Laughing Coyote Posted September 19, 2023 Author Share Posted September 19, 2023 I haven't posted anything in a while. I've been elbows deep in fixing things. When I decided to look into the climate controls I found all kinds of things to keep me busy. Lots of stripped out screws in the fiberglass ducting (needed repairs) it also seems that every piece of duct work was either cracked or had a broken tab or something. (more repairs) Found out the heater blend door actuator was bad so I replaced that. Started to finally put things back together. I will be ordering a new high torque starter this week. I was also missing the bottom heat duct that shoots the heat out towards your feet was missing. I found one on Ebay and got it here. The coolant looked like brown cloudy water so that is going to get drained and replaced. The carb was running pretty lean since the last time driving it so I'm going to give it a serious clean and rebuild. I'm researching the jets and metering rods to determine what's the best for running in the middle. I should have all this completed by the end of the month. Wanting to get it back on the road again. Always something. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 Oh I forgot to add that the oil pressure gauge line was spliced 3 times with compression connectors so a new line is being ran and the center dash vents were trashed and loose. I'm sure there is other small things that I'm forgetting, but it's all been checked and repaired and going back together this week. Aren't old cars fun. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drhach Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 I like how they put the engine specs right on the center console. They definitely knew their target audience. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted September 25, 2023 Share Posted September 25, 2023 Your neighbor isn't going to recognize this car! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted September 29, 2023 Author Share Posted September 29, 2023 More progress. I know I keep saying it's getting closer ,but still doing more on it. I did get to fire it back up finally last weekend after the carb was rebuilt. Seems to be running better. I changed the jets out to a size that was in the middle of the chart and also new metering rods that were in the middle range on the chart so it shouldn't be too rich or lean. I got the new high torque starter in and still have to verify the alignment to make sure I'm good to go on that. While looking over the wire harnesses I noticed that it's got lots of wires that don't look quite right aka non factory. So I'm in the process of verifying them against the schematic. It's not too bad, but enough to make me look it over and check voltages. Always something. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom M Posted September 29, 2023 Share Posted September 29, 2023 That is one outstanding clean up job you are doing. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted October 2, 2023 Author Share Posted October 2, 2023 While putting things back together finally I decided to check the coolant since that is one thing I haven't done yet. Good thing I did. I don't think it's suppose to be this color. Have new going in this week and an oil change is due too since it was running so rich for who knows for how long that the oil has a gas smell. That's not good for bearings. The new high torque starter is in and works a lot better. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted October 10, 2023 Author Share Posted October 10, 2023 I got the antifreeze swapped out and changed the oil. It was pretty nasty and just like everything else on the car the filter was put on with a death grip. Wasn't fun trying to get it off. Once it was changed out then it was time to hit the gas station and fill the tank. I did take the car over to the neighbor that gave it to me to adjust timing. It was way to advanced and seemed to be struggling. Now it's right on and goes like a beast. It's a real hoot to drive now. I'm still going to go through things here and there, but not as in depth as a big tear down. 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted October 10, 2023 Share Posted October 10, 2023 I had the opposite situation on the last two vehicles I bought. Just the other day I noticed a trail of oil dots in the street in front of my driveway. Investigation led me to the oil filter on my Suburban which I could turn with two fingers! I gave it 3/4 of a turn to stop the leak. The same thing happened earlier this year with my wife's Allante'. Both of these filters were installed by shops chosen by the previous owners... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted October 20, 2023 Author Share Posted October 20, 2023 (edited) The car ran great the last time I took it out after the oil change. The valve covers have a leak on each side which I knew about for a while so new gaskets are going to be ordered for that issue. While I wait on those the front wheels will be pulled and the bearings will be cleaned, checked, and repacked if in good condition. I will also be inspecting the front calipers, rotors, and anything else around that area. I did get new grease wheel seals in yesterday. Hopefully it goes a lot smoother then the rest of the car did so far, but I'm not holding my breath. Edited October 20, 2023 by Laughing Coyote (see edit history) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted October 21, 2023 Author Share Posted October 21, 2023 (edited) Today I went ahead and started to tear into the front wheels to check things. And......sure enough the car didn't disappoint. So far I just did the drivers side. The caliper is leaking and has been for awhile. Not good. The rotor is nicked, rusted and is the original one. It still has the factory rivets holding it on the hub. Which had to be removed. The bearings looked fine after cleaning them up, but the nut wasn't all the way tight so there was a little play in the hub. The brake pads are shot since they're fluid soaked. So it going to be cleaning, painting and replacing the rotors and pads. I also removed the valve cover to see what the gaskets looked like. Compressed to nothing so they're pretty much done as I expected. I did see something was rubbing on the PCV housing inside the valve cover. It's the back of the rocker arm. Lovely, so I did some cutting and modified it so that issues is resolved. Looks like it's round two for the old girl. Edited October 21, 2023 by Laughing Coyote (see edit history) 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted October 21, 2023 Author Share Posted October 21, 2023 Made some good progress so far. I did the nasty clean up stuff yesterday and today was paint and re install. Just need the caliper, rotor and pads for the drivers side. The bearing packer I got off of CL a while pack worked like a charm. Moving right along again. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hursst Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 Beautiful and fast work. You could eat off those parts. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Zimmermann Posted October 28, 2023 Share Posted October 28, 2023 I'm amazed at the work you have to perform on a car which is usually not problematic... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted October 31, 2023 Author Share Posted October 31, 2023 (edited) Got the brake pads and rotors coming. The valve cover gaskets came in today so I put one side on. They're rubber with a steel inside. Hope that fixes the leaking. I will tackle the other side as I wait for the front brake stuff to come in. I posted the engine information so you can see why it's a blast to drive. Edited October 31, 2023 by Laughing Coyote (see edit history) 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted November 1, 2023 Author Share Posted November 1, 2023 (edited) Was able to finish up the drivers side last night. Now starting to tackle the passenger side. Same as the drivers side. Rotor that is 50 years old and the bearings weren't tightened enough and have play in them. The good thing is that the caliper isn't leaking, but it has to come apart and get cleaned up and checked anyway. The new rotor will be here Thursday so hopefully I will have the front end finished, the valve covers back on and ready for a test ride this weekend. The only thing that I would need to address down the road sooner than later would be U joints for the main drive shaft since I don't know how old they are or how much abuse they've had. Edited November 1, 2023 by Laughing Coyote (see edit history) 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted November 3, 2023 Author Share Posted November 3, 2023 Yesterday evening I pulled all the front parts on the passenger side. Started to go thru them today. The caliper was pretty bad. It had some anti squeak crud all over the pad backing which got all over the caliper pistons and gummed stuff up. Not to mention that the pistons were caked with crud inside and wouldn't move. So I was driving the car for a little bit with a leaking drivers side caliper and fluid soaked pads and a caliper on the passenger side that wasn't even working. No wonder it didn't brake well. Getting it all fixed now, should work great. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted November 6, 2023 Author Share Posted November 6, 2023 Just an update from this past Saturday. Rebuilt the passenger side caliper with no issues. Got my last rotor in on Friday so that was ready to go. Packed the bearings and got everything installed and brakes bled. Now it actually has real brakes and stops great. Still have to work the pads in some more. One thing I also did a week ago was take the choke thermostat off the intake manifold and reset the heating coil so it pulls the linkage on the carb all the way down like it's suppose too. It was always had to hard start when cold and never really kept the choke engaged and you would have to float the throttle to keep it running. Know it runs on the high circuit like it should. Tap the pedal and it drops it down. I was even more amazed that when I started it for the first time in about three weeks it fired right up after cranking it for about 6-7 seconds without even hitting the gas pedal. I would say the carb is working nicely. Plus the new valve cover gaskets fixed the leaking covers, but time will tell after driving it some. So I will have to put some more miles on it now knowing it's a more dependable and safer car to drive. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 On 11/5/2023 at 11:21 PM, Laughing Coyote said: Plus the new valve cover gaskets fixed the leaking covers, but time will tell after driving it some. Keep an eye on them for the first few thermal cycles. You'll probably need to snug them up a couple of times as the gaskets settle-in. Nice work! Glad to hear it's performing well. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted November 18, 2023 Author Share Posted November 18, 2023 Thought I would add an update. The car came with solid engine mounts and when driving the car you could feel a vibration all around the car. You couldn't pinpoint any vibrations coming from the rear of the car or else where. The extra parts the PO gave me with the car included new rubber motor mounts. I changed them out yesterday evening and took it out today to see how it does. The vibration was gone and the rear half of the car seems to be good with no issues since all of the work that I done on the rotating parts. The driveshaft U joints will be next and eventually new tires that are the same size as stock. The ones on it now are a series to small and have a stiffer side wall. It will have a better ride once they get changed out. Getting better each time something else gets done. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B Jake Moran Posted November 29, 2023 Share Posted November 29, 2023 On 4/16/2023 at 11:06 PM, STEVE POLLARD said: Nice, would the color be called Polo Green ? Back in 1990 or 1991, I was looking at a new Corvette..... Polo Green with a tan leather interior, that car was sharp looking, was going to trade in my SS Monte, but the old man talked me out of it. I'm glad he did, I ended up buying my house a few years later from the $$ that I had save up. Steve I believe Sherwood Green was the name but I may be incorrect 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted December 18, 2023 Author Share Posted December 18, 2023 Took the Vette out to give it some exercise and when I went to shut it off it ran on for a bit. So after I got home and let it cool I decided to pull the #1 plug. It didn't look bad at all. Had a brown color which seems to be normal burn considering the crappy 91 octane gas and the high compression of the engine. When I first got the car the plugs where oil and gas soaked and black. I'm thinking that the carb is metered just right and not too rich or lean and the ignition and timing are working good. No pinging or other running issues. My thought is that there is some carbon build up in the head that may be causing the run on after shut off since it was running rich for so long. I'm going to run seafoam in it for a while and see if it cleans it up. It doesn't do it all the time, but once in a while. After the holidays I'm going to do more work on other things. on it. Been a blast to drive so far. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 13 hours ago, Laughing Coyote said: Took the Vette out to give it some exercise and when I went to shut it off it ran on for a bit. Does the carburetor have a solenoid throttle-stop? If so, you can check that it functions and is adjusted properly. If not, you're probably correct about combustion chamber carbon build-up. Good news is the fix for that - drive it! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
31nash880 Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 Noticed the gold rocker arms Are they stock? Your doing beautiful work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted December 18, 2023 Author Share Posted December 18, 2023 4 hours ago, EmTee said: Does the carburetor have a solenoid throttle-stop? That's a good question. Let me look through the box of additional parts that came with the car and verify with the repair manual. Will report back shortly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted December 18, 2023 Author Share Posted December 18, 2023 2 hours ago, 31nash880 said: Noticed the gold rocker arms Are they stock? Your doing beautiful work! No they are not stock. The engine is the original engine that came in the car, but it's been hopped up quite a bit. It's a blast to drive and can get moving pretty fast when you want it to. It's been an adventure so far working on it, but getting all the issues straightened out a little at a time. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted December 19, 2023 Author Share Posted December 19, 2023 EmTee was correct, there is supposed to be one on the carb. I went looking in my bin of parts that came with the car and sure enough it was in there. Just like everything else on the car it has a bent bracket and looks like someone was in it. And of course it doesn't energize when power is applied to it. So I took it apart and discovered that the coil wire was not grounded. Not sure how it was supposed to ground either on the part or terminal or what. I got it back together and soldered the coil wire to the metal retaining "C" clip in the back. I applied power to it and it energizes the coil and pops the plunger out. Saved me $80 with my repair job. I'm applying 13.8 volts and it's pulling 10.3 volts. The bracket has been straightened and painted and I sealed the back of it with a two part epoxy. Will make it pretty tomorrow and get it installed and adjusted. It will work for know. I researched it more and apparently Chevy put these on to prevent dieseling. So I would say that the engine is tuned properly and just needs the solenoid to shut it off. I'm still going to run about 3 tanks of Seafoam though it to help clean it up inside. Glad I didn't throw any old parts out yet. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 2 hours ago, Laughing Coyote said: So I took it apart and discovered that the coil wire was not grounded. Not sure how it was supposed to ground either on the part or terminal or what. I got it back together and soldered the coil wire to the metal retaining "C" clip in the back. I applied power to it and it energizes the coil and pops the plunger out. Saved me $80 with my repair job. That's awesome - I would have done exactly the same! I can almost see the finish line... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted December 20, 2023 Author Share Posted December 20, 2023 The throttle stop is all finished up and ready to install. After that I will need to re-adjust the idle settings and hopefully that will fix the dieseling issue. That means I will have to drive it more and see. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike "Hubbie" Stearns Posted December 20, 2023 Share Posted December 20, 2023 8 hours ago, Laughing Coyote said: The throttle stop is all finished up and ready to install. After that I will need to re-adjust the idle settings and hopefully that will fix the dieseling issue. That means I will have to drive it more and see. That why we do it. Mike 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted December 20, 2023 Share Posted December 20, 2023 11 hours ago, Laughing Coyote said: That means I will have to drive it more and see. A thankless job, but someone has to do it... 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Model56s Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 Guys like you, EmTee and others here make me realize how little I know. It’s still fun following these projects though. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted December 22, 2023 Author Share Posted December 22, 2023 Just like you Model56s, I'm always learning new things from all the folks and projects on this Forum too. Always something interesting to follow and watch. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 I'm pretty much like that blind squirrel people talk about... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted December 30, 2023 Author Share Posted December 30, 2023 Quick update. Got the car fired up today and did more final adjustments to the carb shut off solenoid. High and low idles are good to go. Shuts right off without a hick up and runs really good. Now that Christmas is over it's time to make a shopping list for the other items needed for correcting other issues I need to address. Coming along a little at a time, but fun driving it in between repairs. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 Well things are going to get fun now. As I noted in the Mercury thread that the Corvette needed to have the freeze plugs changed out and the PO didn't understand why they didn't do it when they built the engine since that would be the logical thing to do. He changed two already since they went bad on him. Now that the car is liking all the repairs I'm doing and getting it cleaned up it decided that it's time for me to do the freeze plugs. Had a little water on the floor the last time I drove it. So, now the Corvette is at the PO's shop and we will be pulling the engine and transmission. Will be cleaning up the engine and detailing it and fixing the leaks the transmission is having. I really didn't want to have to do it this soon, but here we are. Once it's done and everything is back together, the new tires on then I can drive it without having to worry if a freeze plug will go out when I get farther from home. This will be my winter project and will be posting progress as I go. Let the fun begin........................ 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Look on the bright side...at least you don't have to clean the shop out to have room to work. I dream about having my shop look like that . 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 11 hours ago, Andy J said: I dream about having my shop look like that . It's 1500sq feet of room. I helped him build it after he moved to the neighborhood. Good thing he is a short walk away. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Play your cards right and the PO may decide he wants it back (if that's OK with you)... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted January 6 Author Share Posted January 6 7 minutes ago, EmTee said: Play your cards right and the PO may decide he wants it back Every time I bring it by he comments how he really loves the look of the C3. He may end up wanting to trade me his 04 Z06 after it's all straightened out. Stranger things have happened. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now