Corvette C3 Engines: The ‘Hoods Up’ Collection

During the Corvette C3 muscle-car era, engines came in many sizes and flavours. Many owners keep their engine original while others go their own way. If you are trying to decide how you want your C3 to look under the hood, take a look at the ‘hoods up’ collection below, then click any photo to see it full size.

What went in these cars

Across the fifteen years of the C3 there were really two families of engine. The small block started at 327 cubic inches in 1968 and grew to 350 for 1969, where it stayed for the rest of the run. The big block started as the 427 and grew to 454 for 1970, and it was gone after 1974. Almost every C3 you meet today has a small block in it, either because that is what it left with or because that is what went in later.

The high points are worth knowing when you are looking at a photo and wondering what you are seeing. The L88 and the ZL1 of the early years are the rarest and most valuable engines ever fitted to a Corvette. The solid-lifter LT-1 350, offered from 1970 to 1972, is the small block enthusiasts chase. From 1975 the catalytic converter and lower compression brought the numbers right down, with the base 350 at 165 horsepower that year, and the L82 became the engine to have. The last C3 engine was the Cross-Fire Injection 350 of 1982, the first fuel injected Corvette since 1965.

Reading an engine bay

A few things give a C3 engine bay away. Original air cleaners, ignition shielding and the correct hose routing are the marks of a car kept as it left the factory, and on a judged car those details matter as much as the engine itself. Aluminium intakes, headers, an aftermarket carburettor and braided lines say the owner has gone a different way, which is just as legitimate and usually a good deal more fun to drive.

If you want to know what your own car should have, the stamped pad on the front of the block carries the suffix code, and the casting number at the back identifies the block itself. The engine identification page and the casting numbers page have the tables, and the FAQ explains how to read them.