I have an '86 with 140K miles. The car is in excellent shape and the motor seems strong (just had compression test, all cylinders between 149 and 151). I'm considering mods and wanted opinions on whether I should start with a new engine. I'm hesitant to start putting money into an engine with that many miles. Three things I'm considering - 1) buy different vette with less miles and mod that, 2) replace engine and start from there 3) mod the car as is. The car is currently stock.

My Goals- 1) Continued dependability (Although I have a '94 Bronco with 45,000 miles, I drive this car almost every day) 2) more horsepower (400+) My budget - $5000 to $8000 grand

Any input would be appreciated.

 

I would go ahead and rebuild your current motor. 140k is getting up there. I'm sure the motor has a lot more miles on it in current form. But once you start modding your foot will get heavier and heavier. That is where you could run into problems, really pushing the motor after each new mod. Then having say a new tight top end with a seasoned loose bottom end could cause problems. If I had 5k -8k to spend I would put 5k into a new motor, maybe a ZZ4/SuperRam combo or a complete rebuild (possible 383) and 3k into the rest of the drivetrain. (beefed tranny, D44)

 

I agree with BiZ...

good advise. you can do a lot with that kinda budget... just be sure to do it right.

consider a 383 conversion... that is da bom, yo.

 

i built the engine in my sig from a world class machine shop for $6300 & that was with the price of a used miniram & new injectors. a 383 could have been done for $200-400 more {i had no idea i'd have a miniram till the last second, this is why i didn't do a 383 even though i should have :rolleyes: } if you have that kind of money to spend don't even think about using a high mile engine when your making a lot of cylinder pressure. you could sell your stock engine in the paper & just pick up a used roller block & do all the machine work & have a BRAND NEW engine.


[Modified by gtsyellow, 1:45 AM 11/17/2002]

 

Head for the the book store (Barnes and Noble-online stuff)and pick up anything with Small Block Chevy. Casting numbers, engine rebuilds, modifying fuel injection, ANYTHING with Chevrolet. Budget about $100. The information could save thousands. Lingenfelter has a very good book, the best overall in my opinion. Full chapter on how to decide torque/RPMhorsepower. Four hundred plus horsepower is up there, assuming nitrous not involved. Determine how the car will be used, autocross, drag, street. Determine if the goal is high end horsepower or low end torque. Find the balance point. All things flow from how you plan to use the car. THE strategic decision.

As stated above, budget for engine and power train, assuming you're happy with brakes and tires.

After deciding how the car is used, an important decision is heads and cam. After that, it's pistons and crank. One has to carefully consider a fully integrated crate motor. The planning is done and the product has a track record. If an engine shop nearby has your total confidence, other alternatives exist. If you have engine rebuilding experience and good equipment, you can keep some of the money and do it yourself. All in all, the crate motor is my personal favorite. Once selected, the cooling system, ignition, exhaust, ECM/PCM gets attention. Budget dyno time for final tuning. Tuning an engine with a parts catalog wastes time and money. Once you select the engine, I would start at the radiator and work back till every component, either stock or otherwise, has been selected as compatible with your set up.

The decision to sell the original motor may depend on eventual resale. I have seen some guys do crate motor, hold on to original, and then during the sale, offer two prices, with and without the original motor. This assumes you have a place to store a motor. Otherwise, they sell really fast.

Nice project.

dlmeyers 90 coupe zf6 3 speed shocks


[Modified by dlmeyers, 9:11 AM 11/17/2002]


[Modified by dlmeyers, 9:15 AM 11/17/2002]

 

Thanks for the heads up. After a lot of feedback, I think I'm going to keep the car. If I buy another stock vette with less miles, I'll be spending considerably more money and end up with roughly the same horsepower. I hadn't thought about the books, but it's a great idea. I hate going into talk to a mechanic and not having ANY idea what he's talking about.

 

For a beginner, i suggest Lingenfelter's Book On Modifying Small Block Chevys. Read that and youll learn alot of the basics.

I have an 86 myself. I am going to modify it straight up until it blows on me. I plan on doing a Superram 383, hooker headers, Power effects mufflers, whole new suspension with some upgrades, AFR 190 or 195 heads and the Accel 219 cam. There are many combinations that you can run though. But you should have in mind what you want out of the car (hp wise, or ET wise) before you start modding it.

 

I've seen posters with 2 to 3+ the times mileage. Your present config may keep you "Vettin" a lot longer than you think.
Have you considered keeping your cash on hand, selling your present vehicle and going to a Zr1 ?

 

you've seen people mod 280-360k engines? were you trying to be the comic relief for the post or? :lol: :lol:

 

Keep the vette.....just make sure to change the oil and filter....change the antifrezze...keep everything up to snuff...and you can run many more miles........setting it up for hi performance...no way.....just hang in there unless you have the bucks to rebuild the motor.....if you do....go for it....go all out.....cam....rockers.....headers...etc ...etc....etc.....

But if you just want to squezze out all the milage out of this engine.....continue......can't go wrong....

let me know what you are going to do?????????????


thanks


tony


GO FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:cool: :cheers: :cool:

 

Nope - I didn't say that at all.
All I said was that I saw Vette's with 2 to 3 times that mileage. Never said anything about whether they had mods at all.
I did hint that maybe he'd want to pocket the 8K, plus sell his present Vette and then look for a ZR1.
:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

 

that's really not bad advice, unless you plan on keeping your C4 awhile mods & motors get very expensive. i've sunk nearly 20 grand in mods, parts & new engines in this thing i drive in the past 3yrs. i'd :rolleyes: a little too

 

It sounds like you have a good engine. I would go ahead and use it. There are a lot of them out there with higher miles.

Corvette engines always used to be from the 1st blocks cast and therefore were supposed to be the best engines. I don't know if that is still true, but have never heard anything to the contrary.

No matter what engine you use, when you add the serious mods you can expect to start breaking things. But that will be things like u-joints, rear ends, transmissions, etc.

If you rebuild it properly and get advice and parts from high visibility tuners who have stats to back up there claims, and if you can avoid impatience which leads to bone-head (like me) mistakes your engine should be the least of your problems even if you rebuild that old one.

Greg :D

 

I thought about taking the money I have to invest in the engine, selling my car (I have an offer of $7,000), but that still only leaves me with $15,000 and that's a LOOOOONG way from a ZR1. I've been looking around and I'd be lucky to get one in good shape for less than $30,000 in the DC area. And you still have to worry about how it was treated by the previous owner. My thought was that at least I know what I have now and if I put a rebuilt or crate engine in myself, I know someone hasn't been running the $#!t out of it (except me).

I appreciate everyones input and I think I'm going to take Vader's advice. I already ordered the books. I know the books won't make me an expert, but at least I'll understand what every one's talking about when they give advice. Although I trust my mechanic (he has passed on numerous opportunities to screw me), doing mods without understanding what you are doing is like walking around with a sign on your back that says sucker! The bottom line is that he is in business to make money and he's not going to be looking for the most cost effective way to acheive my goals. He knows my budget and I'm sure he'll make sure that I spend it all :D Also, there are so many possibilities, I can't post every one on the forum and say what about this... Everybody will get sick of my posts (maybe some people already are) :cry

 

ebay. a 1990 zr1 in great shape can be had under 20 grand.

 

Shopping for this vette left me very sceptical. I looked at 20+ vettes and talked to 50+ people. I'd hear how a vette was in perfect shape and then find out that the brakes were shot, the exhaust was rusting out, sounded like it hadn't been tuned in this decade (or had the oil changed), or it was beat inside and out. Cars with 50,000 miles (supposedly) and new engines, transmissions, etc. Also, I couldn't believe how many people didn't have a license on their car so I couldn't even take it for a test drive (except around the block ... which is no test drive at all). It's a lot of work looking for a vette in nice shape that hasn't been abused. Also, I don't know much about cars, so I had to make any sale contingent on my mechanic's inspection. I don't know how it works outside of the Washington, DC area, but here I found out that the car was not in good shape until proven otherwise.

I wound up going to a used vette place south of Washington (Cooper Corvettes). He had fair prices (no steals) and nice clean cars. Although it's possible, I'd be very suprised to find a clean, low mileage ZR1 in the DC area for less than 30K.

 

15k is not that far from a ZR1. There is a nice black 90 ZR1 in the C4 for sale section for 18k. http://65.113.119.28:7001/zerothread?id=427722