I am thinking of doing some modifications to my 85 vette this winter but I am on a very limited budget this time. I just built my rear end, trans, new engine, suspension, etc. over the past year. I am thinking of making some changes to get some more power or something, the car runs mid 12's on street tires and handles like its on rails but I would like a little more power out of it.
Here are my options, what do you guys suggest?

1. Lower the car 1" for better handling? This is a cheap mod and I already have the stiffest springs, all poly bushings, shocks, camber brace, etc. I need suggestions as to if lowering will help handling because on the corvetteforums people have said that it will hurt handling because my suspension is so stiff with my current setup.

2. Replace my 650 cfm edelbrock carb with a 750cfm? I think with the power my motor has that it really needs a bigger carb especially since I shift at 6500 rpm. (This is the most expensive and least likely mod for now due to $$)

3. Replace my hydraulic roller lifters with solid roller lifters? My current lifters only have about 4k miles on them, how much more power will solid lifters give me over the hydraulic lifters??????????

4. Remove the air conditioning? I never use because I like to take the top off and the old style air conditioning pulley probably robs some power plus I will cut a lot of weight off of the car. My expense here would be trying to find a new pulley setup for my alternator, water pump and PS pump which may cost some bucks.

5. New torque converter? My current torque converter is very tight and the trans only stalls to 1400 rpm (it is rated as a 2400 stall), this works great for road racing but at the drags I can't even get the tires to spin and my car bogs due to poor carb tuning but it still runs mid 12's without even spinning the tires because the motor makes great top end power. (this may also be out of my budget for now but will definately help my 1/4 mile times if I do it this summer)

6. Mufflers????????????? This is one mod that I will probably have to do. Right now I have long tubes with dual 2.5" exhaust H-pipe and only bullet mufflers, it is very loud and I love it but I need to quiet it down so that I can drive it to court this Spring. What mufflers do you guys suggest that make the most power yet are quieter than bullet mufflers? I think that a little more back pressure might actually help my car and can quiet it down, do you guys think this will hurt or help performance wise? I need some suggestions on mufflers for a good price/power.

Please give my your advice/ideas on which mods I should do first. I have done just about everything I can think of to the car but I want to get some more power out of it by changing some of the above mentioned mods before I go the nitrous route. Thanks guys.

 

A 2800rpm converter made the biggest difference in my Vette... I also had a cool custom exhaust that was "stepped". It came off the manifolds 2 1/4, then to 2 1/2, then to true dual 3" all the way back to stock LT1 mufflers modified for the 3" pipe. It sounded like no other Vette I ever heard, and I even had one Vette owner stop me and traffic and say "i've been trying to get that sound for years, what is it?" After I told him about it I seen him a few months later at a car show.. He had the same stuff on his car. He said it improved his 1/4 times by .2 and 4mph. My bolt-on L98 went 13.43 on motor and 12.40 on 100 shot. Man I miss that car

 

Thanks for the info, my engine is about the opposite as the L98 I had in it, the L98 had tons of low end torque and no high rpm power. My current engine is a new 4-bolt main 350 that has trickflow heads, roller rockers, comp cams extreme energy roller cam 230/236 .520 lift 110 LSA., performer RPM intake. I like the LT headers and 2.5" exhaust, I need suggestions on what mufflers to get and if the backpressure will hurt my performance. I really don't care as much about sound as I do about performance but I can't be setting off car alarms when I drive by like I currently do.

 

allright, my turn. I say take off the a/c which as you mentioned will not only save weight will also lose some of the parasetic drag robbing you of extra horsepower. you bet you **** if the 95 wasnt act. kellys car that the A/c would be off. all you should have to do is get a bolt on a/c delete pulley to replace the a/c pump. worse case scenario (and prolly more exp.) would be call march performance and get a serp. belt conv. kit that will improve the look of the eng. and get rid of the smog delete pulley you already have. but it'll prolly cost around $250-350 for the whole kit. but it would be complete with all billet pulleys and brackets. infact, my dad is buddies with a guy that works there, maybe I can pull some strings. just not sure how GOOD of buddies they are know what I mean.

what happened when you tried my carb? didnt it not run right? we can always try it in spring. this time I'll try adj. it. unless the floats were stuck, there shouldnt be anything wrong with it. werent your plugs fouled out when you put the carb on? or was that before swapping the carbs? cant remember.

the roller lifter to solid lifter trick worked in the mag. article, but Id be worried about how long it'll last. also, the solids will give up some low eng torque, and add some power up top. the bleeding down makes the cam act smaller for low rpm operation increasing torque and gas mileage and throttle response. the question is will the trade off make up for the time/cost in the end, or will it just shift the power band? on your tight budget, Id stick to things that are a sure thing.

like the conv.. Id say a 3000-3500 stall conv. would do best at the drags. and at the road course's will be better like when you down shift. it'll get you up in the rpms where the power is right away instead of slowly pulling through 2000 rpms on up. you will also have to relearn your launching technique at the drags due to the much higher torque multiplication. but this is prolly your most exp. option yet.

forget about lowering your car. its already low enough and you said yourself it handles like its on rails. the only thing lowering it will do is cost more money/time, make it harder to work on (imagin trying to get a jack under there), and make it bottom out on EVERYTHING.

as for mufflers, magnaflows are supposed to be the best for power, but will only be a little quieter then what you got. however I dont believe there's too much power diff. between the diff. mufflers. just stay away from flowmasters. also Ive heard good things about hooker mufflers.

 

Thanks for advice Chris. I will look into Magnaflow or Hooker mufflers, any other suggestions? Your carb worked good while driving and the car pulled much harder at higher rpm but I couldn't get it tuned right and it was running too rich at idle. As far as lowering it the cost is only about $40 because of the setup I have and the transverse springs all I need is thinner spring pads and longer bolts for the rear. I think I will remove the A/C and put mufflers on it for this winter and then definately do another TC this summer and try out your 750 carb again.

What is the cheapest serpentine belt/pulley system?
I currently have the water pump, AC, PS, tensioner pulley, and air pump delete dummy pulley. There are a lot of pulleys which are creating a lot of drag for the engine. I would like a system so that I can get rid of the air pump dummy pulley and AC.