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My Vette was originally ordered by an American servicemember stationed in Munich, Germany. Shortly after he married, he parted with his Corvette (jealousy?) and she became mine in the first months of 1980. She was equipped with an L-48 and TH-350 auto, A/C, and cassette radio. None of that power stuff (windows, seats, etc.) that no one needs anyway. That summer, on my first longer trip to Salzburg in Austria, the L-48 engine burned a few bearings and died. Knowing that the L-48 wasn't exactly a powerhouse to begin with, and that just replacing it would not improve the situation, my father and I decided the best approach would be to replace it with the meanest small block Chevy produced: the 1970 LT-1. Unfortunately, complete LT-1 engines were not available from Chevrolet. So we had to order a short block, heads, valves, etc., etc., etc. It turned out to be a major project. Since my main interest was power, not originality, we did not get the factory LT-1 intake or the Holley carb Chevrolet used for these engines. Instead, I selected an Edelbrock Torker II and a Holley 715 CFM vacuum secondary carburetor. We kept the HEI distributor from the L-48, but got a Moroso recurving kit (springs and weights). I later installed a Vertex magneto. I played around with this intake/carb combination for a while, even buying a 650 CFM version of the carb with side-hung float bowls and swapping the 715's center-hung bowls, but it was always difficult to drive around town. I did manage high 13s in the quarter mile at some club drag tests, but that wasn't too much to get excited about (although better than the L-48's 15-second performance). Currently, I have an Offenhauser dual-port manifold with a new generation (with integral fuel bowls) Holley carb installed. While the performance still isn't breathtaking, the around town driveability sure has increased. Originally, my car was equipped with a TH350 automatic transmission. The LT-1 and the TH350 just did not get along very well. When the transmission started to develop a mind of its own, I thought it was time for a change. Doing some research in Chevrolet's parts manuals, I ordered every part I could find that might be necessary for a change to a manual transmission. And since I thought that 4 speeds are not quite enough, I opted for the Doug Nash 5-speed. The change was not too bad a task; I just had to rip out everything under the dash (including the steering wheel) to replace the auto brake pedal with the clutch pedal and smaller brake pedal. Installation of the DNE trans was actually helped by the fact that I had an automatic: The transmission crossmember is removable on auto-equipped cars, but welded in on those with manual transmissions. And you need to remove the crossmember when you install the DNE. Some time after the transmission project, I replaced the original 3.55 differential gears with 2.78s. Even with that high gear ratio, I get the same multiplication in first as a four-speed equipped Vette would get with 4.11 rears. This is because the DNE has a 1:1 fifth gear, not an overdrive. My first outing with the 5-speed took me to a club race at the Salzburgring in Austria. I quickly learned how to shift the new transmission, going through all five gears on the long straight in front of the bleachers. On one round, I missed a gear: Instead of going from 4th to 5th, I hit 3rd. The tach needle was buried above 7000 RPM, and I was afraid I had lunched the engine. But after a slow round, listening for any strange noises, I decided I had been lucky and continued. I've put about 60,000 miles on the car since then, and the engine is still running. That just shows you that Chevy builds some pretty tough engines. One of my dreams as a teenager was to have a car with sidepipes. And what better car to equip with sidepipes than a Corvette? I installed a set of chromed Hooker sidemounts. They certainly changed the car's appearance, and attracted lots of stares from the people in Europe, where the exhaust systems must normally exit behind the rear wheels. The sidemounts did make getting in and out of the Vette interesting. Luckily, I don't like to wear shorts, so I didn't get my legs burned, but a girlfriend did (she forgave me). |
