alglez

is it to hard or expensive to get there? I like the car but not the performance civics are faster then me :confused:

thanks

79VetteMike

what do you have done to the car?

page62

Remember, your car is 30 years old. It was a fast car in its day, but a lot technology and engineering improvements have happened to cars since then.

The answer to your question is "yes." It's gonna cost money. You can't just add some HP to your engine...because you need to beef up/rebuild the rest of the driveline to take on the added strain. So you need to plan on buying headers, beefing up the tranny, adding a higher-stall converter, replacing u-joints, etc. etc. etc.

That said, however, you can do some modest and cost-effective upgrades to the engine to make it go faster than it would have originally. It all depends on your budget.

Finally, if you just bought the car...you need to be aware you're going to spend a few $$$ fixing problems you don't know exist right now. But they'll show up soon enough! :yesnod:


[Modified by page62, 11:42 AM 5/23/2004]

page62

79VetteMike: See this post to get background info http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=825982

alglez

I'm restoring the car right now I know its an old car and I have to spend money to make it fast but I think is worth it and the guy I bought the car from did take care of it

GDaina

gearing...install 4.56 or 4.88 gears...that'll git ya into the 12's..may not be highway friendly, but from stop light to stop light...you'll be boss...

Corz

4.10s would be a safer bet

iPlanet

supper charge and good engine and loose 500lbs and you are there.

Wrencher

The right combination of gearing, horsepower, traction and infusion of $$$. That'll do it. Figure out exactly how fast you want to go and spend money accordingly.

Hans

aharte

If stock civics beat you, then you need a tune-up. Make sure your carb and distributor are set up correctly. This has a huge effect on performance, and most of these cars are not set up properly anymore.

Next, get dual exhaust if you can. The 2->1 system was a poorly designed bandaid when the emissions regs hit really hard. Its extremely restrictive.

After that, heads and cam are most important (and intake if you have the L48). Make sure to bump up your compression with the right heads. Everything else simple that people stick on their engines has a relatively small effect, so skip it if you're on a budget.

No amount of gearing will get you into 12's on a stock (or nearly stock engine). Its not a magic cure. You might want to change gears, but you should choose them carefully depending on your driving habits, transmission, engine characteristics, and torque converter (if you have an auto).

Glensgages

how to get in the 12's?
Not a C3, but maybe this'll help...
I also own (original owner) of a '79 Z28 Camaro that can consistently run low-13s/high-12s, on pump-gas, well enough to win with regularity at the local bracket wars. Here are the vitals:
Weight w/ driver & ballast: 3800 lbs
10.3:1 CR 355" SBC; Dart IRON EAGLE heads (from the box); Edelbrock VICTOR JR intake (from the box); Holley 750 dbl pump carb; electric fuel pump w/ 1/2" fuel line; CompCams 292H hydraulic cam; 'on-sale' headers w/ straight-pipes to the OEM resonators & tail-pipes; THM 400 transmission w/ extra-low gear-set (2.75/1.57/1:1); 10" Transmission Specialties street converter; shift-kit; 4.10:1 posi rear end; slapper bars, 26" x 8" 'stickie street' tires.
Altho the cam will pull legitimately to 6500 RPM, I self-imposed a 5800 RPM shift-point for durability and longetivity.

As described, leaving at 2000 RPM and shifting at 5800 (by shift-light), the Z28 ran 13.50s thru the pipes, and ran a best of 13.11 @ 104+ with open headers.

After swapping an 8"/4500 RPM converter, and 28" slicks to ensure traction, I needed (I thought...) to revise the rear-gearing for the increased tire-height to 4.56:1. With 8" converter, 28" slicks and 4.56 gears, it ran a best of 12.774 @ 109, but trapped at WELL over 6500 RPM, in an early-season test session.
Dropping back to 4.10:1 gears, it ran a best of 12.84 @ 106 in 85* temps.

This drivetrain is now 14+ years old, and has survived over 2500+ burn-outs & runs.....

I'd think the IRS would be your weak-link in an attempt to duplicate my results, but I hope this helps, and good luck!!!

alglez

how much am I looking to get me there?

I have the L82 auto

Glensgages

With today's technology, I'd use:
Edelbrock aluminum cylinder heads ($1000)
Victor Jr intake ($200)
750 Holley carb($400)
292H cam-kit ($400)
'on-sale' headers & exhaust work ($400)
10" converter & shift-kit ($400)
( it is debatable what the extra-low gear-set is worth ET-wise)
4.10 gears/C3 posi series-4 carrier & labor (bend-over...)
stickie street tires ($400)
...as you can see, we're at $3200 w/o the rear-end work, fuel system, and 'miscellaneous' items.
12's don't come cheap using 'yesterday's technology' (no EFI, computer, super/turbo-charger), but it ain't rice, it beats hell outta paying $50k for a C5, and you can 'do' this work in your own garage (un-like some C4/C5 build-ups)...

I believe that L-82s have 4-bolt main caps, steel cranks, 'pink' rods, forged pistons, and THM400 transmissions;
that is all we used as the basis for my Z28.

Glensgages

P.S.:
Last April ('03), I witnessed a dude who'd dropped the ZZ502/502 into his '73 Vette, at my local strip.
Additionally, he had a THM400 transmission, 10" converter, 'on-sale' headers, 3.90:1 gears, and 29" M&H Racemaster slicks.
Leaving at a fairly-low RPM and shifting at 5200 RPM (I later observed his working shift-lite in the pits), he busted-off a 12.03/112+ tax run, only to bust his rear-end on the next launch.
Upon helping him load his broken Shark onto his trailer, I noticed a very mild 800 RPM idle, saw no nitrous or 'funny-business' stuff, and detected no whiff of high-octane racing gas;
he claimed the ZZ520 was box-stock, as-delivered from his local Chevy dealer.

377vette

The easy and fast way is to throw away the engine and start over as i did.
377 C.I. world heads forged pistons high stall and good tranny ect. Last night run an 11.97@118 3rd in the king of the hill for radial tires. I got put out by a C-5 running a 396 but he only won by .0225. The point being is you will kick some bucks out if you want the ponys. Ive got about 4500 in my engine but i put it together and it has the foundation to go alot faster. you could buy a crate engine for less wich would achieve a twelve for about half that. You would need some where about 380 to 400 hp at the flywheel. This would be about double what your currant engine makes, with a good tune-up on it. Aside from a total rebuild on it you would be throwing good money at bad results for quite some time. The L-82 is like a truck motor all torque and no H.P., no RPM. So save your self some bucks in the long run and dont try to re-invent the wheel for lack of a better word.

American Boy

You need to start with a fresh short block. You can either rebuild your L-82, buy a ZZ4 short block or best yet find a 1996-1998 vortec 4 bolt block and go from there (you get the vortec heads as a bonus). The later block are roller cam and it help to make some hp with the cam. The vortec heads help with the low-end torque (good for the street).

I rebuild a used vortec block and it costed around 3000$ in order to make the 400 hp that is needed to run around 13 sec flat. The hp come at 5400 rpm to assure durability. After that, headers, true dual with good muffler and little gear like 3.54. That's all. Stock rejetted quadrajet, stock stall and transmission (with shiftkit).

Stephan


[Modified by American Boy, 8:12 PM 5/23/2004]

superbowtie

don't got the vette yet but the nova is a good example of what i've done...

1970 nova with a 400, .040 over, stock crank, flat top speed pro pistons, scat 5.7 rods, 1970 LT-1 corvette heads 2.02/1.60 stainless valves, roller tip rockers, solid cam 518/536 exhaust. team-G intake, 850 holley double pumper, MSD 6AL ingnition with electronic GM distributor, super comp hooker headers 1 5/8 (changing to 1 3/4 will be improvement on time from that) turbo 350 trans, 3500 stall (leave at 2000) 3.73 gears in the rear with a all steel minus hood nova.

it does have ladder bar/ coil overs and street slicks but runs 7.10's in the 1/8 so your looking at low 11's high 10's car. built the motor and everything on top for about 2 grand. My dad extensively worked on the heads but it still ran a 7.30's before the head work. so its easy if you know how to tune to get to 12's cause this was alot of fun and easy once the 400 was in the car. :D :D still don't use a tack since the MSD was put in. just stopped using the column sifter too at 7.30's LMAO

aharte

:confused: My impression was that the L-82 was built to be modded. It comes from the factory very strongly built and with a fairly good cam and intake already. The main problems limiting rpm are the heads (both flow rate and valvetrain design) and exhaust. I don't see how the L-82 is "fundamentally" a truck motor. Sure, you probably can't safely rev it to over 7000 without replacing all the internals, but you shouldn't need to to get 400 hp.

Love My 72 and 77

Remember 12 will get you 20 :lolg:

ddecart

Let's see....
My car, with rock-hard 225/70R15 street tires will run 13.2 @106 no problem.
Better tires and I'm sure I'd be in the high 12s

What do I have?
~9.5:1 Compression
Edelbrock Performer Intake
Comp Cams 274XE cam
Holley 600cfm double pumper (POS and my weakest link)
World Products S/R heads, gasket matched & lightly cleaned up. S/R = Stock Replacement, small valve, cast iron.
Headers & Flowmasters

There is NOT a lot of money in my engine at all. It doesn't cost a whole lot to hit the 12s imho.