Hi ,
I recently bought a 79 corvette .I'm new to this world , so please bekind.
I guess how many HP has my car considering all these engine features.

-block ( not original but I suppose is a 350)
-heads ( replaced but not sure of the brand : I see no brand name)
-Edelbrock RPM intake
-Edelbrock 1406 carb ( I'll replace it with 1405 : how much the HP increase?)
-headmann headers with cats and flowmaster
-camshaft ( don't know if replaced)

Any good man could give me an idea of this engine's power?
thanks

Aldo

 

Signor Aldo,
Welcome to the site and congratulations onyour new ride. Not knowing for sure the engine size and what components are on it will make it hard even to guess. If you could investigate casting numbers of the block and heads and post them someone could probably get you in the ballpark for HP rating. Post some pictures of your car when you get a chance...we love pictures. Don't forget the wave.

A dopoSignor, Squalo Azzurro

 

Subscribing to the theory of SWAG (simple wild *** guess) I'll stick my neck out and say maybe 300 to 350 HP ???? How smooth is that cam, is it lumpy at idle or is it smooth?

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Hi,
thanks to you all .
I'm Italian and Corvettes are quite rare here. mine was quite cheap. mine has still the California ID plates and i have to wait a couple of months to have the italian plates. but i drove it for about 25 miles 3 days ago... beautiful!

some specs and pics of my car. any advise about the engine HP and provenience is welcome.

VIN 1Z3749S407331

L82 1979 but the engine doens't matches the VIN

4 gear manual shift ( I've been lucky)

Engine : engraved numbers on front are : K0417TDT and C84153522
casting number on block : 3910010

valve covers are edelbrock but not sure if heads are edelbrock too ( I see no name or code)

the engine has no oil leakage, starts at first-second attempt , the idle is very regular.
2 days ago while driving the Corvette for the first time I pushed the first gear till 6000 RPM and I had still more room for pushing more.pushed till 7000rpm at idle without any problem ( regular noise)

the car is down 1" on driver's side : i have to replace some suspensions bushings and adjust-replace the rear spring ( I hope that's all...)

thanks again
Aldo from Italy

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Hello Aldo,

The engine block 390010 is a good number, it is a high nickel content casting desireable for crate performance engines. I see that your air filter on the carburetor is 10 inches across, increasing that to a 14 inch air cleaner will improve air flow and power. I also see that you have a see through gas filter. It is recommended that you change it over to a solid metal body gas filter, the glass ones have been known to break and cause fires. Cheap insurance replacing the gas filter. As far as the suspension goes, you may have some worn out body mount bushings, there are 8 of them, four on each side,they are located between the upper frame rails and the body. After 29 years the rubber rots and gets compressed allowing the body to settle a bit. Then again it could be springs, the rear spring ride height is adjustable on these cars, you can compensate a bit for side to side variations.

I also have a 79 Corvette with a manual transmission and have just completed an extensive mechanical restoration of the car, so if you have questions, I may have the answers. And on second thought, your engine may be closer to 400 HP!

Good luck with your new baby, she's pretty sweet looking. Got any pics of the interior?

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Hi,
thanks so much for the good advises.
I'm posting now some more pics of my Vette. Later today i will post some pics of suspensions and other

actually I suppose that my Vette now is around 300hp , because of cats , Edelbrock 1406 ( for fuel economy) and 10" air cleaner. But when I'll be able to remove cats and switch to Edelbrock 1405 and larger filter...

Now I keep the car more quiet because of italianization iter ( it's an historic car...)

I have to say thanks to the USA for giving us the possibility to own such a monster and beautiful car at relatively low price. I payed my Vette the same amount that we usually spend for a quite small new city car. But what a difference!
Sincerely my target was a Detomaso pantera or Mangusta, but they are very expensive. And at the end , I must say that the detomaso are not so beautiful as a c3.
More the C3 makes possible to tune and improve the whole car and especially the engine, in a quite easy and not very expensive way. This is not possible with italian vintage sports car, which are definitively less funny than a Corvette , for the reasons above.
Viva Corvette!

Aldo

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Ahh!, molto bello!, molto bello! Fatti vivo Signor, Ciao

 

Aldo,
The setting behind the car is just as interesting as the car itself. I was stationed in Germany back in the '70s and got to travel to Italy and Spain, and how plastic the US looks when one returns from a place as old and historic as Europa.
Like the other guys have said, you'd have to take the engine apart to know exactly what the horse power rating would be, unless one of us flies over to Italy and takes the car for a ride. LOL I wish. Someone has been into the engine compartment afew times with all the aftermarket items in there. If it ran strong up to 6000 rpm, maybe you have some good stuff in the engine after all. But be careful, the American V8s can't handle high revs like the overhead cammed Italian cars can. Don't make 6 and 7 grand shifts a habit unless you know that everything is adjusted and in top running shape.
Can you tell me more about how you came about getting the 'Vette? I just think that it's interesting that you have a 'Vette over there. Years ago, a friend of mine had a Bezzarini GT(sp?) which his father bought along with a summer house on Long Island , New York. It had a mid-engine 327 ci with Italian headers and a wild looking aluminum intake. He raced another guy I knew, Billy Stevenson, who had a Ford Pantera, and left him up to about 80 mph when the race ended due to heavy traffic. Italy makes some wild sports cars.
Anyway, it's great hearing from someone who's in such a distant and interesting land.
Hope you post again soon, Take care.

 

Ciao Aldo

I too was admiring the backround. What part of Italy are you in? My wife and I still have some family and friends living there.

Mike

 

Hi,

thanks for advises about running my engine at too high rpm. In the time i'll check everything... actually I have no big time for a perfect restore of my Vette. See the pics of suspensions that i will post today. I will just do the necessary jobs and enjoy the car this spring-summer-fall. I live in south Italy , near Brindisi and I'm just 5 miles from the sea. summer is very funny here and we go to the sea every day and night. Imagine what a pleasure to drive a Vette here without T-tops!
a picture of my house.

Aldo

p.s. even if suspensions are not OK and tires are old and hard ( in need of replacement), I'm amazed how stable and safe is my Vette. I can't imagine how good it will be after some jobs...

I bought my car from a guy that imports american cars here in south Italy. I think that there will be soon more Vette fans here

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