So over the weekend I picked up a '78 Corvette as a new project car. I've been wanting to grab a classic for a while, and I've always had a love for the C3's, so after some Craigslist window shopping I found this for a price that I couldn't say no to. Overall it's in great condition; solid rust free frame, great condition body mounts, solid body. It has the defects that you'd expect for a 40+ year old car; some faded paint, fiberglass on the driver's door is blistered, the carburetor is in serious need of a rebuild, but all in all I'm really happy with it as a starting point.
Here she is after unloading from the trailer Saturday (and does run and move on it's own, but with the temperamental carb I didn't want to attempt an hour and half drive home)
My original intent in finding a new project was something to LSx swap...though now I'm decided where to go...a big part of me wants to stay that route, and yet another part of me wants to keep and build up the 350 that's in it. Fortunately, I have some time til I need to figure that out. I want to restore the rest of the car before I worry about the motor. Over the winter I want to give the body some attention, and rebuild the interior (right now it's pretty much two seats and a cracked dashboard), then move onto suspension and such, I've already picked out a coilover conversion I want to run, as well as some other goodies.
Progress probably will be slow in here for a while, as I need to finish up odds and ends on the Cav to get it ready to sell before digging into the Vette, but I just thought I'd share a while!
Sub'ed. Just in case, I may know of an extra intake and carb for that
"In Oldskool we trust"
I like old cars, but not a fan of this body style vette.
I will still watch this to see where it goes.
FU Tuning
Cool car and I do like those body style vettes.At least you can source parts with out to much trouble.Good luck with your new old ride.
Y3llowCav wrote:Sub'ed. Just in case, I may know of an extra intake and carb for that
I'll text you tomorrow. I was gonna rebuild the Q-jet, but I just don't have much time on my hands right now, and it'd be nice to move the car around with a little more ease lol.
Tint the back window, otherwise it will get real hot in there. Would love to get my hands on a 78-82 Vette down the road, seem to be the cheapest out of all the vette's besides the early C4's.
Spike J wrote:Tint the back window, otherwise it will get real hot in there. Would love to get my hands on a 78-82 Vette down the road, seem to be the cheapest out of all the vette's besides the early C4's.
That's the plan. And I actually saw some C4's cheaper than this, but I'm just not a fan of them
Eco swap it!!!!!!!!
Im thinking(roughly) a 6.0L iron block junkyard LS, ported LS3 heads, ZR1 spec'd cam, and a TVS 2300.
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
Tinkles wrote:Eco swap it!!!!!!!!
Im thinking(roughly) a 6.0L iron block junkyard LS, ported LS3 heads, ZR1 spec'd cam, and a TVS 2300.
Close.
Ideally I'm on the lookout for an LQ9 and toss in a stroker kit which will take it to a 6.7L, LS3 heads, big cam, and twin turbo.
EVILution (KGMs FrankenCav) wrote:Tinkles wrote:Eco swap it!!!!!!!!
Im thinking(roughly) a 6.0L iron block junkyard LS, ported LS3 heads, ZR1 spec'd cam, and a TVS 2300.
Close.
Ideally I'm on the lookout for an LQ9 and toss in a stroker kit which will take it to a 6.7L, LS3 heads, big cam, and twin turbo.
If your gonna stroke it and change the heads don't bother picking up an LQ9, grab an LQ4 they are usually much cheaper as they are more common and for your purposes there will be no difference.
Cool car tho man.
Actually, don't even waste your money on the stroker kit, a factory LQ9/LQ4 will net 800-900whp all day long with a turbo.
You really don't need more than that unless you wanna built an all out drag car, even at those HP levels making the rest of the driveline strong enough to stay alive will get expensive.
newt wrote:Actually, don't even waste your money on the stroker kit, a factory LQ9/LQ4 will net 800-900whp all day long with a turbo.
You really don't need more than that unless you wanna built an all out drag car, even at those HP levels making the rest of the driveline strong enough to stay alive will get expensive.
Yes I was actually doing some reading the last day or two on some stock lq4 builds, and it definitely seems the way to go. Especially since a t56 is going to rape my wallet, it'd be nice to save a few bucks on the motor side of things. I've also looked at a 5.3 iron block, found at least a dozen locally for $500 or less. Seems like in either scenario, for my initial power goals all i really need to touch in the bottom end is tossing in some ARP rod bolts and call it a day.
I'll have to swing by the great north some day when its finished...give you another 'vette to try and troll
ARP rod bolts you say...I hear some guy is an ARP distributor now....lol
PRND321 Till I DIE
Old Motor: 160whp & 152ft/lbs, 1/4 Mile 15.4 @88.2
M45 + LD9 + 4T40-E, GO GO GO
-MD- Enforcer wrote:ARP rod bolts you say...I hear some guy is an ARP distributor now....lol
Lol, that's what I hear as well! I'll be in touch when the time comes.
