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Hello guys and gals! I would first like to say that as a recent owner of a corvette the threads and information that I have gathered over the last year from all of you here at Corvette Forum has been Amazing!!! I Thank you very much and really appreciate it! Unfortunately it is my turn to ask something more specific...
I have a 1981 Blue Corvette Stingray! She's Beautiful!! Almost all origional everything (interior, engine), with the exception of a new paint job (Dallas Cowboys Blue) that I love. Great car, about 162,000 miles, about 500 of them mine. I recently ran into some engine trouble and after getting into it I realized the previous owner had put several "band-aids" on the engine. The journals on the crank were completely destroyed. The holes for the oil on the journals were packed full of bearing shavings. Almost all of the rod bearings were shot, and the brackets which held them were all chewed up, a few of them were even different from each other!!! The engine had almost definately been rebuild, if I can even call it that. I can only assume that the permanent damage had been left alone, some new bearings put on to sell the car, and then it became my problem.
My Question is this: I have checked all the serial numbers against the VIN and other registry tools, and the engine block, water pump, transmission all have the correct/original serial numbers. Now I have read enough about "matching numbers" to know that is a loaded question...But from what I can tell IT IS the origional engine. C3's dont have the most powerful engines, but being that it is the original engine do i retain more value in the car by REBUILDING the origional or BUYING A CRATE MOTOR and performing a few upgrades??? I have the ability/experience to do either myself. I just figured its a wash either way I go. ($500 crank, $300 Kit, $100 machine shop, $200 misc.) to rebuild same 190hp motor or $1500 for a decent crate??? How valuable is the original engine in the original car with the original interior worth?? I would like to enjoy this car as long as I can, but being practical I know at some point I will have to sell it.
Thank you in advance for the help.
if you have some space to store the engine, i would put it aside and stock it.
Then i would get a motor with more power.
That one is lame (i had a 81 too, with stock motor that i swapped out), no other word for it.
Though i think most that cars don`t work as a money investment and never cared about matching numbers, if you feel better to be able to provide the motor for a future sale, or for your own feelings, that would be the way.
On my own 81 i just sold the motor and got a Hi-Power mill to have fun.
I did not even look the numbers, but i understand you may want to keep it.
But better keep it in the garage somewhere and have fun with the car !
Last edited by EASYGEAR; 02-18-2015 at 05:45 PM.
Reason: no serious reason here
I owned 2 81's I put over 100K on one on the anemic engine gm pooped in there,
Then I dropped a 450plus small block in there, that woke up that car,
I mod stuff, I have no room to store even an ashtray for the possibly that when I shuffle off the mortal some seller will pass on it, I will not be here so I don't care,
There was a time the best way to go was build your engine yourself, and if you have some great shop and like lugging heavy iron to a machinist go for it but now everyone and their brother offers great crate engines.
Rookie advice here.........if you have the funds, put a new engine in the car.......put the original engine in the crate and set it on a furniture dolly to make it easy to move around for Spring cleaning!
My advice. Dont build a Vette to re-sell, Im not sure the late C3s have much collector value anyway these days. Build it for yourself. How about a nice 383 crate motor? and like EASYGEAR said keep the old motor just in case. Your Vette is beautiful, I love the color. Spice that beast up and have fun with it.
Go crate motor. But seriously your dollar figures are way off. 1500 is not going to get you any crate motor at all. Your lol,ing at 5000 + for anything decent that is going to get you over 400 HP or better by the time you are all said and done. Even your rebuild figures for a stock motor are very low. Always plan on twice the money and 3 times the amount of time spent and you will be close.
Go crate motor. But seriously your dollar figures are way off. 1500 is not going to get you any crate motor at all. Your looking at 5000 + for anything decent that is going to get you over 400 HP or better by the time you are all said and done. Even your rebuild figures for a stock motor are very low. Always plan on twice the money and 3 times the amount of time spent and you will be close.
I've seen the 1200-1500 priced crate motors out there and you won't be happy with them at all. Entry level, low horse power dogs. Dependable, sure. But step it up as much as your budget will allow and have some fun with it. Let us know what you decide.
Sorry to hear you got tucked by the PO. I would sit down and make a list of what you would like in the engine and then see if there is a crate motor that fits your list and budget. Generally I've found that they are missing something I would like so maybe a shortblock and finish it yourself if the crate motor doesn't fit the bill? I would keep the old motor if you have the room, just because the late C3's are not worth a lot numbers matching now doesn't mean that will always be the case JMPO
I also have an '81. If I were you I would buy a crate engine 383 maybe? As for the old engine provided you have the space, I would store it. BTW nice looking car.
IMHO 20 years from now no one is going to care if the motor is original to a high mileage car. Pull it and put 2-2.5k into rebuilding/hot rodding it and you'll have a better piece than what's in there now (and you'll still have the original big bits. Plus it's easier to store a stock intake and pistons rather than an entire motor). If you have the skills to do the rebuild yourself the budget will go further to make it faster. The sooner you pull it out, the sooner it can go back in and you can start ruining rear tires.
How a person builds should always be there choice...
Originally Posted by parkerracing
IMHO 20 years from now no one is going to care if the motor is original to a high mileage car. Pull it and put 2-2.5k into rebuilding/hot rodding it and you'll have a better piece than what's in there now (and you'll still have the original big bits. Plus it's easier to store a stock intake and pistons rather than an entire motor). If you have the skills to do the rebuild yourself the budget will go further to make it faster. The sooner you pull it out, the sooner it can go back in and you can start ruining rear tires.
I would go as far as to say that in 20 years, a hot engine in this car would make it worth more than the stock one.
Thank you all for the input, it really helped alot. It appaears that the real answer is forget this little 190hp 350, and either crate or rebuild I need to make this baby scream!!! Also, I need to prepare to put some money into it to make it worth my while. I'll know more when I pull the block and get to evaluate what exactly I got. Thanks again, I'll keep ya posted!
Sorry to hear you got tucked by the PO. I would sit down and make a list of what you would like in the engine and then see if there is a crate motor that fits your list and budget. Generally I've found that they are missing something I would like so maybe a shortblock and finish it yourself if the crate motor doesn't fit the bill? I would keep the old motor if you have the room, just because the late C3's are not worth a lot numbers matching now doesn't mean that will always be the case JMPO
Easy Mike (and DUB) are a couple of several distinguished senators on this forum. Keep an eye out for their thoughtful, highly experienced posts.
Wanted to give an update on the Vette!!
After getting the old engine pulled out and disassembled, it was way worse than I thought!!! There was metal everywhere!! Most everything on the internal assembly was destroyed!! I sent the block and the heads to the machine shop to get checked out. Block was beyond destroyed (turning it into a coffee table now), but the heads turned out to be in pretty good shape... I had them machined down a bit and the valve seals replaced. After looking around A friend referred me to his dad who after retiring from his machine shop had a bunch of old rebuilt short blocks lying around. SCORE!! After getting the block home, putting on the new heads, added new lifters, new push rods, new gaskets, new bolt kits, used the old rockers (after a vigorous cleaning), and last a new coat of "Chevy Orange" engine paint!! Gotta say felling pretty accomplished!! Now the fun part; putting it all back together. I have decided to try and use as much of the original parts as possible only due to budget restraints... Distrbutor, water pump, power steering pump, exhaust manifolds, air intake, and carburetor (used re-build kit). We'll see how the next part goes! As always, and advice is greatly appreciated.
02-18-2015, 04:53 PM
Old vs. New
Just keeping it real.
