Chevy LT1 Engine Build - LT1 2-Go...Almost

The harmonic balancer, or damper, is an important part of any high-performance engine. Until recently, LT1 owners were limited to using the factory piece. Although typical in design to those used for decades on all small-block engines, the late-model version had no provision to be fastened on the end of the crank. If fact, there is no Woodruff keyway or tapped hole in the end of a stock LT1 crank. Recently, ATI has released one of their famed Super Dampers for the LT1. Shown on the right, this unit uses the popular two-piece hub and outer ring assembly.

Located at the bottom of the waterpump is the coolant temperature sender. This is where the computer derives engine temperature from, although it's a good idea to keep an eye on how hot the water gets in the heads and block, too.

If you're building a stout late-model LT1, and most definitely if you're planning to add a belt-driven blower, we suggest that you either use a crankshaft that has a keyway already in place, or have your stock crank machined for one. This will allow the lower pulley to turn the supercharger consistently and avoid any chance of the damper/pulley assembly rotating on the crank.

If you do, and you choose not to buy an ATI (or other aftermarket keyed damper), you'll need one of these. It's a factory-style hub that has been notched to accept a key. This is a not-so-easy procedure, because the inside of the hub doesn't stay the same diameter all the way through.

The machining wizards at CNC Cylinder Heads in Pinellas Park, Florida, made this one by laser-cutting it. Talk about precision work.

When it comes to trick stuff, you'd go a long way trying to find something better-machined than this Super Damper from ATI. Using the company's race-proven dampening design, the LT1 version also has an integral serpentine belt pulley and is engraved with one-degree timing marks all around the outer ring. And, as if that isn't enough, check out the fully machined billet hub. They honestly don't come any better than this.

From the front of the engine to the bottom rear, next we installed the oiling system. Beginning with the pump, here we install an ARP stud to the rear cap mounting position. The important step here is to be sure of two things: First, that the stud isn't too long and puts pressure on the rear main bearing before it bottoms out. And second, that when it's in place, it stays there. That's the time to use a little thread locker.

We did have to do a little surgery, however. Since we were using studs on the main caps instead of bolts, there was a little bit of interference between the Titan's body and the end of the stud-nothing a trusty little die grinder and aluminum-specific carbide bit couldn't handle. We did hate to wear off the pump's nice, black anodized finish, though.

Inside of the cool extra-capacity Billet Fabrication oil pan, you'll see a couple of "trap doors" separating the sump around the oil pump from the rest of the pan. This helps make sure that there is always a bath of oil for the Titan to pull from.

The heart of our LT1 is the Titan Sportsman oil pump.

This unit provides a built-in-the-bottom pickup and is fully adjustable for pressure. There won't be any problems getting enough oil around the strategic internals of our 383.

Since the Billet Fabrication pan uses thick aluminum for the rails, it isn't necessary to use all of the mounting positions of a stock stamped steel pan. However, the locations that were used had ARP pan studs installed. Again, a little dab of Loctite was used to keep them in place.