I bought this Corvette in 1994. It was from California and had 54,000 miles and just two previous owners. I kept it mostly stock, with a few upgrades in exhaust and ignition. I joined the local Corvette Club here in Bellingham, WA, met many great people and served as President for 4 years. I put on 5 large All-Corvette Car Shows and really had a blast. I took the Corvette to Mission Raceway in Vancouver, BC and drag raced it with a best time slip of 13.5, with 1.9 60' times. All the while, I'm thinking to myself, "One of these days, I am going to step this up." That day arrived last April.
I found Pro Service, a good hot rod shop in Everson, WA, and got together with the owner, Brandon Whidbeck, to come up with a plan. I know this is not what many people would do to an all original matching number 454 Stingray. However, I did keep every single part I took off the Corvette and have them all bagged, tagged and put away in my shop. That way, I can put the Corvette back to original some day. Here is a brief list of what we did.
Engine: The only things we kept were the block, heads (049's) and connecting rods. All the rest in hi-pro/heavy duty:
- Scat crank, head ported, polished and bowels blended
- One piece stainless steel valves
- SRP pop up forges pistons, 10.5 compression ratio
- RPM Air Gap intake, Pro-Form 850 double pumper
- Cam is a Comp 280H-R, full roller setup, with roller rockers and roller lifters
- Cam specs 565 lift on both intake and exhaust, with 110 degress of lobe separation
- Hooker Super Comps, 1.78" ceramic coated
- 4 row aluminum radiator with dual 11" electric fans
- RPM aluminum water pump
- Hamburger Pro-Comp oil pan w/ crank scraper, windage tray, and trap door
- Super HEI ignition with Pertronix Second Strike CD box. Trick flow pro-comp dampener
- New exhaust pipe, 2.50" mandral bent, with cutouts and H-Pipe
- Flowmaster 40's
- The TH400 was pro-built all new heavy duty parts, with 2400 stall converter
- Rear gears are .373, with heavy duty Spicer u-joint in drive shaft and half shafts
- Poly bushing, suspension and trans/motor mounts
- Heavy duty Bilstein shocks all the way around
- L-88 hood with 4" cowl
I believe this is easy a 10 second Corvette now, but I need to go the track to find out! The pictures will speak for themselves. If you are ever in the Bellingham, WA area, look me up. The Corvette Cave is at 205. E. Kelly Rd. I just love driving this Corvette, and people are blown away by it.