1989 Corvette C4 6 Speed Manual
Discussion
Good stuff on the head replacement, friend has had them done twice now in about 6 years. Next time we will be having a go at it. Are there any online guides for it? New intake looks way more simpler and uncluttered.
Fuel pump is familiar to. Had two or three of them. Replaced the actual pump third time around as the whole mechanism had been done recently. Still had fuel pressure issues. Worked out it was the dampener connected to the fuel pump was leaking so replaced it with a piece of fuel line. Fuel pressure is good now. Dampener looked like a piece of Duplo Lego to me.
Agree, do the interior not the arches. Friends had a spoiler on it when he bought it and to me it was!!, it was a spoiler to what the car should look like. After it was taken off, he realised it should have gone ages ago.
Fuel pump is familiar to. Had two or three of them. Replaced the actual pump third time around as the whole mechanism had been done recently. Still had fuel pressure issues. Worked out it was the dampener connected to the fuel pump was leaking so replaced it with a piece of fuel line. Fuel pressure is good now. Dampener looked like a piece of Duplo Lego to me.
Agree, do the interior not the arches. Friends had a spoiler on it when he bought it and to me it was!!, it was a spoiler to what the car should look like. After it was taken off, he realised it should have gone ages ago.
Thanks guys!
Here's a couple of images of the Grand Sport with the arch flares:
I'm still 50/50, I think if I painted them gloss black and fitted them I'd keep them, but that would lower their value.
motomk said:
Good stuff on the head replacement, friend has had them done twice now in about 6 years. Next time we will be having a go at it. Are there any online guides for it? New intake looks way more simpler and uncluttered.
Fuel pump is familiar to. Had two or three of them. Replaced the actual pump third time around as the whole mechanism had been done recently. Still had fuel pressure issues. Worked out it was the dampener connected to the fuel pump was leaking so replaced it with a piece of fuel line. Fuel pressure is good now. Dampener looked like a piece of Duplo Lego to me.
Agree, do the interior not the arches. Friends had a spoiler on it when he bought it and to me it was!!, it was a spoiler to what the car should look like. After it was taken off, he realised it should have gone ages ago.
Yeah I got rid of the pulsator when I fitted the new pump too. Google will probably help you, just be methodical. I keep meaning to buy the factory service manual, it sounds like the be all and end all. Hopefully I won't have to redo my head gasket soon, but I'll have to make the most of it if I do and I'm sure it'll be quicker next time. I think with my experience of taking it apart/redoing it then I could do the whole job in a weekend now. However my car is much simpler without those factory accessories.Fuel pump is familiar to. Had two or three of them. Replaced the actual pump third time around as the whole mechanism had been done recently. Still had fuel pressure issues. Worked out it was the dampener connected to the fuel pump was leaking so replaced it with a piece of fuel line. Fuel pressure is good now. Dampener looked like a piece of Duplo Lego to me.
Agree, do the interior not the arches. Friends had a spoiler on it when he bought it and to me it was!!, it was a spoiler to what the car should look like. After it was taken off, he realised it should have gone ages ago.
Here's a couple of images of the Grand Sport with the arch flares:
I'm still 50/50, I think if I painted them gloss black and fitted them I'd keep them, but that would lower their value.
I finished up the last item on my list yesterday, installing a catch can. I copied some elses idea of using one catch can but putting a couple of T's in the CCV and PCV rather than have a can on each side. The chap in the states has been a great help with the tuning side of things. I bought a chip burner here in the UK so I've been datalogging, he has sent me a tune, I've burned it, rinse and repeat. It has really sped up the process. The car is running pretty good on the 5th or 6th revision. There's still a harsh lockdown in Wales, it won't be for a couple of weeks I can really go for a long drive. In the meantime I've been commuting to work and having a lot of fun! I'm really loving the Miniram, even on the stock engine, you just have to keep the engine in the powerband, not a problem with the ZF 6 speed and 3.54 rear gears. It will smoke the tyres as long as you like. Looking back through the logs 60-100 mph took 7.5 seconds and 30-55mph was 2.3 in 2nd gear on a private test track. Very respectable for a 31 year old car!
Next up for the car will be a good clean! I also scored a Momo Prototipo at a great price from eBay and the rare Momo hub adaptor which retains the telescopic steering wheel.
Next up for the car will be a good clean! I also scored a Momo Prototipo at a great price from eBay and the rare Momo hub adaptor which retains the telescopic steering wheel.
I've either been very lucky or unlucky recently with the car depending how you look at it.
The Comp roller tip rockers that came with the replacement heads were the wrong type. From the factory the car has self aligning rockers with a small indent to keep the rocker aligned with the valve stem. The guide plates for the push rods are just assembly guides, not hardened steel. Basically the rocker arm controls the geometry, not the guide plates. Well the Comp rockers can't have been used for long by the previous owner as I soon had a loud valve train and pulled the valve covers off to investigate. The push rods had started to wear down the assembly guides and one of the rocker arms had almost come off the valve stem after chewing it up. I caught it just in time but if I'd known sooner I could have just changed the rockers.
I weighed up what to do next, I needed to pull one head to replace the valve at least. I could have kept the rockers and fitted hardened push rods and guide plates or for a little more get a quality set of self aligning roller rockers. I went with the second option, it was £300 for the 1.6 ratio (compared to 1.5) Scorpion roller rockers. Made in the USA from aluminium and with roller bearings on the trunion and tip they'll greatly reduce weight and friction as well as increased lift. It should be an honest 15-20bhp gain. Certainly the car feels stronger in the higher rev range and eager to rev to 5600rpm. A solid 1000rpm peak gain over the torquey TPI intake from factory.
Aside from the exact torque sequence for the 18 head bolts I could change the head gasket with my eyes closed now, in under a day I was able to pull the head, change the valve and put it all back together. My MOT is due in two weeks and I'm a little nervous as to whether it'll pass emissions with the new tune and intake but otherwise I'm hoping it'll be okay. If I have too many issues I'll just sorn it until the spring I think. It's also decently quick for over 30 years old, the data logging shows it's easy to crack a sub 5 second 0-60 with a decent launch! Or you can be a hooligan and leave black lines all through 1st into 2nd...
The Comp roller tip rockers that came with the replacement heads were the wrong type. From the factory the car has self aligning rockers with a small indent to keep the rocker aligned with the valve stem. The guide plates for the push rods are just assembly guides, not hardened steel. Basically the rocker arm controls the geometry, not the guide plates. Well the Comp rockers can't have been used for long by the previous owner as I soon had a loud valve train and pulled the valve covers off to investigate. The push rods had started to wear down the assembly guides and one of the rocker arms had almost come off the valve stem after chewing it up. I caught it just in time but if I'd known sooner I could have just changed the rockers.
I weighed up what to do next, I needed to pull one head to replace the valve at least. I could have kept the rockers and fitted hardened push rods and guide plates or for a little more get a quality set of self aligning roller rockers. I went with the second option, it was £300 for the 1.6 ratio (compared to 1.5) Scorpion roller rockers. Made in the USA from aluminium and with roller bearings on the trunion and tip they'll greatly reduce weight and friction as well as increased lift. It should be an honest 15-20bhp gain. Certainly the car feels stronger in the higher rev range and eager to rev to 5600rpm. A solid 1000rpm peak gain over the torquey TPI intake from factory.
Aside from the exact torque sequence for the 18 head bolts I could change the head gasket with my eyes closed now, in under a day I was able to pull the head, change the valve and put it all back together. My MOT is due in two weeks and I'm a little nervous as to whether it'll pass emissions with the new tune and intake but otherwise I'm hoping it'll be okay. If I have too many issues I'll just sorn it until the spring I think. It's also decently quick for over 30 years old, the data logging shows it's easy to crack a sub 5 second 0-60 with a decent launch! Or you can be a hooligan and leave black lines all through 1st into 2nd...
I've been pottering about the last few days doing the last of MOT prep. Got the horn working with the Momo wheel which was a pain, I'm not sure it'll work reliably but hopefully just for the test. Replaced a tired valve cover gasket (they're rubber but this one wasn't very taught and started to leak badly over the exhaust!) and tightened up the header bolts again. Went for a little drive around sunny South Wales this afternoon
FelixP said:
I've been pottering about the last few days doing the last of MOT prep. Got the horn working with the Momo wheel which was a pain, I'm not sure it'll work reliably but hopefully just for the test. Replaced a tired valve cover gasket (they're rubber but this one wasn't very taught and started to leak badly over the exhaust!) and tightened up the header bolts again. Went for a little drive around sunny South Wales this afternoon
God. Damn. Glorious. 
Living in Wales and near constant lockdown I've enjoyed reading the threads here so thought I'd do a little write up again. My car mojo has been pretty low, with nowhere to go and the most ridiculous MOT tester. I think I've got the issues sorted and I'm booking the MOT tomorrow morning!
I took the car to a local garage which also specialises in old Jags, thinking they would be reasonable with a 30 year old imported car. With lockdown in full effect and Cardiff a different area even if just 5 miles away, I thought I could just take it down the road instead. Wrong!
Whilst there were some things I needed to sort, such as a broken handbrake cable connector, they were more interested in deriding the car and picking up anything they could. Shame as I would have taken my daily Volvo and the girlfriends Mini there otherwise, not to mention the Corvette.
The rear indicators are in the reverse lamp housings so that the 4 red tail lights can remain. Being an equal distance from the centre of the car, they've never been questioned before. After I pointed this out the tester got his back up, called someone over and declared them “not orange enough”. It's an orange bulb in a clear housing, not exactly an unusual combination? They further picked up on the side markers not being visible from the back of the car and the seats being dangerously insecure, when infact they tilt a bit so you can reach the release lever, just like they came out of the factory. A small crack in the steering shaft rag joint was another serious fail, which had eluded any previous MOT inspection.
My one genuine worry was emissions, and they did allow a quick tweak of the distributor to drop the CO and pass. However I wasn't happy with it running rich at idle and so that was something to sort out.
Having “recovered” the car back home having spent £50 to get very grumpy I set about sorting out the small items.
I painted the reverse lamp housings yellow, hoping to make the indicators more orange, and it looks alright against the plate anyway.
I couldn't find one of these rubber pieces anywhere but after some measuring, a similar item from a Ford Sierra would be a close fit.
The pinch bolt holding the shaft to the rack was a little tight and my trolley jack handle doubled up as a suitable bar.
The third brake light only had one bulb working, not a fail but an irritation. Luckily at a car show someone gave me some C4 oddments in exchange for cold Cider and I was able to swap the innards over from another. The bulb had melted to the housing and cooked the board.
New headlight adjusters since the others were siezed:
The handbrake cable has an integral collar which had broken, no longer actuating the left caliper. The handbrake uses a cam on the brake caliper to push the pads onto the disc, rather than conventional shoes. It can be quite fussy but hopefully a new cable will be all that's required.
The car only has one single wire O2 sensor and it has difficulty staying in operating range with the long tube headers and dual exhaust. Since removing the smog pump I had a spare 12v & ground in the engine bay. Running this to a new 3 wire pigtail connector, I then fitted a 3 wire heated O2 sensor. Now the car goes into closed loop at idle in 3 minutes. Perfect! This should help with my emissions, MPG and performance.
My bluetooth OBD-1 scanner has been a great bit of kit. I used it to datalog with a laptop to tune the car when I changed the intake and rockers. Here I'm using it with an app on my phone to see live readouts and watch it go into closed loop as well as the O2 function.
My throttle body has always had play in the shaft, which is a small vacuum leak and it's required a regular spray of WD40 to keep it smooth. On eBay USA I spotted a billet aluminium Holley 58mm throttle body, open box and 50% off. It's a bit step up from the factory 48mm butterflies and a beautiful piece. With the new intake it lines up pretty well already, although when I next have it apart I'll open up those extra 2mm on the side. It'll future proof any engine tweaks later on too.
I bought some bucket seats for a bargain price too, Sparco Torino II's. Not many seats fit in the C4 because the transmission tunnel accounts for half of the cabin and the handbrake is down by the sill. These should have fitted but the recline knob lined up perfectly with my seat belt reel and it was a no-go. I passed on the deal to someone who drove up from London. They were going in a track car replicating one their Dad built before passing away. The chances of finding another set must have been slim and they were thrilled.
[
Then just about ready for MOT I had a setback. After changing the valve cover gasket on the passenger side and tightening the cover down it cracked! I was a bit miffed as I'd hardly snugged them down. I emailed the manufacturer Proform and asked for a replacement, as a new pair would be circa £300 delivered from the USA. I got them second hand with the heads in the summer and now with the roller rocker arms I couldn't go back to factory covers. To their credit, with no receipt they agreed to send me another one if we split postage between us. £32 later I was back in business. Although they sent it via the US postal service so it took a couple of weeks before it even showed up in the tracking at Chicago, but once it was on the system it arrived quickly and marked as a commerical sample worth $1 I paid no duties either. Result!
I didn't like the look of the bucket seats in the car and it made me realise the best course of action is to redo mine and take care of the cracked leather and worn bolster. It's only £400 for a complete carpet set and that had me thinking, if I do both, perhaps I should go for a red interior? It would look great against the black I think! In the summer a shares saving scheme with mature and I could redo the whole interior for about £1500 if I do it myself. It's a temptation and I think it would add so much to the car. It's going to be a bit longer before I can really swing a complete engine build anyway.
The other thing that has happened is my big shed arrived too! In the summer I made the base out of some sleepers and a mere 3 ton of limestone to level it out. A local company supplied the 10x8 pent shed and it's great quality, no chipboard to be seen. At 6'2 there's plenty of headroom for me too. I made a workbench and finally have my tools and stuff organised, it's so nice to have everything in one place for the first time in my motoring life!
(excuse the winter tyres)
And this week 10 years ago I started my first thread on here after buying my white 924 for under a grand.
10 years and 30 countries later here's hoping 2021 will provide more automotive adventures!
I took the car to a local garage which also specialises in old Jags, thinking they would be reasonable with a 30 year old imported car. With lockdown in full effect and Cardiff a different area even if just 5 miles away, I thought I could just take it down the road instead. Wrong!
Whilst there were some things I needed to sort, such as a broken handbrake cable connector, they were more interested in deriding the car and picking up anything they could. Shame as I would have taken my daily Volvo and the girlfriends Mini there otherwise, not to mention the Corvette.
The rear indicators are in the reverse lamp housings so that the 4 red tail lights can remain. Being an equal distance from the centre of the car, they've never been questioned before. After I pointed this out the tester got his back up, called someone over and declared them “not orange enough”. It's an orange bulb in a clear housing, not exactly an unusual combination? They further picked up on the side markers not being visible from the back of the car and the seats being dangerously insecure, when infact they tilt a bit so you can reach the release lever, just like they came out of the factory. A small crack in the steering shaft rag joint was another serious fail, which had eluded any previous MOT inspection.
My one genuine worry was emissions, and they did allow a quick tweak of the distributor to drop the CO and pass. However I wasn't happy with it running rich at idle and so that was something to sort out.
Having “recovered” the car back home having spent £50 to get very grumpy I set about sorting out the small items.
I painted the reverse lamp housings yellow, hoping to make the indicators more orange, and it looks alright against the plate anyway.
I couldn't find one of these rubber pieces anywhere but after some measuring, a similar item from a Ford Sierra would be a close fit.
The pinch bolt holding the shaft to the rack was a little tight and my trolley jack handle doubled up as a suitable bar.
The third brake light only had one bulb working, not a fail but an irritation. Luckily at a car show someone gave me some C4 oddments in exchange for cold Cider and I was able to swap the innards over from another. The bulb had melted to the housing and cooked the board.
New headlight adjusters since the others were siezed:
The handbrake cable has an integral collar which had broken, no longer actuating the left caliper. The handbrake uses a cam on the brake caliper to push the pads onto the disc, rather than conventional shoes. It can be quite fussy but hopefully a new cable will be all that's required.
The car only has one single wire O2 sensor and it has difficulty staying in operating range with the long tube headers and dual exhaust. Since removing the smog pump I had a spare 12v & ground in the engine bay. Running this to a new 3 wire pigtail connector, I then fitted a 3 wire heated O2 sensor. Now the car goes into closed loop at idle in 3 minutes. Perfect! This should help with my emissions, MPG and performance.
My bluetooth OBD-1 scanner has been a great bit of kit. I used it to datalog with a laptop to tune the car when I changed the intake and rockers. Here I'm using it with an app on my phone to see live readouts and watch it go into closed loop as well as the O2 function.
My throttle body has always had play in the shaft, which is a small vacuum leak and it's required a regular spray of WD40 to keep it smooth. On eBay USA I spotted a billet aluminium Holley 58mm throttle body, open box and 50% off. It's a bit step up from the factory 48mm butterflies and a beautiful piece. With the new intake it lines up pretty well already, although when I next have it apart I'll open up those extra 2mm on the side. It'll future proof any engine tweaks later on too.
I bought some bucket seats for a bargain price too, Sparco Torino II's. Not many seats fit in the C4 because the transmission tunnel accounts for half of the cabin and the handbrake is down by the sill. These should have fitted but the recline knob lined up perfectly with my seat belt reel and it was a no-go. I passed on the deal to someone who drove up from London. They were going in a track car replicating one their Dad built before passing away. The chances of finding another set must have been slim and they were thrilled.
[
Then just about ready for MOT I had a setback. After changing the valve cover gasket on the passenger side and tightening the cover down it cracked! I was a bit miffed as I'd hardly snugged them down. I emailed the manufacturer Proform and asked for a replacement, as a new pair would be circa £300 delivered from the USA. I got them second hand with the heads in the summer and now with the roller rocker arms I couldn't go back to factory covers. To their credit, with no receipt they agreed to send me another one if we split postage between us. £32 later I was back in business. Although they sent it via the US postal service so it took a couple of weeks before it even showed up in the tracking at Chicago, but once it was on the system it arrived quickly and marked as a commerical sample worth $1 I paid no duties either. Result!
I didn't like the look of the bucket seats in the car and it made me realise the best course of action is to redo mine and take care of the cracked leather and worn bolster. It's only £400 for a complete carpet set and that had me thinking, if I do both, perhaps I should go for a red interior? It would look great against the black I think! In the summer a shares saving scheme with mature and I could redo the whole interior for about £1500 if I do it myself. It's a temptation and I think it would add so much to the car. It's going to be a bit longer before I can really swing a complete engine build anyway.
The other thing that has happened is my big shed arrived too! In the summer I made the base out of some sleepers and a mere 3 ton of limestone to level it out. A local company supplied the 10x8 pent shed and it's great quality, no chipboard to be seen. At 6'2 there's plenty of headroom for me too. I made a workbench and finally have my tools and stuff organised, it's so nice to have everything in one place for the first time in my motoring life!
(excuse the winter tyres)
And this week 10 years ago I started my first thread on here after buying my white 924 for under a grand.
10 years and 30 countries later here's hoping 2021 will provide more automotive adventures!
Came across a bit of a bargain on eBay and had to go for it!
A complete engine from a 1988 Corvette. Shiply was great for delivery too, ended up costing £60 to get it on a pallet from Watford to Cardiff. The seller had a C4 as well and was very helpful on his end getting it ready to send to me. It has 121k on the clock but has been used with a Procharger and 150 shot of NOS so a bit tired probably! I wanted a later SBC block as it has a 1 piece RMS and hydraulic roller cam as standard. To get one complete was a real bonus, I can sell the heads and intake to recover the cost of purchase. All the ancillary brackets will make useful spares or again have value, along with the bolts and little connectors and sundries. I've been stuck for a couple of days before waiting on electical connectors so having a little supply of my own will be good.
As for plans I have the CNC ported heads in my loft ready, which flow 40% more than the stock aluminum heads. Mated with my aftermarket intake and a suitable cam will see an easy 400bhp. I'm going to strip the block down, hopefully it's still on the original bore. If it checks out okay the idea is to make a 6.3L 383ci stroker. This should make 500bhp a realistic goal, however I'd be happy to settle for a strong and reliable engine rather than a number. For $800 a complete 383 kit can be bought, that's new crank, rods, pistons, bearings and rings. Double that for forged components, although I want a strong NA engine and can't see myself adding a supercharger in the future.
It might be I could get away with a more basic rebuild of the bottom end but I have a feeling for the extra money I'll regret not going for the 6.3L
Yesterday I took the ancilaries off as well as the exhaust manifolds, it's certainly easier to take the plugs out in this situation! The all looked consistent at least. I might do a compression test out of curiosity too.
A complete engine from a 1988 Corvette. Shiply was great for delivery too, ended up costing £60 to get it on a pallet from Watford to Cardiff. The seller had a C4 as well and was very helpful on his end getting it ready to send to me. It has 121k on the clock but has been used with a Procharger and 150 shot of NOS so a bit tired probably! I wanted a later SBC block as it has a 1 piece RMS and hydraulic roller cam as standard. To get one complete was a real bonus, I can sell the heads and intake to recover the cost of purchase. All the ancillary brackets will make useful spares or again have value, along with the bolts and little connectors and sundries. I've been stuck for a couple of days before waiting on electical connectors so having a little supply of my own will be good.
As for plans I have the CNC ported heads in my loft ready, which flow 40% more than the stock aluminum heads. Mated with my aftermarket intake and a suitable cam will see an easy 400bhp. I'm going to strip the block down, hopefully it's still on the original bore. If it checks out okay the idea is to make a 6.3L 383ci stroker. This should make 500bhp a realistic goal, however I'd be happy to settle for a strong and reliable engine rather than a number. For $800 a complete 383 kit can be bought, that's new crank, rods, pistons, bearings and rings. Double that for forged components, although I want a strong NA engine and can't see myself adding a supercharger in the future.
It might be I could get away with a more basic rebuild of the bottom end but I have a feeling for the extra money I'll regret not going for the 6.3L
Yesterday I took the ancilaries off as well as the exhaust manifolds, it's certainly easier to take the plugs out in this situation! The all looked consistent at least. I might do a compression test out of curiosity too.
Such a cool car and those wheels look fantastic with the black centres 
I've also got a workshop for the first time ever (converted a useless downstairs bathroom into a utility room, i.e. washer and dryer in there, so now the old utility room is my workshop
) and have the same shelving unit, and just have a roller cab like yours on its way too 
I didn't do such a tidy job of the 'workbench' though, bought a load of still green slabs of wood that I've screwed on to some legs and then bracketed them all together / to the wall for stability
Absolutely go for the 6.3 stroker route, I'm currently stroking my LS2 to 6.6 litres, no replacement for displacement and all that, and the 383 SBC is a well tried and tested route, and it just sounds cooler, and the 10% extra cubes means you can get away with even more cam without losing out on that all important tyre shredding bottom end torque
As you've got the workshop and a spare engine (such luxury!) may I suggest a go with the engine paint?
I used POR15 Chevy Orange, just used brushes and it came out really well, it's really nice to work with even for a first time painter like me. I can recommend the engine stand from SGS engineering, only £40 and a very solid thing.
I also just noticed the Volvo Nebula wheels in the BG of an earlier shot, I had a blue V70 with those same wheels on, you clearly have excellent taste sir
I've also got a workshop for the first time ever (converted a useless downstairs bathroom into a utility room, i.e. washer and dryer in there, so now the old utility room is my workshop
) and have the same shelving unit, and just have a roller cab like yours on its way too I didn't do such a tidy job of the 'workbench' though, bought a load of still green slabs of wood that I've screwed on to some legs and then bracketed them all together / to the wall for stability
Absolutely go for the 6.3 stroker route, I'm currently stroking my LS2 to 6.6 litres, no replacement for displacement and all that, and the 383 SBC is a well tried and tested route, and it just sounds cooler, and the 10% extra cubes means you can get away with even more cam without losing out on that all important tyre shredding bottom end torque
As you've got the workshop and a spare engine (such luxury!) may I suggest a go with the engine paint?
I used POR15 Chevy Orange, just used brushes and it came out really well, it's really nice to work with even for a first time painter like me. I can recommend the engine stand from SGS engineering, only £40 and a very solid thing.
I also just noticed the Volvo Nebula wheels in the BG of an earlier shot, I had a blue V70 with those same wheels on, you clearly have excellent taste sir
Edited by SturdyHSV on Wednesday 13th January 16:26
SturdyHSV said:
Such a cool car and those wheels look fantastic with the black centres
I've also got a workshop for the first time ever (converted a useless downstairs bathroom into a utility room, i.e. washer and dryer in there, so now the old utility room is my workshop) and have the same shelving unit, and just have a roller cab like yours on its way too
I didn't do such a tidy job of the 'workbench' though, bought a load of still green slabs of wood that I've screwed on to some legs and then bracketed them all together / to the wall for stability
Absolutely go for the 6.3 stroker route, I'm currently stroking my LS2 to 6.6 litres, no replacement for displacement and all that, and the 383 SBC is a well tried and tested route, and it just sounds cooler, and the 10% extra cubes means you can get away with even more cam without losing out on that all important tyre shredding bottom end torque
As you've got the workshop and a spare engine (such luxury!) may I suggest a go with the engine paint?
I used POR15 Chevy Orange, just used brushes and it came out really well, it's really nice to work with even for a first time painter like me. I can recommend the engine stand from SGS engineering, only £40 and a very solid thing.
I also just noticed the Volvo Nebula wheels in the BG of an earlier shot, I had a blue V70 with those same wheels on, you clearly have excellent taste sir
Thanks! I've also got a workshop for the first time ever (converted a useless downstairs bathroom into a utility room, i.e. washer and dryer in there, so now the old utility room is my workshop
) and have the same shelving unit, and just have a roller cab like yours on its way too I didn't do such a tidy job of the 'workbench' though, bought a load of still green slabs of wood that I've screwed on to some legs and then bracketed them all together / to the wall for stability
Absolutely go for the 6.3 stroker route, I'm currently stroking my LS2 to 6.6 litres, no replacement for displacement and all that, and the 383 SBC is a well tried and tested route, and it just sounds cooler, and the 10% extra cubes means you can get away with even more cam without losing out on that all important tyre shredding bottom end torque
As you've got the workshop and a spare engine (such luxury!) may I suggest a go with the engine paint?
I used POR15 Chevy Orange, just used brushes and it came out really well, it's really nice to work with even for a first time painter like me. I can recommend the engine stand from SGS engineering, only £40 and a very solid thing.
I also just noticed the Volvo Nebula wheels in the BG of an earlier shot, I had a blue V70 with those same wheels on, you clearly have excellent taste sir
Edited by SturdyHSV on Wednesday 13th January 16:26
My shed is a bit more susceptible to being freezing cold though!
Yeah I can definitely go for a bigger cam with the 383, my intake is one of the best for SBC EFI and would support about 7k rpm however I'd rather aim for a little over 6k shift point as it gets expensive having a high revving SBC. Plus I'd like to keep the car more driveable with a good shove at lower RPM.
You've done a great job on that block, I'm thinking Chevy Orange and black too. In lockdown I spend my days of Summit Racing trying to decide which valve covers I'll get to complete the look haha. I got a cheap stand from eBay that looks the same, it's more of a I shape though so hopefully will be secure. I'm actually going to be a bit stuck getting the whole block in the shed, the crane is rated for 250kg at full extension, and I'd need more to get it over the step to the shed. An SBC long block weighs about that with aluminium heads. The bare block is closer to 70KG or 100 for a short block, not like a modern LS!
I've got a nice S80 D5 I bought a couple of years ago with 76k miles 1 previous owner. Only paid £1200. It's a very high spec manual. Great daily! I've had an S60 T5, S80 petrol and S60 D5 before as daily bangers too but this one should be for keeps!
FelixP said:
Thanks!
My shed is a bit more susceptible to being freezing cold though!
Yeah I can definitely go for a bigger cam with the 383, my intake is one of the best for SBC EFI and would support about 7k rpm however I'd rather aim for a little over 6k shift point as it gets expensive having a high revving SBC. Plus I'd like to keep the car more driveable with a good shove at lower RPM.
You've done a great job on that block, I'm thinking Chevy Orange and black too. In lockdown I spend my days of Summit Racing trying to decide which valve covers I'll get to complete the look haha. I got a cheap stand from eBay that looks the same, it's more of a I shape though so hopefully will be secure. I'm actually going to be a bit stuck getting the whole block in the shed, the crane is rated for 250kg at full extension, and I'd need more to get it over the step to the shed. An SBC long block weighs about that with aluminium heads. The bare block is closer to 70KG or 100 for a short block, not like a modern LS!
I've got a nice S80 D5 I bought a couple of years ago with 76k miles 1 previous owner. Only paid £1200. It's a very high spec manual. Great daily! I've had an S60 T5, S80 petrol and S60 D5 before as daily bangers too but this one should be for keeps!
Would definitely agree that 6,000 - 6,500 is a much more cost effective target, however alluring 7,000rpm may be (which is what I'm shooting for with the 402, although the brief for the cam spec was more "not to fall completely on its face up to 7,000" as opposed to "scream to 7,000rpm all day long" My shed is a bit more susceptible to being freezing cold though!
Yeah I can definitely go for a bigger cam with the 383, my intake is one of the best for SBC EFI and would support about 7k rpm however I'd rather aim for a little over 6k shift point as it gets expensive having a high revving SBC. Plus I'd like to keep the car more driveable with a good shove at lower RPM.
You've done a great job on that block, I'm thinking Chevy Orange and black too. In lockdown I spend my days of Summit Racing trying to decide which valve covers I'll get to complete the look haha. I got a cheap stand from eBay that looks the same, it's more of a I shape though so hopefully will be secure. I'm actually going to be a bit stuck getting the whole block in the shed, the crane is rated for 250kg at full extension, and I'd need more to get it over the step to the shed. An SBC long block weighs about that with aluminium heads. The bare block is closer to 70KG or 100 for a short block, not like a modern LS!
I've got a nice S80 D5 I bought a couple of years ago with 76k miles 1 previous owner. Only paid £1200. It's a very high spec manual. Great daily! I've had an S60 T5, S80 petrol and S60 D5 before as daily bangers too but this one should be for keeps!
)I only really know much about LS engines, but I'd imagine with the SBC if you set 6,000 as your likely limit for top end I bet you'd be able to have a big hunk of torque everywhere else which will make the car feel properly potent.
I had a similar issue with the step between garage and workshop, I'd stripped a decent amount off so it was just down to the bottom end basically, put block on engine stand in the garage, then just lifted one end of the stand onto the step and bullied the back of up pivoting it over the leg of the engine lift
I say bullied, it was actually pretty light all things considered, benefits of an aluminium block I suppose. Could you put the crane the shed and then perhaps with a longer chain, well, not swing, but, you know, attach the motor up and keep a bit of a hold on it whilst a helpful assistant pumps the crane up? What could possibly go wrong
Good news! I have a new MOT with no advisories.
I took it to the garage where I used to take my little white 924 back in the day and all my little fixes paid off. It's a great relief to be able to tax and drive it again now, I forgot how much fun it was after 6 months but soon got back into the swing of it!
Those wheels still looking lovely after a year of being outside! Can highly recommend the company that did them.
I've been wanting to upgrade my brakes, partly for more bling now that I have the 18” wheels and I jumped on a few bargains. A pair of Wilwood 2 piece discs for the rear from a show car for half price. They've done so few miles most of the coating is still on the discs! I was considering saving up for a 6 pot Wilwood setup but I had been watching a set of 6 pot C6 Z06 calipers on eBay for a while. I messaged the seller asking if he'd take £250 for the fronts (a new set is about £550 landed from the USA) and he accepted my offer. They're a bit rough but I figure I can get them rebuilt and still come out ahead by a decent amount. They take 14” front discs, a pair of OEM is £150 all in or I could get some nice two piece ones to match the rear and help unsprung weight. I can get an adaptor bracket and they'll mount straight up to my factory spindle. I have an aftermarket brake bias spring to install which will restore more rear bias as well. The calipers use padlets (although 1 piece pads are available) and don't have the ultimate reputation but they'll come in about £1000 cheaper than the Wilwood setup.
What colour to go for though? I think hot pink would look good against the black and very 80's!
On another C4, this is a fantastic build with an LS engine and all sorts of nice bits. Those coilovers and adjustable control arms look tasty!
The two piece Wilwood rears to suit the factory caliper. The rear brake caliper doubles as the handbrake, there's not a traditional shoe. This makes changing to aftermarket calipers expensive, you need a dedicated parking brake or a £600+ hub which uses the C5 handbrake.
The first priority is the diff, which has had a steady leak for sometime. I have a complete SKF bearing set to go in and my local classic friendly mechanic will sort that out at the end of the month. At the same time the half shafts will get new u-joints and poly diff mounts will be fitted.
I spent an afternoon stripping down the spare engine. I've sold the heads, intake and some other bits and now I'm a couple hundred up on the purchase price and still have the complete short block and accessory belt brackets!
Hopefully the last time I take a TPI intake apart, there's different sized torx bolts holding in the top plenum, runners and then base.
The lifter valley looks clean, no gunky old oil evident.
Heads off, bores look good
In fact they're still factory bore! This is great news as the engine in my car is already .030” over. There's no ridge at the top of the bore either.
The crank doesn't look that bad either.
And the block is now bare.
I'm contemplating building up a budget factory stroke engine this winter with my friend which will work well with my nice aftermarket heads. I got a quote of £8k to machine and assemble a 383 which seemed ludicrous to me, especially with no warranty. By the time a stronger clutch and flywheel are added, aftermarket ECU etc the cost spirals. If I could reuse the crank and rods and get some flat top pistons I should be good to go and I'll be able to retain the factory clutch. With a suitable cam the engine would still be north of 400bhp and would owe me around £2k instead. I can get very nice valve train components, sump etc so if I did go to a 383 in the future all of my parts would still be useful.
I took it to the garage where I used to take my little white 924 back in the day and all my little fixes paid off. It's a great relief to be able to tax and drive it again now, I forgot how much fun it was after 6 months but soon got back into the swing of it!
Those wheels still looking lovely after a year of being outside! Can highly recommend the company that did them.
I've been wanting to upgrade my brakes, partly for more bling now that I have the 18” wheels and I jumped on a few bargains. A pair of Wilwood 2 piece discs for the rear from a show car for half price. They've done so few miles most of the coating is still on the discs! I was considering saving up for a 6 pot Wilwood setup but I had been watching a set of 6 pot C6 Z06 calipers on eBay for a while. I messaged the seller asking if he'd take £250 for the fronts (a new set is about £550 landed from the USA) and he accepted my offer. They're a bit rough but I figure I can get them rebuilt and still come out ahead by a decent amount. They take 14” front discs, a pair of OEM is £150 all in or I could get some nice two piece ones to match the rear and help unsprung weight. I can get an adaptor bracket and they'll mount straight up to my factory spindle. I have an aftermarket brake bias spring to install which will restore more rear bias as well. The calipers use padlets (although 1 piece pads are available) and don't have the ultimate reputation but they'll come in about £1000 cheaper than the Wilwood setup.
What colour to go for though? I think hot pink would look good against the black and very 80's!
On another C4, this is a fantastic build with an LS engine and all sorts of nice bits. Those coilovers and adjustable control arms look tasty!
The two piece Wilwood rears to suit the factory caliper. The rear brake caliper doubles as the handbrake, there's not a traditional shoe. This makes changing to aftermarket calipers expensive, you need a dedicated parking brake or a £600+ hub which uses the C5 handbrake.
The first priority is the diff, which has had a steady leak for sometime. I have a complete SKF bearing set to go in and my local classic friendly mechanic will sort that out at the end of the month. At the same time the half shafts will get new u-joints and poly diff mounts will be fitted.
I spent an afternoon stripping down the spare engine. I've sold the heads, intake and some other bits and now I'm a couple hundred up on the purchase price and still have the complete short block and accessory belt brackets!
Hopefully the last time I take a TPI intake apart, there's different sized torx bolts holding in the top plenum, runners and then base.
The lifter valley looks clean, no gunky old oil evident.
Heads off, bores look good
In fact they're still factory bore! This is great news as the engine in my car is already .030” over. There's no ridge at the top of the bore either.
The crank doesn't look that bad either.
And the block is now bare.
I'm contemplating building up a budget factory stroke engine this winter with my friend which will work well with my nice aftermarket heads. I got a quote of £8k to machine and assemble a 383 which seemed ludicrous to me, especially with no warranty. By the time a stronger clutch and flywheel are added, aftermarket ECU etc the cost spirals. If I could reuse the crank and rods and get some flat top pistons I should be good to go and I'll be able to retain the factory clutch. With a suitable cam the engine would still be north of 400bhp and would owe me around £2k instead. I can get very nice valve train components, sump etc so if I did go to a 383 in the future all of my parts would still be useful.
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