ShaneBellone

Frazzlefrak - Anytime you want the joys of adolescents rubbed in your face I'll be happy to accommodate you.

RetiredSFC 97 - Are you from the FTL area? I just finished my 6 months of training there.

Frizlefrak

Thanks....I have vague memories of it....

ShaneBellone

Oh the joys of getting old.

Frizlefrak

Beats the hell out of the alternative.

Joe C

welcome to the madness. nice looking c4 - i love the classy looks of the early c4's. here's my 2 cents - unless you want to race the car, or just impress your friends with the red light to red light burnouts, i wouldn't go overboard with performance mods. these can be costly (i.e.383), not to mention, you'll open up a whole can of worms by going that route. performance wise, i'd focus on a premium upgrade what you have - a new set of bosch III injectors, a premium set of plug wires, distributor cap/rotor, plugs. clean and service the air induction system, and maybe throw in a performance air filter. install a new fuel filter, and service the cooling system, transmission, etc. on the exhaust side, consider dumping the pre-cats, installing a performance free-flow main cat, and adding a quality cat-back exhaust (sound and resonance to your liking). upgrade you brakes with premium components, or consider the C5 front upgrade (you will have to get new wheels for this). service everthing else - shocks, u-joints, etc.

outside cosmetics - keep it fairly stock. don't go thru the additional expense of changing the exterior paint color (some of us actually like white), or changing the interior color - unless you go used, that could cost you a couple grand. recondition, or update what you have, if needed, throw in a new set of wheatherstripping. wheels - c5 wagons look better on the c4's than they ever did on the c5, or consider (black) painted 96 GS repro's, competition gray C5Z06 wheels are another option - go with 17 X9.5's all the way around here. don't go overboard on the bling - it just cheapens the look. might as well paint your calipers while you're at it, and throw in a set of performance tires. since you have a "glass" top and tinted windows, you could consider painting the b-piller/roof bow black, and consider dumping the roof bow 3rd brake light in favor of the convertible-bumper mounted assembly - that will give it a whole different look. with changing a few things, you can give the car a different look, while keeping it fairly stock. you don't have to be a purist here, to keep the classy looks of the early c4's (the world only needs so many museum pieces). try to keep everything in balance (best bang for the buck), and drive and enjoy the hell out of it. just doing what i've suggested, should keep you fairly busy as well as fairly broke .

1st87

shane my friend, same boat with you. got mine 2mos ago. blk w/lite gray interior.stock wheels which i think look good on this yr. but it all in taste. if you feel it, then do it. i've driven mine like 8x's since owning it and just can't keep my hands off the wheel. enjoy your 87-looks great!

Calderone

You got a nice car !!!
i got the luck to update it with some nice wheels and i cant stop looking at it !!!!!!

kenv

Unless every other C4 made dissapears from the planet, I can`t see any car but the special editions ( Grand Sport, ZR1, Callaway, etc) ever being worth that much. There are too many of them, & thats not a bad thing. So yeah- have fun

RetiredSFC 97

columbia area actually. That would be about 2 hours or so north of FTL.

Relic

You bought my car! Well, from what I can see. My interior is red.

Wheels are a must. I think those stock wheels are the ugliest wheels ever put on a Corvette. I went with the ZR1 knock off chromes. You shouldn't do wagon wheels without spacers. The 87 offset is 38mm, the later cars, 88 and up, are 52mm. So the tires will sit inboard and look funny. If I were buying wheels again, I'd go with polished aluminum ZR1s, or maybe Z06. I'd even consider black Z06 wheels. If I wanted to drop big money, I'd get the Torque Thrusts with the chrome/polish look. A good justification for wheels is the stock wheels are 16", tires are expensive for those. 17" tires are cheaper!

An 87 Corvette is a nice car, but nothing special. Don't worry about saving it, or losing value. Do what you want. I replaced the radio and speakers. The stock Bose is crap, and getting it fixed only gives you working crap.

If you have the money and skill to put a 383 in that car, that would rock. I'd do it if I weren't so cheap!

Relic

I couldn't agree more. As an 87 owner, I've looked at it from about every angle you can look at it. It doesn't make sense to put a lot into an 87, unless you just love that particular car.

Relic

The first ones were white/red to be exact!
I have a white/red, and bought it because color wasn't important to me. It's really grown on me. It has a nice look to it. If or when I buy another, white/red would be on the top of my list.

Relic

If you're going to track it, spending money on cosmetics is pure loss. And cosmetics are as much, if not more expensive than mechanicals on these cars. I'd only do to the interior what needed to be done to make it nice to drive. I'd get used parts for sure. Making a track car's interior pristine doesn't make sense to me.

RedLS1GTO

C4 track rats =

slash25rc

yea black on black look good.
get rid of those flying-saucer wheels!!

i put the early 90's Zr1 wheels on mine--you can get them in basically any color. they lookk great and keet the "vette look"

ShaneBellone

Thanks for all the responses. After thinking about this more I'm leaning towards leaving the interior alone for now. It's not in bad condition I'm just not a fan of the 'faded' blue that's in there. I will be deploying before August to Afghanistan so I'll have plenty of time to save up money for the engine, and all area's supporting it. When I come back in 2011 I think I will dedicate this thing to the track. Is there anything I should know about this car before moving forward on performance mods? From the little I know (i.e. weight, engine, suspension) it seems to be a great base car to build something out of. Am I overlooking any hurdles I may have to jump in the process?

Jon Hekking

Good luck on your deployment and thanks!