jet1991`s 1980 Corvette L82 - (Huge pictures)

[jet1991]

I`ve uploaded five more pictures my father sent me:

http://s926.photobucket.com/albums/ad106/jet1991/Corvette - hjem fra Halden/

The window on the right side works, he forgot to roll it down...

Edit: turns out it needs fixing

The Norwegian corvette club has at least 700 member (last counted November 2008) and their forum has 1000 members. But there`s 120 or so Corvettes for sale right now so there`s probably a lot more Corvettes sitting around. The Norwgian Amcar club has 16000 members, but you don`t have to own an amcar to be a member. And you don`t have to be a member to own an amcar. There`s a lot of vans around here too. There used to be all kinds of vans, but now only 80`s Chevys are still alive. Most of them are wrecks now, no one really took care of their vans.

And this is a similar car. Also completely stock:

 

[Rotary Junkie]

I`m going to keep the car stock or at least N.O.S. --- Most owners drop crate engines in them right after they have bought the car. It`s a shame really, 230 stock hp from a 5,7 litre is also a shame, but it`s the lesser evil IMO.

Personally I'd say modify it but keep your stock bits around. The mods suggested (intake, carb, headers, exhaust, cam) will free up probably 80hp, add a set of heads and you're looking at well over 1hp per cubic inch.

Also, doing just the intake, carb, headers, and exhaust will improve fuel economy while improving performance; the cam and heads will wind up dropping it back down to stock economy or perhaps slightly worse due to the powerband being shifted higher up and efficiency at cruising RPM being decreased but there are good power gains to be had there.

 

[Strittan]

I`ve uploaded five more pictures my father sent me:

The window on the right side works, he forgot to roll it down...

The Norwegian corvette club has at least 700 member (last counted November 2008) and their forum has 1000 members. But there`s 120 or so Corvettes for sale right now so there`s probably a lot more Corvettes sitting around. The Norwgian Amcar club has 16000 members, but you don`t have to own an amcar to be a member. And you don`t have to be a member to own an amcar. There`s a lot of vans around here too. There used to be all kinds of vans, but now only 80`s Chevys are still alive. Most of them are wrecks now, no one really took care of their vans.

And this is a similar car. Also completely stock:

Now I see it was worth the price. Looks great, although I'm not really a fan of vettes. 👍

I'm all for the stock look. So sick of people destroying the old goodies with oversized rims and what not.

Also fixed the youtube link for ya.

 

[jet1991]

The cam and heads will wind up dropping it back down to stock economy or perhaps slightly worse due to the powerband being shifted higher up and efficiency at cruising RPM being decreased but there are good power gains to be had there.

Take a look at this:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1980-corvette1.htm

The torque is at the top at 3600 rpms. Isn`t that already a little high? And I`m still going to keep the car stock. Except for the k&n air filter and oil filters I`ve ordered. But that`s hardly modifying.

Also fixed the youtube link for ya.

Thanks, I can`t access youtube on the computers aboard this ship, so I could not know if it worked or not.

 

[homeforsummer]

Awesome looking car, I hope you have a lot of fun with it I've started to appreciate the shape of the C3 a lot more recently after seeing a few about.

 

[jet1991]

230 grain mopeds (horsies) and counting!

I bought the car knowing it had no documentation whatsoever. But my father found receipts of work done in the US of A for around 8000$. After talking to him over a sattelite telephone (more static than in an old radio), it turns out the car has been stroked. stroked, but everything else is still stock. Even the really restrained exhaust. So the car is almost stock except for the original 5,7 litre block has been stroked to 6,2 litre (not sure, but probably). And the engine had a total overhaul at the same time of course. Which leaves me with a 30 year old car with the stock engine but bigger displacement and 4000 km or so mileage. And the suspension has been overhauled too. Don`t know yet whats actually been overhauled, but still...

My father has also taken a look at the rust on the frame and he was surprised, he says. It was in better condition than we expected. And we expected only light surface rust. Now I only need to get home (19 days or so left), the wait is KILLING me.

And I`m sorry about my more or less broken english

 

[buickgnx88]

Doing some calculations, and assuming it is a 6.2 liter as you claim, then it had a stroke increase from 3.48in to 3.75in (88.4mm to 95.25mm).

 

[Rotary Junkie]

It's probably a 302 properly.

 

[Strittan]

302?

It's a 350 that has been stroked to a 383...

 

[buickgnx88]

It says L-82 on the fender (and I'm sure somewhere else on the car), thus it would be a 350. Heck, the Corvette didn't even come with a 302. The smallest they offered was the 305, and that was on the '80 California model.

 

[Paulie]

Awesome car mate, good to see one in Europe getting some love.

 

[jet1991]

It says L-82 on the fender (and I'm sure somewhere else on the car), thus it would be a 350. Heck, the Corvette didn't even come with a 302. The smallest they offered was the 305, and that was on the '80 California model.

The VIN says it`s an original L82. And the 305 has a REALLY bad reputation. It was smaller (for americans thats a big no-no) and it had the first ECU in a production car (don`t know if there were made any prototypes or anything at all with an ECU before this). Most have had the 305 swapped for a 350 or 383 stroker by now. The car wasn`t this bad, but still: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1658533_1658522,00.html

Maybe it`s an 377? (6,0 litre?) I need to take a look at those receipts... http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080222093044AAbSSEa

EDIT: 377 = 6,18 litre 383 = 6,28 litre Wooo! It`s getting bigger!!!


To stumpy: Of course I`m going to treat her nice. I bought an old car to have something to take care of, not to beat the crap out of it. Most kids of my age around here really do beat the crap out of their car. But that`s "schnitzel burners" (ricers in bmws) and not perfectly fine old corvettes.

 

[stumpydino]

woo go decent cars in europe!
nice seems like an odd choice for a first car
hope you dont do what practically everyone does with their first car, drive it like they stole it and end up wrecking it

 

[nick09]

I'm pretty jealous right now. I'm gonna have to drive a safe automatic car and my mom is crazed about Volkswagen. I'm totally missing a great deal on a 1969 Cadillac Eldorado for $875. Though for the value a Volkswagen would be better for me.

I hope you have a good time the 'Vette. Let's just hope the parts won't cost too much.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

302?

It's a 350 that has been stroked to a 383...

Gah yeah I meant 383 but sleep deprivation killed my typing. >_<

 

[jet1991]

Let's just hope the parts won't cost too much.

Parts for these cars are really cheap. I have to pay a high percentage of the total price in shipping and the taxes are 25%, but still it`s really cheap. And my car`s an automatic too (sadly). It`s probably not "safe" though.

EDIT: We know why the car had a higher clearance on one side. The rubber parts on the body mounts were rotten and will be replaced soon. The bit of rubber over the left front wheel was lower than the others and the car had shims on the body mount over the right rear wheel. Don`t know why the car had shims on the right side only. It made the body an inch or so too high on the rear right side. The frame isn`t bent or otherwise damaged, so we doubt the car has been in an accident. my father tells me the whole chassis is in very good shape except for light surface rust. very strange indeed. I NEED to get a look at the car myself.

Even stranger is the stroker kit. Why stroke(👍) the car for 5000$ and gain ~20 hp when he (the last owner) could have installed a new exhaust for 500 - 1000$ and gained twice as much hp? More torque, okay. but still... I don`t know yet what else has been done with the engine, but everything is documented and I`ll take a look at it when I get home from this place. And my father does not know much about american cars, so he can`t really tell me either... He does know a lot about german cars though. 16 days or so till I get home... I`ve seen my car for about two hours and that was a month ago and now time goes by sloooooowlyyyyyy...

 

[jet1991]

I`m sorry about the double post.

I`m finally home. My father was supposed to pick me up with my car at the airport, but he wasn`t there. When I called him he said that the car didn`t start and that he had tried to get it started for a long time (a long time turned out to be ~15 minutes). He picked me up with our crappy Touran (I hate that car) and drove me home. We looked at the car and thought it was a clogged fuel filter, replaced it and still couldn`t get the car started. It turned out the car was merely out of gas and after filling 10 litres of 95 the car started easily. Well, shame on him really. We drove straight to a gas station and filled over 80 litres more. Cost: well over 200 dollars.

This car is unlike anything I`ve ever driven before. I`ve driven our family`s crappy early 2000`s Touran(👎), a early 90`s Opel Corsa (with a broken ECU), a few years old Citroen Berlingo, a brand new Mercedes C class and a few years old E class. But this car is something else. When you look forward you don`t really see the front of the car, which makes parking and tight turns really tricky. And the car doesn`t like worn out asphalt, which is what our roads mostly consists of. Bad asphalt makes the car want to drive of the side of the road. It`s not a big problem if you`re aware of the cars behavior, but it is a new car to me.

But damn, it`s fun. Almost didn`t touch the gas pedal at all but still kept up with the speed limits. And you feel like you`re going twice as fast when you drive this car, which made me actually drive a little bit slower than the speed limit. Okay, actually half the allowed speed some places. Still no one actually dared to drive past me.

Those other cars I`ve driven were not fun at all. None of them. But this is something different. I`m going to buy car wax and everything else i need to shine up the car tomorrow. I`m going to update this thread with pictures when I`m done.

I also got to take a look at those receipts from when the engine was rebuilt. Looks like the car has got new aluminium cylinder heads, new hydraulic lifters, new rocker arms and maybe new camshaft and some other stuff. And of course the stroker kit and bored cylinders I mentioned earlier. The car probably has at least 300 hp net now. The tires were also changed and the chassis had a small overhaul at the same time.

I`m sorry about my clumsy english. Still work in Scotland and still can`t talk the damn language

 

[Jim Prower]

Again, neither can the Scots. Or us 'mericans.

But, yeah, with that much work, you're making 300 easy. It's not hard to get stupid power from one of those Gen I small blocks...

I'd say a properly sized carb would really set that setup off.

 

[JCE]

Nice car. I like C3 Vettes of all types. The exterior looks in pretty decent shape!

Actually that's 230hp at the crank. So about 180-200 at the wheels.

And the curb weight is around 3500 pounds.

Actually the curb weight is ~3300lbs.

 

[Paulie]

That's a big fuel tank!

 

[eight6er]

Looks really nice in the pics, my work mate had one of these it was '79 manual, had a lot of work done and needed a lot more, but was still a good example. Best part was when he changed the exhaust, we went for a drive with just the manifolds, sounded sweet.

 

[jet1991]

That's a big fuel tank!

90 Litres... But it`s probably empty after driving to your local mall and back again

My parents managed to use 12 litres\100km. Thats actually pretty good for a 6,3 litres, 30 years old car. My friends 1982 volvo 240 DL use twice as much gasoline. And thats a 96 hp, 2,1 litres straight 4

 

[Cano]

stroker? then you have no excuses. You have to go to the most symbolic place of your small euro town and do a video of a long, dense burnout.

Awesome car, I'm sooo happy when I see such stuff in another countrys!

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

Dude, that is one pimp car. Its even got Goodyear tires!

 

[buickgnx88]

Actually the curb weight is ~3300lbs.

That would be for the late 60's/early 70's C3. This page puts the 1980 C3 at around 3500 pounds.

Edit: can't find a set weight, they are all over the place. Some sites say ~3500, some say ~3300, heck one even says 3280!

 

[EA11R]

Sweet car! One of the few cars I think I'd choose the automatic over the manual. But, what I'm most impressed by:

3 Tommy Kaira ZZ-S`es close to where I live, have anyone else on this forum actually seen a real one?

What? I can't even Google Image Search for that car and get one page of results without Gran Turismo and Toyota Prius! But I digress.

That's bloody great news about that engine. I recently drove an old, piece-of-crap Chevrolet Silverado with a rebuilt engine, and it was fully magical. And now you have a C3 (easily the scariest, and therefore best, 'vette) with a modified one? Damn.
👍

 

[jet1991]

I spent 3 whole days just shining up my car. That`s over 20 hours of cleaning, polishing and waxing the exterior and washing the interior. But the result was worth it - These are before and after shots:

Did some more things too. Replaced the front air dam (look at the pictures), removed the white dot from the rear light and replaced the badly painted brake cylinder cap with a chromed one. Didn`t want to fix anything that we weren`t sure would be done `till the amcar show.

Here`s a picture of the interior taken the day we bought the car:

Here`s a picture of me and the car the day I bought it. Yes, I know I look like a dork. Just had my hair done(That haircut was free) and it`s grown back again now.

And here is a picture of the drivers view. I did my best to get a picture that actually represented sitting in the car and driving it. Gotta love those curves

And a picture of the car at the amcar show:

I haven`t started cleaning up the engine bay yet, but I`m going to post pictures when i`m done. If any of you`d like some more pictures, feel free to ask

 

[mustangGT90210]

I'm dying of jealousy, beautiful Vette!

 

[EA11R]

Good god, DAT FENDER

 

[GOODBUCK]

Just joined gt planet a few minutes ago. I used to send cars to your beautiful country many years ago. I was a muscle car dealer and started sending them to Norway in 1984. We would mail video tapes long before digital cameras and the internet. I mostly sent GM muscle cars like Corvette, Chevelle, Camaro, Nova and also Buick,Oldsmobile,and Pontiac.
Your 1980 Corvette L82 caught my attention because I am purchasing one on Monday that needs some repair. It's a red 1980 L82 with all options and leather interior with the original engine that needs rebuild. Good luck with your first car, I can imagine how happy you must be. The Corvette you own is a wonderful car and will give you many years of fun while increasing in value every year.