So it's finally getting close to time for an engine upgrade in my 82. She's bone stock and I'm going to pull that motor and start fresh. I would really like an LS motor but not sure if my budget will allow for the extra costs of fuel injection. That being said I'm not against a nice 383 stroker or even a built 350. I want the power, at least something 350 HP, but also want to be able to drive it often. I'd love to hear you guys opinions on which combination to go with. I have the 700R4 Trans and I've already installed 3.83 rear gears. What do you guys think?

 

Can't go wrong with the 383 from BluePrint. It's like $3500 with a warranty. 420+hp

 

how much do you want to spend ?and what hp do you want ?

 

I'd like to be in the 3000$ range with at least 350HP

 

I said earlier it already had 3.83 gears I meant 3.73😎

 

[QUOTE="jmatt82;1593484007"]I said earlier it already had 3.83 gears I meant 3.73

 

Reach out to BUCCANEER as he can help you built a TBI that is killer.

 

I just got done pulling the crossfire engine and installing a 400 sbc. If you're a motorhead and can do the work yourself, thats great. Im not so I had a shop do it and it cost bucks! If you use a shop, dont skimp. Use one that knows what's up. Not a time to cut corners.

Make sure you're getting enough spark to the plugs. Dont count on using the stock distributor. You're going to want a good ignition sytem like an MSD. That will be 350-650 parts cost depending on your bells and whistles.

Trans- 3.73 is great with the 700R4. I just installed. Depending on your cam, you may need a higher stall torque converter and maybe even a performance trans rebuild. in fact, plan on it. And have a pro do it because there is a lot of fine tuning. A lot people told me i needed a 3000 to 3500 stall for my cam which is pretty agressive. Ended up with 2400 and its great. Don't over do the stall. Another reason to pick a pro trans guy. Here's a biggie-that 700R4 runs off the computer. Youll probably strip most of that out so you will need an alternate way to engage and disengage the lockup function of the converter. If you don't do this, you'll destroy your whole trans and converter. Thats what happened to me before i took it to a real trans shop. They will most likely install a pressure switch. When you changed those gears, i hope you rebuilt or beefedd up the posi. Stock posi's are weak and your added HP may twist it up. Would be a good idea to upgrade the spindles while your in there. I have $2k in the trans.

You'll need a fuel pressure regulator to tone down that PSI to 6 or so. The stock fule pump throws out way too much for a carb.

Headers will be pricey. At least the ones I could find to fit. And you'll want a true dual exhause. That's a bit of a challenge since there isnt much room for true dual. Cost me 400 at a local shop. Make sure they intall a H pipe. Once again it's tricky to do that due to space but its important and will make your car sound much better.

3,000 budget may be hard to meet but if you can wrench everything yourself, you'll save money. Good luck!

 

Yes I do plan on beefing up the stock trans(700r4). As far as motor at this point I'm going back and forth - LS or 383?!?!

 

Are you planning on keeping the Crossfire fuel injection? I'm writing this assuming that you aren't.

Having gone through a similar build-up on my 79 Vette, I'll share my "what I would do in your shoes" advice based on what I've experienced. Keep in mind that my car is my daily driver. A weekend fun car might have different priorities.

I would reuse the bottom end from your current engine (assuming it's in good condition) and put on an aftermarket head/cam/intake combo. If you're OK with square bore carbs, I'd go with either the Edelbrock Performer EPS or RPM intake (the Performer RPM fits under the stock 79 hood, but I'm not sure about the 82 hood).

For heads, I'd go with a performance iron head like the Dart Iron Eagle. My car currently has aluminum heads, and I get nervous during the summer on hot days with the AC on. Iron heads can get hotter without worrying about warping. (On that note, a DeWitts radiator wouldn't be a bad idea, and the 1979 L-82 front air dam is a great idea that solved most of my summer heat woes.)

For a cam, I'd go with a Lunati Voodoo cam. Ask them which one they'd recommend based on your transmission, rear, and compression ratio. I used to have an Edelbrock RPM cam, but the Voodoo cam I have now is more street friendly nad makes more power.

For carburetors, I loved my Holley Ultra Street Avenger, but the fuel would boil so much during the summer that it would shoot out the top of the carb in a stream. I was running headers at the time, so maybe it won't happen if you're running manifolds. As it is now, I'm happy with my Edelbrock 800 carb. I ran an Edelbrock 650 carb for 30,000+ miles without issue (other than the dreaded edelbrock hesitation when the secondaries were thrown open... I'm still working on it with the 800, but it's less noticeable).

For a street driven car, I'd recommend staying with manifolds. Many will probably disagree with me, but I have a recent thread about why I switched back to manifolds and which ones I picked. In short, headers made the under-hood area extremely hot (CS-130 alternators started dying quickly) and they kept eating spark plug wire boots, causing the spark to go to the headers. The car is also quieter with manifolds. With the cams that Lunati would most likely recommend, you should be fine with manifolds anyways.

You might as well install a dual exhaust. Corvette Central makes some good bolt-on true dual exhaust kits.

So, intake + carb is probably $700. A pair of Dart Iron Eagles $1400. Lunati Cam and lifters $200. That's $2300 so far, with a bit leftover for true dual exhaust and miscellaneous parts.

Do make sure that your transmission will work properly without the computer present, so save some of the "miscellaneous parts" money for that.

 

I'm curious dmruschell what kind of power you're making with that setup?

 

Budget is a big deal here - An LS motor has different mounts - it is not a direct bolt in, so you will need to find motor mount adapters or fabricate something. If it's an LS and you are not converting to a carbureted air/fuel intake, you have to source the harnesses and computer to run it.

A 350/383 is usually a straight swap - If you go 383, you will want to upgrade to headers over manifolds, so you may need to spend more in that space. It really depends on your power level/RPM range.

If you go 350-383, I agree with dmruschell that you should try to reuse as much as possible, that can save a lot of ancillary cost.

Lots of threads on here about LS swaps as well as stock and stroker rebuilds - do some research and price out your options before you commit to anything - a little research now might save you a lot of time and money down the road, and you'll be happier with the end result.

 

At one point, my engine was very similar to the Edelbrock Performer RPM crate engine (I have different heads), rated at 410hp. With the Lunati Voodoo cam, usable power increased noticeably. I'd guess that the engine is in the 450hp range based on what parts it has. The only thing my engine has that would be difficult to do is high compression pistons and the machine work that comes with it. My block needed boring and a bunch of other clean up.

Read this build up of a GM crate engine, since the engine that came stock in your Vette is similar to what they started with. https://www.google.com/amp/www.hotrod.com/articles/350290-crate-engine-part-2/amp/?client=safari

One thing I'll point out is that Lunati Voodoo cams were specifically designed to outperform their Comp Cams XE counterparts, so there's a little room for improvement over the Hot Rod build. I also know that the headers made more power in their dyno tests, so it's worth considering them if you're not worried about the down sides of headers. I just got tired of running on 7 cylinders halfway through road trips because the headers cooked another spark plug boot. I also have angle plug heads, which probably weren't the best choice with headers. Do some research and decide if it's worth it for you while everything is apart.

 

Dmruschell do you still have the aluminum rear end with that setup?

 

I know your looking at a relatively small budget, but if you are not going to keep the CFI I would ditch the carb idea entirely and go EFI for sure. The reason is simple, better fuel economy if that's what you are looking for and more power than a carb and easy to install. With the 82 hood you have a little fudge room to work with because of the functional 82 hood. Get a self tuning EFI which you can also tweak with a laptop if you want. Holley makes a very nice setup which IMO is better than FAST, FiTech and others right now.

As far as your 700R4 goes, it's a Gen I 700 and they are not noted as the strongest trans out there, but you can build them to be an awesome trans if you want to spend a few duckets. Mine is about as bullet proof as you can get right now, but I don't race it and it works absolutely fine. My TC is a Yank 3,200 which works well with my 383 and the rest of my setup. I have a 3.31 gear which is new, but I also have a new 3.73 sitting here and ready to go in, but I don't have the time right now to install it. The new gear will be perfect for what I want to do with my next round of mods.

If you decide to keep the CFI, let me know and I can give you some tips on that depending on what you want to do. Good luck with your upgrade.

 

I'd up the budget to $4k and go with a 383 base roller crate motor and reuse as much as possible from your current motor. -Be careful as some of the really cheap crate motors are externally balanced; go with an internally balanced rotating assembly.

You will need your 700r4 "hardened" but electronically controlling the TC lockup is dead simple with an aftermarket lockup kit.


You can also scour Craigslist for 383 stroker motors that people start building and then have to sell for a song after some life event occurs that causes them to sell them fast - but you'd want a very competent mechanic to come with you.


If you want to throw a TBI EFI system on like a Fitech or the Holley Sniper later, too that's then easily doable for about $1,500 with the full fuel system. (Possibly cheaper on an 82 if you reuse some of the fuel system componenets in the tank.)


Adam

 

My 1979 still had/has the old iron rear end that they used back to 1963. There's a thread that is active right now where a guy blew his aluminum rear end up, and it contains some useful information.

I tried FiTech's EFI and had issues with it (look up the thread I started about it if you want details). It worked exactly as designed, but in the end, I couldn't keep a steady speed. It was either accelerating or at idle. With an automatic, it might not be an issue, and everything else worked great. For me, a carb with a progressive linkage will almost surely be what I keep on my carbureted cars.

 

82 is aluminum rear end....

Jmatt,

There's a guy on the ThirdGen forums right now trying to sell a JUST rebuilt (zero miles) super heavy duty 700r4 with a 3,600 stall TC built to support 700hp / 700 ft lbs. It's probably way more transmission than you need, but figured I'd mention it.

http://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engin...0r4-700hp.html


Adam

 

Thanks newb I will look at that

 

Thanks a lot bucaneer. I was thinking my CFI wouldn't be sufficient to run an upgraded engine like that. Being able to use that on a "built" engine would definitely save cost. If I can still get between 350-400HP using the CFI it seems that might be the way to go since I could use the current computer. Am I correct? Thanks again.