hello everyone, I have been reading this forrum for a while, alot of good info and polite informative ppl here , finally decided to register and become a known member and maybe get a few questions answered about my c-4
some backstory first, I am a ase mastertech, in a nutshell means I am smart enough to pass 9 tests and work at a pretty much awesome dealership but the downside is I almost solely work on cummins/duramax and the sporadic powerstroke if im unlucky
I have do have a really broad knowledge base on cars in general but working at a dealership has taken most of my exsperience and replaced it with the newer cars and how they work so all my old school knowledge has leaked out one ear while i slept, i suppose
so. moving on
a trade in came in, a old run down 85 c4 some older fellow who used it for a daily driver, had a bare minmum maint. done wich is to say the oil was prob changed on time... coolant was prob flushed at least once in its 103k life
at this point of my life i said, well im 40 years old i have a rock solid 97 dodge ram with a 12v cummins in it wife has her hemi durango and a windbag minivan... why not..
I talked to the sales manager and stole it for trade in value roughly 3 grand after all the paperwork and B.S. fees wich unfortunetally i still had to pay

in a nutshell, What I have done so far is replace all the rear u joints and rear hubs due to them just about being ready to totally fail
fixed sone wiring issues and a unreasonable parasitic draw i found in a courtesy lamp switch and new ignition parts plugs.cap.rotor wires due to a intermittant miss that was getting on my nerves
I have a dim spot in my cluster, i will get to it.... it will need a rack and p/s pump outer tie rods and misc

but my real question i have been rolling around is the powertrain
the 700r4 i will rebuild without much issue, i can rebuild a 4L60 blindfolded so the 700r4 will come back to me im sure
230HP seems like a insult to this beatiful car, I built a stroker back in the 90's for my 80 camaro and it was scary fast,
dare I build one for this lil white c4?
even if i dont stroke this engine its still coming out , 100k shes in need of being freshened up so now is the perfect time

how much of a difference will it be, mainly i ask because my wife love the car also but i dont want to make it more than she can handle

again thanks for having me aboard and for any help and advice

scott

 

Welcome, lots of 85 owners on this forum, myself included. The peeps on this site are second to none. I'm sure you will get some great thoughts on what you could do, fortunately mine runs perfect and no need to do anything so I'm the wrong guy to offer help on your questions, but I did want to welcome you!!!!

 

The L98 in the 85 was a forged crank & pistons with four bolt mains. The bottom end was strong. If you performed routine maintenance, the engine should be good for 200,000 miles or so. The 700R4 is good for about 120,000 or so.

You might consider what I did. I bought a ZZ4 short block from Summit and then tore it down to the bare block. Had the entire assembly balanced to .4 grams. Because of SMOG issues in California I went with the 74211 Lingenfelter cam and used low compression AFR 180 heads. I was running the quarter in 13.2 like clockwork and was getting 30 MPG on the freeway. The biggest issue you have to consider is finding someone that can tune the car for you. The 85 uses the 870 chip and it was only used for the one year. You could get a mail order tune, but would have to do some data logging and send the chip back and forth a few times to get things dialed in.

A alternative would be to put in a new cam, update the heads (the 85 cast iron heads suck) and find a good intake system. Then work on the exhaust. The 85 exhaust system is one of the bottle necks.

Good luck with your car.

 

With the point made regarding tuning. There's not many tuners that will work on an 85. But upgrading to an 86-89 ECM is pretty straightforward and opens up lots of possibilities for tuning.

The rack can be rebuilt. I just sent mine off to Turn-One in Saginaw, MI. They have reasonable prices and are very reputable. As a warning, the 85 had issues with the rack housing. They may have to bore and sleeve the housing. Basic rebuild is approx. $200. The bore and sleeve adds another $160.

As far as the engine goes, the 85 has two major drawbacks. It uses cast iron heads and a flat tappet cam. I opted to ditch the stock block for a 4 bolt main roller block. I also chose to stroke the engine to a 396. A 383 would have been enough but I got carried away. I went with AFR heads. TPI421VETTE is a forum member who builds engines and is a distributor for AFR. He can hook you up.

If you're after a significant power jump the intake and exhaust will need to be addressed.

 

Welcome aboard and good luck with the new ride.

 

Welcome aboard..