Greetings. I have a 1979 L-82 factory stock (mostly) vette with a 4 speed with 88k miles. I would like to add a bit more performance to the car while keeping the short block as stock as possible. The car had dual exhausts when I bought it (no Y pipe) and I'd like to keep it that way. I'm considering possibly heads, intake manifold, carb (Holley 650 CFM double pumper) and headers. Hoping to get around 300 hp. Any suggestions? Thanks
1979 L-82 Vette in need of more get up N go
- Thread starter johnyg
- Start date
Welcome to the forum Johnyg !
I'll jump in here before the resident guru answers and venture an answer. It would be a good idea to do a compression check to determine the over-all health of the engine. You might end up needing to spend part of your budget on the short block or waiting until you have more funds. If the short block is not in reasonable health, then it doesn't make much sense to go ahead with other mods.
Without going into the short block, then I would suggest a good dual plane manifold, headers and better exhaust system. If you're going to the expense of heads, then your price just jumped another $1200, maybe a little less if you're not wanting aluminum heads. At that point it start to make sense to a complete engine rebuild since it has 88k miles.
You shouldn't need a double pumper carb for the street, vacuum secondaries would be the best way to go.
How much are you wanting to spend ?
Good luck!
I'll jump in here before the resident guru answers and venture an answer. It would be a good idea to do a compression check to determine the over-all health of the engine. You might end up needing to spend part of your budget on the short block or waiting until you have more funds. If the short block is not in reasonable health, then it doesn't make much sense to go ahead with other mods.
Without going into the short block, then I would suggest a good dual plane manifold, headers and better exhaust system. If you're going to the expense of heads, then your price just jumped another $1200, maybe a little less if you're not wanting aluminum heads. At that point it start to make sense to a complete engine rebuild since it has 88k miles.
You shouldn't need a double pumper carb for the street, vacuum secondaries would be the best way to go.
How much are you wanting to spend ?
Good luck!
getting 300 hp from a mild 350 sbc and retaining the stock short block is not that difficult, with a cylinder head upgrade,cam upgrade and a new intake manifold, and headers.
your having a manual four speed makes the ease of upgrading even easier.
you might want to read thru these threads and sub links for ideas, but keep in mind parts can not be selected at random if you expect good results ,and as the engines average rpm and power band are increased the change in low rpm torque and idle characteristics tends to change in almost direct relationship with the change in the cars average and peak torque curve.
It will help if I know your budget and current mechanical skills and what experience you have, and the tools and working conditions your dealing with.
obviously its easier with an unlimited budget but most of us never have that option.
viewtopic.php?f=69&t=519
http://airflowresearch.com/articles/article115/A-P1.htm
http://airflowresearch.com/articles/article040/A-P1.htm
http://airflowresearch.com/articles/art ... A27-P1.htm
http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techa ... index.html
http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techa ... index.html
your having a manual four speed makes the ease of upgrading even easier.
you might want to read thru these threads and sub links for ideas, but keep in mind parts can not be selected at random if you expect good results ,and as the engines average rpm and power band are increased the change in low rpm torque and idle characteristics tends to change in almost direct relationship with the change in the cars average and peak torque curve.
It will help if I know your budget and current mechanical skills and what experience you have, and the tools and working conditions your dealing with.
obviously its easier with an unlimited budget but most of us never have that option.
viewtopic.php?f=69&t=519
http://airflowresearch.com/articles/article115/A-P1.htm
http://airflowresearch.com/articles/article040/A-P1.htm
http://airflowresearch.com/articles/art ... A27-P1.htm
http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techa ... index.html
http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techa ... index.html