79 minor repairs..need advice

I own a 4 speed 76.. L48... and I also own a 79.. L82, automatic..

Both are bone stock with the exception of the exhaust (both now cat-less duals)....

The L-48 equipted 4 speed will "lay rubber" in all four gears (if you count the chirp in 4th) ..no problem at all....

The 79 L-82 automatic on the other hand has a hard time spinning the tires on a gravel road..

The 79 is my Crusier...great car to take the wife out with in the evening ...for a drive to the local Ice Cream Joint...

76 = 180 Hp 79 = 225 Hp Transmission & Gears have one hell of an effect...lol

Bob

64 & 72 Rag Tops 76 79 & 95 Coupes looking for a C5 Z06
Reply to
Bob G.
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REPLY: An impossibility with an L48 ...at least from typical add on's. You need to understand, that, the 1979 corvette was intended to be a cruiser and not a 0-60 car. ' Actually, change the rearend gear ratio and even a really mild engine will really accellerate. There are some down sides, like reduction in mileage, lower top end (if that's important) and since the engine speed is higher the noise level goes up especially on the freeway. Dennis

REPLY: A rear gear swap wont give the owner what hes looking for in performance from an L48 ; the type of performance he is looking for comes with an entire engine buildup of his L48 and/or a Nitrous add (although the stock L48 wouldnt be able to handle much , if any Nitrous.

Reply to
dave

Reply to
RicSeyler

LOL Don't apologize, that's who we learn things from each other. Dennis sure could teach me a thing or two about many things I'm certain.

Iff'>wow....didnt mean to start conteversy between the ones who are the most

Reply to
RicSeyler

Former Reply: An impossibility with an L48 ...at least from typical add on's. You need to understand, that, the 1979 corvette was intended to be a cruiser and not a 0-60 car.

"I own a 4 speed 76.. L48... and I also own a 79.. L82, automatic.. Both are bone stock with the exception of the exhaust (both now cat-less duals).... The L-48 equipted 4 speed will "lay rubber" in all four gears (if you count the chirp in 4th) ..no problem at all...."

REPLY: A bone stock L48 180 h.p motor laying rubber in all four gears ?! Are you sure youre not hitting the brake pedal between shifts instead !? Could you take along a portable tape recorder and run her thru the gears for us ; there have been car documentaries on TV that put the stock L48 nearly equivalent to the common Family Car in performance. Im not trying to upset you, but, the 1976-1979 stock L48 really hurt the perception of the (powerful) Corvette that it once was. It became the sad outcome of the Feds aggressive agenda to clean up the air -- it wasnt until 1984 that performance started to be returned to the Corvette along with its improved image. Even 'The Fastest 50 Years' Corvette DVD made simular statements on the mid 70s' to early 80's .

Reply to
dave

Well Ric, they had a 2.02 on the L82 at least up to '77 and it was as smogged as they get through then. I see no reason to think they removed the

2.02 valves, especially since hp increased in '78 and in '79

Part of the reason is that the L82 had a either a 6000 or 6500 redline, I don't remember. To run that speed, you pump that much volume and you need those valves.

You could be relating to the mid '80s with the TPI engines, which although they produced more power, they were usually redlined around 5500 and used the 1.94/1.5 valves like the L48.

And as to power, while it is easy to say they were dogs, because they didn't burn rubber like the previous years, the horsepower is more of a surprise than you would think.

Year L48/L82

1973 190/250 1974 195/250 1975 165/205 1976 180/210 1977 180/210 1978 185/220 1979 195/225 1980 190/230 After this, there were no L48/L82 but the horsepower is similar:

1981 190

1982 200 1984 205 1985 230 1986 230/235 ah 1987 240 1988 240/245 cp

Remember, the '84's brag line was "Life Begins at 150" and they did that with 205 hp, 10 hp more than the '79 L48 and 20 hp less than the '79 L82. Or even more ironic, the same hp as the '75 L82.

The '85 went to 230 hp or 5 hp more than the '79 L82.

And realistically, these are stock configurations. Most of these cars in any year could gain 5 hp with a muffler change or more. Typical tweaks of air cleaners, mufflers, lack of catalytic converters, carb adjusts, timing changes, and such could pull an extra 15 or 20 hp pretty quickly.

Reply to
Tom in Missouri

===================== Been busy and have not checked the newsgroup in a few days...

BUT My comments STAND.... my 76 L-48 will burn rubber in but I have to say the chirp occurs in 3rd NOT 4th... Its stock except for the exhaust system ..and that is only modified by removing the cats and making it a true dual exhaust system... my 79 with an L-82 (automatic) will not spin its tires unless I am driving on loose gravel or ice... and it also has no cats and true duals...

Honestly the 75 thru 82 Model years all hurt the "preception" of the Corvette as a preformance vehicle.. BUT when compared to every other vehicile made in this country they still had more to offer preformance wise. I think that is one reason the price of Mid Years started climbing thru the roof...even the base engine cars !

My 300 Hp 95, 6 speed will blow the doors off my 365 Hp solid lifter

64 ...and by todays standard the 95s' 300 hp is about what you will find in most 2005 grocery getters.. ...

And NO you sure did not offend me in anyway...

Bob G.

Reply to
Bob G.

'My 300 Hp 95, 6 speed will blow the doors off my 365 Hp solid lifter 64 '

REPLY: The 365 h.p was a gross h.p rating and the 300 h.p was a net hp rating plus FI -- thats why. But id rather have the '64 for the resale value of it.

Reply to
dave

Reply to
RicSeyler

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