Hi Vette fans, I have a bunch of questions, C3,C4,C5, Power, insurance etc.

[RIPLingenfelter]

Hi Vette fans/owners

I have a bunch of questions, please feel free to answer any or all if you can.
Lets Start with C3 vettes.

My wife really wantes one of these, she says power isnt a Concern. I know theres one called the L82 with 220 horsepower. Is that one good for at least a high 15 second quarter? Are these engines upgrade freindly? I know she doesnt care but I kind of do, Its a nice car, Im not looking for 500 horse or anything.

C4-I personally dont like these that much but I do want a vette for myself.

Any good front end body kits to make it look nice and not cheap? Regular non pop up headlight conversions? They look a little like the last firebirds oo me.

Is it fairly simple to get these cars doing the quarter in the 12's? (non zr1 of course.

C5-this is personally the car I really want. I love how the the lingenfelter kit looks on this car and a 98 for less then $25 grand is a great price. How bads the insurance? Im 22, do I have to wait till Im 40 to get one?

And I know its off topic here but are those 3.8 engines on Grand Prix's,Bonnevilles, etc really good? I know they can come supercharged but after that is there anything you can do to get them faster for a resonable price? If a vette is too much I'll get a Grand Prix for now.

And I think this car is awesome

1100 HP vette RIP Lingenfelter

http://www.lingenfelter.com/LPEinmedia.asp

Thanks for any responses

[SphinX]

well the c3's were dogs because of emission standards in the 70's and early 80's. I believe they started to get slow around 1974. The early 1970's stringray were fast. As far as making the c3 fast. Ya its not hard to get that horses up on them, but what i like about the c3's is that they are easier to work on because they don't have alot of the computer stuff onboard. On a C3 to get some power out of it, you could: put a super charger on it ( with intercooler! ), or get rid of all that stupid smog pumps and etc, put some better heads on with larger valves, and put a healthy cam in it and some headers for a big difference in hp. For the C4's i own one. Personally i like them alot. I am also 22 years old, and have been restoring cars for most of me life, i have always wanted a Vette, and the one i found i could afford. Stay away from 1984, 1985, Corvettes. Why? Because the '84 had that stupid crossfire injection motor in it, and in '85 they put the L98 in it, but it had bugs. My 1987 Corvette with a L98 engine in it was rated from factory at 250hp. The previous owner of the car had installed cat back exhaust and put some better heads on it, not sure of anything else he had done to it, but its equal to the performance of the C5's with 345hp LS1. If you want a Fast C4 from the factory that isn't a ZR1, then buy a 1996 Vette with the LT4 engine in it. This engine ( LT4 ) was only made in this year. It was rated at 330hp ( 30hp more then the LT1 in the earlier C4's ) but this engine was underated. This engine was in All of the 1996 Corvette Grand Sports and it could but bought as a option for a regular 1996 Vette. The true hp of the LT4 is supposed to be around 355hp. As far as the C5's, i have recently driven one, they are great! Alot nicer comfort ride then previous Vettes. Excellent performance. I was going to trade my 1987 Vette in for a C5 until i found out that a C6 was getting ready to be released with 400hp as a base model. I love my Vette, i will personally never sell my vette without purchasing another. They are classy, people know they are fast, there are always Corvette shows and rallies going on, and all the Corvette owners rolling down the road always waive at you, like you are their friend. Its cool. Any other questions, just reply back.

[RIPLingenfelter]

Hey thanks a lot for the answers, Looks like me and you are the type of guys who will be Corvette owners for life.

SInce you asked, I do have a few more questions

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2452451946

Lots of miles, should I aviod corvettes like this one?

I really want to buy that 100 horsepower lingenfelter supercharge package.

Are Corvettes reliable? Im guessing they are because I dont see Ferraris with 90,000 miles, seems like thats one of the reasons vettes are so popular, you can actually drive it and enjoy it.

[SphinX]

Well, That C5 does have alot of miles on it for a Vette. My 1987 only has 98K miles on it. My opinion, not that it won't last much more, i have seen some Corvettes with 200K on them, its just that Corvettes aren't usually used for a daily driver ( they can be and some people do drive them like that ) so generally Corvette have low mileage on them because they are only a weekend toy. My Vette with 98K miles on it still feels great, plenty of power and no engine problems and my engine is 10 years older then that C5, so it should be perfectly fine, hopefully the person didn't abuse the car. I would want to buy one with around 50K miles on it or less ( if i had plenty of money ) but thats personal preference. If you can only afford a C5 with that many miles, then get it, you won't regret it.

As for " are the corvettes reliable?' sure they are, over one million corvettes were produced and an estimated 900,000+ are still on the road today. They are probably the most reliable world known sports car there is. And a heck of alot cheaper to fix then the other exotics, like porsche, Viper, Ferrari, Lamborghini.

If you are wanting to put a Supercharger on, check out the Procharger unit with intercooler. You will get way more then 100hp more. I was checking them out for my vette. Just remember superchargers and turbos are hard on engines. The more pressure the unit shove in the less reliable the engines will be. So i wouldn't go to high of a pressure. The supercharger i was checking out would give an addition 75% more of hp from your current hp rating. For example, lets say you have a C5 with the LS1 345hp, stick that supercharger on with intercooler and you would have around 600hp. The unit costs around 4K, but having that much more hp is worth it. Your gas mileage doesn't get effected until you step on it, and the car will run normal, but will have the supercharger whine to it. I would love to have a supercharger whine to my car, people know what that sound is, and won't want to mess with your car, racing wise. Another thing about corvettes, the parts are expensive for a domestic vehicle, its kind of like buying Cadilliac parts, but not as expensive as import parts. Just think of it this way, the L98's, LT1's, and LS1's are all 350 cubic inch engines. Chevy makes alot of vehicles with 350's in them ( camaro's, firebirds, trucks ). So alot of the parts with be interchangable to a point. Those parts will be cheap. But the parts that GM only made for Corvette, those will be the more expensive ones.

As far as insurance on my Vette, i'm married and own 4 cars, so the insurance on it is pretty cheap. People often wonder how i can afford the insurance on it, but i don't see any difference from any other car.
I'm not sure if i answered all the questions you had, but let me know if you have anymore or if i missed any of them. I would be glad to help you out.

[SphinX]

Oh and... I just looked at the C5 on ebay again. Notice he isn't showing the engine, and not getting close to the leather seats. Also his reserve is $16,500, for a 1998 with 98K miles on it. Thats not a good price. I was looking at a 1998 with 48K miles on it, and they wanted $21,000 and that was at the most expensive car lot around. So, you should be able to pick one up with are 50K miles on it for around $18K - $19K from a private owner. Thats just my guess. I could be wrong on the prices, you can check on the values of the car at KellyBlueBook.com. The cool thing about Corvettes is, They start out expensive to buy when they are brand new, then they loose value enough to where a average joe guy can buy one, then they start to go up in value again, sometimes far exceeding the original new car price. Example the 1950's and 1960's Vettes are rangines from $50k - $150K just depending on what they are. And some of the rare Corvettes in those years are going in the Millions. In my opinion buying a Corvette is buying a good investment.

[SphinX]

Bah, screw it, i check on the value for ya, a 1998 Vette with 94K and a manual tranny, in good condition is going for $14,800 wholesale value. In retail value the car is $17,400. However i have noticed corvettes don't really follow the bluebook value scale. I see my year of car going for $10K- $15K all the time, and kellyblue book only says my car is worth like $7K, or something like that. I guess it just depends on what you want and how bad you want it and what you are willing to spend.


Picture of my Vette.

[RIPLingenfelter]

thanks a lot for all your help and answers.

Im really looking foward to having a corvette. In my life time I only driven a Dodge Durango,Suzuki Esteem and Currently a Non Supercharged Bonnevile.

I feel the Bonnevile is a quick and great handling car.(Its only a 3.8 205 horsepowercar) I drag rice burners for the hell of it and win a few. I dont mind if I lose Im not serious about this car

Im sure a vette will blow me away.

Have you ever been to a Corvette rally?

I saw it on motortrend TV and it looks fun they had race tracks and 1/4 mile stips.
I would love to go to one of those.

Check this out

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2451785842

My wife has a good eye, she noticed the hood is unchanged though

If a C5 is too much I just might convert a c4.

I'll call this the c4.5

Cool car too. Looks like you take good care of it.

[SphinX]

She does have a good eye. That Corvette looks pretty good, someone stuck some money into it. You can put C5 body parts on C4 apparently pretty easily. I don't know personally though. I have been to Corvette rallies, but not with my vette. Southern Oregon ( where i live ) has alot of corvette rallies, and parades. Its fun to see all the different years and modifications people have done to them.


Oh and... if all you have driven is a Esteem, Durango, and a Bonniville.... you will have a heart attack if you drive a LT1, LT4, or LS1 vette. It will probably scary you.

[1BAD80]

Hey Rip Im A Newbie Too.
Personaly I Like The C3. You Can Do Alot With It And It Is Interchangable.... Motor And Interior With Alot Of Other Models. Besides I Think Its About The Last Yr That They Kept "the Curves" I Like The Curves. If You Get A C3 And Need Any Help With It Please Feel Free To Get Ahold Of Me.
Have A Great Day.
Dan

ps
WOULD LOVE TO SHOW YOU
PIC BUT HAVENT FIGURED OUT
HOW TO YET.