84 corvette
 

i bought this car in august of 14 i believe. basically a survivor minus factory paint, it had a terrible respray at some point. interior is not in great shape, mechanically it was ok except the 700r giving up 600 miles into my ownership. the crossfire engine runs well; i saw it as being on borrowed time. anyhow, i threw together an lsx engine from spare parts and plan on swapping the car in the next few months. i have most everything i need to make it run. still giving consideration to a gauge setup and what engine i really want in the car. i bought the car for the chassis, there's no reason it shouldn't work and make a quick and fun street car. some pics:

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mine is the one on the right. it looks the same now but has the rotating assembly and oil pan etc installed. i left the fasteners for the heads in my kitchen yesterday but i will bolt them on and go from there next time. it is a 4.8 truck motor. the long block was given to me, we had the coils, covers, ls1 heads etc laying around so thought why not. i have a set of c6 exhaust manifolds to try as soon as the motor mounts show up. it will roll out next year as a dead stock 4.8/700r combo. once i get it sorted i'll find a way to make some power, be it turbo or cubes. maybe both who knows. i think it'll be light and work well enough that i won't need much more than 450whp to have fun.

SA-WEEEEEEET! Isn't it weird getting into a C4 vette? It's basically a tub like a wrangler lol. People will trip getting out of these all the time. "For your safety, please LIFT your feet on the way out".

These cars are cool EXCEPT for the factory powertrain. UGH the emissions BS they had to go through completely choked them to death. Zero power. Take that boat anchor out and get to the LS swap! I'm excited. Wish you weren't so far away, I'd swing by with some cold ones and turn some wrenches with ya on this project!

one reason i like the c4 chassis is bc of how it seats. i really like the cockpit feel and especially the seats in this car. and you're absolutely right about the engine. there is a lot to be had from a stock xfire motor by changing intake manifolds and adding a different engine mgmnt system. however, this swap is the first step of many to get this car where i want it. no gen1 motor, especially with that terrible FI system on it, will suffice.

That's strange, I've got a 700r4 in my half ton that when cold shifts like jack the freakin bear (I'm still waiting for the driveshaft to turn into a pretzel). About the only way I know to kill one quickly is a maladjusted TV cable.

I'll be following your build.

the cable was out of whack when i bought the car. i adjusted it properly so it would move but the trans was already toast at that point. i drove it until it died. the engine actually runs well. not sure yet what i'm gonna do with it

nice, these have been growing on me as of late. i need to finish the truck first then the wifes mustang and then i get to do another project...

got some work done yesterday in the garage. installed the heads, cam and valvetrain. spent more time looking for parts than i did turning wrenches. finished pulling the orig motor out of the car and a buddy stopped by to help with sorting the existing wiring harness. then spent a solid hour cleaning and reorganizing my workspace. im not big on pictures but i remembered to snap a few today.

next round will be pushing the car out and cleaning the engine bay. by then some key parts should be here so i can button up the engine, install the fuel pump, harness, and filter/regulator. anyone have a use for a L83 sbc? ran great...

you should put it in the XJ when you are done with the Vette. That would through the XJ around pretty well.

That's a lotta work for ~ 10 hp, couple of STP stickers would be easier. lol.

That sucks I did not realize that it had only 10 more HP then the 4.0.

http://www.vettefacts.com/C4/1984.aspx

Engine Serial Number



1984 Corvette engines have the last six digits of the VIN stamped on the block after the engine number. The date code the engine was manufactured was also cast into the block. The engine serial number includes a production sequence number starting with 0001001 and one of the suffixes below.

Code Engine Horsepower Compression Transmission Fuel Supply Emissions
ZFC L83 350-cid 205-hp V-8 9.0:1 THM Automatic Cross-fire Fuel Injection
ZFD L83 350-cid 205-hp V-8 9.0:1 manual Cross-fire Fuel Injection
ZFF L83 350-cid 205-hp V-8 9.0:1 THM automatic Cross-fire Fuel Injection California
ZFH L83 350-cid 205-hp V-8 9.0:1 THM automatic Cross-fire Fuel Injection For Export
ZFJ L83 350-cid 205-hp V-8 9.0:1 Manual Cross-fire Fuel Injection For Export
ZFK L83 350-cid 205-hp V-8 9.0:1 THM Automatic Cross-fire Fuel Injection
ZFM L83 350-cid 205-hp V-8 9.0:1 THM Automatic Cross-fire Fuel Injection California
ZFN L83 350-cid 205-hp V-8 9.0:1 THM Automatic Cross-fire Fuel Injection California
ZFR L83 350-cid 205-hp V-8 9.0:1 THM Automatic Cross-fire Fuel Injection California

it's a sbc like any other. 84 was during the emissions crunch. gm designed that poor engine to run so hot and lean they put forged pistons in it. it's common to pull 100+ hp out of those engines with simple bolt ons. however i have a plethora of lsx junk sitting around and easy access to much more. i've dealt with both gen 1 and gen 3 quite a bit. race car only i'd use gen 1. anything else - lsx all the way.

Cross-fire fuel injection.... I'd much rather deal with a carburetor lol

yeah. great design, terrible implementation.

little progress was made recently. got the covers on the motor and everything sealed up. started bolting on necessary parts so i can get an idea of what is missing. its kind of being built with extra parts so idk exactly what i need, if anything.

put some time in on the vetteski yesterday. removed the hvac box for modification, test fit the engine and exhaust manifolds. everything looks good on clearance. need to button up a few things then bolt the engine back in for good.