I have been doing some research on my 76 vette. It is a L-82, but just found out that it is not the original engine. It had a long block but it was replaced in 96. A short block was put in, how do I go around finding out the horse power and if it is a L-82 or just a regular engine? What year is the engine and when I order parts for it, do I get L-82 parts or just 350 short block parts? I have the invoice of when they replaced the engine. The man who owned it before kept good records. Thanks for the help^j^

I have been doing some research on my 76 vette. It is a L-82, but just found out that it is not the original engine. It had a long block but it was replaced in 96. A short block was put in, how do I go around finding out the horse power and if it is a L-82 or just a regular engine? What year is the engine and when I order parts for it, do I get L-82 parts or just 350 short block parts? I have the invoice of when they replaced the engine. The man who owned it before kept good records. Thanks for the help^j^


If it has had a short block put in it, then it's almost certainly just a standard 350". There's no way of knowing what horsepower it is unless the records show it.

If the compression didn't change, which if it's original heads I don't see how it would have, HP is probably close to stock. Assuming they used the stock cam and rockers, Putting it on a dyno is the only way to know.

That being said, there's nothing special about an L-82 block. It's a two bolt 350. Other than having numbers matching car, really no difference. It's more to do with the heads/cam/carb than the bottom end.

If the compression didn't change, which if it's original heads I don't see how it would have, HP is probably close to stock. Assuming they used the stock cam and rockers, Putting it on a dyno is the only way to know.

That being said, there's nothing special about an L-82 block. It's a two bolt 350. Other than having numbers matching car, really no difference. It's more to do with the heads/cam/carb than the bottom end.
I thought the L-82 was a 4 bolt main?

the previous owner kept great records and gave them all to me and it says they put in a clo/14539 remanufactured short block (4 bolt main with pistons, crankshaft, and cam, 1969-1979. I don't know if this helps and it mentions that they resurfaced the heads only.

If the compression didn't change, which if it's original heads I don't see how it would have, HP is probably close to stock. Assuming they used the stock cam and rockers, Putting it on a dyno is the only way to know.

That being said, there's nothing special about an L-82 block. It's a two bolt 350. Other than having numbers matching car, really no difference. It's more to do with the heads/cam/carb than the bottom end.

^Its like he said.^

Resurfacing heads is pretty standard when installing a remanufactured block. You wouldn't want to put it together and have leaks due to warping from, at the time, 20 year old heads. Also could be because related to the demise of the original motor, like if it was damaged from extreme overheating.

If the compression didn't change, which if it's original heads I don't see how it would have, HP is probably close to stock. Assuming they used the stock cam and rockers, Putting it on a dyno is the only way to know.

That being said, there's nothing special about an L-82 block. It's a two bolt 350. Other than having numbers matching car, really no difference. It's more to do with the heads/cam/carb than the bottom end.
FYI, I have done a lot of research about L-82's to learn about mine and there are some lower end differences. The L-82's came with a 4 bolt main vs 2 bolt on the L 48's. Additionally, the crank, rods and pistons are forged vs. cast for the 48's. A better platform for additional upgrades!

FYI, I have done a lot of research about L-82's to learn about mine and there are some lower end differences. The L-82's came with a 4 bolt main vs 2 bolt on the L 48's. Additionally, the crank, rods and pistons are forged vs. cast for the 48's. A better platform for additional upgrades!
I agree !

my L-82 was replaced by a 418hp ZZ4. Dyno is the only way to know for sure. They could have just replaced the crank cams and others with stock parts or for a few bucks more put some high performance stuff in there. ( I would since it would have already been torn down)
1980 L-82 had 230hp yours should be around 210 ( i think)
Good luck.
Oh one more thing. Try to get involved in a car club. Some times they will have a Dyno day and you can dyno your car with a group discount for like $30.00-$50.00 or so.

Good luck!!!!!☺☺☺