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1962 350 Ramjet EFI conversion

Diarmuids 62 had been a constant source of frustration to him, whilst lovely to look at it had been less than troublesome to live with. Proving to be completely unreliable and not particularly enjoyable to drive, the car came to us with the sole brief of making this a reliable and pleasurable car to jump in and enjoy when the opportunity arose. 

Diarmuids free time was very limited so the car had to be on the button all the time, at this point Diarmuid had been out in the car 6 times, and had to recovered on a low loader 6 times….You get the picture. 

The first thing we did was to investigate why the car wouldn't run. The selling dealer had removed the original 327/340hp motor and replaced it with a Goodwrench 350 crate engine, sadly they had mismatched the carburettor and intake manifold so it never could have run properly. We gave Diarmuid the option of installing the correct items, but he was very keen on a fuel injected crate engine, and so our story begins….

  • 25th Jan 12

    The GM Ramjet 350 motor as it arrived from the USA, looks a lot more in keeping with the car than a modern LS motor.

  • 30th Jan 12

    First job Was to replace the oilpan with a more low profile unit to clear the Corvettes steering gear.

  • 28th Feb 12

    Once the new oilpan was fitted the engine was resprayed in Chevy orange.

  • 21st Mar 12

    We also gave the engine compartment a fresh coat of satin black before the new motor was installed. If you look closely you can just see the nose of the new Tremec 5 speed in there too!

  • 24th Mar 12

    The new motor installed and looking good, like it was meant to be there. We also upgraded the previously poorly fitted disc brake conversion with a dual circuit master cylinder.

  • 26th Mar 12

    Because the Ramjet 350 requires a much higher fuel pressure we needed an electric fuel pump. Having had bad experiences with some very noisy electric pumps, silent running was our main priority. We opted for a new stainless steel baffled gas tank with a built in electric pump. The tank itself was a work of art, shame it will never be seen again. At Corvette Kingdom the quality goes far beneath the surface!

  • 30th Mar 12

    A set of black crackle finish valve covers were installed, the original exhaust manifolds were sandblasted and treated, and a new clutch installed.

    The engine mount brace required extensive modification to clear the timing cover and water pump.

  • 4th Apr 12

    Holy wiring looms Batman!

  • 12th Apr 12

    One of the other improvements we made was to replace the early Corvettes cable driven wiper mechanism with a modern worm gear replacement. This is a big improvement but a nightmare to install, as Ronni is discovering!

  • 20th Apr 12

    And here is the engine wired in, plumbed in, and ready to run. This was by no means an easy task.

  • 30th Apr 12

    We had to install a new electrically operated tachometer to run off the Ramjets HEI distributor. The steering wheel was replaced with a smaller version of the original wheel. The previous specialist had fitted probably the worlds worst power steering conversion, and on full lock the steering gear hit the bottom pulley and made a grinding noise that shook the whole car, truly awful. 

    We replaced this with a Steeroids rack and pinion system. Note the 5 speed shift indicator.

  • 1st May 12

    A few other odd jobs were carried out including rechroming the windshield frame and installing a new rubber, we also fitted new tyres and converted the headlights to a full Halogen setup with a relay system.

    The end result of this car was exactly what Diarmuid was looking for. The car drives superbly, the engine performs very well indeed and the 5 speed transmission is a joy to use, and you know what else? The car never broke down again…..