Proud owner of a "new to me" 1986 Vette

[MacVette86]

My son and I went out today and bought a silver 1986 Corvette coupe with the 4+3 manual tranny. So now, of course, our first question is... what are the easy and cheap mods we can do to get as much performance as possible?

 

[GS Diva]

Welcome to the Corvette Action Center...and to the world of Corvettes! You'll love both!!

Elaine

 

[SSTibet]

Welcome to CAC and congradulations for your new baby MacVette86. I am a Corvette owner in Turkey and it has been well over 12 months since I joined CAC. There is lots of good people and high quality information here.

My humble recommendation would be first to get the car checked out throughly to make sure that everything is working okay and get the failures fixed. I would then identify those things that are worn out, damaged, faded away and replace them. Only then I would attempt for performance improvements. You may of course prefer to attack all of these at the same time. There is lots & lots of info from members of CAC. Try to make good friends with Ken (site admin & "The Boss of All C4's" ).

Cheers,

Selim

P.S. If you have "1 to 4 Skip Shift" in your car get rid of it to start with. The necessary part is called "CAGS Eliminator" and is available at Ecklers at a fairly cheap price. Almost any mechanic can install it in a matter of minutes in your car.

 

[*89x2*]

Welcome to the


Sift through all the performance & Technical postings and I am certain you will find many freebies - ENjoy!

 

[nyernga]

My humble recommendation would be first to get the car checked out throughly to make sure that everything is working okay and get the failures fixed. I would then identify those things that are worn out, damaged, faded away and replace them.
P.S. If you have "1 to 4 Skip Shift" in your car get rid of it to start with. The necessary part is called "CAGS Eliminator" and is available at Ecklers at a fairly cheap price. Almost any mechanic can install it in a matter of minutes in your car.

I agree completely. Get a good "baseline" for oil and fluid changes, tune up's etc. Don't worry about the 1 to 4 shift skip. The 4+3 doesn't have it. As far as mods go for performance? There are several "low tech/low cost" mods out there but don't expect to take on any vipers doing them. Hi gains in hp are directly related to Hi dollars.
I'd start with a good K&N filter with an open lid to get the car "inhaling" better. Then a good set of either flowmaster or borla mufflers to help it "exhale" better. Skip the mods like moving the MAF sensor.....TPS mod, all the ones you see in the catelogs. I am a believer however in the performance chips for the ecm.

welcome to the cac by the way.....It's a great place to learn and get help. I got some last night as a matter of fact about a headlight issue I was having.

Len

ps: oh yeah.....get your hands on the GM service manuals for your year. They're priceless...

 

[NevadaJim]

Congratulations and welcome to the CAC

 

[MacVette86]

Thanks for the info. I've read alot of this forum already and have some inital ideas on how to proceed. Seems the first thing is clean the throttle body. I did notice that there is a lot of pedal effort to depress the accelerator, which it seems is s sure sign that the TB is dirty.

I've read quite a few posts on oil as well, but am still unsure. My vette has 98000 miles on it, so I'm a little leary of going to synthetic. Is anyone running those new high mileage oils?

 

[Edmond]

Welcome to the Forum. I also highly recommend a tune up. If the car isn't tuned up well right now, you will feel a significant difference in throttle response and smoothness.

In terms of mods, I would do the exhaust. The stock exhaust is quite wimpy. Not only do you get a few ponies, the mod is audible so you everytime you step on the pedal.

I also believe the stock exhaust only flows out of one outlet while the aftermarket exhausts will flow out of both outlets.

 

[Mad-Mic]

Thanks for the info. I've read alot of this forum already and have some inital ideas on how to proceed. Seems the first thing is clean the throttle body. I did notice that there is a lot of pedal effort to depress the accelerator, which it seems is s sure sign that the TB is dirty.

I've read quite a few posts on oil as well, but am still unsure. My vette has 98000 miles on it, so I'm a little leary of going to synthetic. Is anyone running those new high mileage oils?

clean the TB and give it a good tune up and i'm sure she'll come alive. like others have said some of us know the tricks of these cars and can help you all you want just ask and welcome to CAC

syntec won't hurt your car at any age. well worth the protection if it ever gets hot!

when i was 18 i have an third gen Z/28 i still have and waterpump went up. ran it home about 3 miles and the gauge was burried over. let it cool down fixed the pump and started right up no leaks no nothing. ran hard again. this was a 305 crossfire car that i shifted at 6800 rpm daily

to this day i will only run syntec in my sports cars!

 

[Daryllawman]

Hello and welcome to the Corvette Action Center....Congrats on the Vette.....Enjoy !!

 

[Moonunit 451]

My son and I went out today and bought a silver 1986 Corvette coupe with the 4+3 manual tranny. So now, of course, our first question is... what are the easy and cheap mods we can do to get as much performance as possible?

WELCOME to CAC ya Irish B---------- You're gonna love it here. I didn't read all the posts here, but try this
http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38730&highlight=free+c4+mods
Read read read, just about anything ya wanna know is here, and ask all the questins you want, someone will help you.

I searched "free c4 mods" to get that link. Use you're imagination, this is a much discussed topic and there are about 10 or so things that most agree on. Also follow the advice already given to you're question.

And above all, HAVE FUN and enjoy your baby

 

[Rogue]

Congrats!

I agree with the guys. Get the car sorted out completely before going to any mods to "improve performance". You may find that getting the car as close to the factory tune as possible WILL give you improved performance. As a car gets old, the less likely its owner(s) will make sure it's in top shape. That's unfortunate but I've seen it many, many times on pre-owned cars.

With 98k miles I would start with a complete tuneup and fluid change.

Flush & replace coolant
Flush & replace engine/tranny/differential oils
Flush & replace brake fluids and replace brake lines with new ones
Flush & replace power steering fluid
Replace ignition system
Replace all filters (air/fuel)
Replace spark plugs
New brakes
New shocks and suspension bushings
New Catalytic Converter(s) this last one breaks down on the INSIDE with mileage and if it has, will rob your engine of a lot of power. I would have it checked right away.

I'll bet after all this is done, your car will run so much better!

 

[B17Crew]

Congrats! A silver ’86! :cool Nice color on the C4.

We want pics, we want pics!

B17Crew

 

[wannavette]

Congrats & welcome.Love your choice of year and color I have done some of the things mentioned in some of the post.I will tell you it is amazing what A K&N Filter and spark plug replacement will do for your car.I went with muffler elim's as A cheap alternative to an expensive borla,corsa,flowmaster system for now.

 

[MacVette86]

I don't actually have the car yet as it needed some minor repairs which the dealer is completing. So I've paid for it and can't drive it yet. Very frustrating, but the dealer is doing all the minor fixes free so I can't complain. Anyway, once I have it in my anxious hands, I'll post pics.