carbureted 86

[corvette66]

Hello all corvette techs. I have a question for anyone who could help. I have an 86 that i want to beef up. I want to take out the fuel injection system and add a carburetor. Along with that i would like to eliminate all the electrical crap. There are more sensors and gizmoes on that vette than the darn space shuttles. So what do i do about the computer system when i take out all these sensors, and pumps, and stuff? Will the engine still function properly if i add raw motor and remove all this electrical stuff?? Or do i need to get a new computer, if thats even possible. I am a fairly decent mechanic, but i don't know much about fuel injected motors, or swapping old style parts on new mototrs for that matter. This is my 2nd vette i once had a 78, was a much more simple vehicle.
For a side note........ Did they use crap heads on these 80's vettes? my car over heats after about 20 minutes of run time, and i just changed the head gaskets, thermostat, and the water pump is good. The heads looked ok, but maybe they are warped, or just shot. car has 100K just seemed odd that the heads would be shot already.
Anyway I would be thankful for any help i can get regarding these few problems i have encountered.
thanx, dan

[Tony B.96LT4]

Aside from all the work involved in changing over to the carb why would you want to? The L98 has tons of low end torque and there are many parts out there for that engine to beef it up. But if you want to go for it there are many threads on the Corvette Forum about such swaps. Do a search in the C4 tech section.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zeromain

as for the overheating problem it may be time to look at the radiator. The C4's are bottom feeders and tend to pick up lots of debris from the road. You may have a blocked air intake to the radiator or the radiator may just need a good cleaning. I think there are several good tech tips on the CF regarding this problem. A good book to get up to speed on fuel injection is "How to repair and modify Chevrolet fuel injection" by Ben Watson. Gives the basics without a lot of the mumbo jumbo.

[92RAGTOP]

I have a 90 coupe and I fought an overheating problem for months. Turned out to be a partially blocked Cat Converter. Put a Competition Cat in it and the temp gauge nevers leaves the halfway mark.