Please give serious and mature advice only.

Also consider warranties if they come with your crate.
And in a pinch you could always buy a shortblock and finish it yourself for a project that is in between in the time and cost.

Just to get your block cleaned, checked, cam bearings, and bored it'll cost about $300.

Then you'll need:
$75 gasket set
$40 oil pump
$350 for decent pistons
$70 to prepare & check rods
$75 main & rod bearings
$30 water pump
$175 decent distributor
$250 decent manifold
$250 carburetor
Heads: $200 stock rebuilt/$600 stock worked/$900 decent new performance
$350 decent valve train
$200 minimum if you go ARP hardware

Probably other stuff I left out.

Unless you just want the learning experience, I'd go crate built by people who do it every day and you get a warranty.

1) Where do you recommend I buy both the engine and transmission? Preferably from businesses that you have dealt with personally.

2) What about issues with passing emissions on the new engine. Are all the sensors included or do I need to take them off the old engine?

3) If I do change the transmission, will a 5 speed or 6 speed fit into a 1981 corvette exactly the same way with out alterations?

4) Can I simply get a 6 speed from a latter model corvette and fit it to my car? Is it the same bolt pattern?

I ended up not using the original exhaust system (went with sidepipes). If you don't have true duals, you'll probably have to switch over, because there's not a whole lot of room to run the pipes.

The Richmond unit doesn't come up exactly where it's supposed to, either. I had to bend the shifter a bit to get it to come up in the right place, the tail yoke was from a 1986 Corvette, and the driveshaft had to be modified...however, I had already swapped the original auto tranny for a 700R4, then to a T5, then to the Richmond 6-speed, so I have no idea what the exact modification to the last driveshaft was.

Now, if it was ME doing the same thing over again, I'd probably put in a blow-proof bellhousing - especially if you're going with a higher-horsepower motor. If your tranny lets go during some spirited driving, you want to be able to walk away with both legs.

The Richmond unit was a bit pricy, as well. You can go with the crate motor - always a good choice - but you can source the transmission from elsewhere. For example, I got a 6-speed tranny out of a wrecked Dodge Viper for $500. The only thing you want to make sure you do is check the wreck: if it looks like the car ran into something, then it's a pretty safe bet that the car was running and driving just before it suffered from decelleration trauma; the tranny should be good.

Hope that helps.

Your pal,
Meat.

As an individual working in this Industry and gainfully employed by it, I take seriously the impact of this action. The representation you are making can seriously effect my reputation and business.

Misprepresenting yourself like this can only cause problems. I'm hoping you'll reconsider.

My name as well as several others you are doing the same thing with. To the point even, that you are having conversations with yourself on these forums...

Grow up, get a grip, be yourself, get involved and contribute like every other person here.

There's no need for this.

DKOV -
Scott Kovalik
DKOV Motorsports

KitCars.com Forums

Aardvark Solutions