I'll be in the market for a C4 soon. I decided that my next vette has to be much faster, so I'm setting the bar for 1/4 mile runs in the 11 second range. In addition, it has to be a reliable combo that isn't going to get horrible gas mileage. In other words, I want a mid 11 second C4 that can be a reliable daily driver. I'm guessing that would equate to roughly 500hp.

What is the cheapest and most reliable means of accomplishing this with a 300hp late model C4?

 

Probably juice.

It will take, heads, cam, headers, and probably gears to get there, even with good tires.

 

I think you'll have more than $2K doing what you mentioned. Somewhere between that and $3k.

A blower or turbo would get you there too, but cost more than the options we've already mentioned - quite a bit more.

 

I'm guessing heads, cam, headers would run about 2K?

What about forced induction?

 

I barely got there with hotcam, headers, ported heads, gears, converter, and et streets. About $5000 to do that. A blower is about $5000 as well and I doubt it would put you in the 11's alone

 

i think a blower with 6-9 psi would put you right @ 12.

 

If youre starting with an LT1, and dont want juice or a blower, you'll need a 383/396 and a LT4 hotcam with head/manifold porting to go with it, for consistent 11's. Full exhaust too of course. That is not to say you cant do it with a 350, with the right tires, but a 383 should always be in the 11s.

Also with the LT1, you'll need gears, and a converter for the automatic.

 

I'm not sure it'll work for every c4, but if there's a c4 that is VERY close to the 11's on a budget, it's my friend MrNuke's car. LOL, I swear that car's a freak. It did 113.5X mph with bolt-ons, stock cam, super ram and dart heads with free flowing exhaust(cat in place) couldn't be that costly to duplicate.I'm sure He'll chime in.

 

Cheapest by far is to spray it. It sounds like drivability is a concern so a good set of heads and a monster cam probably aren’t for you so that leaves forced induction or added cubes. Forced induction is cool but considering you really need to build the bottom end to take the amount of boost needed to really take advantage of it for the money it gets quite expensive real fast. The cheapest way to get where you want to be is to build a cast stroker and a set of really well ported heads and a matching cam. A good place to get a great head cam package on a budget is Lloyd Elliot (Link Below). I saved my money and built my motor completely forged with AFR heads and it was about 6-7K with me assembling the block, I think if you can build the motor you could build a budget 383 that could make the same power for around 5K.

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...ghlight=lloyed

 

Jay, don't forget Mr Mackey.

His car, '96 LT1. 3.73 gears, 3000 stall converter, Cartek "Big Mac" heads and cam package, LT Headers, SLP exhaust, slicks and skinnies, 5 point rollbar,car weight was about 3600 and he was deep in the 11's.

Me with a stock LT1, 2800 converter,3.45 gears, Corsa catback, drag radials and skinnies, 12.50@108. Give me a 100 shot and I'm in the 11's.

 

If you want 11s at the strip both MrMojo and Vic'89 will be there with heads & cam.

But for a really quick that is fast on the street too a 383 would be a good move. Then you can stay with mild gears and TC and still run 11s all day.

 

Thanks everyone!

It sounds like the 383 is the best route, so when I start shopping, I'll try to find a C4 that already has the 383. If not, I'll do it myself at a later time.


Just a couple more questions. More than likely, my next C4 will be equipped with an auto. If I'm running around 500hp in a daily driver, how will the rest of the drivetrain hold up? For the most part, I take it easy but at the same time I won't hesitate to do wot runs through each of the lower gears. Through all of this, I keep my vehicles well maintained.

Although not a big concern of mine, how will gas mileage fare with a 383 putting out 500hp? I know that a stock C4 can get upwards of 30mpg, so I'm hoping that mileage would still be decent with a 383. Can't be worse than the 79 I had. It averaged less than 11mpg

 

The Dana 36 rear will hold up to the power, but not forever. And if you put slicks on it, it'll die soon. DR's are fine.

The automatic will need to be upgraded in soft and hard parts for long-term use with that power, and you'll definitely require an external cooler if you want it to last even after upgraded internals.

Its also doable to get 20-25mpg from a 383.

 

I thought Mr Mackey had switched to 4.10 gears and a big stall like 4400 or so.

 

He did eventually, but I was referring to his original setup.

 

BUMP to the top for MrNuke to check out

 

1994 or newer vet and a 125 shot will give you a 11.21 and solid 4 out of 5 runs at 11.50 315.17 nitto dr at 15 lbs and your there , with a set of 3 inch cut outs.You will need 1.6 roller rockers.NO other mods needed. I run it all the time.

 

Thanks Jay, finally found this thread. I am knocking on 11's with the new tranny/TC so hopefully this season I'll have it.

My mods are :
-Slightly (ahem) ported superram intake (Upper/lower)
-Slightly (double ahem) ported old dart iron eagles (200cc runners,64cc polished chambers, modified exhaust ports, bowl blended, 2.00/1.60 manley swirl valves and 'light-duty' springs for my stock cam's paltry 430 lift.
-LPE 1 5/8" Longtube Headers
-Custom 3" exhaust / High-Flow Cat to 2 1/2" Targa Mufflers
-Dana44 with 3.45 rear gears.
-Nitto 555R Drag Radials
-2400RPM stall converter and new 'performance' tranny w/cooler
-52mm AS&M ThrottleBody
-Air-Pump eliminator Pulley
-Modified SLP-Ram Air system
-Powercoupler
-Slightly leaky 24lbs injectors (LT1 style MULTEC's)
-Modified AFPR
-A/C bypass belt
-Spark PLug cutback Electrodes

-I burn my own chips and tune the car myself.

Sounds like a lot, but it's all pretty simple stuff. The engine has 117K miles on it, and is running strong as an oxe (with that said prolly will blowup next week now).

Total expenses = Around 3K, and that's including $2400 for the tranny .
(Yes, I am a cheap bastards who waits for good deals
)

 

If I knew then what i know now and have seen performance wise i would have bought an LT-1 vette and put one of my friends low pressure dry nitrous kits on it. He has a 94 firebird with 115K on it. he put 373 gears in it and with the low pressure system he went 11.52 with a completly stock ( except gears) 3600 lb car that still drives completly stock and gets stock gas mileage. This was done through stock cast iron manifolds and stock Y pipe. He then added a 200 shot with propane injection and went 11.003 @ 120..completly untouched motor. IMHO..you can't beat that.

 

A good reliable combination is forum member's Ralph old set-up, he was running his original L98 350 80,000 mile shortblock with:

* Ram Air
* Superram manifold, plenum and runner
* AFR 190 cylinder heads
* LPE 74219 hyd roller cam
* 1 5/8" headers with 2.5" exhaust going through Borla's.
* 3.45 gears (3.07 will provide virtually the same performance)
* Pro-Torque 10.5" 2800 rpm converter
* Weld rims all the way around it
* Sticky tires

And other various little knick knacks, but the above is the lion's share of the modifications that made the biggest difference. The above combination has probably been recommended about 500 times on this forum at one time or another, but there is a reason for that.... because it works !!

The added benefit is that you get yourself an 11 second car without making any major sacrifices to driveability, you'll have a 11 second car out of a C4 that started life as a 230 hp peppy car. Because this is a set-up that builds excellent low and mid rpm torque, its a hoot to drive around town, yet because the power is kept below 6000 rpm, a high rpm sloppy torque converter isn't necessary to get your C4 in motion.... a 2600 to 3000 rpm converter will work just great.

The results for Ralph were 11.6's @ 117 mph in good air, and even in the dead heat of the summer he was usually in the high 11's.

You will not need 500 HP to get into the 11's, although Ralph never dynoed that combination, I think we estimated he had in the neighborhood of 420 hp give or take 10 or 15, and even more impressive was the estimation of somewhere around 440-450 ftlbs of torque out of his little 350. For a true L98 C4 street car, no maintenance, pump gas, under 6000 rpm motor.... you really can't beat this combination.

If you're going to start with an LT-1, follow corvette forum members Mackeyred96 combination, I think he was running a lot of gear and converter and got him deep into the 11's, but even if you backed off some of that gear and stall, you would more than likely still be comfortably in the 11's.

good luck with whatever you decide.

Beach Bum