CrossFires rule.....Just buy it you won't be sorry....I love my '84 vette Crossfire......
So let me know what you decided to do??????
Like let me know...
OK???? OK!!!!!
THANKS
tony
:eek: :eek: :eek:

 

Haha...

THis thread doesn't die! I was really surprised to see it back up at the top.

For any of you still interested, I bought the 84. I appreciate all the good advice and the argumetns were quite informative.

Basically, here's my situation... The car is in such good shape with low original miles that I just can't see modifying it right now. It's going to be seeing primarily street use... I doubt it'll see any 1/4 mile time for awhile anyway. My wife will probably be driving it a bit too, so leaving it stock is probably a good thing.

I'll likely still buy an SY1 intake while I can get it if I see one on ebay at a reasonable price... just in case. :yesnod: But, really, aside from exhaust and small mods like that, it will likely remain stock and I'll enjoy it for what it is. It may not be the fastest Vette - but it definately isn't slow.

I've got experience building/modding motors, but in a few years, if I decide I want a 1/4 mile car, I'll probably keep the cross fire and buy an LT1 to mess with or sell the crossfire and buy an LT1 to mess with.

The condition that car is in is incredible. I plan to enjoy it for exactly what it is.

Thanks to everyone for their responses.

 

My $0.02:

I own a crossfire, and am personally converting it to an "aftermarket" equivalent TPI (hi flow base, ported plenum, etc). Let me be the first to tell you that this is no walk in the park! Yes it can be done, and honestly it isn't terribly overwhelming (my biggest worry was running fuel lines up the front of the engine)- BUT I also spent the last 6 months researching & asking lots of 'stupid' questions. It's also expensive. Not counting the aftermarket stuff, just to do a conversion using all origional (read 'cheap') equipment is running $600 minimum. And the performance acheived there isn't worth your time or money. Now $1500 and up gets you some gains, so again it's all about how much you want to spend.

I chose to swap for a multitude of reasons (I can list them later if you're still even looking at `84's... after this thread?), but had I not been emotionally attatched to the car I would have been much further along by trading it in for a manual `86+. Now this is my opinion, but I hold it based on these factors:

* The crossfire is definitely moddable! -But not to the degree of ease or cost efficiancy as the far more common TPI- simply because there are more TPIs and a far larger market base to support lower cost bolt-ons and mods.

* The `86+ are easier to tune and program, largely because more people have later TPIs and consequently more have experience tuning them. Hence common knowledge. It will be a *challenge* to effectively mod and tune crossfires. Yes the Crossfire forum is an excellent medium, but most of their advice is basically "bore the TBs, port the manifold, or go aftermarket and improvise."

* Port fuel injection is superior to CFI or Carb in many ways, and in today's world is probably easier to setup AND tune due to the plethora of information/equipment available. There are many here who have forgotten more than I know about CFI & carbs (and are thus biased in the other direction), so forgive the generalization but that's another thread. :D

* The `84 suspension is awesome for a factory car, but it also chatters your teeth and makes your aftermarket CD players skip- some people don't like this. you may be one of them.

* `84's only came in autos. If you don't want the hassle of finding and living with a standard trans, then this won't apply.

* The `84s are getting OLD. So are the earlier TPIs, but again because of shear numbers, the TPI parts are - on average - probably going to be cheaper to fix and replace (counting Ebay!). But that's a stipulation on my part, since the cars are virtually identical in all respects (intakes & ECMs aside).

* I'm considering forced induction on down the road. Much easier to buy a prefab'd kit from procharger than to construct your own intake from scratch. Yes, it has been done to crossfires- but not easily. :D this consideration may also not apply to you.

Again, these are my reflections, and I've tried to state the assumptions I've made. I'm totally happy with my `84, but that stems from the fact that I'm emotionally invested in the car from growing up (and idolizing) with the it. I've also put a tremendous amount of work into the upkeep (suspension, interior, radio, etc) and modding (383 stroker, TPI conversion).

Pragmatically speaking, I would have been ahead of the game to buy a newer TPI (especially at current market value) if I didn't enjoy spending the time and $$$ on this stuff. But where's the fun in that???

:cheers:

SON OF A GUN! I must have taken a really long time to write this post... he already bought the damn car! :jester Congratulations!!! (I'll leave the rest of my post for the archives...)

:thumbs:


[Modified by Ramanstud, 11:43 PM 5/12/2003]

 

PS... for the drpepperkid...

I have to admit, I got a good laugh off of the high-compression cylinders :D But, honestly, I'm not giving you a hard time. I think it's great that your taking an interest in Vettes at such a young age. I made a lot of dumb comments and did some stupid stuff back around your age too, and I won't share any of it, cause I don't want to be ridiculed :jester

Don't take it to heart and keep trying to learn as much as you can. Your comments were actually in the right direction if I was intending to buy the car and build it for power... Maybe it's me just getting older, but I think it's a fun car just the way it is.

And for the record, "high compression cylinders" aren't something you buy. Compression is one of the four strokes of an internal combustion engine. (Intake, Compression, Power, and Exhaust.) It;s the stroke when the piston comes up and compresses the gas and air mixture just before the spark ignites the mixtuer and the piston gets blown down for the power stroke. Higher compression will give you more horsepower, but it's all realtive. If you are building a motor for higher compression, you have to take everyhting into consideration, intake, exhaust, heads, etc etc... The way you obtain a "high compression cylinder" is by matching the shape of your piston with the shape of your head chamber and determining how thick your head gasket is. Those three things determin how much surface area exists when the piston comes up and how much space everything gets compressed into. For example, in an old motor I built for a Mach1 I had, the stock 4 barrel heads had a tremendous chamber (can't remember the exact cc's anymore) By the time I figured the chamber size and the thickness of my head gasket, I needed to install a 12:1 compression piston to get my final compression ratio up to 10:1. In my opinion 10:1 is a great compression ratio for a street driven car. Anything higher than 10:1 and you'll need to run Cam2 or dump a lot of octane boost in it. Even at 10:1 I still got a little spark knock and had to adjust the timing accordingly... But the point of this whole story... hang in there and keep learning. Sounds like your off to a good start.

 

Ramanstud...

Thanks for the comments. I think you and I are thinking along the same lines.

I decided on the 84 because it was in such great shape. I took it out for a ride and I loved it. I'm sure I'll be happy with it just as it is and for what it is.

Yeah, the thought crossed my mind of "I could always convert it to TPI" But I was sure it wouldn't be cost effective as you confirmed. I also thought about supercharging, but I imagine it would be a real pain to try and fabricate something to fit over the throttle bodies... No, if I decide later on to heavily mod a car, this won't be the one. But then, this ones in such nice shape, I wouldn;t want to mod it anyway.

Hehe... another thought... what about Nitrous? That would probably be tricky to setup on the Crossfire as well with the dual throttle bodies... Again, I'm happy with it, I plan on just driving it and enjoying it. :chevy

 

Incorrect. The 4+3 Doug Nash tranny/OD setup first became available in 1984.

The rest of the post was very good.

 

Congrats on the purchase :thumbs:
I love my 84 also I bought it with 30,000 on it and have put another 20,000 more on it in the past year. Its a great daily driver no not the fastest but it will give most everyting out there a run for the money in the local mountain roads. I didnt buy my 84 for performance reasons, I bought it for the pure fact that it was exactly what I wanted the "Original C4". Most of the newer C4 owners recognize and respect the 84 as the begining of a lot of good years!!

 

Bought my 84 in dallas texas in 84. dirve it every day to work. MY experinace with the crossfire has been trouble free. I have restored this car and decided to build a 383 from original L-83. Never had any problems with obtaining parts over the years. and the cost is very low compared to my XLR. I mounted a X-Ram on the new motor , 202 heads, comp cam, needle bearing rocker arms. CR 11:1, 85 fuel pump and still run the stock throttle bodies. The care runs well and always has.. I however am in the process of buying the 2: TBs and the 90# injectors along with the new ECM to finally get the big hp out of my baby. Soon I will put the old girl up aginst modern muscle cars and hurt ther feelings. may not win them all but Ill bet she will freak out most of them. The only complaint I have about the car is the digital dash, sucks but soon to be converted to analog system.
Just sayin

 

9 year old thread. Lock in 4,3,2,1.......