I saw a add for a road test article of a 1973 LT-1. Did Chev plan on making a 73 LT-1 and changed their mind?
-
-
Re: 1973 LT-1 Road test
Greg-----
I've never heard of any plans to produce the LT-1 engine for the 1973 model year, but it's possible. For 1973, the federal emissions requirements changed. I doubt that the LT-1 engine, at least as it was constituted for 1972, could have met the 1973 requirements. The Holley carb and lack of EGR would have been major impediments to meeting emission standards. Of course, the carb could have been changed to a Q-Jet (they have about the same CFM rating as the Holley) and a new manifold with EGR could have been designed and produced. However, when it was all said-and-done, what you'd have is pretty close to the L-82 engine, save for cam and lifters, that was first offered for the 1973 Corvette. Basically, the L-82 was the engine that replaced the LT-1. Except for compression ratio, the L-82 is, essentially, the same as the 1969-70 L-46.
Given the lead times involved in engine development and validation, the plan to replace the LT-1 with the L-82 must have occurred in the very early 70s. There's no way that I could have seen them offering both the L-82 and the LT-1 for 1973 since there wouldn't have been very much power difference between them and the LS-4 was also an avilable option. So, I would expect that the decision to drop the LT-1 happened when the decision to go ahead with the L-82 was made.In Appreciation of John Hinckley -
Re: 1973 LT-1 Road test
I did not think so also, but if you look ar the article it looks like it does say 1973 LT-1.
Check it out. It is interesting.
Comment
-
Re: 1973 LT-1 Road test
This is simply a case of a mistaken headline. This article was reprinted in the Road & Track's "On Corvette" anthology. Both in the body of the article and in the data box, the engine is properly referred to as L-82. My bet is an editor slipped in an uninformed change.
Interesting to note in the article that this first application of radial tires brought a decrease in cornering performance.Comment
-
Re: 1973 LT-1 Road test
Do you have a electronic copy of the article? I would be interested in reading it.Comment
-
Re: 1973 LT-1 Road test
Sorry, I don't. The full book, "Road & Track on Corvette, 1968-1982" is commonly available. Try motolit.comComment
Comment