Chevrolet Corvette C3 1971 Pro Touring
Chevrolet Corvette C3 1971
GM LT1 Gen V 6.2L V8
Stock camshaft
485 hp
8L90 automatic transmission
Speed Direct Shark Bite
Hydroboosted Wilwood big brakes
Wheels: not decided yet
Stainless steel exhaust – CTC Customs own design
Further than ever before
With this 1971 Corvette C3, we are going further than ever before. The customer bought this car for a reason: it was an original LT1 car, but the engine was missing. His wish was clear: it had to get an LT1 again, only this time a Gen V.
He chose to go with a used driveline, so we sourced the complete driveline from a 2017 Camaro, including the 8L90 automatic transmission. And that was only the beginning.
This C3 should not only drive like a modern car, it should look more modern too. Under the car, a Speed Direct Shark Bite Dominator kit, once again strengthened with our own CTC Customs brackets, works together with rack and pinion steering and a hydroboosted Wilwood big brake kit.
The paint was full of osmosis, so we decided to blast the body and build it up again from scratch, repairing the poor polyester work from the past along the way. That is also when we found out that the birdcage had rusted through. To carry out our repairs properly, we had to split the body.
For a cleaner look, we closed up the side marker lights and the pop-up headlights. We developed our own bracket to mount LED angel eye headlights behind the grille.
For this car, we developed our own CTC Customs CAN bus system. It will be used to program the headlights, as well as the taillights: we converted the original housings to LED, with a 3D depth effect. The rest of the car will run on CAN bus as well, but more about that later.
The exhaust manifolds were made to fit the LT1; everything after that is built by CTC Customs. The exhaust runs through our own crossmember, which stays removable so the transmission can be serviced easily. Power goes to the rear through a custom-made carbon driveshaft.
The chassis was chemically stripped, then given a KTL coating (cathodic e-coat), and finally finished in an industrial paint with integrated clear coat, in the same color as the Wilwood brake calipers.
Stay tuned so you don’t miss this one-of-a-kind project.
CTC Customs parts used on this car
