1981 corvette

[ttamrettus]

Today Alex and I purchased a project car. He really loves the "shark style" corvette.

I will put up more data in a week or so.

[MostMint]

Fun project. What is the plan - get it running and drive it or a big restoration or ?

[ttamrettus]

first goal, running and driving.
Make it presentable. it will go in the garage when the e30 is in Ohio at my brother's for rust repair and paint. Probably July.
Since Alex will be footing the bill, it will be budget.

[MostMint]

sound good. it'll be interesting to see what you and Alex can come up with in terms of used parts. Full price OE replacements can be had its the reasonable priced presentable that is harder to find

[wxo]

Does this mean that we will see you and Alex at Carlisle in the Fall?

[ttamrettus]

Yes we plan to be there.

[Basement Paul]

That will give you guys lots of time to make a list of needs. I'm betting there will be a few good deals on C3 parts.

-BP

[ttamrettus]

I received the new fuel lines from Ecklers and the QJet kit from Quadrajetparts.com yesterday. Hopefully I can rebuild the carb and get it running.

Once it runs, check the brakes. Rolling it off the trailer they were SUPER soft. THEN to see if the transmission shifts.

IF all that works out, Alex can move on to learning everything. I want him to have a project that can move under it's own power.

Wish list.

A. passenger side t top (the current one is cracked.
B. side pipes
C. Drivers door panel
D. Carpet kit

[MostMint]

as I recall soft brakes is pretty common on the C3 after its been sitting. Something about having 16 brake pistons on a car. Hopefully you can just bleed them.

[ttamrettus]

the car runs (sort of) kind of idles on it's own. Probably going the Holley Sniper EFI route as he says he wants to keep this car. The important thing is it has oil pressure and I didn't hear any knocks.

I then gutted the interior to see what we were working with. There is some surface rust but that is it. So now Alex and I are working on a budget.

[Basement Paul]

Running is nice! I'm digging it.

-BP

[ttamrettus]

well maybe "running" is a stretch. it starts, idles for a minute or three. then dies. touch the throttle, it dies. leaks a tiny bit of gas from the filter bowl even though everything is tight. BUT the up side is no knocks and 38 -40 psi (on the oem gauge) of oil pressure.


https://youtu.be/VagJStcCaLk

I got it idling longer than this but you get the idea.

[Maverick]

Have you done a compression or leak down test? The video sounds like it's missing on a cyl or two.

[Fred32v]

Nice start! it has to be encouraging .

[wxo]

Alex, enjoy this project with your Dad. It has great potential. Keep the updates coming. I'm looking forward to helping you find parts at Carlisle in September.