It's been more than 30 years since I've owned a Vette. The bug has bit again, so I'm looking for another C3. Most good condition C3s from the early '70s are out of my price range, but model years 80-81-82 look pretty affordable. The problem is (and no offense to their owners), they're slugs. My last two Vettes were both 454s, and my most recent hotrod was a 1800 lb 350/400TH T-bucket. I'm not looking for the ultimate street racer at this point, but I was really appalled when I looked up the specs for the last of the C3s. Any Vette that does the quarter in 16 secs is simply not welcome in my garage.
To get to my question, I discovered only recently that the 700R overdrive transmission was offered for the first time in the '82 models. The 0.7 OD ratio makes me think maybe I could convert one of these to reasonably quick performance with little effort. Is there any good reason from the standpoint of practicality as a car that's frequently driven in city traffic not to install 4.11 or 4.56 gears in the '82 Vette? Either ratio would provide a much better launch than the stock gearset, and it appears to me that the OD transmission would still provide reasonable RPM at 70-75 MPH.
Also, I've read that the Dana carrier in the later C3s isn't as robust as earlier differentials. Is that likely to be a problem with street tires and the stock motor? I might be tempted to modify the motor at some point, but that's probably well into the future.
So, is there anything I'm not aware of in planning this approach? I realize everything has a cost, and I just want to be sure I know the whole picture before starting this project.
To get to my question, I discovered only recently that the 700R overdrive transmission was offered for the first time in the '82 models. The 0.7 OD ratio makes me think maybe I could convert one of these to reasonably quick performance with little effort. Is there any good reason from the standpoint of practicality as a car that's frequently driven in city traffic not to install 4.11 or 4.56 gears in the '82 Vette? Either ratio would provide a much better launch than the stock gearset, and it appears to me that the OD transmission would still provide reasonable RPM at 70-75 MPH.
Also, I've read that the Dana carrier in the later C3s isn't as robust as earlier differentials. Is that likely to be a problem with street tires and the stock motor? I might be tempted to modify the motor at some point, but that's probably well into the future.
So, is there anything I'm not aware of in planning this approach? I realize everything has a cost, and I just want to be sure I know the whole picture before starting this project.
4.11 or 4.56 Gears into '82?
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