in all honesty the lt1 is simply a cheap mans ls1.. i know a lot of us cant afford payments on an ls1 or cant afford to just buy one strait up, my lt1 was cheap and in perfect condition and bone stock. right now i dont even have 10k invested in the car including the 7k i paid for it and it will keep up with the best of the bolt on ls1's. im not saying i can take down any serious ls1 because shit im still on my stock cam and shortblock with just some freshened up stock flowing heads... but the car holds its own. the reason there arent a lot of faster lt1s running around is because the owners dont have the cash to mod them (its the POOR mans ls1) or they dont know enough about the cars to mod them correctly. The lt1s have very inferior heads and a smaller cam than the ls1, they also have a shittier intake/tb setup, but thats not all.. the lt1 computer is a HUGE source of power. with just the right simple bolt ons, a good dyno tune can put an lt1 way up there. the other slow points are the fuel and ignition, and just to clear it up, most opti failures are owner related, i dont like the thing either, but if we are just more careful they wont break as easily. i have a HUGE ignition problem right now because i dont produce enough spark to run my setup.. cant rev as high as i should which means not reaching potential. lt1 owners throw a bunch of bolt ons at their car ( LT headers, intake, exhaust etc) and are still under 300 hp.. with a good dyno tune those mods alone can get you up and over 300, maybe not too far but you dont have to be stuck at like 290. the lt1 is just old technology. make it new and you can have a fast, cheap hotrod thatll hang right up there with the ls1 guys for less money