92 C4 6 speed all stock should I modify or preserve
 

I just purchased my 1st corvette, it's a 92 C4 with the 6 speed, FE1 supspension and 3.54 rear end gears. It's in near perfect original conditon has obviously been babied it's entire life. I've been out of sports cars for about 20 years and decided to go with a corvette instead of a Porsche. I'm thrilled with the car, but would like to improve the handling, brakes and power a little. My question is should I leave this car in it's very nicely preserved stock condition other than suspension bushing upgrades and new shocks or go ahead and make additonal upgrades? How will the upgrades affect it's value? Any thoughts would be helpful

I don't see a reason to preserve. There's plenty of C4's, and it's not gonna be a potential investment for a long time. I considered the same for my 91 Z07, but in the end I'd rather have fun while I own the car, instead of looking at it just sit in my garage, taking up space.

You bought a sports car, enjoy it as such.

Agreed with the above -- real value in these cars is still many years away. My advice, if you are concerned about 15+ years down the road, is to save any stock parts that you remove, so the car could easily be returned to stock if you wish.

Drive it and enjoy it -- as much as I love the C4, I don't see them going the way of the midyears in terms of future value.

It is not a Ferrari, do as you please with it.:thumbs:

yeah but his might be rare or something !

As the owner of a '92 6-spd, I bought it to drive it. I don't care WHAT it's worth to somebody else because I don't intend to sell it. As such, if I can get more enjoyment out of the car by modifying it, I will (and have) done so.

http://home.insightbb.com/~nathan.pl.../corvette.html

Enjoy the car! Do what you want to it and don't worry about what it's worth. :thumbs:

Fixed, and :iagree:

Yeah, worst thing you can do is go through a catalog and start adding up the horsepower of the so called "bolt ons" and expect to get big gains. Simple fact is that the factory got every bit of power out of this engine when it came from the factory. All the gimmicks are just that.

Interestingly enough though you will actually be faster at the track if you buy all the bolt-ons. This is due to the stage 3 weight reduction in your wallet instead of an increase in horsepower.

Thanks for all of the responses. I bought the car to enjoy driving and intended to make suspension and brake upgrades. I'll move forward with the modifications as planned. As suggested I'll keep all of the stock parts.

Great forum!

My advice, do whatever you please with it .

It is your car. I dont see many C4 being a collectors cars. About all that I would consider collectors are the ZR-1, The Callaway, the GS and a few other one off type cars. The regular C4 will remain fairly cheap for ever.

Very few C4 will ever be worth even what a small block c2 or c3 would be. Let alone some of the factory 427 types with side pipes etc.

I kept my 87 fairly stock and it was fun to drive as is :)

no one has asked for pix...? :confused2:

Hey OP, PIX :lol:

I would leave it mostly stock just to preserve resale value and keep from having to work on it every weekend. 300 hp runs good, but it will take a major undertaking to get it to 400hp and the car will be loud , not as well mannered, and possibly not in compliance with your emissions laws locally.

newer vettes are easier to mod in some ways so I say leave the stock manifolds and such on the car and just cruise around in it.

Now if all your other cars are slow, I can understand, but if you have other toys, I'd be inclined to leave it stock. Took me a couple of decades to understand the joy of 'stock', but everybody follows a different path.

The more you modify it, the more you will enjoy it.:cheers:

Ask any DIYer in here. :thumbs:

100% of nothing is still nothing

My 380rwhp C4 was my daily driver for 6 years and 50k miles and it was infinitely more reliable than most cars on the road.

Give me $3k, to buy all the parts and I can have it done in a weekend.

Doesn't have to be. Besides some people actually like to hear their cars run.

My car is tame enough my mother could drive it.

That entirely depends on where you are.

In some ways but they are much more difficult in others. Factor in the cost of a new Corvette vs an older one and suddenly the distinction blurs.


And that's why we all have our own opinion! I'm not trying to blast your post or attack you personally, far from it. Just illustrating that what some people consider major disadvantages, others might actually consider as an advantage or a fun challenge.

To the OP, do what you want with the car, there is no WRONG answer so long as YOU are happy with the result.

Dear New Best Friend,

:lol:

:cheers:

Yeah..... about that. As all the prices have gone up it's probably closer to $5k these days and I have a feeling I wouldn't be as swift as I used to be. I used to work on the car frequently, not because it broke down, but because I was modifying it.

Once upon a time I think myself and a friend went from fully assembled to having the heads off in 3 hours. I worked with another friend and we did a head / cam swap (and maybe a clutch) in 2 days. We could have taken it apart faster but we took extra time to be sure and label all the bolts and put them in zip-lock bags and other such containers. All the time we lost by doing that we made up for and then some during re-assembly! But that's been something like six years ago maybe? Been a while that's for sure, and I'm not REAL old, but I sure don't bend like I used to.

If you only do ONE mod, put exhaust on it. Imho the stock C4 exhaust is completely anemic sounding.
90% of the compliments I have received about mine is how awesome ot sounds.
You'll also won't mind as much when your Bose system goes bye bye one speaker at a time!

Hey I hear ya man, and I know what you mean :lol:

Cheers!!
:cheers:

+1

Even the muffler elims are to quiet for me. It's a good sounding V8, it deserves at least a cat-back.