I have just purchased my 1st Vette(also own 2 modified Mustangs). The car is a 1988 with 240000.kl. It appears to have the K&N intake and aftermarket mufflers already. I read an article about installing 1.6 roller rockers to improve low end performance(these are the norm on my Mustangs) Is there enough valve to piston clearance to do this and has anybody done it with success(ie- did they see a noticeable improvement). Any other performance mod's I could try?

 

how fast do ya wanna go and how much are ya willing to spend?

as far as the rockers go. i threw a set of 1.52s on mine. i was told the 1.6 will work, but the 1.52 brought me to a .565 lift for my cam and i was happy there
a 1.6 ratio will still keep you pretty far from .6" at the valve and these arent exactly super close tollerances between the valve and piston as it is. plus, run a nice spring and you should be good

im not aware of the exact cam specs in your L98 so I cant say what your lift would be for clearance

 

by the way, welcome to the family. its a great car and you will have a blast and with a few mods, some busted nuckles and a swear word or two you can have a beautiful ride thats very fun

 

I bought the car "as is" so after replacing the brakes, front wheel bearings and lower ball joints my knuckles are broke in. Must say that I love the car(hope my Mustang buddies don't read this form). Have to say that I expected the brakes to be a little stronger(just feel like regular brakes to me). I have modified my 86 Mustang GT by installing a larger bore master cylinder which reduced the peddle pressure required. Wonder if anyone has tried this with a C4 vette and if so which master cylinder did they use?

 

ive got a 66 coupe im doing a road race out of so i know the feeling
but my real love is in my vettes
id say for starters just go with a larger brake kit of roters and calipers and steel braided lines
if thats not good swap out the vaccum brakes to a hydroboost and you'll stop no problem

 

I'd LOVE to hear the answer to that question myself!

lots of us C4 guys have installed C5 calipers and rotors and other 'big' brakes to improve the stopping power of the C4. BUT, the problem at that point is that the big calipers now require more fluid to do the same thing the old, small calipers did thus leaving us with lonnng pedal travel that's getting too close to the floor.

I've always said that a bigger master would do the trick to move more fluid with less pedal. There was someone that knew of a different GM master cyl that was supposed to do this and a direct fit part, but somehow I lost that part number/description and the detail of that upgrade master cyl is lost forever....

As far as your car for right now, to tighten up the 'feel' of the brakes I'd get a stainless hose set on there asap and that alone will give you a much crisper feel to the pedal,. the stock brakes are not bad, they are just a lil mushy, a design for the avg street driver, not the GT mentality we have here.

next would be the $750 worth of Zo6 calipers and rotors and you're set. ALL easily available on FleaBay. Lots of sellers there. 4 wheel kits as well, but the rear calipers are kinda pointless since many yrs incorporate the parking brake and most guys settle for the drilled rear rotors and a new bias spring, another large upgrade.

 

So the Z06 calipers would fit within my stock wheels? I converted my Mustang to SVO brakes which gave me the longer peddle travel you mention. Someone on a Mustang forum mentioned that the master cylinder from a 1999 Town Car would fit so I bought a rebuilt one from an auto supply store and it worked perfectly. I believe the master cylinder bore was an 1/8" larger and that's all it took.

 

Lee if you find that part number id be interested in knowing it as well
were doing the c5 kit shortly but if i could swap out the master cylinder to that one id be pretty happy

 

The C5 Z06 brakes are the same as the base C5 brakes except that they are red in color. I think to swap to the C5 brakes you will need the rotors, calipers, and a caliper mounting bracket for the conversion.

The C5 brakes will clear the wheels on the '88 to '90 17" wheels. They will not clear the wheels on the '88 16" wheels or the '91 to '96 17" wheels.