so im not to familiar with corvettes, and will have my first one this week. its a 74 stingray with a 496 stroker, i got the car from my brother and he said its an estimated 800 hp. now we pulled the enging from his old race boat, so the car itself wasnt built up for that kind of power. the th400 needs rebuilt along with the rear. i found the kit im going to use on the trans and attempt to do it myself (with help from 2 friends who are much more mechanically inclined than i am).

so heres what i want from this car.

i do not want a drag car. i want a tight suspension and something fun to drive. with that said people are telling me to ditch the engine and go with a small block. i presonally would like to find the happy medium, cause i dont want to ditch the 496. so what ideas do you have for something like this? i know the BB is something like an extra 200lbs, what can i do to shed some pounds off the front of the car to try to compensate for the motor? (car did come with a 454)

pretty much i need someone to direct me in the right direction.

im sure i left needed info out so ask away.

thanks guys

 

If you want a good driver then i'll pull my 350/270 and we can swap for your 496

 

800 HP out of a NA 496. I don't know where to start. That is probably totally unstreetable, is a drag car and will only run on race gas.
If the HP estimate is high which I would guess is the case there are a lot of 496 C3 corvettes running stock trans and rear end. If you have aluminum heads the engine weight is real close to a small block. A stock turbo 400 will handle a lot of HP and the stock rear end will handle a lot of HP with an automatic and street tires. If the car runs on pump fuel and is streetable your HP is probably really under 600 and I wouldn't do anything but enjoy it. "Estimated Horsepower" is usually way off and it is never estimated low.

 

Why not wait until you have driven the car for a while, then determine which way you want to go?

 

heres what i know about the engine itself:

rectangle port aluminum heads with 2.19 ex, 1.88 in, 304 dur cam, roller rockers, 12.5 compression, tunnel ram with i think 2 650's if i remember right (been awhile since ive seen it), he said it runs 108 race gas, a friend said with that compression i might be able to run 91 with a booster?? but i dont know about that.

the trans thats in it now is toast, needs to be rebuilt one way or another. and the rear only has 3.08's in it, so i would rebuild that anyway. i was also thinking about maybe adding an OD kit to the trans.

 

That is not a street engine. No way that 12.5 to 1 will run on pump fuel. I would sell it and start over or you could drop compression with bigger chamber heads if possible and go with a smaller cam and a conventional carb and intake to make it streetable. Gordonm has a TKO 500 kit for sale in the parts for sale section that would work well with a 3.08. Is there a big hole cut in the hood for the tunnel ram? Don't think the CHP or C.A.R.B. will like that setup.

 

ya hood is cutout for the intake, didnt think chp would have a problem with that, carb is only for smog i thought and since its 74 thats no a problem.

and i thought about changing some things on the engine buti have a feeling thats going to get expensive as well. but its starting to sound like this is my only option.

keep the ideas flowing.

 

Like Mako said, your gonna have to get that compression down.
You will never get away with pump gas and 12.5:1 compression unless you take out so much timing that it will run like a total pig.
With a big block on pump gas, consider 10.5:1 to be the most compression that you can run without being on the ragged edge of pinging.
If your current heads are true closed chamber heads (around 100 cc chamber), then changing to an open chamber (around 120 cc) could be enough of a change.
If you already have open chambers then its time to change your pistons.
The tunnel ram could be used, but for a regular fun car you would be better off with a single 4 barrel intake.
You didnt list enough info about the cam to really judge that. At 304° advertised duration it could be fairly large, or just an older design with long ramps that really isnt to radical.

 

everything listed is what was told to me, but ill get more info once its here. i really dont want to dump money to the engine seeing thats already built.

lets run with this idea for now, ill run the motor as it sits on race gas. i mean it will only be a on the road a couple days of the month anyway. then once i have the fund i can dive into changing the specs on the motor.

so with that, what should i be looking at as far as suspension?

 

Have you looked into VBP?? VBandP.com has everything you could possibly need for your vette suspension.. Do you need suspension or are you just worried about stock suspension with the motor you are trying to run?? If I were you I would run the car for a while and see what you DO need. I know how it is though, I just picked up a 71 a few weeks ago. It is turn key, but I still want to rip into it. Sometimes you have to step back and drive it for awhile to see what it really needs. Good luck with the vette tho and post some pics when it gets to you.

 

yea i dont even have it yet and i already have the itch lol. yea ill run whats there and see what needs to be changed, i know the sway bars were upgraded and all bushings were replaced with poly graphite ones. gues ill focus on the trans and rear

 

Well.... if you live in a smog-checking county in CA, there is no way in he!! a C3 Corvette with a big air intake sticking out of the hood is going to pass any smog check...just because it is a 1974 car. The 'vintage' cars that are exempt have to be in the same configuration as they were shipped from the factory. Your's [obviously] will not be. You have a number of choices and I wouldn't like to deal with any of them.
1) You can sell the car before you ever try to title it in CA; but finding someone who wants a hot-rod 496 boat engine in a C3 that doesn't have any other work done to it to handle that HP is going to be a difficult sell. 2) You can de-tune the motor to run on pump gas by changing the heads and cam and reworking the carb; but that will cost a chunk of money and it will still drink a ton of gas just idling and cruising. 3) You can beef-up the car systems so that it can handle 800 HP and then let it sit in your garage, as you won't be able to license it in CA. 4) You can do #3 for a lot of ca$h, THEN sell the car as a dragster to some kid who doesn't know 'squat' about drag cars (also unlikely). 5) Pull the motor and sell it "as-is" to someone who wants it; use the money to buy a nice 350 or 383 crate engine and just bolt it up.
As negative as those options sounded, #5 is the only one that makes any sense to me. Good luck with your decision and follow-up actions.

 

cars in CA have to be smogged from 76 up. to get it liscensed is not an issue. i work with CA titles on a daily basis, this car doesnt even need to be looked at to get it transferred to my name.

 

Getting it 'titled' and getting it 'licensed' are two entirely different things. There's no doubt that you can get it titled, if you have a viable VIN and a good 'bill of sale'. Getting it licensed requires that the car pass legal requirements in the State/County of issue.