I have a 77 350/350 with a recently rebuilt engine. Everything is stock except for the exhaust. It's in really good shape all around, and a great driver, but I'm trying to decide if I should keep it stock or make some changes and get some more out of the engine. I'm kind of a rookie here, and I'm hearing mixed reviews on keeping a car stock or making mods. Any thoughts?

 

Keep it stock or not! That depends on what you want your Vette to be, a daily driver or street rod or drag car or NCRS.
Going fast cost money, going faster costs more! What's your budget?
What about the rebuilt engine you have now? What was done? Stock cam and heads?
What transmission do you have?
What rear gears?
Are you able to do the work your self? If not get a bigger budget!
In the mean time enjoy your new Vette?
Regards,
PG.

 

It has stock cam and heads, and the original 3 speed auto. I was looking for the manual, but my car was in such good shape at a good price that I compromised (still very fun to drive).

The more I think about it, the more I think I am going to mod it, but it will be down the road. There are only 15k miles on the re-build, so the engine runs great right now. Later on I may have to upgrade the heads and cam. I'm thinking I will want a few more gears, so I will probably upgrade the transmission when I do it. My vette is a weekend driver, but I like the pep that the tranny has now. Know if any good automatics out there?

Thanks!

 

Just by adding a hydraulic roller comp extreme energy cam and new alum heads and roller rockers your Vet should really move out and you don't need to change the trans etc.

Schoon

 

Or you could do as schoon suggests and add a Bowtie Overdrives 200 4R tranny. This is an overdrive tranny and would allow you to drop your rear gears by about .75 (stock 3.55 to 4.11?) and not hurt your fuel milage but give your performance a boost. At this point you're into it a little over $5000 for mods. How's your budget? Good Luck1
Ron

 

Hey 77 Ray,
Be careful if you change manifolds you might not be able to close your hood.

Schoon

 

One thing for sure is if you increase the power enuf, you'll find the weak link in the drivetrain.

 

That is for sure!

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I've been driving it and I'm thinking I'm going to have to take you up on the cam, heads, rockers and tranny. The good thing is, it's running great now, so time is on my side. I have a little bit of interior work to do before I get to frisky under the hood anyway. It looks pretty good in there, but it could use a little sprucing up. That should give me some time to research exactly what I want to do to the drive train, and decide if I want to tackle it all myself.

 

Gm makes really good fast burn aluminum heads that will bolt onto your block.
30-50 more hp