T
Timppa
Guest
Hi all! What should I look for when considering a purchase of a 1984 Corvette? Any particular problem areas? Or links to 'buyers guides'?
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The first small step in recovering from 1981 was the use of two throttle body injectors for 1982. These were mounted on a plate and fed a single-plane open manifold. The manifold was inspired by a Trans Am racing manifold that had been used with two 4-bbl carburetors on the 302cid engine a decade earlier. We quickly and naively committed to the single-plane manifold and compact injectors because we saw that it gave us an opportunity to lower the hood line of the all-new, next-generation Corvette by almost two inches. We soon realized what a bad idea it was, but it was too late to back out, so the engine guys had to make it work.
Our first problem was injector sticking. Cadillac solved the problem for us before the 1982 Corvette reached production, but not before the 1981 Cadillac -- with cylinder cutoff and the same injectors--shut down a number of customers. Their innovative, fuel-economy-improving cylinder shutoff, called 8-6-4, took the rap, becoming known as the "8-6-4-0," for what was really an injector problem. If each injector had fueled half of the engine, a stuck injector would only shut down that half of the engine, and the car would limp home with four cylinders firing. Unfortunately, both injectors fueled a common manifold, so the result of one failed injector was to double the air-fuel ratio to 28:1--a mixture too lean to burn.
Our other problem was with the single-plane manifold itself. Carburetor manifolds for V-8 engines had evolved as tall and complex distribution pipes in an attempt to minimize the air-fuel ratio variations that occurred between cylinders. Why were we so naive as to think that we could flatten the manifold without penalty? The flat Trans Am-style manifold gave such poor cylinder distribution that we had to compensate with extra fuel. When we showed the fuel-injected 1982 model to the press, we pointed to the racing manifold and fuel injection as the identifiable reasons for the horsepower incrase to 200 nhp. In reality, the greater power was due to the new low-back-pressure underfloor monolith catalytic converter. But who would equate catalytic converters with improving performance?