My 77, L82 is all original.  But I have reached the point that I am tired of having oil stains on the garage floor, puffing smoke on startup and under heavy acceleration leaving a blue cloud behind me.  I think it’s time to rebuild.  We have a local Corvette shop in the area that I normally use for my repairs, no questions asked, but with an engine rebuild I think I should get bids.  Any idea what this should cost thinking at a minimum I should need at new rings, seals gaskets and the cylinder heads reworked?

 

By the way I still want to try to keep everything as original as possible.  Thanks

 

For a rebuild to original specs, I paid $1200 for the work and parts you'll need, but then I added many aftermarket parts on top of that.  You'll have MANY decisions to make.  Please learn from my experience and that of other's in this area.  I was very disapointed with performance after my first rebuild, so I'm re-doing it right now!  Key decisions:

- Are you willing to let the rebuilder deck the block to get a smooth surface there as well as true the block up?   If they do it, the VIN will be wiped off the block and you'll never be able to prove you have the original engine.  If they don't do it, the alignment of the crank to the deck of the block (where the heads attach) could be off by as much as .005", making compression and quench a little different in each cylinder.  If you're not going any higher performance than factory, I'd demand he NOT deck the block unles there is just damage there from a previous head gasket leak or something like that which requires it.

- What compression to you want to build to?  Don't just tell the guy "standard, factory-type rebuild."  If you do, you'll likely get "standard rebuild pistons" installed which are typically .020" shorter than factory specs.  They are built this way to make up for the fact that mass rebuild shops will always deck the block .020, so that original compression is maintained.  .020" doesn't sound like much until you calculate out the affact on compression ratio.  If you get these pistons AND don't deck the block, it WILL REDUCE performance.  If you are going in asking for factory specs and performance, I'd at least insist on flat-top pistons with the factory compression height and ask the builder to use thin head gaskets and/or mill the heads to get the compression up to 10:1.  That will give you a nice, very inexpensive bump in performance, but will require 91 or 93 octane.  I am now installing Keith Black piston # UEM-9902HC in mine, which have .005 higher compression height than standard, to help me get to 10.5:1 compression.  I'm using a larger than factory cam, so I need the 10.5:1.  For your purposes, these pistons would allow you get use a little thicker head gasket and still arrive at 10:1 compression.
- Don't trust your builder.  Ask for all part numbers, including pistons, head gaskets, and all specs and post here to make sure you are not getting the performance downgrade I mention above.

Good luck!

If you think you will ever want more power, I would take 79rebuild's advise and tuck the L-82 away in the corner of the garage and install a crate motor.  You'll know the engine parts were all selected by a pro to work well together to produce the power advertised, plus you'll have a warantee.  Do it yourself and you'd better study a BUNCH. I did my homework and STILL I'm having to do it a second time.

Chevrolet offers a crate short block for about the same $1,200 it would cost to rebuild your old engine, and you can set yours aside for the future.  If you use your heads and top end, you can have the best of both worlds.  Expect to pay about $250 to have your heads redone.  You might want to look at replacing the cam with an aftermarket "daily driver" cam that gives you a ton of low end torque.  Possibly something in the 260 -265 degree advertised range.

Have fun
Larry

Emil,

If you have the work space and a bit of experience with small block Chevrolets, you can rebuild your existing L-82 for the cost of parts.