pologreen1

To make this decision based on hp is crazy. Regardless of what people say theT4 is a hopped lt1.

Lt4 value may come in a 96 yellow vert, GS, or MAYBE some day the collector.

Zr1 for the same price range is another league of car.

If I could go back, I'd get a zr1 and make it a 440ci. One o the coolest vettes and fun. Either way when shopping for a c4 WHY NOT get a zr1 these days? I see one for 16K by me that is nice.

1993C4LT1

Tom and Paul, makes sense.

73n95

Well, it depends. If you did the work on your present C4 with an end point you may be there already. If you are one who loves the chase (loves to work on your car) then make the move. As far as the extra power you will acclimate to it quickly and it will feel about the same as your present ride. How much horsepower is enough? or "Horsepower costs money, how fast do you want to go?"
I have owned my 73 for 18 years and with the stock L48, its tragically short on power. I've considered a performance rebuild and a crate motor, either one netting me about 300 HP. Instead I spent just slightly more money and bought the 95. Now I can get my 'yaya's with the 95 and the "oohs and aahs" with the 73. This is not to say the C4 is plain but the 73 is Camaro Hugger orange with Hooker sidepipes. Both are nice attention getters.

2ooo-C5

LT4 is not that much different.
I feel it needs another 75 hp. Im looking at my options to get more.
I got it for the cool factor. Did not want to spend the money for a ZR1.
I want to put that money saved in my C5.

pologreen1

You put afr heads and a cam in your car and it's EASILY 425hp. You can do that for less than 2k. Add headers etc, and your on track. Make it 383 and you are at 500hp.

MavsAK

I wouldn't waste my time buying a whole new car for thirty more horsepower.

It's a freaking SBC. Even a Gen 2 is among the easiest engines on the freaking planet to find 30 more hp... let alone dramatically more for a whole lot less money than buying a new car that you have absolutely no real knowledge of.

(Let's face it, you don't know what a new car is going to be like till during the first year of ownership.)

You have a long established relationship with your current car. You KNOW for a fact what you have and have not done to it at this point in ownership.

It would be absolutely stupid imo, to buy a C4 that you have no real knowledge of in terms of character, and reliability. Oh sure, you can get one with whatever receipts you want. Or take it on whatever car show judge's opinion, or their personal word that it's AAA conditioned....you have no idea, ultimately.

Hell for all you know in the last 20 years, that 30 horses the LT4 had over your car, are now missing and decry-pt. Ie no longer a 30 year power gap....but may infact be WORSE than your current car! Let alone any hidden, suspension issues which may or may not be a problem NOW, that will become an issue LATER.

You want 30 horses? You can find 40, just with the ZZ9 cam swap. Let alone if you give it 1.6 true roller rockers.

Don't want to spend money? Get out the die grinder, dremel, and sand paper and port your intake...there's probably 20 of the 30 right there.

Plus you said it's a Ruby ZO7? That's one of the coolest colors, ever to roll from Bowling Green on a C4... and to get a shop to paint that LT4 car to match the awesome will be 4 to 5k.

Pocket the money, and put some speed parts on it, imo.
Also as far as tuning goes, the 96 ECMs aren't really going to be that much easier to find a shop to tune. So it'll be about the same work there. The ECMs that are in the C4s are just dinosaur ancient at this point.

Also, let's be honest these ARE NOT collector's cars. The only ways I'd buy another C4 right now would be, either A I'm buying a Known Roller. (ie it's just a rolling chassis, with a good body, and clean title so that I can commit an unholy action like Swapping in a BBC or Northstar) B: It's a B2K C: It's a Real Fully Documented and Serviced GS, D: It's a ZR-1.
Going back to the it's not a collector's car.... anyone selling it, is probably selling it because it has gremlins of it's own. Gremlins that might not be readily apparent on the day of sale or maybe even a month or two later depending on how often you drive it.

ElisTwoCents

Id definitely pick up the LT4...

MR.LT1

I would stay with yours.. You already know what you have. I would just add the TFS Top end kit..

1993C4LT1

I'll be keeping my car. Thanks for the vid!

DrDyno

I expect to get slammed for this but... for a new, interesting challenge, why not consider an M6 C5?

You can find clean ones for the price of a ZR-1 or clean LT4. And, you'll get to learn and play with a whole new platform.

1993C4LT1

C5's aren't my thing. I can't stand the interior. Weird that I don't really like them, considering my dad had them when I was in elementary.

Tom400CFI

I wonder how often ZF's "go"? Not very often in my observation. I'd wager that a ZF would last the life of THREE, 700R-4's. The clutch? Obviously that depends on how it's treated, but for one 700R-4 rebuild, you could buy two clutches.

Tom400CFI

I don't know what they cost; AFAIK, they're NLA, so to me, the price varies; used, NOS finds, used/NIB, etc. Or people frequently change to a single mass and a sprung hub.

I know that if my clutch failed, I'd re-use my stock flywheel, as many do. If my flywheel failed, I'd buy a single mass.


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