Over the many years of the Corvettes existence it has reigned supreme as the American sports car. To keep its title though the Corvette has had to change with the times and evolve with its competition, always striving to stay a step ahead. One of the Corvettes major combatants is the Mustang, released 11 and a half years after the Corvette, it is one of the only muscle cars that has endured until the 21st century with the Corvette. Creating an age old battle between these two automobile companies each pushing the other to better engineer a sports car for us, the enthusiast.
Besides changing the appearance of the Corvette the other major changes occurred under the hood. After the oil crisis in the 70’s many muscle cars disappeared but the Corvette persevered and for a number of years had low powered motors to keep GM in the limits of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy mandate, and also so that consumers could afford to drive these beautiful machines with the sky rocketing gas prices. It wasn’t until 1982 when the Corvette switched from being a carbureted motor to an early form of fuel injection. This was also the last year for the 3rd generation of the Corvette body style known as the C3. Chevrolet then took a year off to refine their Corvette and released the C4 Corvette in 1984, with a 350 cubic inch cross fire injection motor that produced 205hp and 290ft. /lb of torque.
From this point on the Corvette would feature a fuel injection motor that was continuously refined to produce more and more power while getting better fuel economy then its predecessor motors with similar power output. Located below is a break down of the years and models that each motor was offered with as well as their power output for the C4 to C6 Corvettes.
To determine the motor in your Corvette for these years a simple check of the VIN number can give you the information that you need. The VIN is conveniently found on a plate located in the front corner of the drivers side dash most easily viewed from outside the car and also on a sticker located in the door jam of the drivers side, you don’t even have to pop the hood!
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