80thou+ What now, y'all?

[vee93]

Hey gang,
I've watched my odometer click over to 80,000. Questions:

1) Is it too late for mild mods? All under the hood is stock except for a K & N air filter.

I'd like to install a Hypertech chip and a 160* thermostat. Maybe a supercharger?

2) When's a good time to get the engine overhauled? Or should I even bother with that?

3) New engine? What's cheaper? Overhaul or new?

Any thoughts, ideas and comments are greatly appreciated.

 

[tt-rexx]

since you have a car that runs so well i would not do any internal engine mods. just like my bypass when you crack them open they never run the same.

 

[livinez]

Let it breath 1st

With just 80K maybe think about putting your money into a freer flowing exhaust & maybe headers now and worry about internal stuff when it is time for a rebuild. Do a search on mods for your car and you might come to the same conclusion I did.
The hyperchip seems to be a thing to do after you do cam changes and its agood idea to have freer flowing intake and exhaust before before doing those those mods.
And it appears there are better routes to go on reprogramed chips. Someone here at CAC does this so do a search 1st.
Also check www.c4vettes.com for other opinions and easily understood knowledge.

If you were to go the supercharger route your cam, piston, head and other gaskets, chip, intake & exhaust/header, injectors, gearing, tranny and/or clutch choices would be made because you are now going to forced air induction which is a much different build than normally asperated motor builds.
So the conclusion this 1st time vette owner came to for these cars is open up the exhaust, then proceed from there.
Headers for vettes seem to be much more costly than other apps and limited numbers of manufacturers.
I havent checked into other mufflers for my vette but I love Hookers Maxflow for my other 350 builds. Loud but flow 595CFM !!
Also I dont have to worry about smog checks in my county and have a friends muffler shop that will assemble whatever I need( converters, we dont need no stinking catalytic converters)so willbe doing a search on deleting/gutting my catalytic and air pump. Doubt that is a good route so will probably be spending the bucks for a better flowing one. Some are spendy some arent.

 

[scorp508]

1) Is it too late for mild mods? All under the hood is stock except for a K & N air filter.

I will tell you this. At 169,000 miles I finally managed to rip 1st gear apart in my transmission in nearly stock form. It was then that I installed....

Lingenfelter 74219 Camshaft
Accel/Lingenfelter Superram Lower Intake Manifold
Accel/Lingenfelter Superram Plenum and Runners
Hooker 2149 Headers
Hooker 16720 Y-Pipe
D-Port cylinder heads w/larger valves, ported/polished
Comp Cam Pro Magnum 1.6 Roller Rockers
Hardened Pushrods/Guideplates
Titanium 10* Valve Retainers and Locks
New Double Valve Springs
24# SVO Injectors

I went from....

211 hp to 322 hp
315 ft/lb to 369 ft/lb


...all at the rear wheels and from 13.89 @ 98.13 to 12.86 @ 109.66 before any ECM tuning was done.

She drove like a raped ape and never missed a beat until at 179k miles my oilpan pickup tube came loose and caused an oil starvation and spun a bearing. Had this not happened I have no doubts it would of gone over 200k on the original shortblock.