I am a member of a few different Corvette groups including a few over on Facebook. Some of the questions and more importantly, the advice given to those questions can be pretty hilarious and often, wrong. A few months back someone asked a very honest technical question about their recently purchased Midyear headlamp buckets not rotating. One of the solutions given was "Don't even worry about it, it's not worth the expense to repair those headlamp motors, they'll just mess up again in a few years. Mine haven't worked in years so I stopped driving it at night." There have been others like this (why go through the trouble of pulling out the fuel sender to fix the gauge when you can look down the filler neck to see if you have gas or not, it's a convertible so I never roll the windows up anyway, etc.). My response was something along the lines of "Why wouldn't you want everything on a car like this to work ?" It's not a '64 Plymouth Valiant that might be worth $3,500, it's a car that could be worth $60,000 or more. While I am still wrapping up my frame-on resto of the '66 Coupe that is one of my goals, everything that this car has should work and it should work smoothly and efficiently. I'm not looking to pass an NCRS Performance Verification, I just want everything on this old car to work correctly. I have spent additional time and additional money on securing NOS Delco electrical parts, switches, bulbs, etc. in order to strengthen their operation and reliability. I dunno, I realize that we don't all have the money or time to make sure that everything works but I think that your old Corvette deserves it. It's got a lot of pick-up. Fix the lighter, Elwood.




Ray

 

Some of those groups is good for a laugh and makes you shake your head wondering how people made it this fair in life

 

Link Win

Guy that made that comment is why there are so many run down hack jobs...his name is Bubba.
Hey why flush the chitter its just gonna get full again right.

 

Obviously those comments are less than helpful to the questioner -- kinda like those Amazon product Q&As, "I don't know, I haven't received mine yet."

I'm with you on making and keeping the car fully operable. These mechanical systems are not complex and a moderate amount of skill and care will usually refurb a component to full operation. Now, I can completely understand the reluctance to tackle the electronics of the later C3s and newer, as I've never owned one, however, no matter the Corvette in question, obtain the repair manuals and teach yourself what you need to know.

 

and just as much as possible, stay well clear of FB and all social media. You'll be happier. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to use it.

 

I agree with you I don’t get it why people leave things broken. Whether I drive my car at night or not I want the headlights to work. I know tons of guys ride around with broken clocks. I can’t do it. Especially not in a c2 where it’s on display front and center.

 

Of course everything should work!
Thinking otherwise is laziness, cheapness or both.
Oh and no way is OK to accept an oil leak, trans, diff or coolant leak.
"Oh its only the size of a quarter, I use a drip pan, they all leak"
Baloney. Fix the damn thing or pay someone.

 

You can file me under "both".

All of my ol' Shev-a-lays, especially my fuelies, will always get you there and get you home, every single time. I insist on it and I won't accept anything less.

However, if you want my windshield washers to work while I listen to my AM-only Wonderbar, you are just fantasizing.

I don't have enough good years left to spend any fraction of them caring about such minutiae.

 

Im with most of you guys, if it’s on there, wether optional or not, it’s gotta work!

 

Regrettably I have an obsessive compulsive disorder with that. I realized it when my wife got this 1961 Cessna 172B aircraft. There was this radio that was the same brand as this DME (distance measuring equipment). When a navigation channel was selected on the radio the DME was supposed to be slaved to it to automatically tune to that station without manually selecting it on the DME also. It didn’t work. I never used that nav system because everyone uses GPS now days. The problem was that every time I got in the plane and looked at that antique radio it BUGGED the hell out of me. I went on a quest to find the fix. I called the radio manufacturer (still in business at the time) and asked about it. Trouble was that anyone who knew anything about those old things had retired or died. I found one guy there that thought he knew where some old wiring diagrams were and emailed me a copy. I found I needed a special electrical adapter on the back of the DME that was very rare and decades out of production. I kept checking around and, after a long time, found one on Ebay attached to a used radio tray that the owner had no idea of what he had, its rarity or value. I bought it, got the slaving function working and never ever turned that radio on again but now every time I got in the plane I was happy, HAPPY. That’s when I realized I was sick.

 

It doesn't really bother me that the light in the glove box on the '64 doesn't work. It doesn't even have all of the parts. Nor do I keep water in the squirter bottle, or even know if that system is currently working. The wipers work(ed) in case of necessity but who would want to run them when not necessary? That is certainly a good way to scratch your windshield.

BTW, how many can actually believe their fuel gauge is accurate? How many don't have a working tripometer (or even odometer)? Who's speedo is accurate? (At least mine is to within 1 mph.)

Just more of the same concept.

 

there comes a certain time, when given your age, and where you live, and how you use your car, that some things are just not worth going to the trouble any more. Whatever has gone bad in my dashboard had better be very very critical to my driving my cars to make me think about getting under there to fix it. Most things aren't, so they will be left for the next caretaker, who hopefully will be younger, maybe smaller, still be limber. Everything doesn't really have to work.

 

The problem with not fixing the little things is that they often then lead to big things. Visual inspection is the first step in troubleshooting and I can’t tell you how many times I found a different future problem while looking for a current problem. Fixing the little things keeps you in touch with your car and contributes to its reliability.

 

I've owned my car for over thirty years and my radio nor clock have ever worked. My antenna does go up and down though. and just realized that my car may have an inoperable windshield washer system or at least part of one.

 

Everything works on my car except the windshield washer motor. I bought a kit to work on it 25 years ago but never got motivated to dig into it since I never use them. I’m always amazed at my 67 GTX which still retains its factory wiring and factory R12 air conditioning. Every single feature on the car works as it should - even held its R12 charge for 15 years now. It’s truly an exception.

 

As I've gotten older, lots of stuff that would have bothered me in the past, and I'd diligently work to fix it, doesn't today. So, for me, it's not just some unimportant thing not working on the car, it's other insignificant things in other parts of my life too that may be "off". Who cares anymore? Life is running out, so, I just enjoy what is beautiful, and let the rest go.

 

During the COVID lock downs I found that fixing little things kept me from going nuts. I did all of those delayed maintenance items on my cars and really enjoyed it. Once everything on all of my cars was working, I found myself looking for another project. Then I bought a 1967 TR4A and that cured the problem. Much like my old British motorcycles, it is a full time job keeping everything working on that car. It keeps me from getting bored and it keeps everything from rusting.

Doc

 

Lucas electronics - the prince of darkness.

 

Its a matter of priorities with me. I have been trying to get my 57 restoration project on the road this summer (started in 1989) and I appreciate the advice I've receive from members on this site.

Priorities as of Friday:

1. Get it running - Check
2. Test drive - Drove it 18 miles on Sunday and the throwout bearing failed. This has now become my top priority and will tear into it today. After tearing apart I found it wasn't the Throwout Bearing but the Revers Gear in the transmission that is locked up.
3. Put together finish trim and interior.

Lesser Priorities

1. Oil leak at distributor
2. Curtesy lights
3. Assemble doors and install door panels
4. Gas gauge
5. Rear end gear ratio change (3.55 to 3.70 posi)
6. Wiper motor
7. Hard top restoration
8. Soft Top acquisition

Local shop rate for hot rod or specialty Corvette shop is over $100 per hour. Plus the local Corvette specialty shop is not taking new appointment until February!

Also, the cigarette lighter does work.

 

My 63 TR4 had more electrical problems per foot of wire than any car on the planet. But all of its problems didn't slow its rusting down one bit.

There's a reason Lucas didn't build space shuttles.

It had a fire axe hole in the hood from the Newport Beach fire department being called to a smoking car fire on July 4th 1977 and a note from the NBFD apologizing for tearing the hood open to extinguish the fire.