Summit Racing’s been around for over 55 years now, which means the Company has been involved in more than a few project car builds. (You can check out its first one here.)

The 1987 Chevy Corvette you see here was featured in the November 1997 edition of Car Craft magazine.

Summit-Racing-Project-corvette-solo
(Image/Car Craft – John Kiewicz)

Summit Racing threw its vast parts catalog at the car. The goal was to build a homebrew ‘Vette that had performance on-par with the famous ZR-1 and the then-new C5 Corvette. With a dyno-proven 625 horsepower, we’re pretty sure it succeeded.

The ‘Vette got a stroked and blown 383 Chevy small block, beefed-up with parts like JE Pistons, a Crane Cam, and Trick Flow cylinder heads. A Vortech supercharger put out about 12 PSI of boost.

The Doug Nash 4+3 manual was tossed in favor of a more traditional Richmond six-speed.

The Summit Racing 1987 Corvette also benefits from a stronger rear end, upgraded suspension bits, and Baer brake kit with big 13-inch rotors.

And no project build from the 1990s would be complete without a thumpin’ Alpine CD player. (Rad? Totally.)

You can learn more about the car in the article below, click on the images for larger, more readable versions.

It’s a good read and, since the C4 Corvette is still a great sports car value, maybe it’ll inspire you to soup-up a fourth-gen ‘Vette.

Article courtesy of Car Craft magazine—story by Miles Cook, photos by John Kiewicz.

Corvette Summer Car Craft Article, Page 1
(Image/Car Craft Magazine – Miles Cook & John Kiewicz)
Corvette Summer Car Craft Article, Page 2
(Image/Car Craft Magazine – Miles Cook & John Kiewicz)
Author: Paul Sakalas

Paul is the editor of OnAllCylinders. When he's not writing, you'll probably find him fixing oil leaks in a Jeep CJ-5 or roof leaks in an old Corvette ragtop. Thanks to a penchant for vintage Honda motorcycles, he spends the rest of his time fiddling with carburetors and cleaning chain lube off his left pant leg.