L-82 Performance Upgrades
 

I recently came into a '78 L-82 Pace Car with approminatly 7k original miles. The car is factory stock as it sits now. Aside from a basic tune up and refresh I would like to get a little more performance out of the 350.

I was thinking of a top end kit from Summit with cam, intake, heads, etc. For example the link bellow.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/cm...model/corvette

Is this a good route? Also, what would you suggest for a new carb? Any input is appreciated.

Disclaimer: My definition of a tune up would include a full fluid change, plugs, wires, cap and rotor, shocks, rotors, pads, and new rubber lines for any that are cracked or worn.

Really old grind wouldnt like your low compression just my .02
Im not saying the parts are bad they arent just better ways of doing things.

What would be fun imo 180 AFR street head lunati 256 or 262 voodoo cam, good dual plane intake and a 650-750 carb 1-5/8 headers 2.5" exh good curve on the dist. It will drive nice and roast the tires all day long. Heck you could have Lars touch up your Qjet and use that.

IMo it would destroy the Edelbrock combo and deliver better mpg doing it

that intake looks like summits version of the RPM air gap, make sure you have hood clearance. The heads are angle plug make sure they work with stock exhaust manifolds unless you are switching to headers. It's a square pattern type intake so a Holley vacuum secondary would be a good choice, no larger than 750 CFM. The heads are 64cc so I dont understand the low compression comment above. Keep all the old parts.

Thanks for the input guys.

Mel, there is a straight plug version avaliable and I'll do some research on hood clearance as well.

I normally don't say this, but ONLY because it's a low mileage L-82 pace car, I would leave it alone. If you want a Corvette to mod and play with, I would sell that one and buy a late model non- pace car

Amen.

I could live with leaving it stock. But selling isn't really an option, my grandmother was the original owner and I would like to keep it in the family. Maybe I'll just find another to play with like you suggested.

It is a low mileage original but it's also your car. Do what you want to with it. There were a lot of these Pace cars made and many claim to have lower mileage than your car. So, it might make the purists cringe but in the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal to improve the performance. You could have it both ways. If it was my car, I wouldn't have any problem making changes to improve performance but I would also make sure anything I did could be returned to stock configuration.

DC

I think that if you installed a 2 1/2" dual exhaust system with headers, (save the old exhaust system, if possible) and re-curved the distributor, you would be surprised at how much more SOTP power you would have at your disposal. And, if you decide to go further, you'll already have a nice exhaust system to support it. That's what I would do first, before spending the big bucks on top end kits and such. Exhaust system mods are almost always the first mod on any cars I've ever hopped up.

Scott

Thanks Scott, I should have noted that any changes would most likely be accompanied by an exhaust upgrade.

I definitely see your side of the argument. I was weighing it like this, sticker price was around 13.8k in 78 (around 50k today). Like you said with the quantity of these cars produced it doesn't make sense to sell it, not that I ever would. I figured I would drive it and enjoy it with some minimal upgrades.

is it a 4 speed?

3 speed auto

There were 6502 1978 Pace Cars. How many have survived?

How many of those surviving are essentially unmolested?

You have a more or less original car you can trace directly through your family.

Why not enjoy the car for exactly what it is?

:thumbs:

I would leave it alone as others have stated since it is a low mileage unmolested L-82 and it is a Pace Car! My 78 is an L-82 and a 4 speed but with 66,000 miles on it and I still angst about making major changes. Whatever you do make sure that you keep everything so that you can convert it back if you or someonee else wants an original car. The only real changes I have made to my engine are McJacks shorty headers, 2.5 inch duals, and a holley 4175 Qjet replacement carb (done in 1985)-car made 233 RWHP with a weak #6 cylinder which is about 40-50 HP over the stock 220 Net HP factory rating. Add a shift kit for the automatic and you are in business! I have a leaky valve in the OEM 882 cylinder heads and rather than just replace the heads with 180 AFR's, I am going to have the factory heads rebuilt and slightly massaged and making a cam change (that no one will know). Just my 2 cents!

If it runs nice and doesn't smoke , might be better off letting it survive as original with that little miles. If its been kept original paint and all, shame to butcher her.

Clean it up and sell it and buy a NOM C3 and rebuild it to fit your tastes. Trick suspension mods and 400+ HP .

:iagree::iagree: I wouldnt do anything to a 7000 mile car except wax it.

I Second that motion.


:iagree:

people have waited since 1978 for pace cars value to go up, it hasn't yet.
they are worth about what people paid for them new, and the dollar is worth alot less today than in 1978, you can always change the bolt on parts back. i had one new, drove it modified it enjoyed it . a friend bought one put it in the garage had 8 miles on it 25 years later the garage burned down 12000 dollars is what he got from the insurance company after he hired a lawyer.:crazy2:

That cam change isn't going to be a big secret if you keep telling everybody about it, man! I mean, there are as-yet undiscovered tribes of natives in the Amazon who have never had contact with the outside world, who know that you are going to change out your cam.:lol:

Ahhh! I'm just bustin' yer stones, man! Good luck with your upgrade, and I'm sure the OP will be able to use the info you provided. Although, I gotta say, if I were going to spend McJack's style money, I'd spend it at Stan's.

Scott