Alright. I've been getting great advice here for quite some time now. In fact, I've been taking notes for a whole year now - and I only bought my first Vette in March.

It looks as if I'll be ready to start from the ground up in June - my goal is to run low 12's in the quarter mile with a very smooth running car. I don't want a very rough idle. I want a sleeper. I want something with road manners. If this is not possible, please let me know. If it IS possible, I'll spend whatever I must - within reasonable time - to make it happen.

Now.. What I need is somebody to point me in the right direction step by step. All work performed on my car is done at a shop that only caters to Corvettes. I have a residual paycheck of between $1000.00 and $2000.00 per month that will go to my car. Keep in mind that this check started coming in January and my first check was for $80.00... As this check grows, it will continue to be added to my car. I'm serious about turning this car into something very interesting.

If anybody is interested in helping me out, please let me know. Keep in mind that I will stroke this motor next Summer. So, all mods I do should be compatible. I just want to start from the ground up and do everything correctly. If spark plugs are the first step, that's what I'll do first...

Thanks all. This community has been a great help since I got here...

 

Look up Vic '89 he hangs out in the C4 Tech section. He's in Long Island I think, so are the Vette Doctors.

 

Hi there. Yes, I've spoken with him a few times. He does know his stuff. I really just need somebody to give me good direction and answer my ridiculous questions. I don't want to go to the mechanic and ask him, "Where do I begin?". I don't know if he'd be thinking about my best interests. It's a business - he's gotta think of himself. I'd feel much safer getting advice from one or two people on here as to my direction and all my moves. This way, I can go to the mechanic and say: This is what I want done and This is why I want it... :)


[Modified by Sal Collaziano, 12:28 AM 4/18/2002]

 

yeah id never ask a mechanic about mods, theyll tell you to leave the car alone almost every time

you just gotta do your research, and ask questions about every part in the engine if you have to

 

For the L98....

Vic'89
65Z01
L98Terror
Ralph
BeachBum

 

What about that guy with the Yellow '87? I can't quite remember his name. I think he's from MA though, area code 508 :p:

 

Thanks guys. I just wrote down all their names. hehe. I have this Corvette notebook that I take notes down in. My mechanic actually does performance work on Corvettes quite often. But, I know he's got his own interests ahead of mine. So, I'm not exactly comfortable with that. If somebody here says, "Hey. Do this first and THEN do that", I'll trust it 10 times more...

 

LOL, I'm still learning.

 

Sal, might I recommend an excellent book to read?
It's Corvette Fuel Injection by Charles Probst. It covers the L83,L98,LT1,LT4,LT5,LS1 and LS6 engines. Very informative book.
Explains the ECM/PCM, tuning and everything else under the hood.
It's a bit pricey, but worth every penny.

Look for it on Amazon.com

 

My fiance knows ALOT about L98's and modding them. He would be glad to help you as best he can. His name on here is LPDesRoche if you didn't know that already :). So, there is another option for you. :cheers:

 

I would make all efforts to get the chassis sorted... then make the motor faster.

improve the driving... shocks... springs... bushings... brakes...etc...

 

Thanks for the continued advice.. I took his name down, Jennifer..

Regarding the shocks... springs... bushings... brakes...etc... I've purchased the front springs and bilstein Z52 shocks. Now I just need to buy the rear and have everything installed... That should be done soon...

 

I would also do poly bushings.... the idea is to firm up the control of ths chassis... thats my plan!!!

 

How much does it cost to do the Poly Bushings? Maybe I'll have that done when I get the rest done...

Thanks!

 

Sal

I'll be glad to help with any questions you have.

You really have to figure out what items you want to take care of first.
For example, I haven't done any suspension upgrades at all. Everything is original with about 74K miles on it. And I don't plan on doing any.

I started with free/low budget mods. I spent all of 2001 going to the track and testing mods. I would install 1 mod and test it. It took me 1 year to go from 13.87 to 12.85.

First thing to do is baseline the car, LI dragway is close to us. This will give you an idea of what kind of tune the car is in. Does it run 14.9's or 13.9's ?

Vic

 

yer welcome! my pleasure!

I think a poly kit is about 300.00... the labour to install could get $$$... but it is well worth it. the rubber parts will start to deterorate... and they loose the ability to control the suspension...

slop on the control arms, causes all sorts of problems...

 

Cool. I wonder if the labor would still be expensive if I did it when I had the springs and shocks done - at the same time...

Otherwise, thanks Vic.. My big dilemma right now seems to be that I'd like to start doing upgrades and modifications but I'd like to stroke to a 383 next Summer. The mechanic says that it would be expensive to take off all the parts, stroke the motor, then put them all back on. What would I be looking at for that? - besides the cost of the engine work...

If you're at 12.85 now without stroking the engine, than maybe what you have is all I'll need. What are your next planned mods? It sounds like you could hit low 12's with a little more work...

 

I think the labour costs would be higher... but you are right, the labour would be less if its done at the same time...

 

I'll ask my mechanic about it. I guess if he says they're fine, I wont do anything. If he says I should, I will. Of course, he'll probably say I need 'em - but let's see. He's already said that I didn't need a few things...