Building a 427 (L-88) engine

[Steve Antonucci]

Re: if you want a wild sounding street engine

Joe,

I'd love to hear more details about the Zl-1 you just built. I heard that you
went with lower compression, and possibly a roller cam. Care to share your
thoughts on your ZL-1 project in relation to the L-88 question at hand?

Steve

[Steve Antonucci]

Re: Here's the deal...

I should have probably asked this earlier. Regarding the heads for the
L-88 engine, what casting numbers came stock from 67 - 69? Were the early
L-88's closed chambered? If so, did they use the '842 heads? I believe the
later L-88's used the '074 heads, didn't they? I'm a little sketchy on the
L-88 heads through the years and how that blended in the whole ZL-1 thing.

Can anyone set me straight?

Steve

[Warren F.]

Re: Here's the deal...

Steve:

I have read many articles on L-88 and ZL-1 cars, since my LS-6 uses some of the same components. The way I understand the progression, is that the open chambered heads with revised intake port and tilted floor and unshrouded area in the combustion chamber were the improvements made with the '074' heads, and this was designed for the ZL-1 engine. The L-88's benefitted from this improved head design over the '842', which was used on '68 and early '69 L-88, L-89 applications. I believe that the L-88 cars built around June 16th of 1969 and later began to use the ZL-1 designed head, this as I understand was good for 20 to 30 hp more due to its design over the previous head. The L-89 cars continued to use the older design because they continued to use a closed chamber piston design, while with the newer aluminum head, a new design piston was also incorporated, and this use was only for ZL-1 and L-88 applications.