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Hey guys, i just purchased a mint 1981 vette w/ 53,000 original miles..

i was just wondering if theres any parts you guys would recommend for getting some more HP out of her. Right now it has a holley carb, edelbrock intake, heads are milled down, Has a bigger cam in it nothing crazy. the exhaust is stock right now w/ the cat removed, any suggestions on that for the biggest HP gain?(was thinking sidepipes)

i know the car weighs in at about 3300 so i was thinking about removing the spair tire and maybe the ac but im not sure. Would it make a big diffrence if i removed the AC belt off of the crank? I want to keep the car as a nice daily driver, but have some power behind it when i want to have some fun. it is a 3 speed automatic

If theres any other tricks for squeezing some HP out of this baby i would appreciate it if you would let me know :-)

thanks in advance, Jay.

RE: 1981 corvette .

Sounds like the other guy was on the right track as far as engine mods. Mine has all the same with the exception of the head work. It really makes a difference over stock performance which I take it you never experienced. Get rid of everything you dont want-it will all add something. I have the A/C and power steering still but the pollution pump was yanked.

Probably wouldn't hurt to go with a true dual exhaust system like the sidepipes you mentioned. I bought a kit from MidAmerica before I did the engine mods and the mid range power went up dramatically.

Other than that it is only a very conservative 350 with low compression in the car so changing the engine to something more high performance might not be a bad idea. Im looking into something a little hotter for mine already!!!

RE: 1981 corvette .

i was looking into the edelbrock heads, w/ 65cc domes, and hooker headers with sidepipes.

do you guys think these mods will really bring out the HP in the vette? [:@]

also, i see that you can upgrade the ECU/Computer, im pretty sure its hooked up because the car needs it to run, do any of you guys have experience w/ upgrading the ECU?