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Have been planning on building a custom 78 Pace Car for a while, but the right car has never presented itself. This changed today when we brought home a 78PC that had a rough life. It's an L48 auto, with 40k original miles. It was left outside for almost a decade, and ended up at a salvage yard where it was stored up on an old loading dock.
As far as I can tell, everything original is in place with the exception of the radio. The paint is shot, but the body is great. Frame and birdcage are super solid, which is really all I cared about.
Plans are to pull the body off the frame, clean and paint things, and pull the drivetrain. Got a 6.0 LQ4 with a healthy cam, intake, long tubes, and bigger injectors going it along with a 3200rpm stall converter. Gonna try and run a 6pt cage real tight in the car so it doesn't stick out too much.
I dont know how quickly this thread will move along, but I'll be sure to update along the way.
Been a while since I updated this thread. Got some new tires on it, replaced the calipers yet again, and now it's off to the dyno for a good tune, and the tint shop to get the windows done. Going 5% rear and 20% on the sides.
what great pics already.. looks great!!! love to know the story!
The story that I was told is it was owned by a local Krispy Kreme store owner. He drove the car up until he moved to Florida. When he went down to FL he left it with his mechanic to take care of it while he was away. Fast forward 7 years later and he returned to find the car sitting outside without the tops on it, and it was like that for years. He was so disgusted he had the local scrapyard pick it up and he went back to FL.
It sat on the loading dock at the scrapyard for about 2 years.
Poor thing had a hard life for only 40k miles. lol
Picked up an engine for the 78 (and another for the Corvette Summer build). Both are LQ4 6.0s out of 2500HD Silverados. I'm ordering the cam, springs, intake, headers, and torque converter tonight.
Excuse the mess. I got like 5 different things going on at once lol
Poor thing was probably trembling in fear when it heard the loader coming for it !!!!
"Crusher, here i come"
And then sweet relief when she got lowered onto your trailer
What trans you putting behind that 6.0?
lol I made the same joke when I bought it!
I'm leaving the TH350 behind it for now. I have a nice 3200rpm stall converter for it. I'm leaving the wiring for a 4L80E in the harness so I can put one in down the road.
I actually have another vehicle set up with an LS/TH350 combo with a good converter and it's a blast to drive. I dont really need the OD, especially with the rear gears currently in it.
I had a bunch of stuff come up that I needed to finish before I could turn my attention back to the CS Vette. I actually am working on the engine for it right now. I'll definitely be updating that build thread soon!
I'm leaving the TH350 behind it for now. I have a nice 3200rpm stall converter for it. I'm leaving the wiring for a 4L80E in the harness so I can put one in down the road.
I actually have another vehicle set up with an LS/TH350 combo with a good converter and it's a blast to drive. I dont really need the OD, especially with the rear gears currently in it.
What ratio are the gears you currently have in it?
Great find. Another Corvette to bring back to life..
I have a PDF on the 78 with a lot of great information. I'll try to post it here. It shows the L48 options were 3.08 or 3.36. As I recall, the 3.08 were behind the automatic transmissions..
Look to page 21 under the header 'Power Teams' for clarification. There were California and High Altitude options to provide the 3.55 as a standard ratio.
Enjoy..
Last edited by 76-Vetteman; Sep 6, 2021 at 09:04 AM.
Great find. Another Corvette to bring back to life..
I have a PDF on the 78 with a lot of great information. I'll try to post it here. It shows the L48 options were 3.08 or 3.36. As I recall, the 3.08 were behind the automatic transmissions..
Look to page 21 under the header 'Power Teams' for clarification. There were California and High Altitude options to provide the 3.55 as a standard ratio.
Enjoy..
Cool!
Yeah I only researched it briefly. Initially I thought the auto L48 got the steeper gears while the manuals got a choice. I guess I had it backwards lol
78 Pace Car build thread
