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Just wanted to take a minute and introduce myself...
As you might be able to tell from my screen name, I'm not a "dedicated" 'Vette owner. My other money-sucking hobby is boats, and my toy in that arena is a 1990 35' Cigarette. I do my own wrenching, and have been building SBC and BBC since the early '90s. My current setup are twin 650HP 502's with B&M blowers.
Anyway, I wanted a land toy so I just purchased a 1980 L82. I wanted a year that I could wrench on, and for some reason always came back to the styling on a 1980. I don't know if that's the best year for a C4 (please don't tell me 1980's suck!!), but it works for me. I don't plan on dumping an ****-load of cash into the car, but I do plan on doing anything necessary to keep it running good and looking nice.
I look forward to future dialogs with some of you..
I know you're new to the hobby so just for future referrence, a 1980 is not a C4. It would be a C3. The C4 years are from 1984-1986. Welcome aboard! :seeya :hurray: :thumbs:
I know you're new to the hobby so just for future referrence, a 1980 is not a C4. It would be a C3. The C4 years are from 1984-1986. Welcome aboard! :seeya :hurray: :thumbs:
Nope, the 80's don't suck (well the decade, maybe, but not the cars). Kinda low horses compared to the earlier chrome bumper vettes, but generally acknowlged (here's where I duck to avoid the flying bricks) to be better horsepower and styling-wise than some of the mid-70's vettes (we don't talk about the fact that one year had the same steering wheel as the Vega :D ). 80's C3s are more comfortable that most C3s and many people like th additional ground effects styling.
Welcome to the forum! You'll find lots of help and sympathy here. And if you ever need someone to act as ballast in your cigarette boat, drop me a line!:D
Welcome to the forum bro and that will be a fine vette you have there...keep it up and we are here if you need answers...you have found a great spot with guys and gals that truely do love thier cars! :hurray: :seeya
Welcome to the best forum on the web! Here is a link for help on posting pics.
Oh, and if ya look close at my poor sig pic, you can see part of that vega steering wheel. (thanks for the reminder, JB) :rolleyes:
WELCOME! All you have to do now is take one of those 502's and drop it in the vette. I shure wish I had 2 of them. But, in all seriousness, welcome aboard.
Glad to have you here. I may want to talk to you about your boat engines as well as your Corvette. How many hours do you get out of a 650 horse 502? What kind of prep is done to your engines or are you using stock, marine long blocks?
Posting a picture is easy, all you need is to have the image on the internet via a server and click the "image" button that gives you this [IMG][/IMG ] (remove the space between the G and the ] I added it so it would show up). Just place the url to the image between the ][ and you have it.
burners, first remember that a boat engine runs at higher RPMS than a car engine. We typically run at 3500-3800 for hours on end. So wear and tear happens faster.
Basically, I buy a crate 502 and install the cam I like (Crane 168741 Hydraulic Roller). My heads have been set up for a blower (wide seats, good springs, Inconel valves) and I use marine head gaskets.
I have about 200 hours (about 2 summers) on both motors and I plan on pulling them this winter. The main reason is to paint the boat, but I also plan to check valve springs. That's all I plan on doing. At 400 hours (if I make it that long) I'll pull them again and go through the bottom ends. Some of the huge HP engines (850HP+) tear down every 50 hours or so.
I'll be happy to answer any other questions you have. Here's a link to some information about my boat.