LS4 PILOT

There were no L-46 cars build with Automatic transmission?

Yankeededandy

That's correct. Manual only.

Martin

loup68

I think that they did not have enough vacuum to reliably shift the turbo 400. At least that is what I have always been told. Same for my 68 327 L-79.

LS4 PILOT

Hi,
that is interesting. Did the L-79 use the same cam as the L-46 ?

Fred

Yankeededandy

Sounds a bit like voodoo to me. Not enough vacuum? I prefer to think the L-46 and L-79 were like the later LT-1 performance oriented small blocks and to keep up with their image they were only coupled with the Muncie 4-speed. A pure marketing decision.

Somebody out there knows the truth. I'm of course guessing here.

Martin

C3 Stroker

.....even L-88's could be bought with TH400 auto transmissions and 3.08 gears. They didn't have much vacuum, either, but everything worked OK.

loup68

You guy's are right about the vacuum. I just read an article in SuperChevy on L -79's and it said that because of the cam overlap, they could not idle properly with the stock automatic transmission torque converter. That is why the L-79 and L-46 could not be hooked up to an automatic transmision.

loup68

LS4 pilot, I know that I have read that the L-46 cam was toned down for the 69 Vette. The 68 L-79 cam is more radical. I have been looking, but cannot find the specs. for you. Maybe someone else can give you that information.

PeteZO6

This is a page from a Hot Rod article from 1987.

The next page states that the 962 cam was the used in the L-46 and L-82 engines. It looks to me that the L-46/L-82 cam is NOT a toned down L-79 cam at all. You decide!

Pete

loup68

Pete, thank you for the information. This clarifies what I read in the past. GM changed the cam to eliminate the extreme lope at idle on the L79, but slightly improved the Max. lift and .050-inch lift degree. I have never seen the numbers compared before.
I would like to know why the article forgets the 68 corvette L79. It only lists 65-67.

4vettesandcounting

I agree they wanted these cars for "purists" the L-46 was the early LT-1 without solid lifters