more_cc's

Experts,
I'm new to this forum, in fact I'm new to the world of corvettes. I'm looking to purchase a C3 and have found a 1980 C3 that's quite interesting; 48k miles, 350cu, 4 speed stick, yellow.

Anyway my question is, how do I tell which 350cu engine is fitted. Looking at my bible on Corvettes two engines were offered that year, a 185bhp and a 220 bhp but the owner doesn't know which one so how can I tell?

Also, coming from the UK I'm not sure what you mean when you say matching numbers. I assume that it's some reference to the engine block number and the car's VIN number - where are these stated in the documentation?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Paul Borowski

The fifth didgit in the VIN # will be an "8" for L-48, a "6" for L-82. Also, "supposedly" there were no L-82 4spd car made, but I've read several sources that vary and say "up to 20 L-82 4spd 1980 Corvettes were built". I believe a few were made but never saw one in person-kinda like BigFoot & UFOs-hard to believe til you've seen one for yourself.

COMMANDER370

4 speed would make it the L-48 since the L-82 was not available with the 4 speed

djcwardog

Yep - if its an original 4-spd car, it had the L-48. That's not all bad as you will mod the engine anyway! Gives an even better excuse to drop in a 383 crate engine!

flood

lol, everyone here is obsessed with modding their cars.

You could drive the L-48 and if its fast enough for you.....cruise it

NHvette

L48 versus L82 is basically heads and cam swap.

Either engine would need the exhaust changed to get a sizable
increase in performance.

page62

The L82 was built with strong internals in the block. Nothing to really worry about though...neither engine was a powerhouse by today's standards.

It's easy to get more horsepower out of either engine -- don't reject the car because it has an L48. If everything else is OK and the price is right, go for it!

kens 80

Matching #'s means that the engine/trans is the same as was built to go with the body/frame. The engine # is located on the front right of the block where the block meets the head. The frame #'s are almost impossible to read unless body is off, or you are real good with a mirror.Obviously the public vin is located on the dash frame. If the car has the original drivers door , there should also be a sticker on the rear frame of the door. Some transmissions do not have a VIN.

trevkris2

If I'm not mistaken, the L-82 has a 4-bolt main...is that also the case with the L-48?

isosceles

Mine came with an L48. I tweaked it as best I could, then when the opportunity presented itself, nabbed a 383 and swapped it. I still have the L48 and will start going through it and warming it up. Someday I'll get a rolling chassis chrome bumper convertible and put the 383 in that behind a 5 speed.

more_cc's

Thanks for all the advice!

I guess I am trying to figure out whether this is a good car;

1980
48k original miles
Fresh paint (yellow)
stored in california for the last 15 years with regular start ups & brief drives to keep everything in order.

The seller has been honest and told me a corvette specialist has inspected the vehicle and it requires the following;

New tires all round
New suspension bushes
Front Brake calipers are siezed
Rear bearings could do with repacking
Valve cover gaskets need replacing

To me that doesn't sound like too much work to recomission a corvette. He is asking 9.5k. Does this seem a fair price?

Advice would be great!

Thanks

page62

Suspension bushings and rear bearing repacks are not minor jobs in a C3 Corvette...

AGVI

SLVRSHRK

L-82 should also have a steel crank as opposed to the L-48's cast crank.

See more info at

http://www.l-82.com/

MYBAD79

The l82 has a 4bolt main and the l48 a 2bolt. The 2bolt main is good enough for 300 rwhp, both engines need some mods...

The suspension bushings are not that difficult to replace, while you have the front apart you probably want to replace spring and shocks.... Brakes: 4 new calipers and MC, new stainless steel lines and you won't have to worry about that anymore..

If you can do the work yourself (except the wheel bearings) I'd estimate less than $1000 in parts.
Complete trailing arm rebuilds (including new bearings) are somewhere around $500-$700...

$9500 is pretty high.... how good is the paint job ??

MYBAD79

The l82 has a 4bolt main and the l48 a 2bolt. The 2bolt main is good enough for 300 rwhp, both engines need some mods...

The suspension bushings are not that difficult to replace, while you have the front apart you probably want to replace spring and shocks.... Brakes: 4 new calipers and MC, new stainless steel lines and you won't have to worry about that anymore..

If you can do the work yourself (except the wheel bearings) I'd estimate less than $1000 in parts.
Complete trailing arm rebuilds (including new bearings) are somewhere around $500-$700...

$9500 is pretty high....... how good is the paint job ??

redc3

i agree with most of the others. by todays standards even the L -82 is a wuss. but either engine is an excellent place to start. and i would give the 2 bolt way more credit than 300 hp. it can handle more, easy. 99% of the time your gonna end up modding this car anyway. so if your looking for a toy buy the car. if you looking to wack off to vin #'s and chalk marks, eat brie and sip wine, save your cash for another day.

Glassbowtie77

L-48's are 2 bolt mains.

den(thevetteman)78

For that money and the work it need i hope the rest of the car is in real good shape. 9.5$ seem a lot . An L48 or a L82 don't make a big difference ,you still have a car that you can enjoy . I don't know for laters years but my '78 have the L82 label on the tach and have an aluminium intake and aluminium valve covers. That a fast way to tell if you don't remember whitch digit to look for on the serial number.

more_cc's

I'm going to look at it tomorrow, the seller says the paint isn't perfect but is presentable, there's some chips and scratches. I got a quote from Corvette Mike to do all the work - about $3.5k in total.
With all that said I'm beginning to get the impression that this is a lot of work to carry out. With all that said what do you think is a reasonable value of the car?