As title says I have an almost stock 84 corvette, Other than exhaust prior to purchasing it. I was wondering if there was ways to make it a little quicker or if the best thing for the 84 is just to do an engine swap. Which will be a lot more but will get more power. I have heard mixed reviews on modding the 84 and want to hear some opinions.

 

I think it just depends on how much power you want to make and where your budget is. There aren't many bolt on parts for the L83 specifically. It is however a small block V8 and aluminum heads, a camshaft, valve grain upgrades, boring and stroking the engine to a 383, etc still apply to this engine. A good friend of mine was making great power in his 84 and it was a 383 with aluminum heads, a cam, and full exhaust system, some valve train upgrades, a fuel pump, intake porting, and some adjustments to the fuel pressure. I don't know all of the specifics, as this was years ago. He used to autocross that 84 and it was very fast. The engine was rebuilt and some more work was done to it and it was making close to crank 400hp when the engine was on the engine donor. And it still used the Crossfire Injection. The appeal to him was that he could go out and beat new and more powerful cars on the autocross course with a Crossfire car. The Crossfire was the limiting factor of the engine, but even with the Crossfire, the car was still extremely fast.

With that said, you have options and it depends on which direction you want to go. How much do you love that specific car and what is your skill set and your budget? You can put money into the car or sell it and buy one that already has more power. I have an 84 4+3 and I love the car and while the idea of more power seemed appealing, modifying the car was not an option for me because I enjoy the car the way it is. I did want a bit more power though, so I bought a 93 6spd and its very quick. It honestly is just enough for me to enjoy the car and scratch the itch for speed.

 

I found that taking the crossfire intake off and swapping in a truck style tbi system in is an easy way to pick up power. You can reuse the stock wiring and computer. Here's a video of someone who did it.

 

It really depends on you. How much work do you want to put in and how much power do you want. My 84 is LS and 4L80e swapped with a big cam, ported heads and direct port nitrous. You might not want all that. For me anyway I feel that a LS swap is pretty easy in these cars IF you are also swapping in a new trans with it. But everyone has a different skill set and needs. If you can't weld for example then I recommend you figure that out before doing an engine or trans swap.

If money is a big factor then it's really hard to bead an engine swap. Junkyard LS 's with a $300 cam and a $100 set of springs will make 400 HP at the wheels. After selling all the stock parts you would about break even going this route.

 

Some of these things may be hard to find now, but back in the day, this was a pretty common way to hop up an 84 without having to do major upgrades.
One of the Corvette mags from the day did 2 articles on this, I have them but they are tucked away somewhere. I believe Hib Halverson wrote the articles, he used to be on here, you might see if he has access to them.
Crane compucam or similiar
1.6 roller rockers
Underdrive crank pulley
K&N air filter
Aftermarket chip
longtube headers
Flowmasters

 

OK so here's a few proven mods. My 84 was quite the ride and I did step by step upgrades proving each mod so here they are . First - raise the hood and you'll see an oval opening at the center at the nose that is part of the ductwork to the CFI breather and those ducts seal to it. It was supposed to be functional but federal noise rules killed it. You can make it functional by cutting a matching hole in the area in front of the radiator and using foam or rubber to insure a seal-now you have cold ram air worth .1 in the quarter and cooler intake temps . Next , 1.6-1 roller tip steel rockers they were worth appx .4-.5 and 4-5 mph in the quarter and the car had a little more useable rpm. Next-gasket match and port the intake , grind off and seal the egr hump , cut the runners back slightly careful porting the intake it is thin - that is maintenance intensive but not expensive, you'll gain another .5 and 3-5 mph in the quarter from this mod and about 400 more useable rpm. LTH and a true dual exhaust will gain a smidge more. My car was rolling proof look for old posts by xrcrx. Hope this helps .

 

BTW I drove my Crossfire from Houston to Richmond to compete in the Corvette Nats, drove all over the east coast and daily drove it till the 383 CFI build which is another story lol CFI is reliable and you can mod it , its just the bastard child lol TPI was better tech but don't be afraid of the Crossfire, just takes a little more dedication but its fun to see the look on someones face when you open the hood to a stock appearing Crossfire after beating them , Also , find the specs on the Crane 2040 powermax-it will also work with the stock computer as will after market aluminum heads but DO NOT exceed 180cc intake size 170appx is actually better.