I wanted to find an 84 crossfire car and put this on it and make the crossfire air cleaner fit over it. Would help the power problem a little.
I wanted to find an 84 crossfire car and put this on it and make the crossfire air cleaner fit over it. Would help the power problem a little.
One issue my friend learned while researching a carb conversion was getting the assembly to fit under the hood. Apparently one company made a low-profile single 4 barrel manifold that worked, but they are somewhat rare today.
Hmm, good point Ian. Hey Sonic, if you get a chance, can you measure the height of the intake, including the air cleaner. Preferrebly from the point where the intake meets the block in front and rear. It doesn't have to be a perfect measurement, I want to compare that to my intake height, for research purposes of course. 
Dad had a simgle plane on the 88. Want to say a victor jr.
It cleared the stock hood.
Edelbrock Performers aren't that tall. Summer has a "Speedmaster Low-Rise Intake" that looks pretty, well, low.
All interior soft stuff out and pressure washed. 
Then pressure washed the outside, underbody, and engine bay. So much brown water, ugh. The mice apparently were big fans of the air intake tubes molded into the hood, I ended up just running the hose through those for several minutes with simple green until it ran clear and free of bedding debris. Now everything is drying, still need to wipe down the hard surfaces inside and put the interior back together, then can start on the mechanical stuff with all the new parts I have.
With all the soft stuff clean I then wiped down all of the hard surfaces with a bleach cleaner, then reinstalled the carpeting. It is much nicer now.
I also got an ozone machine as a prime day deal, $46, and ran it in the car with all windows closed for an hour, before I put the carpet back in. It made a great difference, I'll do it again once it is running with the heater on to get the vents all clear
If that car were for sale anywhere reasonably near me I'd reach into my rainy day car bank account and buy it. I've been wanting an entry level Corvette more and more the last few years.
LS engines are cheap. I'd love to build a car that would offend Corvette guys.
In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :
I sold a manual C5 in your area pretty cheap a few years ago.
A coworker got an early tpi car a year or two ago that had sat for 6 years. It was in a similar state, it was crazy how little work it took to get running and driving. He had the dash rebuilt so he could see if it was actually charging or overheating. It has a small radiator leak that he never fixed. It had a stuck caliper so he through some brakes on it, and a battery. He then proceeded to talk about all the other things he wanted to do and never did anything but drive it. He didnt even change the pump or filter or gas. It smelled real bad when running on the old gas, but it ran. He didnt even bother to dilute the old gas to make it better, when it ran out then he filled it up.
I originally was going to buy it from him, he told me it was an 84 so I thought it was a crossfire which I thought was cool. I did a little research and apparently there is some basic porting to be done to the manifold that makes a large difference on the top end. Most people saw the crossfire is garbage, but my older coworkers that were in the tune up business when these where around, say they were easy to work on, and very reliable and smooth. They love them.
Mr_Asa said:In reply to Sonic :
I don't know that I'd kill for that garage, but someone would get a stabbing out of it, maybe a light maiming.
No kidding, that garage is a very cool location even if it's just a single stall.
Opti said:I originally was going to buy it from him, he told me it was an 84 so I thought it was a crossfire which I thought was cool. I did a little research and apparently there is some basic porting to be done to the manifold that makes a large difference on the top end. Most people saw the crossfire is garbage, but my older coworkers that were in the tune up business when these where around, say they were easy to work on, and very reliable and smooth. They love them.
I've always heard that more ignition advance makes a big difference on the Crossfire F-bodies. Dunno if the Corvettes come from the factory with as little timing as the F-bodies though.
In reply to GCrites80s :
Id bet they do because pretty much everything GM of the time did. The TBI trucks also get a large gain from adding some timing. If GM was going to actually put some timing in, it might have happened on the vette.
A quick google says 6*s for the vette. Thats better than 0* for the TBI 350s. Most people bump the TBIs trucks to 10-14 depending on fuel, and engine condition. Id bet turning it up to 12* would make a big difference if it doesnt ping.
6* is what the F-Bodies had as well.
Following along here.
I love the way the c4 vette looks but nobody has anything nice to say about the l98 engine. Or the chassis. Or the interior.
CrustyRedXpress said:Following along here.
I love the way the c4 vette looks but nobody has anything nice to say about the l98 engine. Or the chassis. Or the interior.
This is actually the L-83 V8. The L-98 is the Tuned Port Injection motor which does have some popularity as a good truck engine due to the good torque output but they only put them in cars.
Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:If that car were for sale anywhere reasonably near me I'd reach into my rainy day car bank account and buy it. I've been wanting an entry level Corvette more and more the last few years.
LS engines are cheap. I'd love to build a car that would offend Corvette guys.
How would LS swapping a C4 offend Corvette guys?
CrustyRedXpress said:Following along here.
I love the way the c4 vette looks but nobody has anything nice to say about the l98 engine. Or the chassis. Or the interior.
As another poster said, this car isnt an L98. But the L98 was significant for its time. ~240 ish hp and ~340 ish torque in the mid 80's from a reliable, fuel injected V8 was pretty impressive. Evne today, a well running L98 still makes a pretty fun car. GMs refusal to mate a proper manual to the L98 and the fact that the LT1/T56 combo premiered in the early 90's kept the L98 from really making a name as a performance motor.
FatMongo said:Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:If that car were for sale anywhere reasonably near me I'd reach into my rainy day car bank account and buy it. I've been wanting an entry level Corvette more and more the last few years.
LS engines are cheap. I'd love to build a car that would offend Corvette guys.
How would LS swapping a C4 offend Corvette guys?
Because 'Vette guys, in general, are straight up weird. They get offended about anything.
FatMongo said:CrustyRedXpress said:Following along here.
I love the way the c4 vette looks but nobody has anything nice to say about the l98 engine. Or the chassis. Or the interior.
As another poster said, this car isnt an L98. But the L98 was significant for its time. ~240 ish hp and ~340 ish torque in the mid 80's from a reliable, fuel injected V8 was pretty impressive. Evne today, a well running L98 still makes a pretty fun car. GMs refusal to mate a proper manual to the L98 and the fact that the LT1/T56 combo premiered in the early 90's kept the L98 from really making a name as a performance motor.
There were no proper manuals for engines making 340 ft.-lb. at the time.
Mr_Asa said:FatMongo said:Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:If that car were for sale anywhere reasonably near me I'd reach into my rainy day car bank account and buy it. I've been wanting an entry level Corvette more and more the last few years.
LS engines are cheap. I'd love to build a car that would offend Corvette guys.
How would LS swapping a C4 offend Corvette guys?
Because 'Vette guys, in general, are straight up weird. They get offended about anything.
Yeah, but the early C4s are quintessential peasant cars. The guys that get offended about stuff dont consider them worth preserving any way, so they wouldnt care. On the other end of the spectrum, Corvette enthusiasts would be super excited about an LS C4.
I think there are some tricky hurdles when LS swapping C4s. I'm pretty sure at least on was completed but i think people where saying it wasn't near as easy as other LS swaps.
Really C5s are so inexpensive and better than C4s it doesn't make sense spending a bunch of money making a C4 into a bad C5. I think if you want a performance C4 you buy a late one with an LT1 or LT4 and 6 speed, because they aren't that much more and are better to modify and drive.
If you want a cool C4 you buy exactly what you got. Crossfire injection, early seats, digital dash, goofy trans, and early body work are the coolest/weirdest/most 80s things out on the C4s. Make it more enjoyable to drive and embrace the weirdness and radness of an early C4.
On an unrelated note if you want the best of both worlds you buy a C4 ZR1
It's been my experience in many years of attending and participating in car shows that Vette guys are the most uptight of them all. A lot of them think that Chevrolet built it perfect and any changes are sacrilege.
@Opti, none of this makes sense. Nothing any of us are doing on this board makes sense. Making sense would be buying Toyota Corollas and commuting to work as cheaply as possible. We all do this because we want to. That's the only reason. It doesn't make sense, it makes passion.
I've built a pile of cars (some of them documented here). They have all been financially wasteful and pointless. But I sure have enjoyed doing it. And putting a 5.3 with a choppy cam in this car would sure float my goat.
On the weird Corvette guy note above, my dad is resto-modding a '63 Corvette. It's pretty tame but the Corvette guys lose their E36 M3 when they see some of the things he's done that aren't by-the-NCRS-book restoration. His take is he's not worried about the finish on his nuts. Love you Dad!
In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :
Sorry I'm late. I bought my 86 Corvette back in 89, and it was wonderful until I tried to teach my late wife to drive a manual transmission. That cost me a clutch and flywheel.
Throughout my years of driving it I had to be gentle when shifting it. The syncros were badly worn.
The company I worked for didn't like me driving a Corvette as my daily car but I did because of the economy it got allowed me to make the payment, insurance, maintenance, fuel, and still allowed me a profit at the end of the month.
Plus I'll be honest, who doesn't like driving a Corvette. When it touched 99,000 miles I detailed it and sold it at a tiny loss over its cost. The trick there was to buy in the fall and sell in the spring.
The owner stayed in contact with me and had dumped a fortune in"fixing it up". Only to lust for a newer one.
In reply to wawazat :
This X 10. Your Dad will actually drive his too, maybe even when it’s wet! The horror! So many of those are partial cars / major projects after 50 plus years. It’s so much better to get them back on the road and seen unlike the perfect garage queens.
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