You might want to get a book on how to rebuild an older carb'd SBC. LT1's and LT4's were used in early to mid 90's corvettes, camaros, and firebirds, and are slightly different than the conventional small block like having reverse cooling, aluminum heads, distributor-less ignition, and of course the fancy EFI. As for your question, I don't know but the ball bearing thing could be specific to the LT1/LT4. Someone who has rebuilt an old SBC will surely let you know.
