Juliet

Well, Victor Smiley (that's my 87) has been out of comission for 2 weeks after his ignition went suicidal and self destructed. :( I was on biz for a week and only tonight got the new ignition stuff & put him back together. Anyways, In the meantime I've been driving the '70 this week. On my way home from work this evening I heard this awful rattling sound. My first thought was a broken motor mount or shroud and the fan hitting. Nope. Turned out that the alternator top bolt was sheared off! Rats - now I have to find a new alternator bolt with the correct head marking. ;) Anyways, the alternator belt was VERY loose. There wasn't enough of the old bolt to get it out, and I don't think I had that size in my tool bag anyways. So I managed to duct tape it in place with some tension on it - enough to keep the water pump & alternator running and I drove it home - I was fixated on the thermostat and ammeter the whole way I might add. ;) But She didn't let me down! I made it up to the elementary school and brought my daughter to ballet lessons, only a few minutes late. :) I think that Sophia having watched Victor Smiley be delivered home at 1am on a flat bed truck 2 weeks ago inspired her to run for me! :D :lol: Whoo Hoo, anyways, she & he are now both fixed and I have 2 running corvettes at the moment - for the moment I should say! :cool: :jester


[Modified by Juliet, 10:35 PM 12/19/2001]

LAvetteman

Wow, good going. I guess sometimes you can MAKE a 30+ yr old car run easier than a younger one. :yesnod:

INTIMIDATOR ZO6

So sorry to hear your having problems but you still own some very nice vettes :yesnod: every thing will come around I'm sure :D

70L46

I had that very same bolt (well, not that very same bolt :lol: ) break on my car, and yes, the resulting racket is quite alarming (have already had both the fan hitting the shroud and the broken motor mount sounds prior to that, I ruled those out very quickly :yesnod: )

Having both Corvettes running is a good thing, hope it stays that way for you :yesnod:


[Modified by 70L46, 10:42 PM 12/19/2001]

lbell101

That must be a common problem. My bolt broke a couple times this summer. I finally went to a fastener supplier and got the strongest bolt they made! THEN my bracket broke next to the bolt. Welded it and it broke again!
Now I have a custom bracket that goes under the alt rather than on top. So far so good. Must be LOTS of stress in that area!

Juliet

Thanks guys. :)

No kidding! The bevy of relays and sensors and other electronic stuff on the '87 is almost impossible to diagnose, much less fix roadside! At least with the '70 it's mostly mechanical stuff, which is more easily bubba-able for limping home. :seeya ~Juliet

Gordonm

Thats what I like about the older cars a little duct tape and some sweat abd they keep running. Good story

vettfixr

Hi Juliet
As they would say in South Philly "Sophia sounds like a stand up broad" :D
Got to love a car that gets you home no matter what. As far as the bolt goes you can probably get the correct one from Paragon. They have just about every specialty bolt you need. Good Luck.

PS
Here's hoping you and your family have a wonderful holiday season.

70 Vette

Glad you made it without incident and that all is well on the Vette front.

Mack

Duct Tape, Huh?... Guess we'll start calling you "Bubbette"... :smash: :crazy: :yesnod: :D

Alwyn678

Duct Tape is a wonder cure!!!!

1LE

Every one should have duct tape and a coat hanger( bailing wire) in their tool box. Glad you got you car home in one piece.

Flareside

Good work Juliet! I'm not so sure my wife could have pulled that off ;)

Paul Borowski

Bubbette!!! Now that I like!!!!! I always thought with that "short run" of '70s they might not have gotten all the bugs out :smash:

No offense to C4 people, but Juliet I believe I warned you of the complexity of those cars!!! If you thought C3 power windows, A/C, wipers were troublesome, Girl you're in for a real treat with C4 "little bugs" :smash:

MacA1979

I think there is a little Bubba in all of us when situations like this happen. Glad you were able to get Sophia back home!

I had a similar situation happen to me on my way back to Charlotte from the Corvette Expo in Knoxville back when I had my '79. Running about 70 MPH on I-40 through the mountains, the slotted adjustment bracket for my alternator broke! :eek: Terrible noise! Luckily (actually very lucky if you know the area) I was right by an exit, coasted to the top of the ramp and was able to coast into a service station. To make a LOOOONNNNG story short, I found a parts store that delivered me a new belt. The new belt was shorter than the old one (old and stretched) and I was able to attach the bracket just under the location that broke. The belt was tight enough for me to drive the remainder of the way home. Luck was on my side that day!! :cheers:

ZD75blue

hmm maybe i need to add an alternator bolt to my tool bag :p:

Glad to hear that you made it home, duct tape is great... that and wd40 gotta get it off some how :lol:

ZD

0Mike69@ECS

Wow Juliet! Nice work!

Careful though! Thats how ended up with a hole in my stock hood. My top alternator bracket broke right at the bolt and when the alt dropped the alt fam blades hit the lower bracket, shearing off two teeth, sending one right through the hood! :cry I'm glad you were luckier than I was!!!!

Keep them both on the road!!! :cool:

jimduchek

It is in NO WAY 'Bubba' to use duct tape, baling wire, paper clips, or JB weld to fix problems that arise unexpectedly. What's Bubba is when you consider those things to be permanent repairs :) And I definitely don't see Juliet willing to lose NCRS points at the expense of a 50 cent bolt :)

Jim

Mack

Come on, guys. It's a joke... Don't be hammering on me. Juliet and I are old friends. I just couldn't pass up a chance to hang her with the "Bubbette" title. :smash: :yesnod: :D

Juliet

Don't worry Mack. :lol: I totally took it as a joke! :lol: Hey, I'm usually the first to admit when I do something Bubbette or Blonde around here. :D Anyways, Sophia's back up & running, with a REAL BOLT in there - duct tape in the trash. :lol: Greg helped me drill out the old bolt remains and she was running shortly after dinner.

Of course you can all still Razz me to no end since I don't have the correct sequence of washers and lock washers and Heavens to Mergatroid - the wrong bolt head marking! :jester ~Juliet