Buick350X

1987 Corvette [ she is mine, lots of pics n questions, stop by often ]

yep its a 4+3 and I know I know many hate it but its how it goes. [ get it, goes ] Has the tinted glass roof.

ok 94K miles, like 500 miles on clutch, new tires that just happen to be my most fav tire ever Dunlop SP Sport 5000

The interior is well, you all already know. Cheap seat covers for now on order. I need to get some door pieces, the top trim part for the drivers door is gone, headlight switch **** is gone, carpet on doors is torn, rear carpet faded with bald spots. Gas door emblem is gone. Front tires are on backwards. Guy says original shocks?

Heater core was dripping so he bypassed it last night so I could get it home. [ what a crazy drive, gobs of power, not use to the clutch range, was stallin it or going sideways on start ]

Didn't know or realize the O2 sensor was up top?

Ebrake seems iffy on if its work, one time it just lose n floppy up n down, next time it feels to engage [ click as it goes up ] but not sure I want to try a bunch and end up with it locked on?

hazards will flash lights but turn signals don't "flash" less I work the lever. all lights work but didn't check brake lights yet, but sitting still, all lights on, only the two inboard in rears are on, are the two outboard rears brake only???

not sure on 3rd brake light also.

guy bought it, then parked it, he didn't put but 200miles on it, so he only knew so much.

kept hearing this crazy noise on start up n shut down in rear [ doh, power antenna movement ] sounded like self leveling on a caddy.

oh boy I forgot some ohhh wait, the side skirt on the left doesn't seem to tuck in well like the right, and the battery door seems to be out some, needs loosened and push in, but that gap would be wider or shrink???

Buick350X

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Buick350X

Just realized it already has the wind deflectors on mirrors

Buick350X

Ohhh duh good place in front to jack it up to swap front tires? Engine cradle?

HAD2HAV2

You sound excited. Welcome to the Forum. But your avatar area shows you have 38 posts? You have some work to do. Some easy and some not so easy but all doable. Exterior paint looks to be in good shape.

CREWZIN

If you look under the car on the frame rail just after the front wheels, you'll see two small triangles indented on the lip. Between those two is where I put the hydraulic jack. It's right where the body rails split into two and gives a better hold on the jack saddle. Hopefully you can see those triangles and they aren't hidden by the side skirts.

Lt4-396

With your ebrake you do know when you pull it up, it will go all the way back down "unlike a regular car". You have to pull it up again and hold the "thumb button" and go one click past where it was then release it. It is weird at durst but was designed so you can pull your ebrake and put the lever down to get out of the car.

VikingTrad3r

note! just dont put the tray of your jack in too far or u will crush the fiberglass.

Silver85

SWEET!! These little cars are awesome and highly addictive. I have only had mine since Thanksgiving and I can't get enough.

I jack mine up just under the rear view mirror where the rail is reinforced. It picks up the front and back equally. I put the jack stand for the front on the frame rail behind the front tire.

hcbph

Congrats on your car. The right front rim is on the wrong side, it's a left side rim. The rear is how they should all look (sweeping to the front of the car).

VikingTrad3r

Buick, looks great.

If u r jacking, be redundant. really really redundant. buy an extra ser of jackstands.

The body looks good.

if u buy a new headlight **** make sure you get the retainer metal clip with it.

carpet is easy enough to replace. i know what u mean about the bald spots.

the heater core...........not sure how large of a man u r, but the larger you are the harder it is to replace. i just did my 87 last spring. its......not hard per say......but it is certainly awkward and its worth reviewing the other threads to ensure you have all the tools required. nothing special. but i do recall cutting a socket to make it shallower so i could get my socket onto the top bolt of the angle brace. you will know what i mean when u get under there. fast guy method is what you are after. (only need to remove the passenger seat. and lay on your back.

cheers

hcbph

Just noticed OP earlier noted the 'wrong side' rims, sorry for the duplicate. On the cover for the battery box, that's adjustable. In particular there's a 10mm bolt on the bottom that can be loosened and the panel moved in and out till it's aligned then tighten it up. It does take a thin wrench to get through the opening. One thing to watch though is there's a captured washer on the bolt, insure the panel goes between the threaded mount and the washer. Otherwise the head of the bolt will dig into the panel and be 'next to impossible' to get to, the PO of mine did that and it ended up taking hours to finally getting enough of a hold onto the head to get it loose, a real pain.

I have to admit I haven't figured out what that is that's laying on top of the battery in the one picture. Don't know what it is, but definitely doesn't go there.

kael

Welcome to the '87 club!!

If you have 4 jack stands and a good level place, I recommend side jacking. Easy, quick and not much flexing of this or that:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...jack-a-c4.html

Highly recommend getting an '87 FSM right away, they are out there for $30+ on a CD.

Buick350X

Fun day today, woke up to a snow blanket on Vette.

The PO must of used a breaker bar to tighten the oil filter, had to run it through with a screw drive 3 times to get it to move enough to loosen.

No one ever put antisieze on the lug nuts.

So the lug nuts screw onto the studs and into the rims? [ threads on outside of lugs or just ribs ? ] Also has the security lug nuts on it. [ standard?]

two outer tail lights still not working, could not get my arm in there with jacket on to change bulbs, its too cold to be sleeveless.

Laying half in and out of the car, could not find the darn turn signal flasher relay, I read where it "is" but yea they made that easy to do like tail light bulbs.

Still need to change bulb in 3rd brake light up top, guessing, hoping you just remove inside trim for that one???

The left side battery piece I was able to adjust the top better but the bottom one is gonna need some special attention as once so tight it went past the rocker area, then could not get anything back on it, like maybe it not working as intended or is worn through?

was kneeling and laying on the cold wet ground long enough and called it a day.

oil changed, tires swapped is about all I got done today. Brakes look ok, prob put new rotors n pad on it in spring just cause. the e-brake brake shoes must be worn out or needs adjusting as it don't stop movement.

The low profile jack was able to get under and reach engine cradle to jack up the whole front at once.

HAD2HAV2

Buick350X, you've made a very good start. Keep going. You are working on an old car. From what you need to do you are saving an 87. That's great.

kael

For the third brake light, the whole top has to come off to get access to bulbs.

Also, the bulbs are weird, good luck finding some that don't end up being $20 a bulb!

I had one bulb go on mine and replaced them with some LEDs I got on Amazon that I modified a bit. My fault really, I was thinking the pins were horizontal, not vertical.

Buick350X

well rockauto was giving them away so I got 1 with my heater core, should have asked how many it took, DOH more then one needed???

I picked up replacement bulbs for everything in the car at auto store just for spares to carry [ headlights too ], not ready to drop bunch on all LED stuff. Well not local store prices on LED that is.

VikingTrad3r

getting to the cmsl is easy. i took the shroud off mine off this summer to re-clear coat it and it took a few minutes. you need a set of torx bits.

i bought the bulb at a gas station for cheap.

experience is different for everyone.

pop the hatch is all i had to do.

Buick350X

You were correct, just open hatch 2 10mm bolts. Was ablw to put sone 194 bulbs in there. Bend wire out, half twist, light pressure n wiggle to get them in. When its warmer gonna put in leds...

VikingTrad3r

u r doing it right. leds should be low on your priority list. get all the gremlins sorted out so she is reliable. then do upgrades.