MarkBullis

Ok all you C3 owners... I'd love for my 77 4spd to run 0-60 in the 4.5 - 5 sec range My C5 don't have any issues accomplishing that task at all.. But my poor little 77 would be lucky to get 60 in 10 seconds! LOL Just got this car, i've stripped the interiors out and im going to go get her painted then replace the interior then i want her to have some power... just not sure what i want to do... It's a matching number car and Im not sure i want to take the engine out and replace it... it's only got 80k original miles on her.

zwede

Get a crate engine. Bag the original motor and store it.

Les

And then make sure you have the tires to put that power to the ground.

U17

It's hard for all the 165 to 185 ponies to get that much weight moving !!!

7t9l82

5:38 gears ,wont go much over60 .

81pilot

Car and Driver tested both 76 and 77 models and averaged 6.8 sec 0-60 not too bad really.

CheezMoe

~400 HP and 3.73 diff should do it!

MarkBullis

Funny that my wife's Saturn has almost 400hp out of a 2.0 4 cyl Little Sky is pushing 323 to the wheels and i'd be tickled if my new toy would run like that little sky does...

daanbc

I put true duals exhaust on mine, then recurved the Distr. like "Lars" stated in his article. Then put on an extream air lid so the carb can suck more air from the top. I also opened up the hood cowl to allow air to be sucked in that way also. No smog control, no EGR valve, and a BB rad. which runs at 180 degrees all day long. My 77 L-48 auto spins the "dickens" of the rear tires at any light. Talk about fish tails. My son loves it. Can't deny It puts a smile on my face too! And the tires have great tread.
Pic of the air cleaner lid. I'm expecting a L-82 dual snorkel air cleaner to come, I'll be placing that on next with a spacer.

Shark Racer

I could get 0-60 times of just a hair over 6 seconds flat with what was basically a stock L-48, with 1 5/8" headers, dual 2.5" exhaust. Car had 3.55:1 gears and a 700R4. Make sure your car is in good tune, I don't think even an LG4 should take that long to get to 60.

Les is on the money - tires are very important. Even the highest power cars won't get <5 if they can't launch for beans.

rcread

Where are these 0-60 mph drag strips? All we have is 60 ft and 1/4 mile times.

G-Sting

One can get a rough calculation from his 1/8 mile times here.

panic

Dump the original engine and replace with a 400hp crate, add 4.11 rear gears and drop 400lbs of weight (easy in a '77) and you'd be in the 4 secs league...

jb78L-82

Getting into the 5's is really not too hard as stated with just about any year C3 really with the exception of some of the L-48's from the mid 70's to the 80's with an OEM stock engine with some basic mods. I have always said that the late 60's/70's small block are really very similar to the L-82's which can easily be made to perform MUCH better with some basic changes.

My totally stock 78 L-82 4 speed (3.70) ran 0-60 when new of 6.5 sec (79 L-82 Auto did 6.6). I have 2.5 true duals, 1.58 in shorty headers, roller rockers, recurved distributor. Holley 4175 650 spreadbore (just rebuilt it Friday-easy), zero pollution control (No cat, AIR pump and hardware (AIR tubes deep in the head creating exhaust turbulence and restriction), EGR valve, heat riser valve, etc), and an engine operating temperature of 160 (not 225+ from GM when the car was new) and it will easily get into the high 5's.

On the other hand, stuffing a 500+ horsepower engine into a C3 does not mean it will run 0-60 (3.6 sec) with a C6 Z06-not even close! The horsepower equation is easy. Putting the power down through a C3 chassis including a tire that can handle the power without smoking the tires is completely another matter all together.

7T1vette

Well, your car has 80K miles...and 33 years on it. You can always increase horsepower/torque to make the car capable of the acceleration rate you require. But, can the drivetrain of the car handle that level of power...and do it safely? You will need to do a lot of repair upgrading to several of the major systems in the car to allow it to achieve that kind of performance; especially if you want to do that more than once!

daanbc

You need to make sure your drive shafts,transmission,motor mounts, and a few other key parts are all in A1 shape. Otherwise you will be chasing every broken part all the time.

MotorHead

Mine will go 60mph in first gear so I think it's gonna best the 5 sec. mark

Nobody.

My '81 makes it to 60mph in just over 60 feet which at the track is 1.21 seconds.

Ironcross

a 454 LS-7 will get you 1.6 60' times,.... never looked at the speedo and dont know how fast that turns out to be. But it will put you right up at the front of the pack........

njfl

Ther's no doubt that a lot of hp will do it for you, but I'm surprised that no one mentioned a 5 or 6 speed trans. I have the Richmond 6 speed. Gears 2-5 are very close to those in the Muncie. First gear is 3.27 and sixth gear is a 0.75 overdrive. The acceleration in first is a lot of fun. The tranny alone might not get you 0-60 in sub-5s, but it will definitely get you closer and make your driving a lot more fun.

Do the math. 3.27 first gear x 3.36 rear = 10.99 final drive ratio. This is better than running and M-21 with 2.20 first gear ratio and 4.56 rear (10.03 final drive). As an added bonus, you'll be revving at 2000-2500 on the highway in sixth gear.

My main point is that the high final drive ratio will help your acceleration.