My 77 L82 has been with a local hot rod shop for about a week now and I'm supposed to pick it up tonight!!!!!!

The guy found tons of small things and plans to just tune it right.

160 degree thermostat instead of the 190
ground straps were bad
he's re-curving the distributor
installing a multi spark ignition
moving the mufflers and pipes away from the frame a bit to kill some drone
tuning my edelbrock setup
valve adjustments
choke wasn't wired right
needs a new coil

When I brought it in the car was a real dog. I fixed tons of stuff but I only got it running ok. I decided to let a pro have it. He's kept it longer than I thought and recomended more changes than I thought but I hope it will all be worth it. The car used to sputter and had flat spots in the power. Tough to start sometimes and I was never happy about the power. They are still working on it now but the guy says his seat-of-the-pants dyno would have her over 300 HP, more like 325. That would be amazing for me as I would have guessed no more than stock as it was, maybe about 210 tops. And my mileage was dismal, maybe 5-8 mpg.

More news when I get it tonight. Hopefully I will be posting happy stories!!!!!!!! Wish me luck!!!!

 

yes, keep us updated. Maybe you could give me some secret HP tuning ideas.

 

- Sounds great, I hope it's all fixed. Good, honest mechanics are hard to find.

 

Good for you, you sound very excited. Keep us updated.

 

and pic's

 

You HAVE seen the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off - right ?
Hope they are treating your vette nice.

Wait a minute - just saw a white blur fly past my office window.
Nah ... couldn't be your vette.

 

I finally got her back at 9pm last night. I am flying to Cleveland today so I really wanted to pick her up and the guy didn't want to store it for another 3 days so he worked late to finish it. Bottom line is it is a new car. I never knew how badly it stumbled before. It pulls very strong off the line at any rpm with no hesitation or stumbling. On the highway it pulls right up to the rpm cutoff (5,000 or 5,500, not sure where he set it...). I love that it hits you in the butt if you stomp on it in any gear at any speed now. Seamless transition to the secondaries with no bog or dips in power. I'm very impressed.

It cost a fortune but they had the car for 8 days. They gave me a huge discount on labor because I let them keep it for a while and work on it in eves and in spare moments during the day.

He relocated the exhaust pipes away from the frame and now I can hear myself think. Before the drone was awful. The rear of a 77 is like a big hollow can that vibrates like a bass drum. Its 20 times better and I plan to insulate under the carpets some day so it should be great.

Dave, you'll have to stop by for a joyride some night when I get back!

If anyone needs a mechanic north of Boston I would recomend this guy. Not for mundane jobs, he's an expert at hot cars. He had several vette's a few older GTO's etc in the bays. My best advice for you novices or anyone who thinks they have their car dialed in - let someone like this guy drive it. He drove it once and made me a list of things to change. Some were expensive but most were cheap changes or adjustments. He moved the vacuum from the manifold side ot the ported side and explained why the cam in my car would work better that way. I called him each night to see if it was ready and he was always trying new jets, a new dist curve etc trying to tweak it just right. He also used a sniffer to make sure the mix was right. I know I could have improved the car's performance myself but I would NEVER have gotten it like it is now.

Too bad I get on a plane in 3 hours for 2 days....

Sorry no pix yet. The outside of the car is nasty looking anyway. I haven't done ANYTHIN to her and she needs paint BAD. I want her running great before I mess with the look.

 

Wugak,

I am in the Providence area and would be interested in any information you could forward me about this mechanic.

Thanks,

Chris

 

Congrats! I know how you feel (or soon will). My car should be out of the shop in a few weeks and I can hardly sleep!

 

Can I just post the shop info here? They are of course not a supporting vendor but they don't sell vette parts so they wouldn't be taking anything away from any of our vendors.....

I hope this is ok

Bill at Malas Motors in Lowell 978-275-4275. He's the owner and a very nice guy.

 

I hope it doesn't cause any problems. Thanks!