The Real Reason I Bought My Project Corvette

The 1985 Corvette I purchased this fall was always going to be a project car.

It had needs from day one: When I bought the car, I had to winch it onto the trailer. Because of how it was cared for and brought back to life, it is likely always going to have some issues. The only real solution is a full mechanical restoration, and that makes exactly zero rational sense given the amount of work and mountain of cash required. My car is worth keeping on the road, but even a total restoration would result in a stock C4 that would still be a consolation prize compared to an original, unmolested version. Even then, there are plenty such survivors.

This C4 Corvette is a gateway, an opportunity to step into territory that I have never charted.

Of all the gearhead projects I’ve wanted to execute, an engine swap is high on the list. For years, I’ve been daydreaming and planning a mid-engine V-8 Corvair build. It would be a ballsy first swap, since it requires completely reengineering the car and lots of fabrication. I’ve wanted to dip my toe in the fabrication swimming pool for a while, but I also knew that V-8-swapping a Corvair was a cannonball off the high dive when I barely knew how to swim. I had fallen back on purchasing an abandoned V-8 ‘Vair project and finishing it. Some of the heavy lifting would be done, but I would still have my hands in the project like I wanted. That plan left me waiting for a car that may never come up for sale, let alone near me or at a fair price.

What to do? I have motivation. I have tools. As of September, I have a 1985 Corvette that just fell in my lap. I guess it might be time to start doing some serious thinking and gathering of parts. Wait. That sounds like planning…

After I bought the Vette, and my engine-swap dreams began anew, my first phone call was to a friend whose father has a few engines just hanging around, from a date-coded 427 coated in oil and wrapped in plastic to a grimy, crusty V-8 unceremoniously extracted from a 2003 GMC Yukon. That 427 is a dream, but the 160,000-mile LQ4 from the Yukon was both in my budget and more appropriate for my plan.

That plan is obvious by now, I hope: Swapping an LS into my Corvette. I can hear the pitchforks rattling, and the voices accusing me of cutting up a good Corvette, but if you’re familiar with the history of this car, we all agreed earlier that this car is neither sacred nor special. What is it if not the perfect blank canvas to do just about anything I want with it? And what I want is something I built with my own hands, that makes 400 hp, is fun to drive, and can be taken to the track. Do I need to yank the current engine to check all those boxes? Certainly not, but removing the L98 certainly creates fun opportunities.

Furthermore, pulling the engine is potentially the most cost-effective option. This “pulled running” LQ4 is an iron-block, aluminum-head Gen-IV small-block, and that single generational shift is a big one. To pull realistic gains out of the L98 currently under the Corvette’s hood, I would need to invest similar money and time as I would in doing the engine swap, because the LS platform is so well supported in comparison.

I’m not the first, the only, or even the most interesting person to attempt this swap and I consider that a good thing. I have my doubts that any hot rodder who pulled up to the drive-in during the 1960s with a Model T and an early small-block under the hood was told how their swap was unoriginal or boring. The relative ages of car and engine in that last sentence are the same as in my project: 40-year-old car, 15-year-old engine.

The L98 in the car is in decent health too. Just like last year, jokes in one shop turned into dynamometer runs in another. While mild, the L98 pulled strong on the rollers even if the numbers are not impressive by modern standards: 172 hp and 267 lb-ft. That’s great. Now is the perfect time to pull it and let it find a new home in a Square-Body pickup or third-generation Camaro. The L98 would be a riot to drive in either of those vehicles, and right now, I can let a buyer not only hear the engine run but drive it, too. That holds a decent amount of value, and selling the old engine would certainly help offset the price of the new one.

Another thing that puts those dyno numbers in perspective is that the middle-aged Yukon engine is rated from the factory at 300 hp and 360 lb-ft. So even if those ponies aren’t the thoroughbreds they once were, I still stand a chance at a good power bump even running the factory engine computer and tune. This says nothing of the aftermarket potential, and if you think I’m going to have an engine in my shop on a stand and not do something to it, you are mistaken.

The engine choice is not the end all, be all of a project. But even when doing a common swap like this, there are a lot of opportunities to leave my fingerprints on the project and make it my own. With car and engine in hand, it’s time to get down to business and start planning out the rest of the powertrain. The Corvette currently has a manual gearbox. While I don’t plan on changing that, only a fool rules out other options without at least some consideration, so some research and internal debate are on the horizon.

I welcomed this project car into my garage on a relative whim, and after living with it for only a few weeks, the opportunity it presents has become clear. The process likely will not be quick, easy, or fun all the time, but there may never be a better time to take on a project I’ve always wanted to tackle. Why wait?