I have a 96 CE LT4 with ~107000 miles on the odometer. I want to hear qualified opinions on the merits of leaving the car stock versus modifying for more power.

I've already made my decision to modify since I'm a speed nut. So the next question is how might this impact resale value? What parts are an absolute must to save (exhaust manifolds, cats, timing cover, etc.)?

I have a melrose smoothflow exhaust and borla mufflers sitting next to me which would be installed already had not my car died. Fairly certain it's the distributor which is going to get an MSD, and I'll do an electric water pump while I'm in there. I have to wait for the funds to match the needs which is OK since this isn't my only vehicle.

Other planned mods - SM flywheel and clutch, GS wheels, 4.10 rear gears, coilovers, camshaft, porting, pcm tune. Any other suggestions?

 

Do what you want and dont worry about resale. 100% stock doesnt necessarily mean youll get top buck. There are some who like em modded but would rather buy one "done" where someone else has spent the money already....Theres an *** for every seat

 

I think it's more a matter of ease of resale rather than resale value. Some of the mods you are planning will make the majority of your market shy away, in particular the SM flywheel and the 4.10 gears combined with the exhaust (you're going to have a great deal of noise at idle and resonance at cruise). Of course as others will say there are some people who will appreciate what you've done, the trick being to find them. Bottom line, do what makes ya happy, just go into it with your eyes open. JMHO

 

Mod it and don't ever think about selling it.

Cars are stupid investments. Enjoy the thing.

 

A CE with over 100K sorry if I'm breaking your retirement dreams but bottom line here is if you put it in a air tight tube for 20 years stashed way in the back of the barn you would be lucky to get 10 large out of it. Mod it and drive it.

 

mod it the way you want.save anything emissions related should you sell it to someone who might need it.your mod list looks good except for the single mass flywheel(personal preference).
enjoy

 

You paid for it, drive it or garage it. Its your call. I enjoy the hell out of mine, everytime I drive it (daily).

 

My aluminum single mass is quieter than the stock dual mass was at idle. Under heavy load (pulling a hill in 6th with the cruise on for example) can cause some pretty bad resonance, but the RPM and load area where it occurs is so small that it was pretty easy to learn out of my driving style.

I'm not saying that he won't have idle or cruise noise with the single mass, but I don't think we should represent the noise as a certainty.

The loudest proponent of single mass noise here was Bogus, there were a few years where you couldn't make a post about a single mass without him chiming in on how noisy his was. Well, it turned out the noise was his exhaust system leaking, not his single mass making the noise. I understand how the mistake happened, but my point is that you must take Internet advice with a grain of salt. Most of the people who yell that a single mass is noisy don't even have one. All they are doing is regurgitating what they read elsewhere on the net. Those who do have a single mass are really the only ones you should listen to, and even then mistakes like what happened to Bogus will occur.

I guess my real point is that while this forum claims that a single mass must be noiser than a dual mass, mine single mass is probably quieter overall than my dual mass. Most of the people who read here would think that's impossible from all the folks (most of whom have never had a single mass) constantly repeating, "The single mass is loud. The single mass is loud. The single mass is loud."

Anyway, to the original poster- Good luck, be careful what you lend weight to on the Internet, and be sure to post back and let us know what you've decided to do and how you like it once it's done.

 

Why are you modding a car that you plan on selling?

Or if you don't plan on selling it, why do you give a crap about resale value?

Pick one, otherwise you'll be on the fence debating about every mod. I got sick of this and realized all the original parts sitting in my garage for 3 years were never going back on the car again and threw them all away. Therapeutic.

 

And you shouldn't assume that someone's only experience with a SM is reading on the internet.

How do you get quieter than no noise?

 

Ok then, I guess this noise is just from all the bearings falling out of my transmission.

I have never used it with a DM, so I guess I have nothing to compare to. But if it was this loud with the DM setup, GM wouldn't have sold a single Corvette off the lot. Consider that maybe your experience is the exception, not everyone else's.

 

But really we digress, as often happens. The OP asked for "qualified" opinions on modifying vs stock and it's effect on resale value. I'm not sure what "qualifies" someone to comment but having bought and sold a good number of vehicles during my years on this earth, I figured I'd offer my observations.

I don't think many people would walk away from a corvette because it was unmoddified but I know a good many will walk away from one that is modded more than a few apperance items (wheels, tires, cat-back, etc.). I'm sure there is a point where mods actually start to lower the price you are able to get but that would be hard to put a finger on. I have found that the more you mod a vehicle, the smaller your market becomes and hence, the harder to sell it becomes, at any price. Think about it, if modded corvettes were as easy to sell as stock ones the dealers lots would be full of them, especially the corvette specialty dealers (ToyStore, Roger's, etc.). They aren't.

 

Just wondering why your going with an electic water pump if it's a street car.

 

If you're going to mod your car, make sure whomever you have do the work knows what they're doing (if your not doing it personally) or you're going to be in for headaches. I went the mod route with my '85 and was not pleased with the work. The car had a code that wouldn't go away right up to the day I got rid of it. If you want reliability, keep it stock. If you don't plan on keeping the car, keep it stock. Anything else is a waste of money.

 

Mine is noisey. I know what they're talking about.

 

I like fast cars, I'm not a collector though so eventually I imagine I'll attempt to sell my modified car to move up in the world. It looks like I'll do what I want with it and worry about selling it "as is" when the time comes.

I do my work myself.

I drag race, and when time allows I want to do some road race/auto-x.

I like loud cars.

Since the SM flywheel seems so controversial, what is the torque capacity of the DM setup after-market and stock?

 

Your car is not collector material (despite the moniker) so why worry? Do what you want. Cars that deviate from stock external appearence and are poorly maintained are the most devalued. Reasonable engine mods that don't hamper drivability should be fine.

 

If mods don't decrease the driveability of your car, I can't see them affecting resale value. Don't expect it to add much if anything to the value either. Any buyer dense enough to nitpick about collectibility and matching numbers on a high mile C4 is someone you don't want to deal with in the first place.

 

My suggestions: get the car fixed, pay it off, save a grand or so, then start thinking/asking about the $peed part$. That would be the smart thing to do.


I see a common thread here (pun intended)

Young man has Corvette.
Young man's Corvette is not running, for some reason.
Young man has big plans to modify Corvette sometime in the future (maybe after getting it running again?)
Young man has cash shortfall.
Young man wants other Corvette owners to tell him what to buy with money he doesn't have.


About 97.4% of the time, 8 months later the young man ends up buying a K&N and Splitfires, then asks the same people how much hp these items have added.




Larry
code5coupe

__________
not easily impressed....

 

indeed am young man
I have a steady job and pay
car is paid off
cash is in the bank
c4 is third vehicle

As mentioned, longtubes are a foot away from me - time now. I just want to wait until I can drive it to the lift I have available to me for the install.

I just like to plan ahead so I don't buy a bunch of parts that don't work together or are unnecessary for my performance goals.