You need to besure of what you have before ordering parts. 84-87 used different suspension and hand brake than the 88-96. The earlier hand brake used a mini drum type the later is a clamp type with actuator part of caliber. Roll or harness bar IMO depends on how tall you sit in the seat. If you and passengers are short roll bar maybe workable if you are tall a harness bar maybe a better choices. You need to know what year body is to ger correct one. It might be better to fab locally vs shipping back and forth to U.S..

 

Consider, for the price of hiring someone to do these mods. you could buy a new 2020 corvette. Fix that car to drive it. I dont want to discourge you but you will have more fun driving now and saving for a better car. I have a feeling that that car is going to keep you from saving much. Good luck!.

 

Im going to install as much as i can myself, i just need to know what exactly to purchase over the process, and i will work the rest out as i go. best way for me i think. im already stripping her down as we speak. going to be putting everything thats still in decent condition that i dont want on sale, rest goes in tip. ill buy what i need as i go from there. thats my intention. im wanting my final build to look like the images below.

 

I have only "Trusted " my C3 and C4 Corvettes to ONE mechanic and he owns a Corvette shop called Tony's Corvettes Shop in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The owner is a really great guy named "Tony" and he has been restoring Corvettes for a long time. I would suggest you make contact and speak with Tony about your ideas for your Corvette. He now runs a huge shop that does everything but that is evident when you check out their Web site. They even do factory authorized Corvette work for owners with a factory warranty on their vehicle. The quality of the workmanship and the level of knowledge the individual mechanics posses is amazing. For ideas about the LS3 he would be the man to speak with about it as he is connected to GM in his business. I am sure he will have some ideas that might work with your plans.

Here is a link: https://www.tonyscorvetteshop.com/

I would probably try to find a way to do a lot of the work myself on either of my Corvettes. I am a "Hands-on" type person anyways and love tinkering with my Corvettes. I was heavily involved in the last build of my 427 from my 1968 C3, it was a great experience and costly but the builder and I spent months building the engine slowly with a large crowd of lookers following my engine as it was being assembled. Taking several months was also easier on the budget. After building this engine, Tony's Corvette Shop installed it and made my old 1968 look like a show car under the hood. Since then I have continued to add on and change things and the car and I are still together. 28 years and counting.

When I built the 427 I was a little too anxious to make horsepower and went overboard, I might someday un-do that work and make the engine more friendly and easy to use. Fast is fun until you become older and more sensible. Now I just wished it had a choke on the carburetor so it would start more easily. Any moisture on the roads and this C3 is not fun to drive. Better gripping tires break other parts, it is a continuous game of cat-mouse following the problems around the car. Now on a nice dry day with perfect conditions the car is fun to drive but don't get caught in a storm on the way home.

The idea of the LS3 sounds like fun! If you could swap in a entire drive-train with modern parts it would certainly be a great option. Having the beauty of the C4 with the modern engine and transmission would make for an incredible car!

My daughter has a Camaro with a Six cylinder (312 hp) with the six speed and that engine never ceases to amaze me. GM makes some real nice combo packages if could find a good deal on one.

I hope you get to build the car you want!

Best regards,
Chris

 

Champion, I have attempted contact via email on his website just now, hopefully he will get back to me. Thank you very much for all the recommendations, lets see what happens I was mainly wanting to do the work myself to save me a lot of money, but due to my lack of knowledge and for what i am wanting.. it might cause more complications. The C4 has always been my favourite corvette, infact, all the cars i love are from america! 1967 shelby cobra, 1970 charger r/t, 1970 Camaro SS. just to name a small few! Nothing in the UK i like at all

 

Sounds like your going to throw a lot of money at this car. I'd start by driving the car for a while, and getting all the little bugs worked out. That will take a while. Then do more research on the car so you can correctly know what parts to order. It looks to be in good shape, so enjoy it for a while, maybe paint it and get your wheel tire package sorted out. Accumulate parts for an engine and drivetrain swap/build over time, and then you should be able to do it all at once.

Just my opinion. Best of luck with it.

 

The cars in bits and cant be MOT'd without a hand brake so i cant drive and enjoy it.

 

Once you get the Brake hardware identified you can get the parts and have that Corvette on the road in no time!

I agree with the MOT as i would not drive a car with a faulty parking brake either.

If you have the left rear wheel off you can see very quickly whether it has a internal drum or a separate cable pulling system. I really like the simplicity of the later E-Brake.

My brakes lines on my 1988 Coupe developed leaks at several tubes coming out of the ABS box below the drivers seat. The corrosion was bad and multiple lines have failed so I get to replace every inch of brake lines on my 1988 Corvette. I finish one project and another pops right up..

You have to "Love" your Corvette and this one I have is just a "bit" more challenging than I anticipated. I expect to be rewarded with some great miles together with my Coupe yet.

You will get miles of smiles driving through the English countryside in one of the finer driving vehicles in the world. Maybe even get some better mileage doing it.

Good Luck!

 

Check out my mechanically comprehensive build. The only thing I would change would be to go with the AFR 195cc instead of the 180cc heads and a more aggressive cam. With 400wftlbs at 1800rpm, I think I'll be fine.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ld-thread.html

 

Hello everyone, sorry about not being active. with whats all going on i put the project on hold, moved home and shes now wrapped up in the back yard. going to strip her down and replace every bolt! Powder coat the chasis and any other bits and bobs. LS3 525bhp with suitable transmission and wireing harnis. Going to do more research into new brake systems, Coilovers, and rear dif. all to be able to take performance. going to keep the 80's style inside though as i love that, might "upgrade" a few areas though.

 

Perhaps I missed it while reading all the post but I don't see any suggestions of purchasing a Factory Service Manual for your vehicle. An absolute must if you are going to work on the car yourself.
As mentioned earlier check which parking brake system you currently have and that will tell you the approximate year of your chassis and you can get a FSM accordingly.
Best of luck with your build. I've been rebuilding modifying my 86 roadster for two years now.
Newcastle eh? Great beer!