1989 Corvette C4 6 Speed Manual
Discussion
I got lucky and found some factory aluminium heads the same as mine with Comp roller tip rockers for £600. I bought these and sold my old ones as spares for £300, unsure if they were cracked or warped. I then hit a snag when I found one of the valve springs was missing and I'd sent my old heads to a friend of a friend in Stockholm already! The seller was kind enough to refund me £40 and I put it towards some new Comp springs. Perhaps a worthwhile change anyway since I wasn't sure of the mileage the old ones had and I would be revving the car higher than before. This deepened my work to lapping the valves, changing the seals and fitting the springs. So much for just plonking a set of heads on. I was going a bit crazy wondering how clean the deck and heads had to be or what I could clean them with, similar to when you ask Google about a medical problem. In the end I thought it's good enough, I'll just go for it! Excuse the "garden" I was planning for it to be my main project before my car had other plans!
Fitting the heads was a work out, with 34 bolts to torque in order to 70ft lbs in 4 sequences! For the intake I bought 12 new cap head bolts and it was a breeze to fit compared to the factory intake, which is 4 pieces and a medley of 36 torx bolts varying in size. The distributor dropped in and now it was a case of routing the electrical wires and vac lines. I relocated the manifold air temperature sensor to the intake, removed the EGR solenoid and vacuum lines (no provision with new intake) and got rid of the non-functioning cruise control. This got rid of a huge amount of electrical connectors and vac hoses. The air con wasn't working either (I replaced the seals to no success, only the expensive bits were left to change) and since I'd never had it, that was removed too. I kept the bracket since the belt tensioner mounts to it and used the space to fit a catch can.
Heads on:
Intake on and snazzy new valve covers mocked up:
Fitting the heads was a work out, with 34 bolts to torque in order to 70ft lbs in 4 sequences! For the intake I bought 12 new cap head bolts and it was a breeze to fit compared to the factory intake, which is 4 pieces and a medley of 36 torx bolts varying in size. The distributor dropped in and now it was a case of routing the electrical wires and vac lines. I relocated the manifold air temperature sensor to the intake, removed the EGR solenoid and vacuum lines (no provision with new intake) and got rid of the non-functioning cruise control. This got rid of a huge amount of electrical connectors and vac hoses. The air con wasn't working either (I replaced the seals to no success, only the expensive bits were left to change) and since I'd never had it, that was removed too. I kept the bracket since the belt tensioner mounts to it and used the space to fit a catch can.
Heads on:
Intake on and snazzy new valve covers mocked up:
Almost complete apart from braided hoses for PCV and catch can and plug wire routing
I chased a couple of dumb problems initially, an intermittent injector clip/pigtail and a loose pcv connection. A couple of essential food shops and I'm confident enough to drive it to work. The intake has transformed the car for sure. The low peaky torque is gone, but it doesn't fall off a cliff at a little over 4000rpm now. My safe rev limit is going to be 6000rpm but it pulls well to 5600 with the stock cam and heads. Now you can leave it in 3rd gear and it will pull like a train. Without that crazy 370ftlbs low in the rev range it's much more forgiving to get on the throttle in a turn and power out of it.
My next step is to datalog and then burn a new chip for it. A chap in the states is going to look at my datalogs and send me the maps, then I can use the chip burner I bought to apply the changes. Taking into account the long tube headers and other tweaks I've made, I'd estimate the power to be around 320bhp/350ft, which is somewhere between the LT1 and LS1. With my new found confidence I'd like to change the cam in the winter if I haven't blown it up by then! Should I fit my nice heads with a suitable cam I'll easily pass 400bhp at the crank which is a fun prospect!
Now my next question, should I fit these NOS Grand Sport arch flares? I could run a more neutal camber with them or sell them for a good price to fund new seat upholstery, which lets the car down a bit at the moment.
Without:
With:
I chased a couple of dumb problems initially, an intermittent injector clip/pigtail and a loose pcv connection. A couple of essential food shops and I'm confident enough to drive it to work. The intake has transformed the car for sure. The low peaky torque is gone, but it doesn't fall off a cliff at a little over 4000rpm now. My safe rev limit is going to be 6000rpm but it pulls well to 5600 with the stock cam and heads. Now you can leave it in 3rd gear and it will pull like a train. Without that crazy 370ftlbs low in the rev range it's much more forgiving to get on the throttle in a turn and power out of it.
My next step is to datalog and then burn a new chip for it. A chap in the states is going to look at my datalogs and send me the maps, then I can use the chip burner I bought to apply the changes. Taking into account the long tube headers and other tweaks I've made, I'd estimate the power to be around 320bhp/350ft, which is somewhere between the LT1 and LS1. With my new found confidence I'd like to change the cam in the winter if I haven't blown it up by then! Should I fit my nice heads with a suitable cam I'll easily pass 400bhp at the crank which is a fun prospect!
Now my next question, should I fit these NOS Grand Sport arch flares? I could run a more neutal camber with them or sell them for a good price to fund new seat upholstery, which lets the car down a bit at the moment.
Without:
With:
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
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.
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!
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.
Haha yes I've spent many hours looking at all of the options. When I take the block and rotating assembly to the machine shop I'll see what the score is. If it's not much more to go 383 of course I will go for it. I just can't justify spending £8k on it. It's £2700 for a 383 short block here in the UK with a similar spec, so I expected it would be less cost considering I'm supplying a good block.
Thanks Geraint! The older owner has retired now I guess.
SturdyHSV - That is true, although I'm not lugging as much weight as around
Monsterlime - I'm no expert but it seems to me that a small block chevy is cheaper to build and will take more power. When I do build the replacement engine the one in my car will be available
What about an LS swap? It would keep the weight down? Have a look on Summit Racing to see how affordable they are...
SturdyHSV - That is true, although I'm not lugging as much weight as around
Monsterlime - I'm no expert but it seems to me that a small block chevy is cheaper to build and will take more power. When I do build the replacement engine the one in my car will be available
What about an LS swap? It would keep the weight down? Have a look on Summit Racing to see how affordable they are...Time for a little update again.
The adaptors came for the C6 Z06 brakes along with everything to rebuild them. I bolted them up to test fit and sadly they hit the spokes of the wheel before it got anywhere near the hub. I borrowed some spacers from a friend but it needed 1 1/4” to clear the caliper and that was obviously a no go. If I didn't have the Speedlines put together then perhaps I would have gone for a more big brake friendly wheel but I love the deep dish and this time it's form over function. I sold on the brakes and rebuild parts for what they owed me in short time. I still have the adaptors, I could get base C6 brakes which are apparently still a decent improvement over the C4 13” brakes. With a different abutment bracket you can have 13.4” discs. I would retain the stock rear brakes too so there would be no need for an expensive adaptor on the rear.
The C6Z calipers
Always neat to see how dainty the aluminium wishbones are on a C4
The C6 base brakes by comparison, with some nice coilovers in place of the leaf spring too.
The Pirelli P Zero tyres on the rear were already down to the wear bars (oops, that's only about 7 months driving) and I had bought older DOT code ones from eBay. To be honest, they were dire in the wet and I was looking to go to a slightly narrower tyre to see if I could run less rear camber. I found a great deal on some 295/35/18 Michelin Pilot Super Sports and had those fitted. As the car was lowered to the ground there was a bit of an oh well moment, they seemed to be just as wide as the 315/30 pirellis! Driving home however the traction was very impressive. So much so that I thought it was best to get the diff sorted at last, before it went bang!
Newport transporter bridge on the way home
I ordered an SKF complete rebuild kit for the Dana 44HD diff along with poly mounts for the “batwing” diff mount. Also on the list were new UJ's for the half shafts and poly engine mounts to hopefully eliminate the movement in the gear stick. The diff is connected with a C beam a bit like an MX5 so the drivetrain is only mounted by 2 points on the engine and 2 on the diff, there's no gearbox mount. By having both of these poly I hoped I would eliminate any play and really firm things up. The other item I had to fit were some nice ceramic coated long tube headers to replace the cheap ones I bought first time around. My usual guy who does all the big horrible jobs was busy and it was agreed I'd go somewhere else. I tried a different garage which seemed to have a good reputation and plenty of interesting cars in always on their instagram account. Well, it went smooth as a hedgehog. It took them 2 weeks to even start and 8 weeks and 16hrs labour later my car was back. I'd missed a big portion of summer. They couldn't get the headers to fit, the starter interfered with them. I dropped off an aftermarket mini starter which is clockable but that wouldn't fit either apparently so it was back to the original starter and headers. When I eventually got the car back it pulled to the side, well one tyre was on 10psi! It got a bit hot on the way home. They'd removed a coolant sensor from the cylinder head and left the radiator half empty and overflow bone dry. Finally the starter motor struggled, I put a new battery on but no change. I got petrol and the car wouldn't even start. I took a look underneath to see the wiring against the headers. Unbelievable!! I told them I'd drop it off my next day off for them to sort. Well the owner wasn't even there at the time and the mechanic seemed surprised to see me. I explained the issues and he seemed perplexed when I turned the car off and it wouldn't even crank from the heat soak, loose connection, improper shimming etc. Later that day I called by to pick it up, where it obviously hadn't moved and they offered to fit a new starter for free. I just drove off. There was no problem with it before they touched it and after the timescale for such shoddy work I wouldn't leave anything with them again. If it was a back street garage where you paid cash for a day at a time I would be a little more patient but this was a professional outfit with £70ph labour rates. Dire. I'm just hoping the diff rebuild turns out to last but if they can't shim a starter and think wires should go next to hot manifolds I'm not filled with confidence.
I'm going to take it elsewhere to get the starter fitted properly and then call by with the invoice for them to pay. After that I'll post on an honest review on the trusted garages website they put on their paperwork.
In the meantime I got a bargain with some new seats. The seat foam alone is $360 and the covers about $700 before postage and duty. I snapped up a set from Canada for £450 all in. I got red ones as I wanted to change the interior and always wished it was the flame red on black. With the amount I saved on the seats I could get the carpets and other little bits of trim. Only one problem when the seats arrived, I got two different types! One sports seat (fully adjustable) and one standard seat (100% leather whereas I opted for vinyl on the sports seats) Luckily it was ebay and I used Paypal so the seller would have to sort it out. I said I'd be happy to return them for a refund (but he would lose postage costs both ways, pretty much what he sold the seats for) or he could send me the missing sports seat. I said I'd be happy to return the other one at his cost, but again that would be expensive so he just told me to keep it. A pair of leather standard seats is $1300! I promptly put the spare seat on eBay and if it sells I'll recoup the cost of the seats. Since the drivers seat is always first to wear I'm confident someone will buy one for half the price.
I'm going to order up the other items to redo the interior now, I'm going to change the centre console to red, red carpets and dye my door cards black since they're in good condition and I think it might be too much red otherwise. It should flow nicely with the black dash too then and set it apart from the factory colour options.
I met up with my friend Vesa and his LT1 auto C4. His car is a later model with 300bhp factory whereas mine left with 250. With my modifications though I imagine it's an easy 300bhp now. We drove over the Bwlch and Rhigos mountains. My car feels very tight now, really drives the best it ever has.
The adaptors came for the C6 Z06 brakes along with everything to rebuild them. I bolted them up to test fit and sadly they hit the spokes of the wheel before it got anywhere near the hub. I borrowed some spacers from a friend but it needed 1 1/4” to clear the caliper and that was obviously a no go. If I didn't have the Speedlines put together then perhaps I would have gone for a more big brake friendly wheel but I love the deep dish and this time it's form over function. I sold on the brakes and rebuild parts for what they owed me in short time. I still have the adaptors, I could get base C6 brakes which are apparently still a decent improvement over the C4 13” brakes. With a different abutment bracket you can have 13.4” discs. I would retain the stock rear brakes too so there would be no need for an expensive adaptor on the rear.
The C6Z calipers
Always neat to see how dainty the aluminium wishbones are on a C4
The C6 base brakes by comparison, with some nice coilovers in place of the leaf spring too.
The Pirelli P Zero tyres on the rear were already down to the wear bars (oops, that's only about 7 months driving) and I had bought older DOT code ones from eBay. To be honest, they were dire in the wet and I was looking to go to a slightly narrower tyre to see if I could run less rear camber. I found a great deal on some 295/35/18 Michelin Pilot Super Sports and had those fitted. As the car was lowered to the ground there was a bit of an oh well moment, they seemed to be just as wide as the 315/30 pirellis! Driving home however the traction was very impressive. So much so that I thought it was best to get the diff sorted at last, before it went bang!
Newport transporter bridge on the way home
I ordered an SKF complete rebuild kit for the Dana 44HD diff along with poly mounts for the “batwing” diff mount. Also on the list were new UJ's for the half shafts and poly engine mounts to hopefully eliminate the movement in the gear stick. The diff is connected with a C beam a bit like an MX5 so the drivetrain is only mounted by 2 points on the engine and 2 on the diff, there's no gearbox mount. By having both of these poly I hoped I would eliminate any play and really firm things up. The other item I had to fit were some nice ceramic coated long tube headers to replace the cheap ones I bought first time around. My usual guy who does all the big horrible jobs was busy and it was agreed I'd go somewhere else. I tried a different garage which seemed to have a good reputation and plenty of interesting cars in always on their instagram account. Well, it went smooth as a hedgehog. It took them 2 weeks to even start and 8 weeks and 16hrs labour later my car was back. I'd missed a big portion of summer. They couldn't get the headers to fit, the starter interfered with them. I dropped off an aftermarket mini starter which is clockable but that wouldn't fit either apparently so it was back to the original starter and headers. When I eventually got the car back it pulled to the side, well one tyre was on 10psi! It got a bit hot on the way home. They'd removed a coolant sensor from the cylinder head and left the radiator half empty and overflow bone dry. Finally the starter motor struggled, I put a new battery on but no change. I got petrol and the car wouldn't even start. I took a look underneath to see the wiring against the headers. Unbelievable!! I told them I'd drop it off my next day off for them to sort. Well the owner wasn't even there at the time and the mechanic seemed surprised to see me. I explained the issues and he seemed perplexed when I turned the car off and it wouldn't even crank from the heat soak, loose connection, improper shimming etc. Later that day I called by to pick it up, where it obviously hadn't moved and they offered to fit a new starter for free. I just drove off. There was no problem with it before they touched it and after the timescale for such shoddy work I wouldn't leave anything with them again. If it was a back street garage where you paid cash for a day at a time I would be a little more patient but this was a professional outfit with £70ph labour rates. Dire. I'm just hoping the diff rebuild turns out to last but if they can't shim a starter and think wires should go next to hot manifolds I'm not filled with confidence.
I'm going to take it elsewhere to get the starter fitted properly and then call by with the invoice for them to pay. After that I'll post on an honest review on the trusted garages website they put on their paperwork.
In the meantime I got a bargain with some new seats. The seat foam alone is $360 and the covers about $700 before postage and duty. I snapped up a set from Canada for £450 all in. I got red ones as I wanted to change the interior and always wished it was the flame red on black. With the amount I saved on the seats I could get the carpets and other little bits of trim. Only one problem when the seats arrived, I got two different types! One sports seat (fully adjustable) and one standard seat (100% leather whereas I opted for vinyl on the sports seats) Luckily it was ebay and I used Paypal so the seller would have to sort it out. I said I'd be happy to return them for a refund (but he would lose postage costs both ways, pretty much what he sold the seats for) or he could send me the missing sports seat. I said I'd be happy to return the other one at his cost, but again that would be expensive so he just told me to keep it. A pair of leather standard seats is $1300! I promptly put the spare seat on eBay and if it sells I'll recoup the cost of the seats. Since the drivers seat is always first to wear I'm confident someone will buy one for half the price.
I'm going to order up the other items to redo the interior now, I'm going to change the centre console to red, red carpets and dye my door cards black since they're in good condition and I think it might be too much red otherwise. It should flow nicely with the black dash too then and set it apart from the factory colour options.
I met up with my friend Vesa and his LT1 auto C4. His car is a later model with 300bhp factory whereas mine left with 250. With my modifications though I imagine it's an easy 300bhp now. We drove over the Bwlch and Rhigos mountains. My car feels very tight now, really drives the best it ever has.
Wow can't believe it has been a year since I wrote about this! Just been back through my photos to remind myself of the woes... Actually it's been nice to look back and realise I've actually managed to have a few adventures this year already!
Managed to finally find an “upper fender liner” in the UK so postage was reasonable. It's always had a chunk missing on this side which has irritated me. Nice quick fix.
Also in the depths of covid I thought I'd keep the car forever and so splashed out on the last piece of the puzzle (at the time) and bought a complete new red interior and lots of other trim pieces. Replaced the badges with the black version from 92-96, expansion tank & front splitter. The splitter was a chore, every bolt was rusted and rounded. It took all afternoon.
Met up with Geraint and his MX5 for a catch-up
And then obviously because I spent thousands on new interior parts everything else started playing up. The heater core went. A horrible job in most cars, the C4 being no exception. One simple DIY guide online said 1. Drive heater core into garage. 2. Remove car. They weren't far off.
Then a couple of weeks later the car cut out and would flood the engine. Strange. Doing some investigation I found that one bank of injectors were shorted out so would stay open. Just had to find the wire. Dash back apart...
I lost the wire somewhere from the fuse panel to the engine bay and a friend recommended an auto electrician to help out. We ended up running a new wire from the injectors to the fuse panel and cutting the old one after finding it out of the firewall.
Then a few weeks of just using it all the time just because. It's a riot in grotty winter weather.
Went to the Bristol Queens Square meet in January
Bought a pressure washer from a mate in work for £20
Met up with another local friend who got his ridiculous G40 supercharged MK1 Polo back on the road
Then of course the clutch release bearing went again. I had it changed 5 years ago but they're all made in China and rubbish now. Could last 5 minutes, could last 5 years. So whilst I pondered a solution I cracked on with stripping out the interior. I did test fit the red seats first to boost my mood
The lovely thing about a plastic car is it's actually quite easy to rip everything out from inside and I was pleased to see the floors were all in good condition, no cracks or stray jacking incidents. I put some modern insulation down before replacing the OEM jute padding.
I did some of the rear carpets
And the front larger pieces but left the door cards and sills due to the complexity.
The carpet had a preformed plastic backing so it was roughly the proper shape but still needed to settle after being in the box for ages. Lots of trimming too.
Then I took the C6 too see a mate who bought a farm in Llandovery and didn't believe him when he said the lanes to his house wouldn't suit the car. I think I cut the grass in the centre of the road all the way up there.
Lovely drive back though through Brecon
Next up a little group trip to Spa
Yours truly at my regular place
We had parking right inside Eau Rouge! Everyone else bought slow sensible cars apart from the TVR
Saw a couple of ZR1s, infact mine was the only peasant model C6 there!
Had a great French lunch on the picnic table
Back in Vianden. Luxembourg is great, well worth a visit if you're nearby.
Last night we stayed in a chateau, less than £100 a night!
Another shift cycle in the summer. 5Am commutes are great this time of year, hardly any traffic and decent A roads to myself
Made a new friend in Cardiff by the Museum. Awesome widebody SWB 300ZX
Went to some more American meet ups with my friend Mark & his big block 4 speed Camaro, mega car this!
Then more procrastination with the C4. Went to visit a friend staying in Earls Court before they went home to Paraguay. C6 in central London was a bit interesting, wide with awful visibility at junctions because of the huge B pillar from the cloth roof. Sounded awesome though!
From there I went to visit a friend who moved to France. Gorgeous house for the price of a nice flat in Cardiff!
Peaceful toll roads in France!
Went to a great museum near Rennes, Manoir de l'Automobile. Highly recommended and not far from Le Mans
Coming back on the ferry with Le Mans classic traffic!
Then when I got home I still had a week off so felt all motivated to finish the C4. Came out brilliantly I think! I opted to paint the door cards as new ones are about £1k to the door and mine were in good condition, just the wrong colour! A £10 can of Halfords flexible vinyl spray worked really well and I wish I'd repainted other plastics with it rather than buying black versions.
I replaced lots of other little bits of trim and all the screws etc as well.
As for the clutch, an OEM one is £300 or an aftermarket hydraulic kit was £1100. Since the interior came out so well I raided the piggybank for the hydraulic one. It'll future proof the car and save having the job done again. It also means getting rid of the original dual mass flywheel that's no longer available, the clutch slave, fork and troublesome throw out bearing. Hopefully that'll arrive and be sorted by the start of August, then I'm planning to go to Radwood UK again!
Managed to finally find an “upper fender liner” in the UK so postage was reasonable. It's always had a chunk missing on this side which has irritated me. Nice quick fix.
Also in the depths of covid I thought I'd keep the car forever and so splashed out on the last piece of the puzzle (at the time) and bought a complete new red interior and lots of other trim pieces. Replaced the badges with the black version from 92-96, expansion tank & front splitter. The splitter was a chore, every bolt was rusted and rounded. It took all afternoon.
Met up with Geraint and his MX5 for a catch-up
And then obviously because I spent thousands on new interior parts everything else started playing up. The heater core went. A horrible job in most cars, the C4 being no exception. One simple DIY guide online said 1. Drive heater core into garage. 2. Remove car. They weren't far off.
Then a couple of weeks later the car cut out and would flood the engine. Strange. Doing some investigation I found that one bank of injectors were shorted out so would stay open. Just had to find the wire. Dash back apart...
I lost the wire somewhere from the fuse panel to the engine bay and a friend recommended an auto electrician to help out. We ended up running a new wire from the injectors to the fuse panel and cutting the old one after finding it out of the firewall.
Then a few weeks of just using it all the time just because. It's a riot in grotty winter weather.
Went to the Bristol Queens Square meet in January
Bought a pressure washer from a mate in work for £20
Met up with another local friend who got his ridiculous G40 supercharged MK1 Polo back on the road
Then of course the clutch release bearing went again. I had it changed 5 years ago but they're all made in China and rubbish now. Could last 5 minutes, could last 5 years. So whilst I pondered a solution I cracked on with stripping out the interior. I did test fit the red seats first to boost my mood
The lovely thing about a plastic car is it's actually quite easy to rip everything out from inside and I was pleased to see the floors were all in good condition, no cracks or stray jacking incidents. I put some modern insulation down before replacing the OEM jute padding.
I did some of the rear carpets
And the front larger pieces but left the door cards and sills due to the complexity.
The carpet had a preformed plastic backing so it was roughly the proper shape but still needed to settle after being in the box for ages. Lots of trimming too.
Then I took the C6 too see a mate who bought a farm in Llandovery and didn't believe him when he said the lanes to his house wouldn't suit the car. I think I cut the grass in the centre of the road all the way up there.
Lovely drive back though through Brecon
Next up a little group trip to Spa
Yours truly at my regular place
We had parking right inside Eau Rouge! Everyone else bought slow sensible cars apart from the TVR
Saw a couple of ZR1s, infact mine was the only peasant model C6 there!
Had a great French lunch on the picnic table
Back in Vianden. Luxembourg is great, well worth a visit if you're nearby.
Last night we stayed in a chateau, less than £100 a night!
Another shift cycle in the summer. 5Am commutes are great this time of year, hardly any traffic and decent A roads to myself
Made a new friend in Cardiff by the Museum. Awesome widebody SWB 300ZX
Went to some more American meet ups with my friend Mark & his big block 4 speed Camaro, mega car this!
Then more procrastination with the C4. Went to visit a friend staying in Earls Court before they went home to Paraguay. C6 in central London was a bit interesting, wide with awful visibility at junctions because of the huge B pillar from the cloth roof. Sounded awesome though!
From there I went to visit a friend who moved to France. Gorgeous house for the price of a nice flat in Cardiff!
Peaceful toll roads in France!
Went to a great museum near Rennes, Manoir de l'Automobile. Highly recommended and not far from Le Mans
Coming back on the ferry with Le Mans classic traffic!
Then when I got home I still had a week off so felt all motivated to finish the C4. Came out brilliantly I think! I opted to paint the door cards as new ones are about £1k to the door and mine were in good condition, just the wrong colour! A £10 can of Halfords flexible vinyl spray worked really well and I wish I'd repainted other plastics with it rather than buying black versions.
I replaced lots of other little bits of trim and all the screws etc as well.
As for the clutch, an OEM one is £300 or an aftermarket hydraulic kit was £1100. Since the interior came out so well I raided the piggybank for the hydraulic one. It'll future proof the car and save having the job done again. It also means getting rid of the original dual mass flywheel that's no longer available, the clutch slave, fork and troublesome throw out bearing. Hopefully that'll arrive and be sorted by the start of August, then I'm planning to go to Radwood UK again!
My car isn't an LT1, it's a TPI car. However I changed the intake to the TPIS Miniram, which GM then based the design of the LT1 on. That makes a huge difference to the powerband, I haven't really lost anything low down but gained another 1000rpm at the top even with the stock cam. It's also much easier to R&R being a single piece. I imagine it would work very nice with a Procharger too.
https://tpis.com/products/1_man551?variant=2834255...
The LS has a different firing order to the small block chevy and you notice that on start up. It sounds a bit more racy somehow. I was surprised how eager the LS2 is to rev, I hang it out over 6k rpm often. Perhaps the character of the C4 will change with a lightweight flyweel though. The LS2 in the current tune probably has about 50% more power than the SBC in the C4. Although with a 6.3L stroker kit, decent heads & cam to suit it would match it no problem.
https://tpis.com/products/1_man551?variant=2834255...
The LS has a different firing order to the small block chevy and you notice that on start up. It sounds a bit more racy somehow. I was surprised how eager the LS2 is to rev, I hang it out over 6k rpm often. Perhaps the character of the C4 will change with a lightweight flyweel though. The LS2 in the current tune probably has about 50% more power than the SBC in the C4. Although with a 6.3L stroker kit, decent heads & cam to suit it would match it no problem.
If you want to keep the TPI look I would go for the First intake then:
https://firstfuelinjection.com/
It's much bigger than the TPI & aftermarket bases & runners.
I want to get rid of the factory clutch arrangement. None of the throw out bearings are good quality now, so as soon as you replace them you're on borrowed time. The OEM dual mass helps to quieten the ZF6 gearbox but you can get a shim kit to help when using a lighter single piece flywheel. Since I'll have to get the gearbox out to change the throw out bearing, I'd rather just replace the whole lot with something much better engineered and not have to worry about it again.
https://firstfuelinjection.com/
It's much bigger than the TPI & aftermarket bases & runners.
I want to get rid of the factory clutch arrangement. None of the throw out bearings are good quality now, so as soon as you replace them you're on borrowed time. The OEM dual mass helps to quieten the ZF6 gearbox but you can get a shim kit to help when using a lighter single piece flywheel. Since I'll have to get the gearbox out to change the throw out bearing, I'd rather just replace the whole lot with something much better engineered and not have to worry about it again.
I went for the Ram hydraulic conversion with lightweight flywheel. Gave the car a quick clean up after sitting for ages. It fired straight up and runs nicely, off to get the clutch fitted and an MOT now. Looking unlikely I'll have it for Radwood this weekend but it was great to see it out of the car port for the first time in months and can't wait to get it back already!
I've just had a fun weekend with the C4 back on the road so thought I'd update this thread a bit.
The clutch replacement went okay to begin with. The old dual mass flywheel, which is unobtanium was well within spec so I sold it to a chap in Malta with a Callway twin turbo C4 to put on the shelf in case he needs it. The release bearing failed in a similar way to last time. So frustrating that a cheap part lets down the whole setup. You can't buy a quality one and even if you buy an expensive clutch/flywheel kit it still has the rubbish bearing.
The black tag German made ZF 6 box. This has different gear angles compared to the later blue tag USA made ones and was rated at 500ftlbs @ 50% capacity. Plenty of guys in the USA are putting double that through them!
Once it was fitted I drove the car around the yard and all seemed good. It went off to be MOT'd which it passed with flying colours and then I went to pick it up. Went to the petrol station obviously.
Then a few miles later the pedal went to the floor. One of the new hydraulic lines had split, inside the bell housing. My friend who fitted it turned up within about 30 minutes with a trailer to take it back. Much piss taking ensued as another friend going the other way spotted me and sent a photo to prove it. Then in work the next day a colleague who lives nearby came into work and said “you'll never guess who I saw yesterday on the A470?” to which everyone was in hysterics. A few days later it was back again with a better line made up.
I met up with some mates in Cardiff and we went for a little evening cruise down to the bay. Love the variety of old junk!
At Cowbridge cars & coffee I met up with another local C4 owner and then we both got out done when this turned up!
Then I went off to South America for a couple of weeks, which was fantastic. Had to lookout for Jaguars at the side of the road in Argentina, not the type with dodgy electrics either!
Then I got told off in Paraguay.
Back home the C4 had a niggly running issue, it was randomly cutting out but would then turn over really well with spark and fuel but not start for a bit. There didn't seem to be any pattern, hot, cold, under load, coasting etc. So I SORN'ed it.
I met up with Geraint also of PH with his MX5 although I was using the C6 a lot since it worked. Funny seeing the two cabrios together. I went to an American car meetup at Whocult doughnuts too and saw another C6 Z51 6 speed in Le Mans blue, apart from this one was a coupe. I'd seen it advertised before, it's a very nice car! Vesa also came to visit to have a go driving the C6. For an afternoon there was double trouble in my car port!
Dave (owner of Clive the Corvette) had asked me at the end of last year if I wanted to drive to the Sahara desert so I left the C4 behind once more. We had an incredible adventure and made it to the desert mostly drama free.
I helped out with the ubiquitous African detailing grit applicator.
Then I got told off again.
Back home again at the end of last month and with another week off coming up I thought I'd revisit the C4. I'm not sure if it's the demographic but there's still a busy forum that's good for advice. I thought I'd start with simple things first, I swapped the ECU for another reman one I'd bought before just because they're only about £80 and I thought it would be a useful for troubleshooting sometime. I swapped in my custom tune on the piggyback chip. The other thing I checked were the grounds on the bell housing These would have been disturbed during the clutch job. I managed to get another ½ turn on the bolt. It's funny working on it again, I've had it so long I don't need to look at any manuals and know what size the bolts are, if they're imperial or metric and so on. I'll have owned it 7 years next week! With that work done on Friday I taxed it! A friend came over in his Polo MK1 with a G40 1.3L supercharged swap to follow me to get some coffee and possibly help if I broke down. The car was a bit upset to begin with but a tank of fresh fuel helped. We checked out a new coffee shop in time to notice a leaky thermostat housing. Pretty positive though and it wasn't doing any of the funky things before!
Yesterday I redid the thermostat seal. I took the thermostat neck and moved it over some sandpaper on a piece of glass (okay my coffee table) to make sure it was a nice flat surface. Then a good dose of the Right Stuff sealant and I refitted it. I've used this sealant in a few places on the car. It's excellent. Comes in a can with a trigger, sets in minutes and then the car is ready to go. It's a bit expensive here but absolutely worth it since it just works.
This morning I went to the Whocult meetup again in the C4. Made it there no problem and getting more confident with it I decided I'd take it up to Cheltenham this afternoon to meet with family for a meal. I felt like this would be a good test, if it can do that it's just going to be fine. Happily I got there and back just fine, making good progress and still getting 24mpg.
I've had the last couple of days to put a little over 250 miles on the car now and really get a feel for the new clutch setup. It's a riot! Compared to the factory dual mass there's a rattle at idle, but all the ZF6 boxes do this. First gear is nearly straight cut and the whine is much more pronounced now. Likewise with the poly engine & diff mounts (the drive train is only fixed to the chassis by these 4) all the vibration and noise is transmitted to you. It's much more racy and whilst the C6 is faster, smoother and “better” the C4 is a proper hooligan car. Being stuck behind people doing 40-50 I found myself changing gear more to be in a sweet spot and I wouldn't lug 6th at low speed anymore. However just chucking it through the gears with your own space it's a delight. The steering is only 2 turns lock to lock and with those big Michelin, Bilstein shocks and everything poly bushed it's like a V8 go cart.
The clutch replacement went okay to begin with. The old dual mass flywheel, which is unobtanium was well within spec so I sold it to a chap in Malta with a Callway twin turbo C4 to put on the shelf in case he needs it. The release bearing failed in a similar way to last time. So frustrating that a cheap part lets down the whole setup. You can't buy a quality one and even if you buy an expensive clutch/flywheel kit it still has the rubbish bearing.
The black tag German made ZF 6 box. This has different gear angles compared to the later blue tag USA made ones and was rated at 500ftlbs @ 50% capacity. Plenty of guys in the USA are putting double that through them!
Once it was fitted I drove the car around the yard and all seemed good. It went off to be MOT'd which it passed with flying colours and then I went to pick it up. Went to the petrol station obviously.
Then a few miles later the pedal went to the floor. One of the new hydraulic lines had split, inside the bell housing. My friend who fitted it turned up within about 30 minutes with a trailer to take it back. Much piss taking ensued as another friend going the other way spotted me and sent a photo to prove it. Then in work the next day a colleague who lives nearby came into work and said “you'll never guess who I saw yesterday on the A470?” to which everyone was in hysterics. A few days later it was back again with a better line made up.
I met up with some mates in Cardiff and we went for a little evening cruise down to the bay. Love the variety of old junk!
At Cowbridge cars & coffee I met up with another local C4 owner and then we both got out done when this turned up!
Then I went off to South America for a couple of weeks, which was fantastic. Had to lookout for Jaguars at the side of the road in Argentina, not the type with dodgy electrics either!
Then I got told off in Paraguay.
Back home the C4 had a niggly running issue, it was randomly cutting out but would then turn over really well with spark and fuel but not start for a bit. There didn't seem to be any pattern, hot, cold, under load, coasting etc. So I SORN'ed it.
I met up with Geraint also of PH with his MX5 although I was using the C6 a lot since it worked. Funny seeing the two cabrios together. I went to an American car meetup at Whocult doughnuts too and saw another C6 Z51 6 speed in Le Mans blue, apart from this one was a coupe. I'd seen it advertised before, it's a very nice car! Vesa also came to visit to have a go driving the C6. For an afternoon there was double trouble in my car port!
Dave (owner of Clive the Corvette) had asked me at the end of last year if I wanted to drive to the Sahara desert so I left the C4 behind once more. We had an incredible adventure and made it to the desert mostly drama free.
I helped out with the ubiquitous African detailing grit applicator.
Then I got told off again.
Back home again at the end of last month and with another week off coming up I thought I'd revisit the C4. I'm not sure if it's the demographic but there's still a busy forum that's good for advice. I thought I'd start with simple things first, I swapped the ECU for another reman one I'd bought before just because they're only about £80 and I thought it would be a useful for troubleshooting sometime. I swapped in my custom tune on the piggyback chip. The other thing I checked were the grounds on the bell housing These would have been disturbed during the clutch job. I managed to get another ½ turn on the bolt. It's funny working on it again, I've had it so long I don't need to look at any manuals and know what size the bolts are, if they're imperial or metric and so on. I'll have owned it 7 years next week! With that work done on Friday I taxed it! A friend came over in his Polo MK1 with a G40 1.3L supercharged swap to follow me to get some coffee and possibly help if I broke down. The car was a bit upset to begin with but a tank of fresh fuel helped. We checked out a new coffee shop in time to notice a leaky thermostat housing. Pretty positive though and it wasn't doing any of the funky things before!
Yesterday I redid the thermostat seal. I took the thermostat neck and moved it over some sandpaper on a piece of glass (okay my coffee table) to make sure it was a nice flat surface. Then a good dose of the Right Stuff sealant and I refitted it. I've used this sealant in a few places on the car. It's excellent. Comes in a can with a trigger, sets in minutes and then the car is ready to go. It's a bit expensive here but absolutely worth it since it just works.
This morning I went to the Whocult meetup again in the C4. Made it there no problem and getting more confident with it I decided I'd take it up to Cheltenham this afternoon to meet with family for a meal. I felt like this would be a good test, if it can do that it's just going to be fine. Happily I got there and back just fine, making good progress and still getting 24mpg.
I've had the last couple of days to put a little over 250 miles on the car now and really get a feel for the new clutch setup. It's a riot! Compared to the factory dual mass there's a rattle at idle, but all the ZF6 boxes do this. First gear is nearly straight cut and the whine is much more pronounced now. Likewise with the poly engine & diff mounts (the drive train is only fixed to the chassis by these 4) all the vibration and noise is transmitted to you. It's much more racy and whilst the C6 is faster, smoother and “better” the C4 is a proper hooligan car. Being stuck behind people doing 40-50 I found myself changing gear more to be in a sweet spot and I wouldn't lug 6th at low speed anymore. However just chucking it through the gears with your own space it's a delight. The steering is only 2 turns lock to lock and with those big Michelin, Bilstein shocks and everything poly bushed it's like a V8 go cart.
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