Hey all,

Let's say theoretically I wanted to replace the engine (L82) on my 1979 C3. What swaps would be worth it? I'm taking the stance that if I sell, I'm probably not making money on this thing anyways, but what's a realistic upgrade here? Has anyone LS swapped or done anything similar?

 

many swaps
LS yes
whole wild world can fit, even a v-12 was done.

the more you change from orig block the more money

 

What do you mean by 'worth it'? If you're looking to get your money back, forget it. If you are looking for improved performance, there is no limit to the options. Personally, I went with a 427 small block with a 5-speed stick. Hard to beat that for performance. If you want the ultimate in performance, driveability, reliability, and mileage, an LS swap would be the way to go.

 

LS swap.

There are many documented on this Forum.

 

If you are serious about it....tell us your budget. You can keep your motor and through some good heads on it, a bigger cam and get a lot of power out of it, even with lower compression if your budget is lower. THe biggest thing you can do is a great set of heads, a realistic intake, good headers and a came with a lift north of .500 lift and advertised duration around 275/280....then through a lower gear rear ring and pinion in it or just buy a rebuilt differenteial with a 4.11 gear in it. The high gear ratio witll help wioth the lack of torque and then the horsepower will carry you along

IF you have north of $5000 you can get a really nice crate motor that will bolt in and use your pulleys and brackets....If you want to spend more go with a big block. IF you have Daddies credit card go with a LS6 or 7 swap and a 5 speed

 

Yes budget is everything here. The L82 is actually a really good engine with a crappy set of heads on it.
In my 77. I kept the factory block, crank and rods.
added new hyperunetic pistons. Decent heads. Much better cam, 1.6-1 rockers. Decent intake manifold, etc, etc.
now I'm running about 400 HP at the crank. Almost double stock. A noticeable difference to be sure.
And as I am able to do all this myself. It came in much cheaper than a engine swap. And my 4 speed car came with a good rear gear. So I didn't feel the need to change it.
But if money isn't an issue. Well, an LS swap would make short work of my car. But you may also find out what will break next when you get the power up.

 

So I was really on a budget with my car... it has more craiglist and ebay stuff on it than most here as it was pretty much a $2,700 parts car when I bought it.
In my case I pulled the 2bolt dished piston low compression station wagon engine (l48) and more of less built a slightly less stout scat scat steel crank 4bolt version of an L82 engine with .30 over hyper flat tops a slightly better cam (comp 270/276 retro roller) and better flowing 64cc chamber aluminum heads along with the better flowing dual plane intake, quickfuel carb and sidepipe exhaust... I have never had my engine on a dyno but the software dynos state mathematically it has the potential of 420hp which I feel is optimistic. What I really used the software for though was to make sure I wasnt giving up my lower rpm torque when chasing higher hp numbers which makes the car less fun to drive on the street unless you change the rear end gears or put a loose converter and deal with the street performance tradeoffs that come with that.

Its easy to get talking into building a high hp engine that will seem like a real dog if the rest of the car isnt setup for it. This is why when the c3 was new, car and driver magazine rated the L48 version of the car as peppier and more fun on the street thanks to the higher torque at lower rpms.. If the car had say a 3.73 rear end this wouldnt have been the case but then the tradeoff is you would feel like the engine was going to blow at any minute turning 3400 rpms on the highway at cruising speeds. (this is where the upgrade to an OD transmission comes in handy) But those werent a thing when the c3 came out. (This is also IMO why the manual transmissions had such an advantage back then as they could compensate for the weak rear gears better)

I focused on what would benefit MY needs.. for example I had no real justification for forged internals being my car is a street cruiser with an auto trans that never sees anything over 5000 rpm. I used the money saved there to make it count somewhere else. Now, years later im swapping my rear 3.08 gears for 3.55 gears and my 3 speed th400 for an overdrive 2004r trans... this will give me more torquey takeoff power AND lower cruising rpms on the highway making the car just more enjoyable to drive so I dont do what so many do and that is leave their c3 parked in the garage in favor of the more refined alternative vehicle. or better yet , those that end up selling and starting over to build something more street friendly.