All right, no funny comments. Pistons? Rods?

I'm considering buying an '87 but it's kind of a pig in a poke. What it SEEMS to be is a decent Corvette that's had a bad engine. It sat for several years like that, and then got picked up by a guy that had an engine. "Some kind of " 350 Chevy engine. Heck, it might be out of a pickup. He had someone bolt this engine in, but the mechanic bailed at that point, so the car is sitting with a bolted in (probably) good engine but nothing is hooked up and it has the original intake. Now, I don't know engine from engine - can I take a standard 350 engine and mate all the parts from the former Corvette engine (intakes etc) and wind up with a Corvette engine, or is there something special about a Corvette engine? Will the computer run this red headed stepchild ok - will it even know the difference. In other words, what is the difference between engines?

Here's a couple pics - can one of you big brains tell me if I should run away? I can pick it up for about $900 plus $200 delivery. I live about 150 miles from where the car is, so I consider the delivery charge to be a good deal. It should also be stated that I'm buying it mostly for the "puzzle" effect, I'd like to see if I can put it all together back into a running car. But I don't want to try it if the pieces will just never fit.

Thanks for any help .. :-)


What's in the car.

Looks like the original intake is sitting on the bench.

Not a bad looking car for $900?

 

What's in an engine? Since you're asking this question, I'd guess you'll probably have about $8,750 in this engine by the time you get it running!

 

Ohh .. that hurts!

But it's why I came here. I didn't realize in the beginning that the engines didn't come from the same stable.

My inclination is to just walk away - but that price tag ..

 

You can get a crate motor from 1.600 to 4.000 depending on how many accessories you need like intakes and such and drop it in.
For example Jegs sells a blueprinted 300 horse LT1 long block for a my '92 for around 2.600 bucks,around 4.000 all complete with intake,water pump,optispark,valve covers etc.
Sure you can drop 10k plus on a rebuild,the sky is the limit but for a good driver i woudn't bother.

 

That is the smartest thing said in this thread. Based upon the photos this is a complete piece of crap.

Engine bay in complete disarray. Crummy paint job. Even the antenna is painted white! Weatherstrip gone. I shudder to see pics of the interior.

 

I would determine what you want, we need more info on the engine. Is it an lt1 or is it just an lt1 intake siting on a standard sbc? For 1100 total dollars you could part the car out if is too bad and make more then you paid. You said you wanted a puzzle?

 

Lots of purists here if its not stock they get unhappy.

If it is a 4sp car the D44 rear end is worth 1/2 the money

I see it as a cheap fun project I would murder it for a stealth look.

If you have a contact with a carb & intake for a gen 1 engine + a HEI distributor throw that on first to see how it runs.
Otherwise a compression test etc

Good luck

 

Note the "engine" has a intake on it. Agree, it will need some serious work to get incorporated. Did you see more than these three pictures?

Overall, asking price seems high to me. I want to say some work has been done on it, note the side molding has been painted white. Was it good work...

 

You may need a few extra pieces, but someone could reassemble this puzzle into a rolling turd instead of a parked one.

 

Yea .. in the end it looks like an Earl Shibe paint job and the possibility of a mold/mildew garden in the passenger compartment is high. Thanks for affirming what I probably really wanted to hear - "Just walk away".

I likely could take it and make something of it, but I don't think the overall condition is good enough to put that much into it. And I'm famous (with my wife at least) for buying something for 2k, putting 4k into it and then selling it for 3k. :-)

 

Yep.

 

It would all depend on what you want to do with it AND HOW GOOD A MECHANIC are you. Plus, as others above have said, is it a manual or auto car.

You would also have to look underneath and see how bad the frame is from sitting. THIS, in my mind would be the major determiner if the car can be saved. Everything else can be fixed, but if the frame is rotten, WALK AWAY fast.

With that said, and as others have said, that is an LT1 manifold sitting on the engine in a car that had a L98 engine in it. If it truly is an LT1 engine (you would have to see if the distributor is down under the water pump) then no, the computer in the car wouldn't run it.

Then the final determiner is how much money do you want to put in it ? If you have to pay someone to do the work for you, it will cost as much as just going and buying a running car.

 

I'm a pretty good mechanic, but not to that level. Still, if you're identifying that engine as an LT1, then it's a better deal than I might have thought? And it might be worthwhile purely from that standpoint? I was assuming it was a lesser engine than came with the original, but an LT1 might make it more interesting to get running. I assume I'd need the computer etc from a newer car?

Sadly, it's an automatic, and that's something I wanted to avoid.

 

The only way to truly identify if it is an LT1 is to look where the distributor is, and/or see if there is a crossover coolant line running from 1 head (on the front I believe) to the other side. If the distributor is on the front, under the water pump then it is a LT1 engine, but did it come from a Corvette? That would be the magic question. Could have been pulled out of a million mile cop car, in which the heads would be cast iron, or a taxi cab, or a Camaro, etc.

Being an auto, probably isn't worth your time with all the unknowns, unless you enjoy a challenge.

Probably will cost you more to get it running and such than what it is worth. Too many unknowns now.

 

Thanks so much for all the replies and information. Looking at the intake, it's not even bolted in, so it's entirely possible it's not even the right intake. Also, it's obviously not been well cared for (lots of oxidation etc) so that adds to the confusion.

I'm officially backing away - maybe next time. :-)

 

As long as you understand it was a humorous comment - I was basically saying "What's the difference between an L83, L98, and LT1 - and how interchangeable are the basics. :-p

 

Poor guy kinda shot himself in the foot, really. The car might have been worth more with a blown engine than this way. Basically being halfway through someone else's conversion ..

 

I agree that the cost to even get it running would far exceed its worth. I bet what you will find inside that engine is rust.