C3 Corvette Revival in 7 minutes

This video details the restoration/revival of a 1977 C3 Corvette L48. Detailed in the video is the rebuilding of the 4-speed ST-10 transmission, the Chevrolet L48 350 engine and the suspension on the car.
Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

[@Avenarius2906]

Respect - very nice work 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 I‘m owner of a 79 Vette for 30 years and i love it till the first day… 😎 Greetz from Germany! 🇺🇸🇩🇪

[@TacoJoe]

Guten Tag / danke für den Kommentar!

[@montereyf7692]

Excellent job you are very gifted beautiful car

[@brandonsmith4367]

Its nice to see someone fix things correctly!! Great job!!

[@TacoJoe]

Thanks Brandon - I love the car and after all that work, it runs better than ever!

[@timeash2205]

Great job. I got a 75. Trying to do the same with mine.

[@studio-flash]

Fantastic..wish I had your knowledge and I wish I had a C3 Corvette..good luck..fantastic car.

[@cratecruncher6687]

Well that turned out nice! Great to see someone throwing some love at a C3. My first Vette was a '68 327 with a 4 speed and positrac. The series is woefully underappreciated making a major overhaul/revival a tricky proposition especially on the later cars.

[@TacoJoe]

Really like my C3 / it’s a perfect cruiser on a summers day / soaks up the bumps and loves the highway. In a lot of ways, a 327 is almost a better motor for this car than a 350 (revs a little higher) - great motor

[@owenyusuf7806]

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[@aidanjavier5714]

@Owen Yusuf Instablaster :)

[@owenyusuf7806]

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[@owenyusuf7806]

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[@thomasgreen1688]

Very nice! Looks like you and your family are really enjoying. 👍🏻

[@larrydrozd2740]

I picked up a 1980 L-82 in 2018. It was way too cheap to pass up. The engine was fine and it has all the good options. The best thing I did to the car....by far...is put a 700-R 4 overdrive trans in it. It changes everything about the car for the better. In central Texas, the speed limits are 85mph on the toll roads, interstates are 75mph. With the over drive, I can cruise at 85 mph at 2500 rpm. That would have been 3400 before. There are a few good 5 speed kits for your C3 that bolt right in.... ???? You'll love it! Also, a Holley 600cfm (0-1850) model will work better, especially at idle to main transition, than the AFB copy you're running. They don't heat soak as bad either. AFB's are fine but ..... Enjoy!

[@TacoJoe]

Thanks Larry - A transmission swap is definitely in the future / I like the idea of the 700R4 route too - did you add a switch to manually lockup the torque converter when you want or did you keep it factory? One mistake I made: I put 3:70 gears in my C3 - with a 4speed, its fun until you hit 55-60MPH :) - Thanks for the comment

[@jamesortega8681]

another master at work!

[@arttafil6792]

When I built the 427 engine for my C2, 67 L-88 (complete car not just engine), I ran it in the car at 2,500 no load rpm for 30 minutes to break-in the cam and lifters. I changed the oil, filter and added a magnetic drain bolt. I then drove the car for 1,000 miles at no more than 3,500 rpm. During this time I constantly varied the rpms. After this, another oil, filter and drain bolt cleaning. That magnetic bolt looked like it had an “Afro” haircut with all the metal shavings stuck to it. After that, some Kendall GT-1 20W50 racing oil and quite a few blasts up to 7,500 rpm. I drove that car for 30,000 miles until some rich oil guy with a 10+ trophy wife bought it from me at a car show. He made an offer I couldn’t refuse, $65,000.00!

[@nick011182]

Super clean work!! Beautiful car!

[@ronhue3522]

Very nice and well worth the work

[@tobytollefsen8802]

Great video and Vette.

[@FabianRomano1]

Beautiful car 👍

[@kcb9455]

Nice work!!

[@2bad1]

Nice car I’m jealous

[@milothefox8884]

Cool car

[@harleyguyinmilw]

really nice car!!

[@TacoJoe]

Hey thanks! It’s my go-to cruiser / nothing better than a C3 IRS to soak up the pavement on a road trip and of course it loves stoplights :)

[@sqr2024]

Great stuff

[@lilibethdoherty295]

It has a clutch pedal all you need to do now is follow Grumpy Jenkins "How to make horsepower from your SBC"

[@TacoJoe]

I'll check that out / thanks for the comment!

[@arttafil6792]

The piston shows evidence of hot spots and pre-ignition detonation probably from use of some low grade fuel.

[@TheBlkac1]

Super nice!😃 I plan to get my C4 Corvette to look good like yours! What did that new leaf spring cost you? I think mine is worn-out too.

[@TacoJoe]

a steel leaf is 100-150$ - there a million composite springs out there for C3s/C4s too. I went steel because they cannot break (or very unlikely) -they will just sag - the composites can fracture and go boom. I think that's rare though / either path works - good luck with you suspension

[@billybobhammer]

Great soundtrack. What is it?

[@adalmadera25]

Great video. Where did you buy your parts from( specifically the suspension parts)? Also, would you have swapped your transmission for an overdrive or do you think it's not worth it? Thank you for sharing.

[@TacoJoe]

I reused most of the core chassis stuff (control arms/etc) but all the bushings/tie rod ends/etc I got from your averages car parts store. Anything corvette specific I usually got from corvette central (seem to have the best prices). I’m actually in the process of swapping in a TKO600 transmission from silver sport transmission / putting together some content now that I’ll be sharing in the coming months- check out my latest corvette videos on the channel and you can see what I have planned Big picture: yes- you want an overdrive if you have gears any larger than 3:55 or so. No regrets rebuilding the st10 but it’s only good around town with the 1:1 final drive / thanks for the comment!

[@Noble36]

Nice, TacoJoe! Do you have 225 or 255/60/15 tires on your car?

[@TacoJoe]

I have 255/60/15s - but - the 275s will fit on the rear (I think the E-brake cable is the only thing that "could" rub / thanks for the comment Noble36!

[@johna8202]

Great Video, and nice work. What paint did you use for the frame?

[@TacoJoe]

Hey thanks John - the paint is genuine rattle can rustoleum - there are better choices out there though - if it were a frame off, I might have picked something better (POR15 / etc.) - thanks for the comment!

[@stevenspoltore8868]

Are the yokes not 90 degree offset to input?

[@arttafil6792]

Darn guy, don’t you know about using a cut-out valve cover and oil splash clips to adjust valve clearance even on a hydraulic lifter engine?

[@coreyrocha7287]

With the eddy intake carb and cam have you dynoed the car to see what she makes?

[@TacoJoe]

I think its around 330-350HP / 400ish for torque / very happy with the intake- performer is a well designed manifold - thanks for the comment!

[@rezihk]

awesome video, how did you know you had a worn drive line? and that your leaf springs were warped? I'm currently working on a '74 Yvette

[@TacoJoe]

I got a deal on the car on craigslist and knew i had to do some work almost immediately -specifically- there were a couple loose bolt heads bouncing around in the differential causing bangs/etc. As for the spring - i also knew i wanted to replace that because it was 7 leaf (heavy duty - rough ride). 9 leaf or one of the current generation carbon fiber springs is a MUCH smoother ride for typical street driving. 74 was a big year for the Vette- 1st year all urethane bumpers! Thanks for the comment :)

[@bencridland3724]

What hp did you set the engine to?

[@TacoJoe]

Hey Ben- the original motor is a mild 350 good for 350ish HP and 400ish ft/lb torque. However.... I just finished up a ZZ4 bottom end build in another video on my channel that should push 450 easy and I'll be starting that up this spring. Stay tuned and thanks for the comment!

[@vincegrimes2614]

AYOOO SOMETHING FELL OFF MY 78 CORVETTE IDUNNO WHAT IT ISS I JUST HEAR TINGGG AND I PICK UP THESE STRANG PIECES

[@nonsequitur807]

BA!

[@circleh5173]

Is the value of the car worth it all else aside

[@TacoJoe]

I like the car a lot so it was worth putting in the tune/effort for me. Long term I plan to put an LS/OD transmission in. Thanks for the comment!

[@Schlipperschlopper]

Sadly from 2030 on all combustion cars including classics will be banned from public streets in entire EU and Scandinavia :-( In Germany the Green Peoples Party gave order to shorten fuel supply from 2025 on by reducing all conventional fuel stations to only one state operated central gas station per city or county. Now they even want to slow down all the gas pumps from 20 litre per minute to 2 litre per minute...From 2027 on in the EU certain car spare parts will be banned too....as exhaust systems, turbo chargers and even some engine and gearbox oils...California and New York will do the same from 2027 on.... So no investments should be done in oil burning cars any longer....They even created a new kind of crime here, called emissions and smoke crime. "Bundesabgasbespaßungsverbot" in German. :-////()(

[@TacoJoe]

Oh man, I'm so sorry - I guess that's the world that we live in these days - however - let me offer you some hope... Only so much energy can be derived from solar panels/wind farms/etc so while regulation see one scenario, reality is another and in time, reality will work itself out! Even so, there is always opportunity to outfit a FFR with electric motors, but unfortunately it will never have the character of a lopey-idle SBF/SBC V8 - Thanks for the comment!

[@Schlipperschlopper]

@@TacoJoe Sadly China wants to sell electric cars and lithium, all that combustion banning here is not about the environment, PRC dictates the end of use of all combustion cars worldwide. China told our EU politicians that they wont do any business with underdeveloped countries that still allow CO2 emitting traffic or combustion based industry after 2030...I am sure USA and UK also will be forced by China to 100% electric traffic because today no industrialized country can afford sanctions by China.... China just rules the world...:-(

[@widndn]

Some news we don't need.

[@Schlipperschlopper]

@@widndn yeah who needs shit but that gas car bann will also come over to USA, in California and New York they will also bann them soon....sadly. In California they are just removing every second gas station!

[@widndn]

@Schlipperschlopper Schlipperschlopper like I said, stfu.