FredWhiteAndBlue

The title pretty much lays out my plans for the car. I've been thinking about building an engine for the car for a while, I just didn't know exactly what I wanted to build. Another 327 didn't interest me because they're 2 bolt mains. I wanted something that could put down a decent amount of power. I have a buddy that has built a few Carb'd LS's for his Fox Body, so I have some guidance from someone that's done the Carb'd LS thing before. Only problem is I need to find some other guys that have done an LS into a C2 before for the Corvette specific issues I'm going to run into.

Base engine will be a Iron Block LM7 5.3L LS motor out of a truck. It's going to be bored 0.120 over to make it the same displacement as a stock 5.7L LS1. It's going to have H-beam rods, forged pistons, LS6 heads, Edelbrock Victor Jr. intake, Holley 750 carb, and a 150 shot of Nitrous for good measure

I have a few Corvette specific things to figure out before I get too deep into this build (Throttle linkage, motor mount adapters, headers, charging/electrical system, gauges, Z-bar adapter, figuring if I have enough clearance with the big block hood to run the intake and carb I want, etc.) but hoping to get started soon.

If you guys have ANY knowledge on putting a carb'd LSx into a C2 Vette please let me know! The more info I can gather, the better!


The car was my dad's since he was 22yrs old. He passed away 16yrs ago and the car has been my baby ever since I could drive (I'm 25 now). The car is nowhere near original. My dad did his fair share of modifications to it when he was younger, so I kinda feel like I'm carrying on the tradition. You can see a few of the mods my old man did from the picture. '66 front end, big block hood, roll bar. The engine was originally fuel injected but my dad swapped it over to a Edelbrock Performer intake and Holley 650 shortly after he bought the car (No, he didn't keep the fuel injection haha). My modifications to the car have been chassis related for the most part. Bilstein shocks all around, larger front sway bar, rear sway bar, 550lb 7 turn front springs, 330lb composite mono leaf in the rear, new brake lines, dual chamber master cylinder, front disc brake conversion, and new wheels/tires.

The car will be 50yrs old next year so I feel it's appropriate to give it a new power plant for it's birthday

Thanks for following along!
-Fred-

ZONES89RS

iTrader: (25)

That car has sexy all over it! Good luck, this will be one of my favorite builds. It's just rare.

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

One of my all time favorite body styles. Chevy should have quit when they nailed that year.

Only problem you are going to have is tires.

ZONES89RS

iTrader: (25)

Right? I do wonder, how strong are the rear differentials in those?

baronsmith98

iTrader: (2)

Beautiful car. Will definitely keep an eye on this build. You gonna try to keep a vintage look to the motor?

FredWhiteAndBlue

I agree. You can only go so big with the tires without tubbing or modifying the fenders, and I don't plan on doing either. Right now the car has 225/45-18 BFG G-force KDWs. We'll see how long they last haha.


I guess we'll find out haha. Right now it has 3.70 gears, but I have another rear end that's been sitting in the garage for years with 4.11 gears. If I blow up the 3.70 I might take the 4.11 diff apart and have the gears cryo treated to strengthen it up. Transmission is the stock Muncie M-20. From what I've read, the Muncie 4-Speeds can take a good beating. I always have the option of changing the guts to M-22 "Rock Crusher" to make it almost bulletproof. Could also have the M-22 gear set cryo treated to help with strength too.

Either way, I'm a ways off from worrying about what I'm going to break. I still have to actually get the motor and start building it. I'll worry about what I break when I get there

FredWhiteAndBlue

I'm gonna do a few things to dress up the engine the same way you might if you had an old school SBC. I still want people to be able to tell it's an LS though. That's kind of why I decided to go Carburetor instead of fuel injection. It's a new school engine with an old school feel. And it's proven that you can make good reliable power out of a Carb'd LS engine too. Especially with a little Nitrous

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

A buddy of mine had one of those and if I remember correctly the halfshafts were the weak link.

Any thought to adding more gears? Those old muncies were it back in the day, but you will probably give up 8-10 mpg without an overdrive. The car will be massively more enjoyable cruising under 2000 RPM than over 3000 RPM.

ZONES89RS

iTrader: (25)

No lie, a t56 6 speed would be the cherry on top. With 4.30 rear gears I would break 20 mpg with my 6 liter.

snook

iTrader: (1)

Sweet car, I will keep an eye on this build, Are hose flat black coys?

FredWhiteAndBlue

Yep. Coys 'C-5' 18x7 all around.

ignatz

I put an LS3 into my 69 and was distressed to learn just how much higher the motor sat. LT1 and L88 didn't provide the clearance. Had to put an aftermarket hi-rise hood on. It's a look and not too bad but I would have preferred to stay stock looking. Also would have saved me a lot of work to make the hood fit right. Given all the pain if I had to do it again I would go FI.

With a nearly identical chassis, I'm guessing you will be in the same boat.

snook

iTrader: (1)

I thought so, same as my s10 blazer. Got 18X9.5's on the back though. Wish id went 17s 0n the front so I could fit more tire