My '84 Corvette that I have had for a month and a half and less than a thousand miles seems to have puked a motor. Saw smoke pourin' out of the hydrocoil, the hydro-pin started spinning off the manifold drive, I knew I had to shut 'er down.
So I have read about the super cheap 10-second Challenge cars with small block Chevy engines. What are my options for this old Crossfire Corvette? I think an LS swap is too hard and too expensive, beyond the realm of both my abilities and my patience.
So I was thinking about rebuilding or replacing the 350 with another, higher performance one. My goals are better than 15mpg, 13.0 1/4 mile, keep the Crossfire, and daily-driver-streetable-friendly. I'll keep the automatic that's in there.
How can I do this cheaply?
Lugnut wrote:
My '84 Corvette that I have had for a month and a half and less than a thousand miles seems to have puked a motor. Saw smoke pourin' out of the hydrocoil, the hydro-pin started spinning off the manifold drive, I knew I had to shut 'er down.
So I have read about the super cheap 10-second Challenge cars with small block Chevy engines. What are my options for this old Crossfire Corvette? I think an LS swap is too hard and too expensive, beyond the realm of both my abilities and my patience.
So I was thinking about rebuilding or replacing the 350 with another, higher performance one. My goals are better than 15mpg, 13.0 1/4 mile, keep the Crossfire, and daily-driver-streetable-friendly. I'll keep the automatic that's in there.
How can I do this cheaply?
Thank you for that Brian Regan reference, it brightened my day.
"well yeah earl, you had to shutter down! what else could you do?!"
A truck LS is the cheapest way to do all of that, it will do better than that most likely.
With a JY turbo setup, or a cam and some other parts, it will do more like 12.00 or faster with more boost, and still get 20mpg with overdrive. There's a reason GM went clean sheet with the gen 3 V8, the 1/2 is crap in comparison.
yamaha
PowerDork
10/4/13 9:07 p.m.
Step one, ditch the crossfire bullE36 M3 and go carb. A decently built 350 should be able to do what you want. LS motor would do everything easier though.
I would love to do a 5.3. But I am afraid of doing it right, with AC, and getting oil pans and accessory drives and wiring and all of it being beyond my level of ability.
Kenny told me to do an LS swap and my motor isn't even asploded yet!
Can't say he's too far from a good call though.
In reply to Lugnut:
You won't be breaking any new ground here. There's at least one huge forum on the internet who does nothing but figure how to shove LS engines in places they weren't originally fitted for, and then upping the power to places well beyond the realm of useful. http://ls1tech.com/forums/
+1 for ls1tech.com
There is most likely a kit to bolt this all together 'fairly easy'.
Plan "B" would be to rebuild the 350 and either carb, or throw some money and research at the crossfire. Try the TBI forum on thirdgen.org it's an f-body site but it's the same stuff. C4guru is a good C4 site. All the C4 guys defected there after Corvetteforum got bought out.
itty bitty small blocks? stuff in a big block
rebuild the 350... well, rebuild A 350 for it... i'd suggest something from after 87 with factory roller cam provisions , preferrably a 96-99 vortec to get the good heads. the HOT cam kit from GM (12480002- i remember that part number 14 years after i bought mine...) with untouched vortec heads will net you an easy honest 400 horsepowers and slightly more torques than that and still get mpg's in the mid 20's when you drive it nice...
or just swap in an LS- the cost would likely be about the same by the time you got it running...
but whatever you do, chuck that Ceasefire setup as far away from the car as you can when you take it apart so you aren't tempted to try to put it back on..
The crossfire manifold isn't so bad...
with a pair of Holley 390's on it.
The main difficulty I can see in an LS swap is that the only thing that bolts directly on from a 350 is the transmission. I'm not sure a truck intake will clear a Corvette hood, and you'd need to work out what manifolds and accessory drives will clear everything. It could be someone's already worked out junkyard options. If not, you may need to shell out a bit for aftermarket headers or pulley / bracket setups.
C'mon guys, doesn't anyone know how to use Google? 
http://tech.corvettecentral.com/2010/02/ls-engine-swap-for-c4-corvettes/
SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote:
C'mon guys, doesn't anyone know how to use Google?
http://tech.corvettecentral.com/2010/02/ls-engine-swap-for-c4-corvettes/
I read that. Definitely too much for me. I would not be able to finish that.
oldopelguy wrote:
The crossfire manifold isn't so bad...
with a pair of Holley 390's on it.
I think you misspelled megasquirt...I think that if you make sure the intake is sealed properly between the upper and lower sections, the electronics are the only terrible part of this or any other early EFI system.
The ports on the intake are a bit small, some port matching would give much better flow. I had googled up quite a bit of info when I did that crossfire swap into the Marty Mcfly truck.
Lugnut wrote:
SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote:
C'mon guys, doesn't anyone know how to use Google?
http://tech.corvettecentral.com/2010/02/ls-engine-swap-for-c4-corvettes/
I read that. Definitely too much for me. I would not be able to finish that.
Yeah, as soon as I saw the pictures, I was like "That's no simple bolt in"
Can't you make like 350hp from a SBC for stupid cheap money? Seems the cheapest and simplest route would be what novaderrik is suggesting.
Personally I'd hunt up a later 80's F.I. manifold and go megasquirt over carb.
I'd love to see what happens with your Vette. There is so much potential is C4s for so little money.
mblommel wrote:
Can't you make like 350hp from a SBC for stupid cheap money? Seems the cheapest and simplest route would be what novaderrik is suggesting.
Personally I'd hunt up a later 80's F.I. manifold and go megasquirt over carb.
I'd love to see what happens with your Vette. There is so much potential is C4s for so little money.
your "350hp for stupid cheap" comment doesn't align with your "hunt up a later F.I. manifold" comment... those things just aren't compatible with each other- a factory efi manifold just isn't made to support that kind of power level.. you can do it with aftermarket base, runners, plenum, throttle body, and injectors- but that throws "stupid cheap" right out the window...
a modified LT1 intake or an old TPIS mini ram will do it pretty easily, but again, not "super cheap"..
Eh, just rebuild the hydro coil.
