400 HP for a 1985 corvette?

[FourAndAHalf]

I am wondering if i could get 400 HP under my hood in my 1985 coupe. This is my goal. It comes stock with 230 which is what it has now. No modifications have been made... What are some high end (beside basic mods) mods that i could do to reach this horsepower... Just for arguement sake.... say there is no budget, but i am not looking to spend ridiculous amounts of money.

Thanks

Austin

 

[-=Jeff=-]

well you say no budget, btu then no rediculous amount..

Also are you looking for 400 Rear Wheel HP or 400 at the crank?

if 400 at the crank, I would say

Heads
Cam
Better intake (superram or miniram)
free flowing exhaust
free flowing air box.


As far as heads and cams, you will want to pick out a good combo.. if you just throw parts at it, you will not be happy with the results

 

[FourAndAHalf]

jeff,

by ridiculous i meant like 15,000 dollars into the car, but i can go with like 7,000 dollars. As far as to where the HP is going, what is more hard to obtain, rear wheel HP or HP at the crank.

thanks

 

[-=Jeff=-]

well I would say that 400hp at the rear wheels will take more then 400 at the crank.. keep in mind, you get approx an 18% loss from the drive train.

 

[LD85]

well, my numbers for the 406 are adding up from $6000 to $7000 depending on what you buy, this info is just as a reference I have bought some used parts like the miniram, 400-block crank etc.

I could see a new turnkey 406, 412 motor costing $7500 -$10,000 pretty easy with all new parts

 

[FourAndAHalf]

LD,

im not too good with this stuff i just started getting into working on cars, and im still pretty young im still in school
could you tell me what those engines you mentioned below are? is the 412 motor viewable online etc.? thanks

austin

 

[FourAndAHalf]

Tthanks Jeff

what would you say is required at the crank to receive a 400 HP at the rear

 

[89ZZ4]

475 manual to 490/500 auto to get 400 rear.

Phil (aka 89ZZ4)

 

[LD85]

LD,

im not too good with this stuff i just started getting into working on cars, and im still pretty young im still in school
could you tell me what those engines you mentioned below are? is the 412 motor viewable online etc.? thanks

austin

Do a search on the web or go to www.strokermotor.com
www.speedomotive.com or any of several other places that post numbers, components and pricing, goo luck!

 

[tntcorvette]

I'll have my latest combo on the dyno next month. Hopefully I wont be disappointed!

With $7,000 for your budget, I would not spend it all on the engine. After all, the engine is just one part of the car. You need to make sure the rest of the car is set up to handle that kind of power.

Do you have a stick or an auto?

Adding power is pretty much a intake/heads/cam/exhaust/computer combo and a few misc. goodies!

 

[scorp508]

Well, I can't get you 400 at the wheels with this combo, but it should net about 410 at the crank.

My car made 388hp & 439 ft/lb with this setup. Those numbers do not include the nitrous or MSD ignition setup as they were not installed at that time.

http://personal.tmlp.com/scorp/vette/upgrade.html

 

[FourAndAHalf]

Scorp, thanks a lot thats going to help with my choices... by the way how much did the lingenfelter runners, intake manifold, and cam cost... I think that is a good investmeant. By the way i like your avater.

Tnt, Sadly i have an automatic, I think its a lot funner driving a manual but i got a good deal on the car so i went with it. And thanks for the sites LD

 

[scorp508]

Scorp, thanks a lot thats going to help with my choices... by the way how much did the lingenfelter runners, intake manifold, and cam cost... I think that is a good investmeant.

I did some shopping and was able to get the runners, plenum, and intake manifold all for $600 used which is more than half the cost of them new. I also got my camshaft for $200 used. An intake has no moving parts so it isn't like they get beatup or anything.

The only difference really here is that your 85 is not a hydraulic rollercam like my car is, this would have to be considered. The rollercams started in 1987 for Corvette and the block is slightly different. You would either have to get a non-rollercam or retrofit your engine for a rollercam.

By the way i like your avater.

Thanks.

 

[tntcorvette]

well you can flash the '85 torque converter to ~2600 rpms....depending on the cam.

Mine is a auto too. I dont mind it at all, as i'll be driving a 6 speed soon enough

 

[FourAndAHalf]

Im also looking to maybe turbocharge it, do you know where I can find a good place that sells turbochargers for an L-98
engine?

 

[FourAndAHalf]

Also, one more thing, I see on a lot of websites that they sell turbochargers for the TPI??? (as i said before im new to this stuff, is the TPI another engine that was built for the 1985 corvette??
thanks


austin

 

[scorp508]

Im also looking to maybe turbocharge it, do you know where I can find a good place that sells turbochargers for an L-98
engine?

It will have to be a custom job unfortunately. Nobody sells a turbocharger kit for L98 Corvettes. They do sell supercharger kits.

Another nice thing I just remembered is that all 1985 Vettes have forged pistons.

 

[Slo Vette]

OMG, NITROUS duh cheap HP. $7,000.00 you say? Forged internals, intake, exahust, tuning and, lots of squeze. You can easily have 400 to the wheels.

 

[tntcorvette]

as far as turbo's go, you can check out http://precisionte.com but all turbo kits for the C4 are custom jobs and will run you ~$6K for a kit.

 

[SloRvette]

I need to sit down and add all my reciepts up. Hmm, I'm not real sure I want to do that. I'd guess I've got about $9000 into my "upgrade". Only $4500 or so is in the short block and heads. The rest went into upgrading the exhaust, intake, injectors, clutch, rear end, nitrous setup, throttlebody, aircleaner, all the little misc. BS.

Now 6 months after the installation, the motor is about to come out because of oil consumption and blowby - was there right from the beginning. Taking it apart I found the clutch is worn out after 2500 miles. Great.

Be careful what you wish for. Once you start modifying your car it's a downhill slide. It's never enough until you run out of money.

The car did go real good though. Hopefully it'll be even better when it gets back together.