Originally Posted by vette196

1st problem I see is he had 9 posts when he sold the car, not really a "member"

Originally Posted by hilflos

None of what follows is to belittle what the OP is dealing with, more a commiseration. I was where he seems to be a bit over a month ago when I found transmission fluid on the floor of my garage very late one Saturday evening, as I was wrapping up the new weatherstripping install on thee B-pillars.

I brought my '87 home the last weekend of March. It had been my father's since '87, had mostly sat for the last fourteen years, only two thousand miles on it in that time, and I have worked on it literally, every weekend since then. It is just now in the shape I thought it was going to be when I picked it up. Dad, had been getting it back to "good shape," but he and Mom are looking for a smaller place, easier to keep up, and it's time for the car to be mine now.

The list so far;

• Shocks
  Spark plugs
  Spark plug wires
  Spark plug wire brackets / holders
  Fuel Filter
  Distributor Cap
  Distributor Rotor
  PVC Valve
  Adjusted targa top fitment
  Adjusted door window fitment
  Re-balanced tires / wheels
  Air intake / filter assembly
  Air Filter
  Cleaned / rebuilt throttlebody
  Fuel Filter (again)
  Squeak and rattle chasing
  Idler / Belt tensioner
  Oil Filter and Oil Change
  Replaced bunches of small plastic fasteners that break the instant you touch them.
  More squeak and rattle chasing
  A-pillar weatherstripping
  B-pillar weatherstripping
  Targa weatherstripping
  Rebuilt the transmission adding a shift kit, stronger clutch packs and a few other improvements
  Replaced lower radiator hose after one of the original hose clamps let go.
  Flushed radiator
  Polished and waxed
  Adjusted window fitment to new weatherstripping
  Replaced EGR switch
  Replaced oil temp sender
  Replaced weatherproofing on wheel speed sensors for ABS system

What still needs done;

Stereo and Speaker (Bose) refurbishment or replacement

New wheels and tires (old wheels are slightly out of true from having sat so long)

Valve Job, at a minimum, as there's a puff of oil smoke on startup, from the passenger side, when it's been parked on a slope. No discernible loss of oil over three thousand miles. I'm going to give it some thought before I get to that, but sounds like the right time to new heads and an intake to me, perhaps a complete rebuild of the engine as, the paint on the block is pretty much gone, and if I'm pulling the whole thing out to be repainted... We'll see.

Suspension and brakes both will require attention. There's bushings that can stand to be replaced, but aren't bad enough to demand it happen near term.

C5 brakes will probably happen when the pads are worn enough to need replacing. They're fine, but I'm adopting a, if I'm replacing it, make it better, sort of approach when work on anything. So, why not that too?

Mostly, my own father hadn't driven the car in so long that he didn't have a good baseline for it, to evaluate against when he finally started to again. He handed off something that I'm a bunch of money and time into, and it's now pretty much where I thought it was going to be, back in March. There's more of both on the horizon, but no longer anything that has to be done immediately.

Oh, and it's going into the body shop to get a scrape from his Harley off the passenger side quarter panel, on Tuesday. At that point, it'll be a relatively pristine '87 C4 with less than 30k miles, that could still use some love, but is a relatively reliable driver / cruiser.

Last night, as I was cruising home from seeing some friends, top off and stowed in the rear, showing some kids in the car next to me that the pop-up headlights work, and how, I was thinking about how satisfying it is to finally be at this point.

Just one point of view, take it for what it's worth.

Edit: None of that's to excuse the seller or anything. Just, if you choose to keep it, there may be some good associated with it, as time goes on.

Originally Posted by Reileigh

There is just one point that I would like to respond to. Hilflos, you mentioned that you plan to do a valve job someday and you said something about removing the heads. The smoke that you see when you start up your 30k engine does come from the valves. However, to be more precise it most likely comes from dried and hard valve seals. The rubber become like stone after 30 years. The good news is that you can replace those little buggers without taking the heads off. It's an easy job and you don't need much in the way of tools except a valve spring compressor and an "air hold" or if you don't have that you can use 3' or so of cotton clothesline. I have done this job many times and you will be surprised how easythe job is. If you do a search on replacing valve seals on an engine you should get the information that you need to do the job. It's easy, you'll remove the valve covers and rocker arms, remove the spark plugs, as you go along lower the piston in each cylinder, apply air pressure to the cylinder, using the valve spring compressor remove the valve lock and spring, remove and replace the valve seal, reassemble the spring and valve retainer, move on to the next valve. Take your time and do one at a time. The rope can be used instead of the "air hold" by pushing as much cotton rope in the cylinder with the piston down and then bringing the piston up (by hand only) to keep the valves pressed in place. Do one at a time and you'll have good results. Reset the valve lash when you are done. One more thing, block off all of the oil return holes on the head before you take any of the valve locks off, you don't want them falling into the crankcase. Good luck.

Originally Posted by mickey5

Every car I've ever owned cost at least $2-3K a year minimum to own figuring maintenance, repair and depreciation. An old Vette is no different. Just parking it in a garage for a year will cost with deterioration and no end in declining value. If your not prepared to open your wallet occasionally maybe its time to change to.....old motorcycles? jm2c

Originally Posted by pologreen1

I bought a 1995 vehicle in 2003 used obviously. I paid 6500.

Knock on wood since I have put in $1,800.

Tires, brakes, 4 oil changes, belt, pulley, heater blower fan, tail gate shocks.

If you pay that much to have vehicles IMO you should really consider leasing brand new cars.

It really does not cost that much to drive a car. Don't fix it if it's not broken and if it keeps breaking dump it.


To the OP, people get burned on used junk all the time. The positives "for me".

-decent looking body to plastidip
-decent wheels
-can be easily carb swapped
-if no emmisions or restrictions, headman headers and straight pipes will make it fun
-Rebuild dash or swap to analog

If you want a nice almost real one sell this now.

Originally Posted by mic575

This is a good perspective. Not every corvette is a show car, you can simplify it and make it a really fun car. If you do that you'll probably drive it more anyway.