LoneStarV

Or close to it. I see post after post from owners fighting problems related to "upgrades" to their Corvette. From battery drain problems to electrical problems to ignition problems. It makes me think Lars and grumpy Canadian Mike Ward are right. Leave em pretty much stock and just fix the stuff that breaks. I'm no NCRS advocate by any means but a lot of "improvements" on these cars do nothing but.

cv67

Except for my DD which will always be stock I am a die hard modder;addicted to the sensation of being pinned in the seat.....like hard. Where drag radials still spin its a religious thing lol.

True though the most reliable the car will be is when its bone stock.

Yes boring and slow but reliable.

LoneStarV

Agreed. I'm all for mods that make sense not just bling. Some quality aluminum heads, intake, cam. Some bigger wheels that get you to some true performance tires. Tires make a huge difference in how a car rides and handles. A lot of these suspension mods i'm not buying for a street machine. If you're tracking your vette that's a whole new ballgame. Otherwise you're wasting your money. I'm going to stick to my stock distributor and points. Heck that's part of owning one of these beasts. No computers. Simple electronics. So i have to change the points and set dwell. Big deal. Same with the quadrajet.

Jason Staley

.............................STOCK*.................CURRENT
HP.........................180..........................400
WEIGHT (lbs).........3600.......................3400
REDLINE (rpm).......5300........................6500
1/4 mile ................16 sec @ 85-90.......12.8 @ 108
Handling ................not great................. 1.0+ g's

* Approximate values - couldn't find consistent numbers

I have no idea why I modified mine . If you have something special I agree keep it stock, but I wouldn't put my "rare" white 76 back to stock for anything. More dependable now and the performance is not comparable.

But like this arguement usually goes, its your car do with it what you want. You can't take it with you when your gone anyway.

TimAT

Lots of times the upgrades are as cheap (at first) as going back to factory original. Example is buying a stock as a stick crate 350. Dead on reliable, no hassle and many times with a warranty. Not much more cash and a 383 appears in it's place.
I wouldn't go fooling around with a documented 69 L-88 car, but I wouldn't be driving it much either.

1980Guy

You have to remember that by the mid 70's GM wasn't trying to satisfy the driver. They were trying to satisfy Ralph Nader, the NTSB and the EPA bureaucrats. I like to think that any modifications that aren't absolutely insane are keeping in the spirit of the car. I have different heads, cam, exhaust, etc in my car. When people tell me, "You're really not building an '80" I tell them "I'm building the '80 that Chevrolet should have built."

By the way, I would drive the tires off an L-88.

texas jim

Strictly one's opinion. That's all.

KevinK

A car can be two out of three things.

Fast
Cheap
Reliable

Which two are the most important to you?

Jeff_Keryk

My '68 L36 Roadster is as rodded as its gonna get. And it's pretty stock.
One thing, a roller cam in the ol' 427 sounds good.
Then the pan could leak Mobil1 instead of Rotella T...

C3 Stroker

Why would anyone read or post in the "Tech/Performance" section of the forum if they prefer their car "stock"????

OK, maybe just for the "Tech" part...

Gordonm

Stock for me is very boring. Even the LT1 that I started with was very slow compared to today's standards and. I quickly became bored with it. After all the. l48 is the same motor you could get in any V8 Chevy. The suspension was just so so. If you just want to drive a Vette to have one and drive then keep it stock. If you want to drive the heck out of it and push it to the limits mod the heck out of it. I prefer mine modded.

4 speed

reasons to mod.

got busted on by a V6 mustang

can't get rubber in 1st much less 2nd,3rd or 4th

wife laughs at me when she rides in it

up side of that last one is that she can't complain when I spent money on it.

MIKE80

For me, "stock" was slowwwwwwwwwww... "Everything" was shot , and needed to be replaced anyhow. Why not make it BETTER!

Texas69

you can have it...

I'll take mine modded

LoneStarV

Well my point was mods that don't do a thing for performance. Unless you're tracking or pushing your vette to the limits on the street all this coil over and suspension bling is a waste of money. I bet the vast majority of owners do neither. Bigger wheels as in 17" that get you to better performance tires will do wonders to how a C3 handles. Lars proved all the bling ignition systems don't add 1 single horsepower to any vette engine. If you like them because you don't want to mess with points so be it but all the claims of performance gains were proved total bs. As for engine mods? NOW you're talking. It's the heart of the beast and horsepower is everything.

augiedoggy

And the goals of Chevy during most of the c3 era were not focused on fast..... in fact as the production of c3's went on Chevy caught on to the fact that most of the people wanting a fast machine were buying camaros and fire birds and more and more of the vettes were going to wealthier "weekend cruiser" applications were comforts like auto transmissions power windows and air conditioning were much more important than performance.... just look at how few of the cars were actually ordered with performance options compared to other luxuries like premium stereo and power windows.... they went into a different kind of environment where owners bought them more for looks and status.... there's a lot that can be improved on by today's standards .... I agree its personal preference for some they have other "Toys" for performance for others its their baby and they are more likely to want to improve it and others its an investment and then you still have those that only really bought it to show off...
I actually bought mine because it wasn't original.... takes the guilt out of modding a classic so I can really enjoy it guilt free.

I agree the colorful ignition wires and fancy plugs don't do much of anything.... some of the controllers do a lot for higher rpm applications to reduce scatter. platinum plugs do last longer I have found. Suspension upgrades do improve things.... coming from an 84 z51 the 74 feels more like driving a pickup truck than a sports car as far as handling... I don't mind it too much since I'm going to be using mine as a street car and not racing or hitting the drag strip.

hugie82

As parts wear I always up grade! Ever older than 82 vette I've owned was in desperate need of horsepower! Its pretty sad when you vette can't even break the wheels loose

The bolt on aluminum heads can't be beat,plus a cam and you got a great street runner that looks stock

bobbarry

If I had an unlimited budget, I would have more hp AND be getting everything else in order.

As it stands, I have a limited budget, and enough experience to know that any upgrades have to be done in-tandem with other upgrades in order to be truly satisfying. My base-engine '71 is engineered as a system, and everything on it works very well; it starts and warms up nicely, it idles smoothly, and I have enough power to keep up with traffic. And when I'm out cruising the back-roads, it's easier for me to keep out of trouble with less reserve HP on tap than, say, a big-block would tempt me with.

I know slapping a $400 Holly carb on an adapter on top of my stock intake is not going to make anything better, and that if I take it down as far as removing the heads, I may as well take the whole thing out and stroke it to a proven aluminum-head combo.

But honestly, I'd rather spend my meager funds getting the A/C going, or making the radio audible.

Mike Ward

I prefer Mr. Nasty to mere 'grumpy'. I must be slipping.

cv67

good stuff. modding is a slippery slope I always slide right to the bottom and am working on it non stop for yrs to come.

Agree on the ignition.
I regret getting the MSD with the box etc. The dist is made of crap and assume one dya the box will leave me stranded. When it does an HEI will be in there. I had one of the pricier makers wires burn up on a header so in a pinch used a cheap set of $27 wires from Oreillys to get me by runs exactly the same.