tuning potential of the c4 vette

I am looking to build a 10 second street monster and I have encounterd weak points in all the imports that I could afford so I am looking into the bentchmark of american proformance the vette. What would the vettes weak points in turning it into a 10 second car is the engine block and tranny up to the job will the halfshafts hold 600+hp, if I have to modify the c4 what is the aftermarket like and what would I be looking at spending? Any turbo kits avalable for the c4?

Nobody has any idea???? Anything would be usefull.

You could probably find a supercharger kit but I doubt a turbo kit.

600 hp can easily be gotten out of a 383 stroker, although starting with a big block would make things much easier. The block is tried and true...I'm running around 420 hp out of my bored 350, and that's only with 10:1 compression and a 6500 rpm redline. If you go high compression high rpm, you should have no problem getting there. But if you go with a small black you'll lose some streetability because you'll have a pretty radical cam in there that sacrifices low end grunt for power in the upper rpm range. Aftermarket for GM V8's is as good as it gets, you can get pretty much anything you need. Good luck... :thumbsup:

Yea I really like the aftermarket for the NA parts, but in the boost department they are still kind of weak. I see little 2L 4g63s pushing 800-900hp all day long on 45psi of boost, but I am having a heck of a time trying to find a turbo kit for a c4 vette that can handle 700+hp. That would not take much only about 15psi with stock heads and cams. This is a little frustrating. HP proformance builds a twin turbo kit for the vette but it is still kind of experemental they don't even have a price listed for it, but it might be worth waiting for considering some of the badass systems they have built for Mustangs. I found another twin turbo kit but it was outragous! Like $24,000 and that is not even counting the install and tuning. I am going to wait and see if nothing good comes out of this HP kit I am going to buy a 300zx or a Mustang Cobra I know I can get them into the 700hp range with less than 10k. I would realy prefer the the handeling and refinment of the c4 vette but I gatta have my power! Hey how much power do you think the drivetrain in the vette can take I know the zx can handle about 600-700hp without any problems, but do you know about how much a c4s transaxle can take before it pops?

The 300ZXs handling wont be bad at all. You'll still be happy with that. And the aftermarket is much better for it.

The 300ZXs handling wont be bad at all. You'll still be happy with that. And the aftermarket is much better for it.

You're joking, right? The aftermarket for small block chevy's is better than pretty much anything. Chevy has been building a 350 for about 40 years now, so there's a fair amount of demand for parts for them.

Yea I really like the aftermarket for the NA parts, but in the boost department they are still kind of weak. I see little 2L 4g63s pushing 800-900hp all day long on 45psi of boost, but I am having a heck of a time trying to find a turbo kit for a c4 vette that can handle 700+hp. That would not take much only about 15psi with stock heads and cams. This is a little frustrating. HP proformance builds a twin turbo kit for the vette but it is still kind of experemental they don't even have a price listed for it, but it might be worth waiting for considering some of the badass systems they have built for Mustangs. I found another twin turbo kit but it was outragous! Like $24,000 and that is not even counting the install and tuning. I am going to wait and see if nothing good comes out of this HP kit I am going to buy a 300zx or a Mustang Cobra I know I can get them into the 700hp range with less than 10k. I would realy prefer the the handeling and refinment of the c4 vette but I gatta have my power! Hey how much power do you think the drivetrain in the vette can take I know the zx can handle about 600-700hp without any problems, but do you know about how much a c4s transaxle can take before it pops?

I highly doubt the clutch pack and flywheel in the Z can handle 700 hp, I would be amazed if that's true. I think you would want to upgrade those no matter what car you went with. I'm not quite sure how much power the C4 can take, but I do know that a lot of the guys running 600+ hp in C3's are doing ok with a stock rear end, halfshafts, etc...Are you going to be racing?

You're joking, right? The aftermarket for small block chevy's is better than pretty much anything. Chevy has been building a 350 for about 40 years now, so there's a fair amount of demand for parts for them.
:iagree: yup, hes right! :grinyes:

I am looking to build a 10 second street monster and I have encounterd weak points in all the imports that I could afford so I am looking into the bentchmark of american proformance the vette. What would the vettes weak points in turning it into a 10 second car is the engine block and tranny up to the job will the halfshafts hold 600+hp, if I have to modify the c4 what is the aftermarket like and what would I be looking at spending? Any turbo kits avalable for the c4?
What kind of engine does the C4 in question have?

1984s had the L82 <I think?) with the Crossflow Injection.
1985-1991 had the L98 with Tuned Port Injection.
1992-1996 had the LT1.

As far as tuning potential goes the LT1 has a lot more support. I’ve certainly seen far more forced induction kits for it (inc Turbo kits) then for the humble L98. It’s really sad because you know the L98 can be turbo charge (hence the existence of the TT Calloway Corvettes) but nobody offers a bloody kit! Not even Calloway!

I would say that the most interesting Vette that I have ever seen is in the Corvette museum (in KY). It has a Falconer V-12 (do a Falconer V-12 Google search and read what the specs are) air craft engine that the Corvette engineers installed into a C-4 to perform high h.p. testing on the stock drive line. I know that the later stick-shift cars had beefier rear diffs (I can't recall the option) than the automatic version, but the engine made close to 1K h.p. reliabily. Since the car was in 1 piece, I guess all went well.
I saw in a Car Craft magazine, a C-3 Vette that had a 383 on nitrous making a crapper-load of power, running high 10s and used the stock rear suspension. I'll have to dig up the article, but there was a super fast C-4 (drag car) I recall that was amazingly fast. There was a special foot-note in the article stating that it had no aftermarket traction equipment (no traction bars).
Chevrolet put the best-of-the-best parts into the Corvette, nothing has ever been 2nd rate. It was and is the test-bed for new technologies (EST, EFI, ABS, traction control, magna ride, etc...) as well as a development platform for new engine designs.

The Calloway twin turbo Corvrtte was a good one. It was driven to the Indianopolis raceway, turned a few laps at 200+ mph, and driven back out of town. The only casualty on the car was a brake booster that started to melt. So, I would say that the factory running gear can handle 600+ on the dyno.

One more I just thought about. I saw an episode of the show "Rides", where Troy T. and his team built a twin turbo 60s Impala (called the Chicayne?) that made 1200+ hp. The guy that did the tuning on the d.f.i. system had the exact same set-up in his C-4 Corvette. It too made over 1200hp.

I don't see why a semi-radical sb 400 couldn't make close to 600 hp. Hot Rod made some changes to a ZZ4 350 crate engine and made over 500. All it takes is quality parts and good tuning. With the explosion of turbo technology in the last few years, 600 hp is easily accessable, it just takes tuning to make it all work.

I'm happy w/my '88 C-4. It runs good (better than most Mustangs that have challenged me), it stops well and handles great. I am in the process of installing a low hp nitrous kit and have the thought of later building some sort of turbo system. If all else fails and the engine gets tired (140K+ miles and it still runs/shifts strong) I'll put all of my small block 400 pieces together.
The only problem that I see: Since the whole power train is actually a traction device, it makes pulling the engine or tranny really awkward but it is a good design.
2nd: The TPI system is restrictive. It would work ok for turbo charging, but I think converting a Victor Jr. to fuel injection is the way to go. LT1s might have updated technology but they are more problematic. The bad thing about LT1 engines, LT1 is LT1. Nothing else will interchange. I think a big block would be too much of a hassle and more weight to deal with.
If you want a C-4 then get one, you won't regret it. It can handle 600 hp, it drives nice and does everything else really well. The only limitation is your mechanical abilities (or your check book).

Don't ask a ricer driver for Corvette advice, we are out of their league.