new 84 owner here/questions

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c4lover

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Jul 6, 2014
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Hello, I just purchased an 84 corvette, completely stock besides the muffler delete. I love it! but it seems a lil slow at times..
I was wondering if anyone has purchased the renegade intake from the ecklers corvette site? or if that site is even trustable?
There were a few reviews on it...some bad, some good. The gains seemed outstanding though for how much amount of air was getting cut out from the stock intake for the cross fire engine.

Is it worth getting the renegade for more flow? and if so, what kind of top end internals can I include into the motor to gain hp, as far as not having to take motor out of the car to modify..(lifters etc)
Thank You! :thumbs:
 
The renegade is the only cfi manifold out there that makes any sense performance wise. Problem is the stock 462624 heads are pretty much junk also. The l83 has forged trw flat tops so that's not too crappy. Best would be a set of 180-195ish cc alu heads, a retrofit roller cam (or something like an lt4 hotcam w/ retrofit rollers...would need new timing chain as cam sprocket bolt circle is different. Requires stout timing cover and thrust button) and then the re n egade, larger tb's and an ebl ecu for tuning it. Forget the oem ecm.
 
Welcome aboard! See what kind of great info is available here! You'll enjoy the rest of it too I'm sure. Cheers - Jim
 
Welcome to the motley crew......

Long ago I had a '87 convertible, and it was tuned up nice with aftermarket chip,.... I think TT has about nailed what you need to do....

But maybe to look into finding a later L98 engine, and install the whole thing....

:smash:
 
Without taking the motor out you are pretty limited in what you can do (cam, etc). Much easier working on an engine out of the car also.
 
Thanks for all the quick replys! And by the way,
I am not looking into a HUGE amount of power..
Just enough to give it more kick than the original
200hp. I was planning on installing a comp Cam
Lifter kit, pushrods, and roller rockers. (Comes in
A set on amazon for sbc) nothing big, just a matching setup to avoid big penalties with timing. And then porting intake and heads, keeping my budget under $1000. Ideas, thoughts?
Thank you!:smash:
 
Oh, and also planning on switching out the fuel pump for
a walbro 255 lph fuel pump. People seem to say this is the best way to go for simplest power and ease for cfi motor! : )
 
c4lover said:
Thanks for all the quick replys! And by the way,
I am not looking into a HUGE amount of power..
Just enough to give it more kick than the original
200hp. I was planning on installing a comp Cam
Lifter kit, pushrods, and roller rockers. (Comes in
A set on amazon for sbc) nothing big, just a matching setup to avoid big penalties with timing. And then porting intake and heads, keeping my budget under $1000. Ideas, thoughts?
Thank you!:smash:
Click to expand...

I am not a fan of toggle type roller lifters as on street driven cars, they tend to wear, and when the toggle bar breaks, the lifters spin and wipe out tons of shit....seen several pix of various guys with that happening.....Yeh, I know they been in use in race cars, but them engines get petted over every day if not every pass/race.....now the stock L98+ lifter with the dawg bone and retainer spring is just fine.....it is said to not bother with roller rockers, as they don't give much gain.....I would get a set of L98 aluminum heads rather than dump $$into the old stock thin walled heads I have heard of problems with them cracking/etc....I picked up a set of L98 heads for about 200 bux....

:eek::thumbs:
 
Thanks for the advice on the rollers. Ive found a set of l98 heads for sale.
But will laying those down on my l83 going to put out much more difference? Or will porting be necessary?
And could I still switch out the cam if I wanted to?
Thanks!
:thumbs:
 
c4lover said:
Thanks for the advice on the rollers. Ive found a set of l98 heads for sale.
But will laying those down on my l83 going to put out much more difference? Or will porting be necessary?
And could I still switch out the cam if I wanted to?
Thanks!
:thumbs:
Click to expand...

I never had trouble with the '87 with aluminum #113 cast L98 heads, and I never had any issues with the used L98 I have had on this engine in my '72...it is a factory 4 bolt main '89 truck factory roller engine, I had CAM issues that drove me nutz for years...but stick with a factory L98/ZZ4 cam and you should be fine...it's nice and torkey smooth idle, IMO, porting heads is a time waster for street driving.....you should be getting 300-350 hp with headers, and no cat converter and dual exhaust....but more importantly you pushing 400 ft lbs....close enough, anyway....

You are pretty close to what I was with when I had the OEM '72 vette engine in my vert...it was L48, base engine and 4 speed... nothing much to speak of, so in late '97 I upgraded everything....

:smash::surrender:
 
By the way, Thank you for the help Mrvette. Appreciate it!
So are ya thinking, maybe..stick to the stock cam, switch out the
heads to the l98 aluminum. And maybe some porting on the intake....headers and exhaust...thats going to boost the ponies from 200 to 300? I didnt think the cfi engine had that potential.
Im.getting excited to purchase parts! Just want to know what to get. :smash:
 
c4lover said:
By the way, Thank you for the help Mrvette. Appreciate it!
So are ya thinking, maybe..stick to the stock cam, switch out the
heads to the l98 aluminum. And maybe some porting on the intake....headers and exhaust...thats going to boost the ponies from 200 to 300? I didnt think the cfi engine had that potential.
Im.getting excited to purchase parts! Just want to know what to get. :smash:
Click to expand...

Please wait for some other guys with probably more knowledge than I have for today's situation, I can only speak of my memory and experiences I endured....I can not remember all the various nuances of all the parts over the years, age 70 here now, been a hotrodder for over 50 years, trick is, most of it was Pontiacs....not Chebby.....so I read more about Corvette and Chebby then I actually DO, except my own cars of course.....

:eek::thumbs:

Maybe page Marck, TT Twin Turbo....he pretty sharp on this stuffs, ....

Or maybe Karsten or Mike, 69427 he races a lot.....
 
Ok, I will definently look into that, thank you!

Any others with experience with crossfire engine?
Will swapping my stock heads for l98 alunimum heads be worth it?
 
Budget of $1000 - aluminum heads (Edelbrock, Summit brand) are under $1000 , Summit being the cheaper set at $850 or so... That's where I would start, then the cam, intake and such later.

The stock head chambers are what, 76cc??? A set of heads like the Edelbrock Performer RPM with 64cc chambers should bump the compression up a bit, that will then later allow the use of a hotter cam.

Not sure I would want to buy used heads unless I can see the engine run with those (or know the seller) - people try to sell a lot of junk on craigslist etc....

I am making this suggestion based on your 1000$ budget, there are better heads out there but they're 1500 and up..... And probably overkill for your stock bottom end anyways.....
 
MYBAD79 said:
Budget of $1000 - aluminum heads (Edelbrock, Summit brand) are under $1000 , Summit being the cheaper set at $850 or so... That's where I would start, then the cam, intake and such later.

The stock head chambers are what, 76cc??? A set of heads like the Edelbrock Performer RPM with 64cc chambers should bump the compression up a bit, that will then later allow the use of a hotter cam.

Not sure I would want to buy used heads unless I can see the engine run with those (or know the seller) - people try to sell a lot of junk on craigslist etc....

I am making this suggestion based on your 1000$ budget, there are better heads out there but they're 1500 and up..... And probably overkill for your stock bottom end anyways.....
Click to expand...

Karsten, that is why I was suggesting maybe a decent set of L98 heads, reworked by a local head shop, knock 100 lbs off the front end, bump compression, and get DPFI on there if at all possible, today it MAY be all possible for under a grand.....15 years ago when I built my engine, not so much.....:smash::surrender:
 
Just for grins I looked at car-parts.com (junkyard inventory) ..... You can get a complete 93-97 camaro/firebird engine incl fuel injection and accessories for $1000 ..... The prices they list are "pulled" and "ready to ship" ..... Now if you find a junkyard close to you this might not be a bad way to go, depending how many miles on your engine etc.....
Those engines were rated at like 285 hp (???) and have aluminum heads, better FI etc......
 
So, is porting the heads a tad going to make much difference? Or is new heads best bet?
 
See for how much you can find the used heads.... On a otherwise pretty much stock engine porting is not all that important, you can match the ports with a Dremel at home .... that's head to intake and gasket ... I would do that with new heads too (actually did that when I installed my RPM air gap intake).... no need to polish the whole thing, you just want to make sure there's not a 1/8" step from intake to head opening, use the gasket as a template....

with new heads you get a little more "peace of mind" .... new valves, new valve seals, new springs etc..... I would not have an issue buying a used engine if the seller (like most on car-parts.com) tested it before pulling it.... sometimes they even have a video of it running.... now buying used heads my first question is why were they taken off that engine ???? hmmmmm.... i would only buy used heads from somebody I know or if I know the engine was running ok....

new head gaskets, intake gaskets, head bolts (ARP??) , exhaust header gaskets and all the work add up.... that's a lot of money at the time you find out the used heads are junk..... ok, you could have them cleaned and crack tested but then you're almost at the price of new heads.....

food for thoughts....
 
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