price on a C4 corvette crate motor?

I would LOVE to find that deal. If the car is in good shape, it would make a helluva hot rod...

 

it has the auto trans.

 

On the value issues, I think this car may be worth a rebuilt or salvage engine, but probably not a factory new one. On the + side -

The auto is probably a better deal than the 4+3, IMHO, and there is one other factor that may or may not mean anything. If it has that rock-hard Z51 special suspension, it might have potential as a track car - it could pull about 1.00 g with factory tires. It will also in that case have a special fast steering rack. Also, if those aluminum turbine wheels are halfway straight (or restorable) they might be worth a little something. If the LCD dash is still working, that is also a high dollar item.

I had an old Rat-Dog of a bronze '84 for 12 solid years after a messy divorce, and it went about 200K miles. It was not worth trading in by 1996 when I got an LT4 Collectors Edition, so it became a stepkids car, got dinged a couple of times, and I finally sold it for parting out in 1998 for $2K. It was an auto with Z51 and a good set of wheels, but the brakes were gone and the LCD was shot.

For what it is worth, a guy from Houston in my ZR1 club asked me to look at a local '84 last year as a track car. It was in terrible condition all around and the dealer would not come down from 6K so our guy walked for obvious reasons. I don't think that a really perfect super low miles original '84 can bring much more than 12 to 14K in the real world right now. Maybe not that.

James

 

It doesnt have an engine - $2k is WAYYYY overpriced.

You can go on eBay and pick up 84's with a bit over 100k miles in good shape for $4k all day long. Add in a couple grand and you can get an 86+ with the aluminum heads and TPI and excellent condition.

An 84 in good shape with 150k miles and running good is worth maybe $4k. Since it has no engine, and buying an engine with average miles for that year that would be original the car, would run maybe $1,000-$1,200 not including your time to put it in. $2k is VERY optimistic. There is a floor on the value though because its worth a decent amount in parts (I've parted out some C4's). But parting it out is a lot of work and you still need to dispose of the carcass. Since I assume the parts are in average shape, its *maybe* worth $5k in parts but you'd get $3k easily, then another $2k for all the parts that go for low values. But some part-out guy is gonna want to pay $500 tops for the car.

If the OP is willing to give him $1k the seller should take it and be VERY HAPPY about it.

 

Swapping out the tranny in a C4 is easy as cake, especially auto-for-auto. A 4L60E would be a pretty simple drop in which would go great with an LT1. The suspension was hard on all C4's, especially 84 - not just with Z51. The shocks are probably shot anyway if they are original and springs and shocks from an 87+ Z52 are the hot ticket. The sway bars in those 84's are smaller than later years anyway.

I'd tend to think a super perfect 84 with low miles would be LUCKY to get $8k. Problem is who wants that year? It looks almost identical to 85-89 and those cars get better every year. 86 with the aluminum heads, 88 with the 17" wheels and suspension, 89 with the ZF-6 speed, 90 with the new interior, 91 with the new exterior, then in 92 you get into the LT1 motor which is a big upgrade. I still love the midnight blue 1989 with the optional 17" wheels. Great car!

 

Love my C4, don't think I will ever sell it.

 

SRT Mike is spot on with all of his prices and advice.

My cube neighbor at work just traded in his bronze '84. Decent runner with some cosmetic issues, the interior needed work. The dealer gave him $6K for it, I told him to sell it private party asking $7K so he took the dealer money and ran. There's another '84 in the company classifieds, asking $9K with 45,000 miles and about as nice as you'll find for an '84, the car has been for sale for 6 months.

Mike, I agree with you on the midnight blue '89 - I saw a convertible in Chicago a couple of months ago, tan top and interior, I really like that car. I think he was only asking $12K for a very nice car.

 

I didn't see it mentioned here, but does it still have an exhaust system?

If so - you will likely not want it. This 84 car had only one Cat converter which split out into phony duals. The two round side outlets had two tips each but only one on each side was open to its half exhaust pipe. Utter phony crappola.

But, for what it is worth - the consensus on my ZR1 website is that the crossfire 82 and 84 engine (in excellent running condition, of course) is a pretty even drag race up to but not above 100 mph with a ZR1.

Just so long as you have the secondary injection power key on the ZR1 turned off.

I know 2 guys who actually did this on a little bet, and believe it or not, the crossfire SLOWLY pulled away around 80 mph.

But, seriously, with a later C4 so much better and so cheap right now, why not get something that's better and less work than this one?