Poor life choices - C4 content

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BOOYEAH!

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Does Chevrolet still offer the 502 bb? 

In reply to SkinnyG :

The problem is that I'll need a built trans and Dana 44 to go behind it. A 383 is already pushing my luck, but I figure(hope?) they'd survive a while since I'm a fairly smooth autocrosser.

If you don't break traction, you'll break something else.

Your D36 will be fine unless you plan on making hard launches on sticky tires. With an L98 automatic I'm not sure you'll ever have a problem unless you're planning on making a neutral drop. 

Used LS engine...

In reply to Agent98 :

The problem is to do an LS right - giving me more power/torque AND lighter weight than a Gen-I/II SBC - will cost $3k at an minimum, and more realistically probably closer to $5k. If not more. I'd love to do it, and may some day, but a 383 crate engine, or at least long-block, will get me ~80% of what I want for ~20% of the cost. 

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to Agent98 :

The problem is to do an LS right - giving me more power/torque AND lighter weight than a Gen-I/II SBC - will cost $3k at an minimum, and more realistically probably closer to $5k. If not more. I'd love to do it, and may some day, but a 383 crate engine, or at least long-block, will get me ~80% of what I want for ~20% of the cost. 

That's the dilema with a c4 LS swap.  You're getting to the point where a cheap high mile c5 makes sense economically.  Especially since your c4 can command a decent price as a near stock decent cruiser.

Of course the fallacy is trying to apply logic to the car hobby.

I pulled the rear swaybar out tonight. It's both thicker and heavier than the front swaybars on any other car I've autocrossed. I didn't weigh it, but it's easily 20lbs. At 24mm it's damn near an inch thick too. 

I also removed the power antenna, not for weight savings though - it was broken anyway, and it needed to come out so I could change the taillight bulb. 

While I was under the car I hit the camber bolts with Freeze-Off so I can try to dial in more negative camber this weekend. The bolts didn't really look rusty, but I don't think they've ever been adjusted in 32-years. 

Sure that removing the rear bar will help your handling?

In reply to conesare2seconds :

For autocross, definitely. 

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to conesare2seconds :

For autocross, definitely. 

I know you know the rear bar helps the rear end to Rotate. so at the AutoX which end moved First.

Just finished reading all 83 pages of this thread, there's some real inspirational stuff here! I actually went out of my way to find a working Photobucket fix plugin for Chrome so that I could see the pictures in the earlier part of the thread.

Funny how I decided to read this thread after deciding to put my 96 Mustang GT and 87 Porsche 944S up for sale to buy a C4. I'm definitely going with an LT1/6-speed, that seems to be the best combo and the later cars have nicer interiors (IMO).

Congrats on getting this car running and driving, pretty crazy how far it's come! I agree with everybody that suggested buying a new carb versus trying to dial in an old one, especially if you're not an expert with them. Notice how on Roadkill/Hot Rod Garage they never really bother with carb rebuilds in most cases? They usually throw on a new carb and call it a day, probably because they know from experience what a pain old carbs can be.

In reply to dannyzabolotny :

The carb & distributor were both lessons learned in time/money/frustration. Then again, that also applies to the whole damn car. 

I bet Both rebuilt Carbs were OK But a new carb Is like a new Girl Friend ( a Keeper).

I took the Vette for a short drive tonight after advancing the timing a bit, and learned something - if roll into the throttle from a stop, or step on the gas from even a slight roll, it won't downshift into first. However, if I manually shift it to first before I take off, then get into it, it actually moves better than I realized. Sounds pretty good too once it's opened up. 

Probably dumb of me for not trying it before now, but I had a short stretch on an empty street without any homes/people to try it.  

Is it the 700R4, or the TH350?

700r4 adjusted per Art Carr's instructions online.

The TH350 in my truck and the one in my Firefly do the same thing: once you're over a certain speed, it won't kick down into first. There's probably some spring in the valvebody that you can change that could fix that, but I don't know which. I found my truck autocrossed best just leaving it in manual 1st for the whole thing.  Not that it's fast or anything. Very short, tight, low speed course.

My TransGo shift kit came with a little clip that stopped a valve from moving, allowing you to manually downshift at ANY speed which could be fun or disastrous. Probably both.

GTXVette said:

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to conesare2seconds :

For autocross, definitely. 

I know you know the rear bar helps the rear end to Rotate. so at the AutoX which end moved First.

in a RWD with open diff, reducing rear bar (in this case, reducing to zero) can help put power down on corner exit by reducing the amount of weight transferred off of the inside rear tire.  This effect *could* outweigh the potential reduction of front grip that normally accompanies such a change.  I see people remove rear bars when auto crossing in the rain.

I attempted to align the Vette today/tonight. It drove fine as it was, but I wanted a more aggressive alignment for autocross, particularly for the Challenge this week. The problem is I completely suck at using a tape measure(or most other measuring tools for that matter), and my $0.99 angle-finder isn't exactly accurate either - and that's presuming my garage floor is somewhat level.

The good news is the f/r toe is easy enough to adjust with the car on the ground, so at least there's that.

What I think I ended up with is about -1.5 degrees of camber up front, with about 1/16" toe out. I turned the rear camber adjusters the wrong way the first time I set it, and it took me a bit to figure out what was wrong. I need to take it out for another drive, then measure where the rear ended up, but it looks to be about -2.5 negative camber, with a very slight bit of toe in(by eye). I'll attempt to measure it, but I'm going for about 1/16" toe-in on the rear.

I found it interesting that none of the tie rods have reverse threads on the outer ends. This might be the first vehicle I've worked on like that, most seem to have one side that needs turned in the reverse direction as the other.

In my experience it's almost impossible to eyeball toe correctly.  But...I've also never had anything that I was measuring toe on the rear.  (That's a personal observation...not a judgment on your alignment )

In reply to ClemSparks :

I'm sure the rear is way off, but after having it up in the air adjusting the camber, I want to take it around the block before I spend any more time trying to get the toe correct. 

In reply to AngryCorvair :

Roger that. The Vette has a limited slip, I'd leave the rear bar on but hey, if it works. 

I finished the alignment today, I'm at ~-1.5 degrees camber in front, and ~-2.5 degrees in rear, with a bit of front toe-out, and bit of rear toe-in  

I also did some last minute bodywork.

Lastly, I started packing/organizing everything from the garage I need to bring.