Curious as to what upgrades others have done or want to do to their C3's?

I like to autocross with my vette and sometimes do a cruise (for a few hours not cross country). Maybe take it to drag strip someday. Not a daily driver and not a winter car.

All that being said:
Currently replacing motor to a 383. Also putting in a Dewitt's AL radiator with dual electric fan.
Seriously thinking about R&P steering mod. (Leaning towards Steeroids)

Doing an upgrade on the suspension. (Would like to go with independant rear suspension)

Going with 17" rims and lower profile tires.(maybe from mid america)

Eventual transmission upgrade. (have 700r4, not sure whether to rebuild/upgrade or go new)

Interior and paint a long way off.

Was just looking for thoughts and/or suggestions. Or other mechanical mods I might not have thought of.

 

wildwood aluminum brake calipers maybe, it appears you have a fat wallet, so what's another grand or so for some nice new lightweight calipers? lol, I would love to put in a 383 in exchange for my stock(other than headers and intake manifold)350

 

Have you ever looked under your car?

 

I wish I had a fat wallet. I do have a decent job. So if all keeps going well in that department, I hope to save about $5k each year for improvements. Of course I have had the car 4 years now and only replaced the brakes in the car. So the saving money department make take a little longer.
Hence wishlist. But hopefully with some goals to reach for i'll have more incentive to save for them.
Somewhere I saw a c6 brake upgrade but it was around $4k if I remember.

 

I have looked under the car, if you are referring to the frame it is in good condition, I would like to strip it down and paint it though.

 

I think he's referring to you wanting an independent rear suspension when you already have one.

 

how much is the stroker setting you back? what are some of the specs? heads? intake manifold? carb? Are you doing the conversion yourself? I also see you wanna change the wheels. I really like aftermarket wheels myself, but we got the same one's from what I can tell. But I polished mine up and sprayed a couple coats of 2 part urethane clear on them and they look great, at least to me. My pics were all taken before the wheel polishing and I also put a set of satin black stripes on hood, also totally ditched my pop up headlight system and have lights on front. need to take some pics this weekend maybe.

 

Haven't done anything with the tires yet so original rims are on the car right now. This is the suspension I was thinking about.
http://speeddirect.com/index.aspx?nodeID=132
But they don't go up to an '82 so who knows.

http://pacmachineco.com/index.php?ma...7ue0mlc85dsf82
This is the engine I decided on. Between the engine and radiator and a mechanic to put them in I'm looking around $4000 - $4500. Really don't have the time to do this myself and my mechanic skills are pretty weak so I don't feel comfortable doing this myself.

Intake and carb and other accessories are coming off the engine I have now.

I was kind of hoping for others wishlists to get some inspiration and to see what others thoughts were about the ones I was thinking of.

 

sounds good! I guess the "fat wallet" comment is just relative. I'm in same boat as you concerning the engine. I know there is pretty good degree of skill level on converting a 350 to the stroker, not to mention cost of various tools, lifts, engine stands, + cost of machining. I'm "fairly" content with power of my motor. I've been making up for lack of HP with lightening it. Plus many of the lightening procedures don't really cost anything, mostly time and effort. I still can't believe BeeJay had the fortitude to get those door braces out.
If the design of your stock wheels bothers you, then new wheels someday(seems like there is really only a few that really look good on c-3's, be careful!) If you do like the design but are discouraged by oxidation. Some serious elbow grease can really make them look good. do some research on polishing aluminum, spend about $20-$30 for sandpaper and polish instead of $1000+ for new wheels

 

Actually had saved up quite a bit for the car but then the diesel engine in the truck went and spent it all up on rebuilding that. I have to have the truck for work. So back a square one almost. Cost is why I went with the crate motor. I never got any exact pricing but after some research it is about the same or cheaper for the crate than a rebuilt or upgrade on the original. Plus in the end I still have the matching numbers engine.

After looking around I have found many others saying a suspension upgrade is just not complete without bigger rims and low profile tires if you are going to autocross / race track.

The original rims polished up pretty good with some Mother's polish and lots of elbow grease. Which I would still keep them and maybe switch to when going on cruises and use the other set for race day. Of course all of that is still a ways off, first got to get new engine in and running.

I would like to have same style rims in size 17" but have yet to find them in that style and size and not sure how much having them custom like that would cost (not sure I want to know)

 

I'm probably getting ahead of myself with a wishlist and should wait till money comes along before thinking that far ahead. I just figured if (with help and guidance) knowing what step to take next would be a good goal and then saving/plan for it. Makes it easier to get there that way.

 

nah,not getting ahead of yourself, that's the fun part. Your car already has two things that are on my list, composite rear spring and rear built in spoiler(I think your's has the spoiler)

 

I wish they would make a coil-over kit for our cars. They only go up to '79 but I wonder how much modification the kit would need to fit on our cars? The only other rear coil suspension I can find is from Van Steel like these:http://www.vansteel.com/index.cfm?fu...p=1971&ID=3173. Not as cool looking but maybe still better than even a composite spring?

 

That coil over kit I will have to keep in mind. Yes I already have a composite spring and the rear spoiler. I like the look of the spoiler.

As long as the transmission holds out, the next thing will be steeroids. There is at least a 1/4 turn or more of play in the steering. Curvy mountain roads are a big pain.

 

Had the same problem with the 80 that I am doing now. I have given a lot of thought to R&P steering like steeroids but I think new struts and bushings with a steering box overhaul will give me all the improvement I want. I might swap the box for one with a tighter turn ratio. That saves me having to learn how to overhaul the box myself. I love the look of the spoiler. I am thinking about putting a spoiler on mine when I get to the body work. A purist will scoff but they just look cool!