I think the biggest reason I always tell people to LS swap is because of how frustrated I was after building a small block for my 84. I had Edelbrock heads, a comp roller cam, higher compression pistons, X-ram intake with bigger injectors, a D.U.I. distributor and long tubes. I ran it all with a 7747 ECU. A forum member here helped me with a tune. And after all that I could barley tell the difference over stock. I got my *** handed to me by a stock LS1 catfish Camaro. Sure the stock 84 only had 210 hp and the new engine probably made 350. But it was really unimpressive. Friends had me convinced it was because of the Crossfire. So I carb swapped it. That was even worse. It never ran right. I spent thousands of dollars to be disappointed.

Right now I have a junkyard 6.0L with a junkyard 4L80e. The motor is NA and makes 500 hp and I have direct port nitrous on top of that. I'm so much happier with this setup and wish that someone would have been honest with me. If you want more power don't waste your time with 350 hp. If that's all you want then just keep it stock and save your money. Do a gear swap instead.

 

Good luck finding any shop in the Beltway region which is:

1. Reputable
2. Reliable
3. Reasonable (in cost)

You can probably find one, maybe two of those attributes... But all 3?


You might ask someone like @jerkyboy who I think used to have a C4 modded Or @rklessdriver I think is in the region?

@winstonc used to know some shops, but maybe not anymore around... @Rkreigh has been in the area forever. So has @Bluewasp

I may be missing some people, but perhaps the ones listed have ideas.

I had Coopers Corvettes drop a 383 into my Trans Am. That was a great shop, but Tom and his son left the area/industry. Maybe they know where the other guys went?

 

Good luck finding someone around DC. I had an 89 with a 434 sbc for a while. I had a bunch of people work on it and they all jacked it up in some way. The hardest thing was to find someone that could actually tune it properly. I even tried a stand alone (piggy back) computer system to try and dial in A/F- Idle, etc...

You might want to try Maryland Performance up in Frederick MD. It's not far from NOVA and they used to be a fairly decent shop. It's been 15 years since I stepped foot in there but I believe they are still around. They had engine/chassis dyno, engine shop etc.

https://www.marylandperformance.com/main.html

 

Is easy enough to knock a couple of seconds of a quarter mile time, make it breathe cnc performance Heads Miniram intake larger injectors custom ecm chip. Performance not wild camshaft and long tube headers. However the gearbox will not cope, be prepared to look at many thousands this will cost. May be cheaper to buy a modded C4 with all the HP you want for minimal outlay... Decision time, look around what is out there and get what you want. You can quickly spend more than the car is worth chasing hp 🤔

 

Have you considered a C4 ZR1? the 90-92 have 375 HP, the 93-95 405 reliable HP and a limited supply. means better resale value in future. However make sure there are no issues and everything works, something between 30K or 60k miles are quite cheap and should give many years of trouble free use. Is a buyers market unless its a low mile museum piece, considering it may cost $6k in upgrades to a standard C4 to get that level of performance. Engine work and heavy duty gearbox upgrades required to make and handle that power adds up to many thousands very quickly. So a ZR1 may be cheaper once you consider the money needed to buy and modify a standard C4. Also in the end it will be a c4 but modified and will be struggling to sell for more than comparable model c4's.
​​​​​​Worth thinking long and hard before you decide, easy to spend money more difficult to get it back ...

 

They're super cool, but I love the older digital dash and I would rather mod than just buy a ZR1. (unfortunately)

 

​​​​​​Yes I hear you there, I really miss that star wars style dash of my 85 Vette. That was always super cool, you can get lucky and get something good.
I had rebuilt my 85 from the ground up new suspension reco high performance gearbox and brakes, new 383 forged steel engine new performance heads roller cam roller rockers you name it
Even new paint, the engine was barely run in and developed a noise. In a moment of stupidity I was fed up and sold her for peanuts way less than I even spent on the engine .. ... .... Found out a rod bolt had snapped but the rod did not come apart, told the new owner to replace all rod bolts minimum. Recommended he start with another 383 short engine, as I had trouble with bogus performance parts from some online suppliers during covid times. Even from reputable companies, cheap counterfeit parts get through. had dodgy new camshaft, valve springs that broke during first start. Were found to be poor Chinese garbage, got some known good performance camshaft and valve springs later from a local performance camshaft supplier. Had no faith in that performance forged rotating assembly 383 short engine, as a performance rod bolt should never break during engine run in, a lot of dodgy parts out there... So told the new owner to start with a another 383 rotating assembly, or just new good brand high performance rod bolts. So he got a car that just needed minimal work, was a fast fully sorted out car had the best of everything even long tube ceramic headers coil over suspension. he got for basically a scap car price... There are gems out there, people that got burnt lost interest and got rid their pride and joy in a moment of stupidity....
I have always regretted it, while I now do have a ZR1 I can see the appeal of both worlds, the 7,200 rpm high revving beauty and visual look of a ZR1 engine. Versus building your own dream car and performance engine, that is something personal and uniquely satisfying. Its an on going adventure our passion for Corvettes. 🙂👍

 

A few tenths of an inch would not be possible.
I think you mean a few thousandths of an inch. ( 0.030" would be 30 thousandths or 3 hundredths)