The LT1 is a fantastic motor. It has power all across the board and is very strong.
My engine is a 93, with a TPIS ZZ9 cam, 1.6 roller rockers, LT4 intake, completely reworked LT1 heads, eagle rods, approx 11.7:1 compression, and Gen 6 DFI. With a built 700r4 and 4.10 gears on stock sized BFG drag radials. The car hooks fantastic and pulls all the way to 7300 (where I put the rev limiter, engine wants to keep going).
A friend of mine has a 2001 WS6, six speed, cam, tune and just about every bolt on made. The Iroc would leave and he could never catch me motor to motor. We have yet to line up turbo to spray.
LT1's don't have anymore cooling issues than other cars, they are just different. You need to properly route the steam line from the heads and make sure the radiator has a good fan.
A friend made the headers for me, they are based on an SBC flange. On motor I used to run Edelbrock shortys- from my old TPI, just port matched. The crossover is in the front.
I run 009's with a 340 pump and hotwire kit. At 2 lbs of boost, the alcohol injection kicks in. I've had no problems, it's still tuned very fat so I have to work that out. I run 7-8lbs of boost and with the manual controller it spiked to 13lbs on night (didn't take convertor lockup into account when I shifted it- now putting in an electronic controller). This is on almost 12:1 compression, with just a studded 2-bolt main.
The Lt1's were quickly eclpised by the LS1's in publicity, but these engines are great. The real issue is the stupid optispark. Mine went out right after I put the motor in, went with a GM replacement (with MSD box and coil), had no other issues. Or you could get your intake drilled and just drop in a normal distributor.