I've just boght my first Corvette c3 with a 350 engine. It is totally original with an untouched engine. What is the easiest way to get a little more power out of the engine?

 

Believe it or not, your not the first guy to ask this!
So, what year is your Car? What 350 engine is in your car? What transmission, exhaust, etc is in your car?
It's fairly easy to start mentioning the low hanging fruit. But as your car is over 40 and maybe well over 50 years old. It's also highly likely that the low hanging fruit has already been picked.
tell us LOTS more about what you have please.

 

It's a L48 engine, with a TH400 transmission, and original exhaust.

 

This question is answered by your budget. Heads and a cam are the most bang for your buck. A bigger carburetor or moreso fuel injection will add power. Exhaust, headers, better mufflers help. Keep in mind as you add power the drivetrain is taking more strain so make sure it can handle it.

 

What year do you have there? They are only original once....

60

 

Headers. Lowest cost, highest return per dollar. Free or close to free is a good tuning of the ignition and carb. I say close to free because sometimes a few small things (rebuild kit, or jets, or rods, or cleaning supplies) may need to be purchased to get the carb dialed in, but are relatively low cost. Search here and other Corvette forums for tuning tips by the forum member Lars Grimsrud. The search function here is not the best, so better to go to Google and search whatever you are looking for, adding “Corvete forum” at the end. For example, a search for “c3 corvette carb tuning Lars corvette forum”. Or search “c3 corvette setting timing corvette forum”. Here’s one of his write ups:
https://www.digitalcorvettes.com/thr...by-lars.88376/
Congrats on your ‘Vette and hope you have fun with it!

 

There aren't many C3 Corvettes that are truly worth keeping "all original". Most new owners are really going to need/want more "go" than they were originally built with. Is there an example of an L48 powered car that is worth keeping "all original" under the hood? I get that there would be a dilemma here if it was a '70 LT-1 car or one of the all original Big Block cars yet even these cars could be the recipient of a crate engine and the original could be placed on a stand.

 

More power and how to get there with a SBC is the same for a C3 as it is with any Chevy. Heads and Cam are all you really need to completely change any 350's over all driving experience. Yet with an L48 you're pretty limited by cast pistons and a cast crank. In stock configuration I completely understand the desire for more power. In a world of 400HP as entry level performance, 200 rear wheel HP (probably less) isn't gonna be especially exciting or even much fun to drive. Still, if the short block is in really good shape you can get pretty close to 400HP with a 750 carb, Rpm Air Gap intake, relatively inexpensive cast aluminum heads, and enough Cam. Headers and exhaust are also part of the program. More than this and with any expectation of reliable power will require more cubic inches or forged parts in the bottom end of a 350. A Roller cam swap costs a few more bucks too. Changes this big and expensive start make Crate engines look like decent "bang for the buck". There are more 400-550HP small block crate engines out there to choose from than I could list......but now you're getting into bigger money and power that will test the durability of everything behind the engine as well. Turbo 400s are pretty tough but an older one not in it's best shape anymore could easily be over-whelmed. It all leads to another question. More go.... how much are you willing to spend and how much of it can you do yourself for labor? This is where you'll really get a better idea of not just what you can do but also you find the limits of how much power/reliably you can get for the money you're willing to part with.

 

how much money you got?
how many tools you got?
how much experience with cars you got?
where do you live?

welcome

 

L-48 narrows it down to 75-77, pick a year.

 

the first thing is dialing in more timing. Contact Lars for his timing papers. You will get more seat of the pants power off the line and its free.

next the easy bolt on parts will get you a little power...better intake and headers are the most popular....this is fine but if you want off the line power, you are talking torque, not horsepower.

the first thing is if you have a 4 speed, find out what your first gear ratio is. If you have a close ratio its 2.20:1, if its a wide ratio its 2.52:1. this will give you a bit more torque. Then find out what your rear end ratio is. If its 3.36:1 or 3.55:1 you will want a 3;70 or 4.11:1. This increases your torque but will have a higher highway rpm in 4rth gear....these are teh cheap ways to get more torque which is power.

Next you will want to start looking at engine modifications

 

Welcome to The Corvette Forum Hogne!
This is the best place to get answers and help with virtually any year Corvette (as long as it is a C3)!

This being the C3 Section of the Corvette Forum! I am here because my favorite car is my 1968 C3 (convertible, 4 speed with a 427). I wish they had this kind of information available for the taking 30 years ago, and for for free?? After my Wife and I bought our first Corvette we had to learn a lot of information really fast the old way, reading and calling people who knew the subject "important to me" a 1968 Corvette BB and spoke with them. The information available here at no cost can help you fix your Corvette for even less.

When you first buy a Corvette I believe it to be wise to just drive the Corvette for a couple weeks and be ready resolve any safety issues! Then make a list of anything that you think is wrong or are issues that you are unsure of like: Brakes pulling, body ride seems low, whatever. Once you have a few weeks of driving the C3 then armed with your list it should be easier to order the parts you need. The list's worked well for me with my 1988 C4 Coupe. It was just a "list" for several weeks and then it became a "to-do list" and I was able to resolve many right away after receiving the parts at my convenience when they showed up they were installed quickly. I personally changed virtually every fluid on the engine and from then I knew better what was the condition was of the various parts and systems. The Automatic Transmission Fluid/Filter inspection/change turned out to not be a great idea. The 700R4 automatic transmission was not happy afterwards and it started slipping right away so I took it to a buddy's Transmission shop where it was rebuilt. Ouch..


After buying my C3 in July of 1991 I then went to Corvettes@Carlisle in Pennsylvania and found such a live and vibrant community of fellow Corvette Nuts. It was tons of fun and very easy to spend money because there were hundreds and hundreds of companies and Tens of thousands of Corvette owners and enthusiasts all looking for that proverbial "Deal". Everybody had that "one" part that they were looking for and we always found something that we "couldn't live without". Post the China Virus the market has died at the big outdoor fair type car show and Carlisle is still going on but a fraction of the size today. In 1991 there were between 45 and 50k people at the show on Fridays and Saturdays. Cars were being bought and sold and they had acres and acres of parts tools and hardware just for us to look at. And we all had one thing in common and that was our love for the United States Of America and the Corvette!

 

Buy a crate engine from Blueprintengines.com
https://blueprintengines.com/collect...b0e877c9&_ss=c

 

Sure....everyones got an extra $5 grand laying around

 

And make sure that you are getting full throw on your accelerator pedal. Some folks arent even getting their secondairies to open

 

Best reply yet if you ask me. The snarkers seem to abound here (maybe slightly in this thread, but so many in other “help, I’m new” threads) these days. Not sure why they can’t seem to read the room and at least try to be helpful! Fustrating to read sometimes without reaching through the screen. I won’t point fingers or name names, so ya’ll don’t ask.

 

sure, assume everything

 

Lots of facebook douche bags moving in. Pretty soon it will be all bs and LS swap bulllshit or idiots spending other peoples money for no good reason....i just bought a lifetime membership....guess that was a waste of time and money

 

Agreed! Maybe you could get a partial refund?
Got off FB maybe 10 years ago due to the douche bags. Wife still on there, hasn't figured what I figured yet. My apologies to the original poster ("OP") for my mini rant.

 

Hogne
What year is it?
Do you have to stay smog legal?
Answer some basic questions.
If I was starting with an L48 and did not have to stay smog legal I'd go LS with an overdrive tranny. ....assuming the rest of the car is in nice shape. If it's an L48 then it probably isn't anything collectible anyway that you want to keep original anyway.