O.K. Here goes. I'm new on this c3vr sight. I've had my '79 Vette for 4 years now. It really was a barn find. I had to get the valve guide seals redone because it sat unstarted for three years. It runs fine but now I want it to wake up a bit on my budget.

True duals is a good thing...let it breathe.

The Performer is better than the stock intake, but not by as much as you might think. It's more or less a stock performing intake...just aluminum rather than cast iron. On the '78 I owned I installed a Performer and was happy with the results.

If you have the original Quadrajet, get it professionally rebuilt...that can make a big difference matched to the rest of your upgrades. It's no better than the weakest link, and if the carb has never been rebuilt, it likely needs it pretty badly. The Q-Jet is about as good as it gets for a street car.

It's hard to beat an HEI distributor but they're honestly set up more for emissions during that time period than performance. The Mallory is a good choice. If it's a Unilite, get the voltage                                          filter Mallory makes for it...if you have a sudden voltage spike, it will save you from frying the electronics in the distributor.

Gunslinger, thanks for the advice. I'll definitely get the voltage filter before I install the new dist.

I don't know who a good rebuilder is in that area. Try contacting some local Corvette clubs and ask them for advice on that.

I would think a good rebuild would cost somewhere in the $200 area...at least it was somewhat less than that when I last had a Q-jet rebuilt about four years ago locally. A lot depends on exactly what's needed to do it right.

I much prefer the MSD Streetfire dist over the Mallory.  If you check out some of the old threads, there appears to be a lot of problems with the Mallory systems.

You may also consider looking around for a good set of heads... i know it might be a bit 'out of budget' , but if you use a little patience and look around, sometimes you can come across a good set at a good price.  I picked up a set of double hump heads at the Corvette Expo many many years ago(1966 year, small valve(1.94 inch) for around $200... however had to put about another 300 in valve guides and a few new valves... but it did it make a  considerable difference.  

If you can find a set of 993 heads (I'll find all the numbers later) from Chevrolet that are NOT mexican, then get them.  I put them in mine and they are great!

They came off a '69 I think.

3998993
The 993 heads came off  72-73 307/350...75cc chambers

rearn2go722007-08-30 16:57:03