If I have to tear it down

[GT6Steve]

Amigos,

My 1981 Corvette has to have the intake pulled off to replace the intake gaskets. Leaking and resultant rough idle.

As this seems to be the lowest HP Corvette ever made, is there something I should do to move forward with this chore?

I know nothing about the heads except that I'm not ready to pay a couple grand for better ones. Is the manifold an issue and can a different one liven the motor a bit?

Daily driver, no drag racing, highway cruising that may soon become slogging from stoplight to stoplight.

Thanx in advance, Steve

 

[mrvette]

A friend down the road a few miles here, DAmoroso may well pipe in on this...he has a BBC in his '81 and ran the computer crab for a while...

but IMO..go for a later engine....I did 14 years ago '89 truck factory 4 bolt block with L98 aluminum heads....it runs fine, any faults are not the fault of the overall design/assy....

but today...maybe consider a change to a LS series engine...

:beer::beer:

 

[Beagle 1]

I don't believe that just changing the intake manifold would do much.
So, just fix the current problem and keep driving, or be prepared to put in a new cam, heads, etc.

 

[clutchdust]

Actually, that intake isn't too far off from a basic Performer. At least not with an original L-81. The real headache with the L-81 is the cat/exhaust, after that, the heads, then compression, and let's not forget CCC. But who's counting?
Lemme know if you want to dive into it one day and want/need a hand. I've had mine off and on a few times, but there's no voodoo to it.

 

[GT6Steve]

Thanx guys, you've pretty much reinforced my thinking. I'll just fix it for now and continue watching for a suitable block to build something up slowly.

I've still gotta finish the paint and body so we'll just keep slogging along....:idea:

 

[clutchdust]

Hey Steve, give me a holler if you want a hand with that. Good excuse to get grubby. But you're buying the pizza.

 

[Fuelie74]

A summit house brand cam and a small chamber set of steel heads would probably make a world of difference on that engine on a tight budget.

 

[clutchdust]

Back when I had the original L-81 in mine, I swapped out a set of 85-86 305HO heads for the old 882 castings. The 882s had (I believe) 72cc chambers while the 305 heads had something like 56 or 58cc. Pretty fair bump for a set of heads that you can generally find from most machine shops for a couple hundred bucks. But some may shout that the 305HO heads only have a 1.84" intake valve. But just between you and me, the 882s in the L-81 only have a 1.84" intake as well. Shhhh!