I know this is probably not the first time this question has been asked but I don't feel like combing through thousands of threads. I am doing a top end rebuild on my 84 Crossfire. I want to keep the throttle bodies. I am looking for heads and Cam recommendations and is the renegade really worth the money? I am not looking to replace to factory specs. Im looking to get better performance out of this engine. She runs fine as she is stock. Just slow as hell. Any recommendations will be very much appreciated

 

Renegade is on a momentary hiatus right now... not worth it on a mild engine anyway. If you're comfortable porting the stock intake, that would be dollar for time spent, the best bargain if you aren't looking to spend an arm and a leg.

What are you looking to gain from this. You'll get a hundred different responses and combos but what are you looking to accomplish at the end will help guide what would be the best route to go. So what are you thinking?

 

I can get a renegade from summit right now. so I am able to get that. I am looking to keep it a street car and still keep the TBI. I just want to get some more power out of that 350. If I could get another 100 HP I would be happy.

 

There was a long and detailed thread going through why the tooling was removed from Eddie Motorsports. Basically it was that a lot of the manifolds were leaving with machining problems and screw ups. Mine was particularly bad and I recall another form member ordering a few and not getting one that checked out okay. If you line a stock intake gasket up to mine the divider between the runners barely seals and it has an air leak down low in the lifter valley. Do as you want but I would thoroughly check it over once I receive it because there is a good chance something may be wrong with it. Summit can check it over before you order if you call IIRC.

This Thread covers everything we know t the moment on the renegade if you feel like reading. Buccaneer is the creator of the manifold and is very knowledgeable on these things.

As for getting another 100 hp out of it... Decent 185 cc heads, the intake (Ported or Renegade), and a cam in the 218/224 range... Something like @Gibbles or @GregMartin has and exhaust will get you close. Gibbles is on the wilder side, Greg is on the milder side, both know more than I do. You don't need a ton to get there either way. You could also just throw a 100 shot at it and be done. You also have to figure out tuning for the ECM and will have to get creative with fabricating some parts as not everything is available for these at the moment. You can see some of what I have done in this Thread. What I did is probably more than what most sane people would throw into a vehicle... But I have an attachment to the vehicle and wanted to because of that.... I could have spent a lot less and gotten 90% out of it but I have wanted this exact blueprint more or less for a few years... I really wanted to see what it would do more than anything.

 

Thank you!! as far as getting the intake looked over, I only live about an hour from summit racing. so I can just go there in person. No need to phone in. This gives me a good start. retuning the ECM is going to be a challenge for me as I know nothing about that kind of stuff.

 

Ok so @84 4+3 has given you the story regarding the Renegade and @Buccaneer can tell you the whole story. The Renegade is in my opinion as good as you can do if you want to keep the crossfire configuration however people have had good results from porting the original manifold. Here is a link to the mods I made https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...e-journey.html
I chose those parts so that I could run on the factory ECM but of course in the end I wanted to have more control over the tune so I installed a Dynamic EFI EBL Flash II ECM. There are a few of us on here that have kept and improved the L83 engine as mentioned above @Gibbles has a well sorted example. Also the L83 was fitted to the 82 corvette and the crossfire was also used on 5.0l 3rd Gen F bodies; so the C3 section of this forum and the 3rd Gen forum are also good sources of information.
Anyway hope this helps, most here are happy to share what they have learned.

 

My 84 is now therapeutic to drive.
i had a chance to take it out yesterday after sitting a few months, it's just fun after all of the upgrades i put into it.

i have the renegade, edlebrock heads, mild cam, external fuel pressure regulator, 80lb injectors, parallel plumbed, later fuel pump, 1.65 ratio rockers, headers and a very nice sounding exhaust, built trans (setup for stickshift and cruising at low rpm if i want to), loose converter stall (3200rpm iirc), converter is a wee 9.5in, and an ebl flash to run it all.

the engine is very snappy now, excellent throttle response.
it's fun to blip the throttle, but it did take a while to get the tune right, and to get the rpm to drop quickly for blipping fun.

not for the faint of heart.

i work IT, so while I'm waiting for a change to replicate, finish a task or what ever. It gives me plenty of time to research, process my data logs, adjust settings.
load a few new programs onto my tablet for the drive home.

more than a few times i left work ripping up the on ramp.
a few black stripes going up onto the freeway were from me.
The best one was when i got some new fuel injector timings, and timings for my ignition module.
the car came to life!!

Frustrating and rewarding!

 

I also want to share a piece of advice.
if you replace the TV cable, the 84 tv cable is special.
i got my proper replacement from ecklers.

While doing all of the work, i found a cracked tv cable housing, and decided i would replace it.
the one that said compatible from summit, did not fit on the throttle bodies very well and ended up disconnecting it self on the first outing...

horrible feeling!

it worked out VERY well for me in the end.
part of that rebuild helped to make the car very fun to drive, and an experience!

stick shifting the car, it shifts very quickly.
like F1.
it also downshifts very quickly, meaning i have to do a lil rev matching via blipping the throttle.
very fun!

remember about the tv cable... lol

 

As previously stated the stock Crossfire intake needs reworked. Crossrams were popular in the 60's and early 70's so it's also possible to find used bottom and fab a box top or make adapters for TBIs The heads aren't so great so you should plan on newer designed heads.