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1996 Collector Edition Corvette

Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2021 7:40 pm
by wxo
I picked up a non-running 1996 Collector's Edition Corvette today.

https://youtu.be/egqT1op2Qtg
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Re: My 7th Vette

Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2021 7:54 pm
by Basement Paul
Such an awesome car, and a convertible too. Love it!

-BP

Re: My 7th Vette

Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2021 8:27 pm
by Maverick
I did a ride-along to get the car. It's really fantastic. I love it!! Looking forward to sharing in the fun.

Re: My 7th Vette

Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2021 10:14 pm
by TireSmoker
thats great!! So, what does non-running entail?

-Dave

Re: My 7th Vette

Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2021 10:48 pm
by ttamrettus
Sweetness

Re: My 7th Vette

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 7:41 am
by wxo
TireSmoker wrote:thats great!! So, what does non-running entail?

-Dave
The seller tells me that it was running well 3 years ago when the clutch slave cylinder gave out on the road. It was brought home on a rollback and it has been under a cover in a garage for 3 years. CarFax tells me that it has logged only 742 miles in the last 14 years. It has almost 103K on it now.
First I'm anxious to hear the LT4 run.
I plan to drain the 3/4 tank of gas and give it some fresh gas, then pull the spark plugs and put some penetrating oil in each cylinder. Following that I will pull the plugs on the ignition and injectors before hitting the key and spinning the engine to get the oil circulating before I attempt to hook everything up and see what happens.
Restoring the clutch slave system to get it moving is next.
Then when it can move under it's own power, I need to be able stop it, so the braking system needs a lot of attention. The brake pedal has some firmness to it and seems to work to some degree, but I can see the rotors are rusty and I feel like I should go all through the system to get them right.
All this should keep me busy for some time.

Re: My 7th Vette

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 8:28 am
by MostMint
Common problems for C4 that have been sitting are bad fuel injectors and bad fuel pump. This one many not have been sitting long enough for those to be issues.

Seems to me that you could push in the clutch with the tranny in neutral and crank it over.

Fun project. The Craigslist ad was down last night so did not get specifics on the car including asking price.

Re: My 7th Vette

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 8:43 am
by wxo
MostMint wrote:Common problems for C4 that have been sitting are bad fuel injectors and bad fuel pump. This one many not have been sitting long enough for those to be issues.

Seems to me that you could push in the clutch with the tranny in neutral and crank it over.

Fun project. The Craigslist ad was down last night so did not get specifics on the car including asking price.
The clutch is inoperable due to the bad slave cyl.

Here is the ad text:
Collectors Edition C4 Corvette convertible. Sebring silver, black leather interior, LT4 (Grand Sport motor), ZF6 manual transmission, and selective ride control. This car was packed with all the latest goodies of the day, and is the last of the corvettes before they switched to a transaxle.

The car was parked 3 years ago due to a failed slave cylinder, this is an external slave and can be replaced without dropping the transmission. The car has sat in the garage under cover since then, it has recently been moved to the carport and put up on ramps.

The car has new continental "extreme contact" tires 275/40ZR17 front and rear (matched size)

Brand new interstate battery, fresh oil change, a new air filter, and a set of plugs and a new serpentine belt in the cargo area. Will need the tank drained and whatever your favorite long term start-up procedure is, I am moving and no longer have the time or space to finish this up.

A VERY clean set of 1996 Corvette Factory Service manuals are included. This is the only set of manuals that cover the OBII C4 corvette.

3-small paint imperfections that I have seen, one small scratch on the nose, one chip on the drivers side rear view mirror, and paint work on the battery cover panel (typically damaged by unknowing mechanics).
Headlights need new pigtail connection to function (I manually flip them up and down for the few times I drove the car at night)
Offers not made in person will be ignored, bring cash, bring a trailer, leave with a clean, clear, notarized title.

Re: My 7th Vette

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 9:48 am
by Fred32v
A small project just made for you. What a great find! I'm looking forward to riding in it in Carlisle.

Re: My 7th Vette

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 12:14 pm
by wxo
Carlisle is an unlikely hope. There's not enough time for me to get it running well enough and learn to trust it enough to travel to Carlisle. Maybe next year.

Re: 1996 Collector Edition Corvette

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2021 8:32 am
by wxo
I siphoned the remaining gas from the tank yesterday. The gauge showed 3/4 full, but I pulled out only about 7 gallons of the 20 when full, so the gauge is reading incorrectly. Also, I saw a small amount of rusty sludge on the siphon hose when I pulled it out. I learned through YouTube videos that pulling the pump/sensor assembly is a piece of cake. I plan to remove the assembly and take a good look down into the tank and see if I can clean it out through the access hole. So now I believe that the sensor part of the assembly is bad. I don't know the condition of the pump yet. So it begins...

Also, I had saved a copy of the ad webpage before it was deleted , so I went back and pulled off the pictures most of you haven't seen. Here they are:
96 C4 from ad 1600x450.jpg
96 C4 from ad 2 600x450.jpg
96 C4 from ad 3 600x450.jpg
96 C4 from ad 4 600x450.jpg
96 C4 from ad 5 600x450.jpg
96 C4 from ad 6 600x450.jpg
96 C4 from ad 7 600x450.jpg
96 C4 from ad 8 600x450.jpg
96 C4 from ad 9 600x450.jpg
96 C4 from ad 10 600x450.jpg
96 C4 from ad 11 600x450.jpg
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96 C4 from ad 13 600x450.jpg
96 C4 from ad 14 600x450.jpg
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96 C4 from ad 16 600x450.jpg
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96 C4 from ad 18 600x450.jpg

Re: 1996 Collector Edition Corvette

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2021 10:46 am
by MostMint
Yes you can clean the tank through the hole in the top after removing the fuel pump assembly. Once it dried out I got a shop vac hose in there to clean up the heavy stuff and the rest I did with paper towels and Windex
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You may be able to clean up the connections on the fuel measure sensor. If you decide to buy a replacement assembly, please hang on to the old one I would like a spare.

Re: 1996 Collector Edition Corvette

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2021 11:03 am
by wxo
I was wondering if it would be possible to get the sensor operating again. I think that may be all it needs. Have you ever attempted it?

Also... have you come up with a good way to flush the fuel lines before the startup? Maybe run the fuel pump using fresh gas and flush any debris back into the fuel tank by way of the return line?

Re: 1996 Collector Edition Corvette

Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2021 5:45 pm
by MostMint
My lines had rust in them, so I did a lot of flushing with them disconnected, blasting air - and water - through to get them cleaned out.

I doubt you will have that problem, so I agree pumping fuel through will get the old gas to come back to the tank. You will have to decide if you want the injectors opening while you are cranking to purge the lines. Mine has a way to run the fuel pump through the diagnostic port but I don't know if the later OBD2 cars had that. You might also consider disconnecting the lines from the fuel injector rail and using a bit of compressed air to force the fuel out of the lines. Would probably be a good idea to replace the fuel filter as well

As far as the sensor, yes I was able to get one of them working again. It had a break in the wire but it was near the end and I just put a small washer in the to bridge the gap to the open wire. It's just a glorified rheostat, so it has some bad or dirty connection somewhere. Best part is you can connect it outside the tank, and operate the float arm to see if it actually works. Mine would measure changes slowly (so it won't change when the gas is sloshing), so you'll have to be patient when testing it. Worst case if you break it you can get the whole unit.

Re: 1996 Collector Edition Corvette

Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 8:51 pm
by wxo
I opened up the Vette's gas tank this afternoon. It was not a pretty sight. I siphoned out about 3.5 gallons of gas, water, and rusty sludge.
The fuel pump hanger assembly was a rusty sludge covered mess. Now I understand why the gas gauge didn't work.
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I put a rag under the Schrader valve on the fuel rail and rusty liquid came out.
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At the tank, the end of one of the lines looks like this:
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This is the bottom of the tank once all the water and gas were removed.
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I used rags to clean out the tank and it looks quite good now.
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I is obvious to me that these components haven't seen the light of day since the assembly line.
At this point I would welcome direction from Mostmint who has done this before. I need a good solid plan.