Major Modifications- c3 or c4???
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 34
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Major Modifications- c3 or c4???
Reading thru some threads about the great debate.... c3 or c4, but all of these were stock for stock. What if you had say 20 - 25 thousand dollar budget without the price of the car, which one would come out on top. I am luckey enough to have a new ls6 engine and want some of your opinions. Can the c3 be better all around or will the c4 still be that much better. Looking for all around performance and comfortability not one thing better than another. I will be interested in your replies. Thanks in advance Mike P.S. C5 IS NOT AN OPTION I WANT TO PERSUE! I want to do things the hard way.
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 3,566
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From: Mt Laurel NJ
St. Jude Donor '06-'07
Well, having owned both, I will say that a C4 is a more comfortable car, and I also think it handles/rides better then a C3. Many people have installed LSx engines into a C4, and there are places you can buy engine mounts and headers, not to mention bellhousings and stand alone electric harness to run the fuel injection.
Race Director
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 10,691
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From: Phoenix Arizona
Well, having owned both, I will say that a C4 is a more comfortable car, and I also think it handles/rides better then a C3. Many people have installed LSx engines into a C4, and there are places you can buy engine mounts and headers, not to mention bellhousings and stand alone electric harness to run the fuel injection.
A lot of advantages in the C4
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 2,171
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From: Warwick RI
Normally I don't reply to the vs. posts with a serious comment but on this question I really do have an opinion. If you are building a hot rod the C4 will give you a couple of advantages.
1. The plarform is good handling and with the clamshell easy to work on.
2. With the values of our generation you can get a very nice car with a cooked motor for short money while the C3 values are up right now.
With what you are planning every penny that you put into the car will be "spent" and not "invested" so to start with a C3 you are acually hurting the value. At least with a C4 if you buy it for under $4K and put $15 into it you may be able to sell it running for $8K or so.
Just my $.02 of course
1. The plarform is good handling and with the clamshell easy to work on.
2. With the values of our generation you can get a very nice car with a cooked motor for short money while the C3 values are up right now.
With what you are planning every penny that you put into the car will be "spent" and not "invested" so to start with a C3 you are acually hurting the value. At least with a C4 if you buy it for under $4K and put $15 into it you may be able to sell it running for $8K or so.
Just my $.02 of course
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 15,124
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From: Salt Lake City Utah
2020 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2019 C3 of Year Finalist (stock)
You can add HP to a C3, but you still have the same platform to work with and will have a good straight line car but won't get the handling or comfort. I would mod a C4 and leave a C3 stock.
Instructor
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2007
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From: Akron Ohio
2025 Corvette of the Year Finalist - Modified
2024 C5 of the Year Winner - Modified
2023 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2022 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
St. Jude Donor '09-'10-'11
However, my vote would be to make the C4 the hotrod. It has a much better frame than the C3 and the better suspension.
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Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: May 2008
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Thanks guys. I have been eying the 84's and 85's just for the simplicity of them. Would the later LT1 models also be good or would they be more complicated to switch over. I've found a 96 with 115,000 miles for under 9 grand so I was wondering if I should expand my search more. All help is appreciated and thanks again Mike
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Intermediate
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Brian, I just want to enjoy it for what it is, or will be I hope. I think with the aluminium engine and light weight of the car it will be a win-win for whatever thus that was why I was looking at the 84. I'm looking foward just to be driving it the 122 miles round trip to work a couple days a week to start off with. Who knows from there.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
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From: Boston, Dallas, Detroit, SoCal, back to Boston MA
The heads and intake are aluminum on the later cars, the block is cast iron on all C4's
LTX cars run good out of the box, but they are a bit of an odd-ball parts wise.
ie) convential heads won't fit w/o a lot of mods.
L98 cars have great torque, but they've limited on the top end by the intake.
LTX cars run good out of the box, but they are a bit of an odd-ball parts wise.
ie) convential heads won't fit w/o a lot of mods.
L98 cars have great torque, but they've limited on the top end by the intake.
Pro
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 564
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From: Pittsburgh PA
Reading thru some threads about the great debate.... c3 or c4, but all of these were stock for stock. What if you had say 20 - 25 thousand dollar budget without the price of the car, which one would come out on top. I am luckey enough to have a new ls6 engine and want some of your opinions. Can the c3 be better all around or will the c4 still be that much better. Looking for all around performance and comfortability not one thing better than another. I will be interested in your replies. Thanks in advance Mike P.S. C5 IS NOT AN OPTION I WANT TO PERSUE! I want to do things the hard way.
However, as with anything else, there is a price to be paid... The C3 Vettes were not nearly as good in the handling or comfort department, so having a C3 Vette that will match (if not beat) a C4 is a very expensive proposition...
Now, all that being said, if I had 20K to throw at a car (knowing it'd be strictly a *toy*), then I'd go with the C3. I'd get a chrome-bumper, T-Top Vette, ~1971-1972, with a non-original motor (or a no motor at all!), and start from there... Since any chrome-bumper car that you can get for cheap will be either not close to original, or need a lot of work, I'd get the one that needs a lot of work... Because by the time you get done, none of the original suspension, and almost all of the drivetrain, will have to be gone through or replaced.
Since you're essentially building a new car from the ground up, originality means nothing, there's no sense paying for a full-on-resto vette.
Drop the LS6 in it, with a TKO-500 trans, then spend your money building the suspension, brakes and then doing the body.
Be sure to post pics!!!
Pro
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 589
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From: PA
Having a 74 and an 85 (check out my pictures) I'd take the 74 any day. C3s have frames, C4s do not, well they do if you want to call it that. The C3s are way more comfortable to drive. The quality of the interior wins hands down over the all plastic C4 interior. Handling, C3s can hold their own against a C4. A little work on the C3 suspension and you're right at C4 handling or past it. The engine well, you can do what ever you want to and have all the hp you want with a non computer loaded down smog motor. That is if it's a pre computer C3.
C4s are nice don't get me wrong I love my 85, but it is what it is. Uncomfortable and rides like a truck with the Z-51. In the looks department well the C3 wins hands down. There's nothing better than driving a C3, looking out the windshield and seeing those fender humps. In a drag race my 74 454 would kill my 85. Yep, my 85 would catch me in the turns, but then on the straights, my 74 is gone.
C4s are nice don't get me wrong I love my 85, but it is what it is. Uncomfortable and rides like a truck with the Z-51. In the looks department well the C3 wins hands down. There's nothing better than driving a C3, looking out the windshield and seeing those fender humps. In a drag race my 74 454 would kill my 85. Yep, my 85 would catch me in the turns, but then on the straights, my 74 is gone.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2007
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From: Akron Ohio
2025 Corvette of the Year Finalist - Modified
2024 C5 of the Year Winner - Modified
2023 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2022 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
St. Jude Donor '09-'10-'11
http://www.mongoosems.com/basicGScomponents.php
Get a Mongoose Grand Sport frame and body, get suspension from a wrecked/parted out C4, and drop in your LS6. Now thats a cool hot rod!!
Get a Mongoose Grand Sport frame and body, get suspension from a wrecked/parted out C4, and drop in your LS6. Now thats a cool hot rod!!
Pro
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 564
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From: Pittsburgh PA
http://www.mongoosems.com/basicGScomponents.php
Get a Mongoose Grand Sport frame and body, get suspension from a wrecked/parted out C4, and drop in your LS6. Now thats a cool hot rod!!
Get a Mongoose Grand Sport frame and body, get suspension from a wrecked/parted out C4, and drop in your LS6. Now thats a cool hot rod!!
At 2,240 lbs ready to drive (weighed on scales without driver) and with the engine sitting squarely over the rear axles, our best estimate (based on years of working with similar weight/hp custom race cars) is that the car will be sufficiently fast to qualify as a legitimate Supercar. When pressed, Jim Schenck (FFR engineer and design team leader of the GTM project) projects a 0-60 mph time in the mid 3’s and a ¼ mile time in the 11 seconds range… that’s with a stock Corvette engine producing 350 hp.
Base Price of $20k, total cost to build (including acquisition of engine) puts total cash outlay at $35-40k.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 2,171
Likes: 1
From: Warwick RI
If you're gonna' go the "kit car" route, then get THIS!!!
Website http://www.factoryfive.com/table/ffr...TM/GTMkit.html
Base Price of $20k, total cost to build (including acquisition of engine) puts total cash outlay at $35-40k.
Website http://www.factoryfive.com/table/ffr...TM/GTMkit.html
Base Price of $20k, total cost to build (including acquisition of engine) puts total cash outlay at $35-40k.
Pro
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 564
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From: Pittsburgh PA
Oh, yeah.
I'm an "old skool" kinda' guy... but I'd be willing to bend my own rules a bit, to run something like that...
Very sexy, very well-done car.
My wife asked me (if we move back to Europe) what kind of car I'd build...? IF the job takes me there- which would require obscene amounts of $$$ to make me go- THIS is the car I'll build.
She thinks I'm NUTS.
I'm an "old skool" kinda' guy... but I'd be willing to bend my own rules a bit, to run something like that...
Very sexy, very well-done car.
My wife asked me (if we move back to Europe) what kind of car I'd build...? IF the job takes me there- which would require obscene amounts of $$$ to make me go- THIS is the car I'll build.
She thinks I'm NUTS.
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 164
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From: Orlando FL
Now all it needs is a Knight Rider scanner light. Then we can name it C.A.R.I. for Corvette Automated Roving Intelligence and finally have a female voice behind the custom dash and voicebox. As in my deranged imagination.I need help. HAHA
Team Owner
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 20,974
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c4 IMHO is when they stepped out of the sports car realm and into the all around performance car bracket. 25 years later and a good codition z51 package still feels like a mild race car. pretty good if you ask me.