drcook's

1996 Chevrolet Corvette

Base 350/5.7L V8

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drcook /
1996 Chevrolet Corvette

Build Points

38

Color: Arctic White / Red Stripes
Horsepower: 300
Drivetrain: RWD

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Vehicle Overview

I bought this 1996 Corvette in June 2016. It was truly the proverbial "old lady's car". She had bought it for her 50th birthday. It had a total of 11,800 miles on it. I have been correcting the issues from sitting so much, such as new bearing packs, front and rear, all new brake components, shocks, etc. I have put a DeWitts all aluminum radiator in and am making handling changes, such as adding a harness bar, which ties the hoop together, a camber brace and new Bilsteins all around. When I was younger, I had a 68 & a 69 Roadrunner, a couple 5.0 Mustangs and a 69 SS 396 Chevelle, but my passion has always been Corvettes. When I was 22 I purchased a 65 ragtop, restored it, but had to sell it when I was raising 2 kids on my own. It took me 25 years until I acquired another one, this 1996. I cannot help myself for putting my own thumbprint on it. The stripes are paint. I picked out the colors to match the interior. That is a fiberglass splitter/spoiler under the front. Currently under repair, I admit I misjudged a curb.

Future Plans

I will be pushing the engine to 425/450, possibly 475. I have most of the components already bought. Heads (Trick Flow's), LT4 HotCam, CompCams roller rockers, American Racing 1 3/4" headers. I have acquired ARP fasteners for the heads, etc. I have a new rebuilt Optispark, a MSD 6A box and a hotter coil. I do have the coils in case I want to convert to coil on plug setup in the future, we will see how the new rebuilt distributor (a combination of oem and MSD components). Auto equipped C4 Corvettes came with a relatively weak Dana 36 rear diff, a Dana 44 from a stick car can be swapped in, as long as you use the driveshaft, c-beam, batwing and differential (ie: the whole assembly) from a stick car. I have acquired one with the gear ratio I want. all I have to is rebuild the differential (I already have all the seals, bearings and clutches). Very careful shopping on eBay let me acquire the specialty tools for the Dana 44's at a very small price. My weak link will be the 4L60E transmission. As you all know (or maybe know) the parts from a 60/65 and 70E are interchangeable/retrofittable. So I will rebuild the transmission to be able to handle the new power. I am targeting performance levels a little better than the base models from subsequent year Corvettes. I also have a the x-brace that GM put under convertible corvettes to stiffen them up. I acquired the intake, it is powder coated red for less than I could have had the powder coating done. I have been very carefully shopping. By purchasing my parts linearly, waiting for sales and specials, haunting Craigslist and eBay, I am averaging about 80 cents on the dollar cost. In the future will be an old school dash. The picture I included is the dash I am going to get. It looks very similar to the one in the '65 I had. I put a touch screen radio, with Sirius XM and a backup camera (wired) into the car. I shared everything that I (and they) found out about installing a radio into a late C4 Vette with Bose with them. There was a lot of problem solving to get around issues. If you want to do the same, they (Crutchfield) has it all documented.

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Dennis
05/20/2021
Well done. Thumbs up.
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