went and talked to the guy again and asked what engine was in the car when he bought it and he said an LT-1. So I said what was the original engine, he said that it was special ordered as an LT-1.

To say that I'm very interested now in an understatement so I look the car over more and ask him to pop the trunk, its full of engine parts since the engine is out getting rebuilt, I start taking numbers off the exhaust manifolds and other parts when he comes up with the lid for the air cleaner.

See he said 350

Yeah I said but that says 300 horsepower the LT-1 in 1970 had 360hp, I said thats no LT-1 engine then. He got offended and started to argue that the 300 hp engine WAS the LT-1 and that it was the same engine that was in a 1969 camaro that he had and it was an LT-1 too, he then said my favorite words "trust me", yeah right. He then said, "this car is worth $50,000 us) restored" YEAH RIGHT. I didn't say anymore, just smiled, nodded and left and my earliest opportunaty.

I don't think it was a scam I just think that the guys was too stupid to know any better and had it set in his mind that the car was super special and no one was going to change his mind,

Oh well, usually if it seems too good to be true than it usually is.
 
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Brambles
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