Questions about my 1981 Corvette

[lanceh007]

Hey, I have a few questions about my 1981 corvette. I've had it for about five years. I live in Arkansas, and there is nothing even close to street racing around here. I'm moving to Orlando this summer, and I'm pretty sure there is some stuff around there, so I was wanting to get my car ready for it. It does pretty good performance wise. I don't konw much about cars, so I was wondering if anyone could tell me a few things.
It has a 350, V-8 and automatic transmission. I've gotten it on the back roads and tested the 0-60 and managed 7.1 seconds. 0-100 is 19.4 second. I havn't been able to get a 1/4 mile number, but the specs on the internet have all said around 15 seconds. I was really risky one day, and got it up to 126mph on the interstate, but when I got off on my exit, and kept making this squeaking sound that my friend thought was the fan belt? I'm not sure what it is, and it still makes the sound someimtes.
1. Does anyone know what this sound might be?
2. How does my car rank with the general souped up import cars and domestic cars? and could I even compete on the street racing scene with this car?
3. I've also been wondering how those people on TV manage to keep the car pefectly still and start smoking the tires? Is that referred to as powerbraking, and if so, how could I do that without tearing up the car?
4. Another thing I've been wondering about is my oil pressure. The guage ranges from 0 - 80. Sometimes it stays in the middle near 45, but other times it will get up 80 in just normal driving. Is this a bad thing? THere is a chevy dealership nearby that has worked on the brakes and automatic choke in the past, but they don't seem to know much about it.
5. Another problem I've been having is about the automatic choke (I guess that's what it's called?) When I start it up, it often dies, and when I finally get it running, everytime I hit the gas, the rpms drop. It takes about 5 minutes to finally get it going. Does anyone know anything about this?
6. One last thing I was wondering is what kind of mods could I put on the car to make it faster? Since I don't know much about it, and there aren't any shops around that could fix it up for me, does anyone have some general tips that I could use to make it better?
Well, Thanks for all the help!

[LjasonL]

hey im in arkansas too, depending on where youre at, i could point u to some street racing i know a few groups in a few towns who do it, and its pretty big in ft smith and fayetteville. anyway on to your questions

1.could be the belt? i dunno u got me on that one.
2.if your car runs low 15s, it would be a good matchup for my car, meaning its pretty much in the upper class of our area streetracers, just the lower part of the upper class. my car is seen as a "fast" car in the local scene, just not one of the fastest. yes u could compete, just be careful who u pick on!
3.it is indeed called powerbraking. hold the brake and floor it. its that simple.
4.if it stayed at a constant 80 psi, i would think it was supposed to run like that, but since u say its usually at 45 then occasionally jumps to 80, i would think there is a problem. are there any external factors occuring when it jumps, such as abnormally hot (or cold) weather, or maybe your driving style for the day?
5.there *should* be an adjustment, located on the carb somewhere, like a screw that u screw in or out to adjust it up or down. adjusted right, it *should* fix this.
6.a vette will respond well to the basic intake, header, exhaust. even something as simple as a k&n filter and open headers (meaning no catalytic converter or exhaust) should give u a noticable improvement, and living in arkansas we dont have to worry bout the cops hassling us for running open exhaust.

[TatII]

your car is around as fast as a modified civic si. however a stock 2k2 nissan maxima and altima will beat you out. sooooo you can race alot of honda boys and beat most of the civics and preludes and accords with their basic intake, header, and exhuast mods. some cars will beat you on the launch. but if its a highway battle, i can garantee you that you would be 95% of the japanese import cars you race with a rolling start from around 60mph to 140-150mph since you got pretty twice as many pistons to move your car. most honda's are speed limited to go only up 125mph plus their engines starts to scream like they're dyin once you break 100mph. soooo on highway battles, thats should be no sweet for you. but stay away from the nissan 300zx twin turbos. toyota supra mark IV's honda NSX's, subaru WRX's, and Mazda RX-7's. those are all turbo charged with atleast one turbo and they will pretty much eat your old stock corvette for breakfast lunch and dinner.

[327belair]

those vettes are absolute dogs, at least for corvette standards. my mom has a competly stock '77 with 30k miles and even with the 4 speed, its slow. so heres what u have to do: first, change the rear end gears to something like a 3.5:1 ratio. these year cars come with either a 2.11:1 or a 2.36:1 (i think). this was so the car could go 140, the only problem is it kills acceleration. the next thing i would do is the exhaust. im not sure what the laws are in FL. but here when a car is 25 years old, emmisions laws no longer apply. take out the y-pipe exhaust and buy an exhaust system for a 68-74 vette. it WILL fit. if u have to keep the catalytic converters, then buy 2 random technologies cats and cut the exhaust pipes and put those in. nex on the list is ditch the emmisions heads. intake and cam. u can get away with porting the haeds, but if u have the money buy some edelbrock victor heads. or u could go to a junkyard and pick up heads off of an earlier 350 or 327. buy an edelbrock rpm dual plane intake, and buy a crane hydraulic lfter cam, not too big. all these mods will run u less than a grand, and u will pick up at least 100 hp, plus the gears will help acceleration a lot. this will put u almost into the 12's.

sbc engines usually have real high oil pressure, about 10psi per 1000 rpm is good.

turn the key on, pump the gass twice, then hold it halfway down as u crank the engine. when it starts, just let it idle

[lanceh007]

Hey guys,
Thanks for all the help!
ldelaysionl, I live in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Do you know of any racing groups that hang around near Hot Springs? If so, e-mail me sometime at [email protected]

Well, most all my questions were solved. The oil problem I don't think is a very big deal. It's pretty much been like that since I've had it, and I was just wondering if anyone knew something about it. It's pretty much constantly at 80, but sometimes, it will drop to 45 for a few minutes. Other than that, it stays near 80.
I also think the automatic choke is no big deal. When the car warms up, it does just fine.

1. One thing I'm still kinda fuzzy about is what kind of modifications I could do to it, without spending a lot of money, and will they be worth whatever improment they give? The other day, I was going pretty good (85-90) down the interstate, and the car starts putting out white smoke everywhere. I pull over, and one of the hoses had blown causing antifreeze to go everywhere. No big deal, but some of these hoses seem very old, and don't look like they will hold up to a whole lot of torture. I guess I'll just have to get them replaced one day, or let them blow one by one. lol

2. Well, I'm seriously thinking about putting a new exhaust system on it. I couldn't do it personally, since I don't know anything about it, but there is a muffler and exhaust shop that could do it for me. 327Belair reccomended a 68-74 vette exhaust system, so does anyone reccomend anything else?

3. I've also heard some people talk about putting a "holly"? or something like that in place of my carberator? how hard would one of those be to put on, and how much would it cost me?

4. I was also just wondering if powerbraking hurts the car or brakes any?

5. If you also have any other info that I might find usefull about my corvette, please tell me! I don't know a whole lot about it, and I would like to know as much as I can. Thanks for the help!

[bluevette74]

allright, i have a 1974 stingray 350 with some mods, like polished heads, cam, headers, intake, carb, and no cats just straight exhaust! Now my car isnt that great off the line because of my 3:80 gears in my rear, but from 30 and up i can scratch every gear!

1. If your asking about mods, go to a performance shop, look for a book "how to hot rod a 350" It will tell you everything you need to know about hot roding a 350. the 350 5.7l has been around for more than 30 years so people would now the perfect combinations for it.

2. Exhaust sytem is a good first start, pretty much all headers are the same! you have different sizes, but they all do the same thing which allows your exploding gases coming from the pistons to exit with ease

3. Holly is a good carborator with some combinations, like i said look in that book and it will tell you which combinations is good for that holly! A good carborator will run around $300 bucks! theyre easy to install but you may have bad fuel air combinations if you dont know what your doing, so i would have somebody install it for you.

4. Any stress that you put on a car is going to hurt your car. Powerbraking doesnt hurt your engine any more than racing it. The worst thing about powerbraking is you will wear out your brakes and tires faster than normal.

5. well your car started out with the crossfire fuel injections system, "most people prefer carbs over the crossfire!" I dont know if its still on their or if you have a carb. If i were to tell you 3 things to help you heres what they would be. 1. exhaust, hooker headers & flowmaster exhaust. 2. cam, more fuel to the piston the faster it will go. 3. carborator, i would go with a 650 4 barrell.

327 you dont speak on my vettes behalf, because she aint no dog, many rx7's have seen her tailights, and some have beaten me as well.

[LjasonL]

hmm, i havent really spent any time around hot springs, dont know any info about street racing there, doesnt seem like a place that would have much of it. if u know where centerville dragway is (by russelville) theyre opening back up to full schedule this weekend and a bunch of people (including me) are gonna be there. its kinda a long drive for u, but its a chance to see what your car will run on a track and race a few other people. the weekend after that is an autocross at north little rock airport, i dunno if im gonna be there cuz i might be in florida, but its closer for u than centerville.

[327belair]

yeah, but u also gave a huge list of mods. i meant that stock they are dogs, which they most definitly are.

and its "holley".

oh yeah, cross fire injection was a very bad system, either get a fuel injection and computer off a newer vette (expensive and harder to set up) or a carberator (cheap and easy). oh yeah, and to put a carb on it u will also need a new intake manifold (150 bucks will do it)

[lanceh007]

Hey, Thanks again for all the help. I'm going to get a new exhaust system put on it (straight) for $300. It already has a straight exhaust, but it's very old, and needs a new one. It also has a carberautor on it, not a fuel injector. 1982 was the first year of the fuel injector for vettes, but mines an 81. The carberator is pretty old, and could go with a rebuilding, but I'm also seriously thinking about getting a holley. There is no catalytic converter on it (taken off before I bought it), and mostly everything else that has to do with that is gone including the emision heads. I just have another questions or two...

1. I am thinking about putting a supercharger or turbocharger on it too.
A. How much would one of these run me?
B. how much performance incrase would I get ?
C. which one is better?
D. And the big questions Is.... is there any way to install either one of those without tearing up my hood?

2. Which mod will give the best incrase in horse power with the cheapest money... turbo or supercharger; a new 650 4 barrell carberator; or something else that I don't know about?

3. Does or can going 130+ or speads near it for short - moderate periods of time damage the car in any way?

I think that's about all the questions for now. Thanks for all the great help!

[327belair]

ok, there are two types of superchargers, the roots type (the tall polished ones seen on dragsters), and centrifugal (attatches on the side of the engine and is not much bigger than an a/c compressor. the roots type can be used with carbs, but u will have to put a hole in your hood. the centrifugal will fit under the hood, and it CAN be used with carbs, but i would not recommend it. If u were going to put on a centrifugal supercarger, u should buy the intake off a 93-97 camaro or firebird and put that on. turbo charging is alot more expensive, and fuel injection is also necessary

[bluevette74]

ok first off fuel injection on vettes were around in the 50's! i dont know about crossfire but i know 1982 wasnt the first year to have fuel injection. a supercharger would be best for a carbed 350, a supercharger runs off your crank shaft, the crank shaft turns a belt which turns a turbine which forces more air into your combustion chamber which in return creates more power!
1. a supercharger would run you around $2000 for parts and laber "a good supercharger that is."
2. going 130+ is worst for your car than just daily driving, but if you dont push your car every once in a while then that is certainly not healthy, vettes are made for top end speed take it their.
if i were you i would just work on the exhaust, carb and intake that will increase your performance any were from 50-100 hp!

[327belair]

i agree with blue vette, there is no cheap way to do a supercharger or turbo in your car, u could run nitrous pretty cheaply, tho

[Psman32@af]

There is another kind of super charger, the twin-screw supercharger. It is more effiecent than a roots and offers higher boost levels than a roots. I am not sure, but I don't think you would need to do anything to your hood for it. Also I though turbocharging was cheaper than supercharging . Anyway, here is a link to a good article on supercharging/turbocharging here:http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t417.html

[lanceh007]

Hey, thanks again guys. Okay, I think I've got it now...

But one last thing...

Could anyone tell me which supercharger I might be able to fit on my car, and where I might be able to pick one up? I'm having lots of trouble looking on the net, and I can't seem to find one that's compatible with my car. THey all just list a lot of Hondas and japaneese cars, and I can't find much. I'd probably end up having to go with the Twin-Screw since it might fight under the hood. Thanks again for all the help!

[Psman32@af]

On a side note of what I forgot to say earlier, if you can't get a twin screw to fit under the hood, go with a turbocharger over a centrifugal supercharger. A centrifugal supercharger works close to the way a turbo does, but is belt driven instead of exhaust gas driven. The turbo will respond in about the same way as a centrifugal supercharger, but take less power to drive and should give you more boost.