87 with a 383- blown head gasket- please advise

C

crossfighter

Member
I met a guy who has an 87 C4 with a 383 stroker, car was running 13's they say. The guage cluster was not working and a young guy was racing the car around town. Blew head gasket, they did chemical test and has exhaust in coolant, the chemical turned from blue to yellow. Now, it is an L98, with the stroker kit and stock aluminum heads, I will find out tomorrow if they were ported, the cam is pretty big, but works with stock ecm/with chip. I will get the whole rundown tomorrow. They would be willing to trade for my 84 crossfire car. I know an 87 will be far easier to work with than a crossfire car as far as mods go, this seems like a really good chance for me. I know I'll need to have the heads pressure tested, maybe surfaced, but is there anything I need to know unique to an L98 setup that I should consider here? I know I can do a head gasket job no problem, but is there anything I need to know here? I also don't know if I'll have to release pressure from fuel system to correctly remove tpi setup, I want to do it right. I know for sure it was a running car and very fast. Any help would be deeply appreciated. Thanks!
 
I would NOT trade under those conditions EVEN if they throw in CASH, the engine could have cracked a head or the block and the electronics could cost thou$and$ to repair, plus you have no way to know if its even a 383

BEWARE of DEALS you get offered ESPECIALLY on cars that don,t run, that are offered as (it only needs a CLUTCH, OR HEAD GASKET, or NEW CAM) that screaming deal on a corvette with a blown head gasket that supposedly has a killer 383, could easily have a junk yard 305 installed that just never did run.

deals like that can be a bottomless money pit or a good deal but they are far more frequently a financial pit to be avoided

(1) you have zero proof its a 383
(2)you have no idea if the block or heads are salvageable
(3)you have no idea if the transmission or rear differential are ok
in fact you are taking the word of a stranger that it even is a 383 or ran correctly at all.
(4)If the rest of the car, (interior,electronics, suspension,paint,body etc.) look good, think it thru carefully but pay NO more for the car than you would for the same car if it came with an empty engine compartment
(5) if it was cheap to fix , and worth the effort,the current owner would have done so in 90% of the cases.
the interior and body panels and electronics could cost you thousands to repair even if the engines salvageable, so look it over as a total package, and take NOTHING the current owner says as 100% truthful

(6)yes I know your just jumping at the chance to (UPGRADE) but its FAR more likely to be a bad financial choice, if the price is low enough, that even the cost of a new drive train added to the cost of the car makes it a decent deal go ahead, but if your thinking a simple head gasket replacement , cam swap or clutch replacement will get you a running car you WOULD BE INSANELY OPTIMISTIC in MOST CASES

_________________
 
ok, well I went and looked and the engine looked like a normal tpi to me, there was a handwritten note on an envelope citing supposed mods, but no proof at all, and I found severe leaking rack and pinion so I told them thank you, no.
My question now is about my crossfire, I am getting some edelbrock performer heads from a guy with some comp cams 1.5 rockers and he has a 2103 edelbrock cam and lifters he'll throw in, it's a 214/214 on a 112 with .442 lift. Would this cam work with my ecm? I have already ordered a stage two hypertech chip, otherwise stock. I don't want to foul plugs, I see this cam probably making real good vacuum so I thought maybe it will work? It's not very big, but bigger than the 202/206 stock stick in it now. My concern is the intake duration, is it too much? I am learning most people recommend a much smaller intake duration for crossfire, 202-208 @ .050, usually. I won't pick it up if I am not sure it will work, I can't afford to build this thing twice, you know?
 
the cam may or may not work correctly if that aftermarket chips installed and its a bit too large to work flawlessly with a totally stock ecu program, in my opinion

this cams a great match with a totally stock engine /no issues
http://www.cranecams.com/?show=browsePa ... vl=2&prt=5

lots of guys use this in those cars, but it pushes the limits with a totally stock engine
http://www.cranecams.com/?show=browsePa ... vl=2&prt=5

why not discuss the cross fire,modifications and get more opinions with these guys as that's about 90% of the sites traffic

http://www.crossfire.homeip.net/

then you'll have more data to base your decisions on, Ive always tried to give everyone the best sources of information and experience and in your case ignoring that resource would be foolish

Ive hopped up several cross fire c4 cars, in the past with good results,but, youll want to keep in mind that its the heads and intake, and a fairly restrictive stock exhaust system, that are your major restrictions to power production, add decent headers, a low restriction exhaust, better heads and a better intake and your going top feel a marked improvement, swap to a 10:1 cpr 383 short block, and add a 3.73:1 rear gear also and youll be surprised what the car can do.
 
So, I went down to Victory Machine and talked with Vic this morning, He's a good man and I like to shoot the breeze with him on occasion, and he always gave me good advice. He had me talk to George from Clay Smith Cams. That gentleman knows cams, it was a real honor just to talk with him, he's been grinding cams since 1958! So, he's built a few cars, and know's these crossfire engines, and I told him what I'm doing. He said the performer heads are a great choice for me cause of the small runners and the price, I'm gettin'em for 600... and he said that the comp cams rockers will be perfect, he said the cam I want is a 214/214 on a 114, .450 lift. Not too much overlap, but big enough to be worth it. So, the final piece of the puzzle for me will be waiting on the renegade, I can't wait to see what it will do...

At this point, it's looking like this:
Stock bottom end
Edelbrock performer heads, 70cc chambers, 170cc intake port
Clay Smith Cams H264-14-v
Renegade intake
DCS fuel pressure setup w/85 fuel pump
DCS throttle bodies
Hypertech stage 2 thermomaster or DCS prom (not sure yet)
Borla exhaust
and someday later maybe some TPiS headers...

Sound like a good build to you?
 
what your suggesting sounds like it should work rather well, PROVIDED, you run the low restriction exhaust and headers, but I can assure you that adding a stiffer rear gear like a 3.54:1 or 3.73:1 will make a huge improvement once the better intake,cam and heads allow the engine to breath
 
both the crane cams pass emission testing, I have not tried that cam, but Id bet it mostly depends on, the condition of your rings and valve guides and valve seals and on how efficient your cats are
 
grumpyvette, thank you for clueing me in about the crossfire forum, I reg'd there and have already learned about so much that I can do! I had never even heard of an ebl before, there's alot of info there and I'm gonna be studying for quite a minute before I start spinning wrenches, that's for sure. I am beginning to see what can be done here, but it IS very involved and will NOT be like my old mopars, just throw in a cam, swizzle the heads, some headers and a 750 on an M1 and you were good to go! 10* btdc and all in by 2000! Sounds simple now, looking back, don't it?
This is going to take some time, for me, to really understand tunerpro and set this thing up right. I hope I get it right...
 
if you choose your components, and machine work carefully you can build an impressive cross fire car but the heads, cam,exhaust and stock intake need to be swapped out for far higher flow rate components.
in the past I usually used a modded SY1 intake base and better aftermarket, (BRODIX,AFR,TRICKFLOW HEADS)and a decent cam, with a matched rear gear, higher stall converter, trans cooler etc. thats easily capable of over 450hp


viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1468&p=6357&hilit=+crossfire#p6357

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1148&p=5322&hilit=+crossfire#p5322

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=640&p=5467&hilit=+crossfire#p5467

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1148&p=2329&hilit=+crossfire#p2329

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=303&p=987&hilit=+crossfire#p987

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=102&p=143&hilit=+crossfire#p143

http://users.swko.net/~lionsden/crossfire.htm

viewtopic.php?f=69&t=519

the links above should help
 
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