LancePearson

I love my 76 small block four speed with its 33 hp more than the factory from the modest changes I made to it. It is a terrific road car and my love for it won't disappear.

However, I now have a 2008 Trailblazer SS to pull the boat/trailer or the Vette/trailer to expand my range of usage with it. AWD, 4:10 rear end, 2008 LS-2 400 hp Vette engine in it from the factory.

Having that much power with a race oriented suspension on the TBSS is so addictive. Despite weighing 1100 pounds more than the 76 Vette it is hugely faster than the vette...1.3 seconds zero to sixty just for starters. The combo of that rear end and the power of double the torque is flat out addictive. You can go from 60 to 120 so fast in the SS it will make your head spin and the Vette can't even come close to those speeds.

I didn't think it was possible but the '76 now seems a little bit mundane to me because of the power difference. I know I could put a 3:73 or more rear end in it, a crate motor, make the L48 a 383 stroker and increase the hp but it seems like a lot to do to a 36 year old car that would change its character completely.

What I will do is enjoy the best of both worlds...the '76 for road drives and the TB for pure speed. Next week the 76 goes up on jack stands and the wheels come off so I can do some winter cleanup on the running gear from underneath...cosmetics largely.

Actually, if I weren't already in my late sixties I'd be thinking of trading the 76 for a 2011 or 2012 ZO6 which is even more powerful and faster yet than either of the two I own now.

All Corvette, all greatly appreciated but driving the SS has really made my gorgeous '76 seem almost ordinary. Who'd have ever thought?

Sigh.

Lance P.

427Hotrod

Sadly..a stock '76 even with 33 extra HP has about as much performance as a mediocre riding lawnmower!

It was the Disco era.....not much going for HP.

The good news is you can easily upgrade it to have fun power and handling. The handling part is pretty easy actually.

Don't give up on it just yet!


JIM

scottyp99

0 to 60 in 1.3 seconds? That's gotta be a typo!!!

Sounds like it's time for an LS engine swap.


Scott

markids77

A new Z06 is so powerful that its capabilities can only be fully explored on a racetrack. I have two acquaintences who recently sold off late model Zs to "downsize" in the HP department. Both these guys are accomplished race drivers... one in ALMS, the other in Formula Fords. Their complaint was an inability to utilize all the goodness GM baked in at the factory and either stay alive, or maintain their licences. One went back to a new Mini which he supercharged to about 300BHP, the other ended up in a Porsche Cayman which was tuned by someone in South Florida. I have ridden in both cars... they are both luducrously fast but both are more easily flogged in real life than a new Z06. Imagine going from your new Trailblazer and nearly doubling the HP again and you'll probably understand these gentleman's frustrations... power is useless if you can never access all that's there.

capevettes

I own a C6 Z06 which will blow the doors off any of my old Corvettes, including the big block. It still doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the older cars. Power is fun but not everything. There is just something nice about cruising in an older, classic Corvette. Enjoy them each for what they are

MotorHead

Yeah I picked that up too maybe 0-60ft in 1.3 secs, that's NHRA stock class !

LancePearson

"Despite weighing 1100 pounds more than the 76 Vette it is hugely faster than the vette...1.3 seconds zero to sixty just for starters."

Says the tbss at approx twice the hp and much more torque is faster than the 76 vette by 1.3 seconds in the 0-60 times. 5.5 versus 6.8 seconds.

Same is true for the quarter mile. TBSS is 14.1 second stock and vette way above that.

No substitute for lots more hp and torque plus the 4:10 rear end in the tbss. You can add all that to the 76 but the tbss has 30" diameter wheels and tires instead of 26.5" as well.

None the less, I love the 76 but not for its power but its road handling. Drove it 85 miles late last week on two winding, twisting roads on a 65 degree day...just love it.

I know I can add more power or a diff. rear end but no need to now...just use one vehicle for power and one for road though you'd be really surprised at the race modified TBSS suspension. It is not far behind the vette even at 4600 pounds and an suv.

Lance P.

markids77

Yeah, but the Blazer is 1.3 seconds faster than the '76 Vette... I think I read that correctly.

LancePearson

re: modern vette power..zo6. I watched one autocross race track for a few hours in person last fall. The Vettes of that vintage are fast but way too much power. They accelerate so fast that on those short courses the good drivers throttled them way back or they were knocking down cones. I know what driving a 400 hp LS-2 Vette engine is like now on the TBSS and cant imagine the 500 hp of the zo6 or the 638 hp of the ZR1. I don't even want to add a turbo on the TBSS as it has plenty of power as is. Some do and they really scream then.

It's turning out to be fun to have two different vintages to drive....just different.

PeteZO6

Your acquaintances sounds like my friend Eric from Oregon. He had a Mustang Cobra, with the blown cammer motor. After he pumped it up with another ~100 horsepower, he sold it and bought a 4 cylinder Honda Accord. Go figure.


I agree with you that it is fun to have two different vintages to drive, but it's most fun when they are BOTH Corvettes. My '69 has about 350HP, not a lot, but enough to make the car fun to drive. And being a C3, it gets lots of and cheers when I drive it. But my C6 ZO6 is just a whole different experience. "They" say you can't use all that power on the street/road. BS! You obviously can't go gear to gear to gear up to redline, but you can sure use a healthy dose of it from time to time. Today I had to merge onto US 50 and get over to the left lane. 3rd gear at ~50-60 gives you an amazing and thrilling amount of acceleration to get away from traffic. Loose 1,000 pounds from your TBSS and then you'll get a real thrill.

LancePearson

"I agree with you that it is fun to have two different vintages to drive, but it's most fun when they are BOTH Corvettes. My '69 has about 350HP, not a lot, but enough to make the car fun to drive. And being a C3, it gets lots of and cheers when I drive it. But my C6 ZO6 is just a whole different experience. "They" say you can't use all that power on the street/road. BS! You obviously can't go gear to gear to gear up to redline, but you can sure use a healthy dose of it from time to time. Today I had to merge onto US 50 and get over to the left lane. 3rd gear at ~50-60 gives you an amazing and thrilling amount of acceleration to get away from traffic. Loose 1,000 pounds from your TBSS and then you'll get a real thrill."

Not unlike Christmas eve coming home from a church service on an expressway here. Going 60 with no traffic a little sports car pulled up next to me, egging me on to race. He must have seen the SS and the TB does look a little mean as those things go. I wasn't prudent and mashed it to the floor. When I looked down just seconds later I was doing more than 110 mph with the LS2 engine really rolling and he was many cars behind trying but hopeless.

It is exhilerating even in the tbss with that much power. The Zo6 would be just flat amazing. The TBss has 255 x 50 x R20 wheels and tires on it so they are almost 30" diameter. Don't want to buy too many tires as they start at $192 per and quickly get to $350 per tire. Every time I see someone with their traction and stabilitrak button turned off and burning awd donuts all I can think of is the $1500 for another set of tires!

It IS FUN to own one for power and one for style. Maybe the C7 will be both power and style?

lance p.

__________________

LancePearson

HeavyMetalHawk

Lance Don't Give Up on Rojo! It's a Nice Looking Car... I wish I could finish mine like Rojo...

I understand the lack of power because my Stock 1980 it's a shame in that point even my V6 4runner smokes it... The thing as many said it's you have to enjoy your vintage car. I love ridding without the T-tops in a fresh night. I love the Idea of enjoy the work I have done. besides all the defects it's great to have an C3

LancePearson

Hawk...Nope, won't give up. She goes up on jackstands this week to pull the wheels and work on the cosmetics underneath...winter fun. It just really set in to me how much power has evolved in the 36 years. Nobody comes over at gas stations or stop lights and says: "Nice ride, dude! What year is that gorgeous Covette?" to the TBSS though when you pull up and they hear it car people's heads and ears turn. Most don't realize that GM has a performance car group who does great work on speed and handling for a few models a year and sticks the SS label on them. The TBSS suspension was tuned on the Nurburgring among other tracks and they did it right. Heavy springs, huge sway bars front and rear, Billssteins all around, lowered it 1-2". Stock it sounds very much like a mean Vette engine in it and it is exactly that. Pulls trailers with the 4:10 rear end, power and stability with the heavy suspension. I am putting an extra transmission fluid cooler which arrived last week on it so that towing isn't harmful to the tranny. It drops tran. fluid temps by 30-50 degrees when towing which all say extends tranny life substantially. You tow heavier loads in 3 which is 1-1 versus 4 which is 0.7to 1 on the auto tranny..

I love driving RoJo on twisty rides but took the TB down the blue ridge parkway 40 miles on Sat. and then the 20 miles leaving the mountains back to Chester where the road is the same but the speed limit isn't 45 anymore and you'd be absolutely amazed what GM Performance did with the suspension on the TBSS. It loves 80 mph and pushing it hard into turns. Rides best when being pushed actually.

HeavyMetalHawk

well at least I don't have that issue... every body looks the car because it's a rare car here even back in the 60, 70 80 90, there were almost none of this cars so many people don't have an idea of what is it.. they ask... it's a Impala? Maverick? looks like batman's car! and that kind of things but at the end they give you and the other common question... how many Lts per 100km? (Miles/Galon). But I guess if you could. Buy a C6, Continue Loving Rojo, And Use your TBSS to keep towing things in a fun way! But I don't know every one should do what they please. That's Life for...

Glassbowtie77

What I think he means is that the 0-60 time on the TB is 1.3 secs faster than it is on the Vette.

LancePearson

LancePearson

Here are the numbers as I understand them:

0-60...tbss 5.5 seconds...stock....76 vette stock 6.8 seconds
1/4 mile....tbss 13.9 seconds 99 mph....76 vette stock 15.3 seconds ~~91.5 mph

Nothing like a spare 200 hp and torque even with the extra 1100 pound on the tbss though the 4:10 rear end and big tires are huge helps....nobody's engines were gone into though 76 vette is slightly faster with true duals and faster timing than the stock numbers above with 33 hp more than stock...still, about like the l82 that year so not substantially different.

It's 36 years of differences in engineering and knowledge too.

Lance P.

LancePearson

If you are a gearhead and interested you can go to this link and see the underside of the Trailblazer SS today.



http://albums.phanfare.com/slideshow...S&a_id=5427062




The Trailblazer SS is at Express Auto who does my Vette and other owner's work today where they are adding an 11" x 11" stacked plate extra transmission fluid radiator to cool the fluids 30-50 degrees when towing loads, changing all transmission, differential, Torreson transfer case fluids so that I know exactly when this was done and putting synthetic BG product fluids in their place to correct levels. The small new stacked plate radiator goes inline in the return to the transmission after the built in radiator fluid cooler..comes out of that, into the new one, out of that back to the transmission.



The vehicle has an engine radiator, a power steering small radiator, a transmission fluid radiator built within the existing engine radiator and now another trans fluid radiator on the front of the grill on the driver's side. Minimal changes and none report ill effects only superior transmission life spans. I will this spring get under the TBSS and scrub drive shaft, muffler and rear end exteriors down and repaint to refresh their appearance. Stock muffler is a Magnaflow low restriction muffler. Front drive shafts go through the hole in the oil pan so the engine can sit lower for better weight distribution when cornering. The air opening for the engine air induction box has been late in the model build opened up and the ambient air sensor moved to a better place so that didn't need doing. The new small radiator bolts in and is 1" in front of the engine radiator which runs at 210 degrees F. by factory design. Everything above before the trans cooler addition is stock from GM Performance Group.



The gas tank appears to be polyurethane or some poly and is way down low, shielded from driveshaft by a metal spacer but not shielded from road debris at all. Be careful driving over metal objects! This is not an off road vehicle but a speed vehicle with a road suspension.



The springs are very strong and the sway bars enormous on it. Rear end has air ride levelers, brakes are 12.8" long Corvette disk brakes and shocks are Billstein race oriented shocks. Tires are V rated by spec for 149 mph which the stock vehicle can do if you disable the 130 mph electronic limit. Comes with Traction and Stabilitrak control on the AWD as well. You can toggle them on and off though leaving them on helps launch the SUV faster with less wheel spinning and tire wear.


Lance Pearson
76 Vette Coupe, Rojo
2008 Trailblazer SS

Paul Workman

The problem with your L48 is the wing nut on the air cleaner cover... It needs a new/rebuilt SBC under it! That's a no-brainer, IMO.

It's hard to find a motor easier to find parts for than the SBC. OR you can buy a crate motor and drop it in. As for labor, supply a couple pizzas and some beer, and I'll bet you can get some local motorheads to do the swap in a day. (Longer if you rebuild the "48").

The LSx motor could be had too. But, there is a whole lot of wiring harness, computer, etc. stuff to be done - not that difficult for those with aptitude, but the SBC could easily be coaxed to make 350+ hp with smooth idle, and drop right back in where it came from - no muss no fuss!

Had to rebuild my wife's L46 a couple years ago (went through a cam - "SM" oil issue) Now, with a mild Comp cam and headers, it is making north of 370 hp. If we lived closer, I'd do it for ya just for the fun of doing another SBC! (You'd have to buy the parts and pizza, etc)

P.

P.