The 1984 Corvette Is The Worst Corvette Ever – Here’s How To Fix It

The 1984 Corvette was truly groundbreaking and featured advanced technology, but it’s also the worst Corvette ever made.

The 1984 Corvette was the worst Corvette of all time. There are people who say the worst is the C3, particularly the 1980 model year with the 180 horsepower 305 cubic inch V8. But the 1984 C4 has it beat. Let me explain why with a short story.

When I was a kid, my family took a trip to Disney World. At 13, I was already a total car nerd. I had a subscription to Road & Track, and my favorite car was the all-new 1984 Corvette. Compared to the C3, it looked like a spaceship. Best of all, they had one at Epcot Center in the GM World of Motion.

I spent most of that day sitting in the Corvette. It was two-tone silver and gray with a gray cloth interior. GM hooked it to a power source, so the digital display stayed lit in all its glory. It was the most awesome car ever, and I knew I’d own one someday.

Then ten years later, I got to drive one. And it was a disappointment. It felt slow. It stumbled and hesitated. The automatic transmission felt like it had wide gaps between gear ratios. Many people complained about the rattles and harsh ride of the Z51 suspension. But compared to later C4 models, the 1984 Corvette was like riding in the back of a flatbed truck surrounded by loose change.

But the real reason the 1984 Corvette is the worst Corvette of all time is that it wasn’t fully baked. It needed another year in the oven and more time to work out the kinks. Chevrolet should have launched it in 1985 with the L98 small block V8. Maybe GM rushed it because they missed their launch window in 1983. All I know is they had no business launching the most awesome car ever with the Cross-Fire fuel injection.

How To Fix The 1984 CorvetteI won’t go into detail here about the Cross-Fire fuel injection except to say it was a great idea that was poorly executed. Fortunately, there are ways to fix the problem.

You can always go the crate motor route and LS swap it or drop in an L98 from a newer C4. You can also rip the Cross-Fire out, pull the manifold, and install a new manifold and four-barrel carburetor. Those options are worth considering, but even the carburetor conversion is not straightforward. You could do more harm than good delving into the dark arts of computer-controlled ignition, fuel/air ratios, and CFM calculations. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s a slippery slope. Many non-running C4 project cars lie at the bottom of that hill.

A wiser option is to bolt on a pair of headers and add a less restrictive exhaust. Combine that with porting the intake manifold, which GM restricted due to issues with around-town driveability. The problem is that the change reduced intake volume to less than 500 CFM or about 2/3 of the Cross-Fire injection’s peak output of 750 CFM. As a result, the engine runs out of steam at 4000 RPM, well before it should.

Suspension upgrades are easier. The overly harsh ride of the Z51 suspension can be fixed with new shocks and springs. You can even improve the C4’s sharp handling with adjustable shocks or coil-overs and polyurethane bushings. The basic goodness that dominated SCCA Showroom Stock racing in the 1980s is there. It just needs fine-tuning.

If you buy a 1984 Corvette and plan to modify it, the first thing to do is check out our Corvette Forum. There’s a wealth of great information on the C4 and about the Cross-Fire fuel injection.

No Corvette Is Truly Bad

Even though I think the 1984 Corvette is the worst, no Corvette is truly bad – some are just better than others. The C4 Corvette pioneered the modern architecture for subsequent Corvettes and was truly groundbreaking.  In truth, we are lucky to have the C4 Corvette, which improved every year of its 12-year production run. Over time the C4 got faster and more comfortable, making it one of the most liveable inexpensive sports cars you can buy today.

Photos: Chevrolet 

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