Transmission
Thanks again GTR 1999. Here's a quick background on the car so some things might make a little more sense. My dad has owned the car since new. He ordered it in 1975. 6 years ago he took the car in for an oil leak. He was told the engine needed to be removed. (I'm assuming it was a rear main or something). He asked the shop about doing some performance upgrades while the motor was out. They suggested a crate motor would be the better route and sold him a "300 HP" motor from Jasper Engines. The car was a major disappointment as far as power. The car spent the next 5 1/2 years in and out of different shops trying to figure out why the car wasn't making power only to find out that the original shop had actually replaced his engine with a stock replacement motor with a mild cam upgrade thus making about 180 HP. Consequently he no longer had his stock motor thus depreciating the car while still making virtually the same pathetic power. The car took a lot of abuse while it was in those different shops mostly by corvette corner in Columbus. My dad was sick of the car and disgusted with it and wanted to get rid of it.
My parents stay in Florida for the winter and while they were gone I decided to try to get the car fixed up and working properly. Believe it or not after contacting the original shop (it had been almost 6 years) admitted their mistake and offered to replace the motor with a Blueprint 355 CI motor making 375 HP from Jegs at no cost. I asked them if I could upgrade and do the 383 roller motor because I thought it would be more durable and less maintenance. After all since the car would never be stock again anyway (since they had junked his stock engine) I figured why not give it some more power. I ended up having much of the interior replaced and also re-did several other parts of the car including new wheels (stock rally's), tires, rear half shafts, bearings, e-brake, u joints, front bushings, tach, clock, a/c repair, door seals, t top seals, floor mats, paint chip repair and several other misc parts. I bought a new cover for it and parked it in his garage and left it there for him to discover when he got home from Florida. He was so thrilled. He's loving the car again and we plan on doing several car shows and cruises together like we did when I was a kid.
So while the motor is no longer original, (which I didn't have any control over the shop discarding it), the rest if the car is still all rebuilt to stock specs which is my preference. This is why my first choice would be to stick with the 4 speed. I know that's a very long winded answer to why build a 383 and worry about keeping the stock tranny but that's one of the main reasons.
The other reason is even more silly than that. I've always loved the whine that the T10 transmission makes. I was 8 years old when my dad bought the car. It was the talk of the neighborhood. Even 165 HP seemed awesome in 1975. The sound that tranny makes evokes childhood memories for me so I guess it's somewhat sentimental reasoning for wanting to keep it in the car. Okay, I told you it was silly.
Although for the most part the car won't be run really hard my dad has said on several occasions that he would love to take it to the drag strip just once to see what it will do. My guess is it would make the mph of a high 12 second car but E.T. In the 13 second range due to the 225/70 tires. In any case I don't know if it would survive 2-3 passes down the drag strip or not. I would launch it gingerly and granny shift it. But I'm wondering if the RPMs alone would be too hard on it. Thoughts? The original motor has a 5200 RPM redline. The new one is made to shift at 6500. Do you think the high RPMs alone will kill this thing? I assume I should upgraded the half shafts when I had them replaced.
Was the gymkhana suspension really only $7? What was the difference between it and the "off road suspension" that was $400? I'm assuming it must have been quite a bit based on price difference.
Thanks again for reading my thread that's actually more like a book.
By now I'm sure you're thinking, this is the "quick" background???
