First, let me say that this forum has been a Godsend. I'm 27 and live currently in Richmond, VA. Back in '02, right after getting back from overseas, my uncle wrote me an email asking if I wanted a Corvette. He's an NCRS judge who owned 6 corvettes, and had no more room in his driveway for his daily commuting car. I accepted, and for the low price of $3500 I got one of his two 1974 corvettes!

Unfortunately, I was in VA and he was in CA, so it was a long time before I saw my vette for the first time... I think it was about a year and a half. Luckily, my dad lived in UT, so he offered to drive out and pick it up for me. Once he had it in UT, he secretly went about dropping about 10K into restoration before sending it on to me. New tranny, new partial interior, new paint, new bumpers, new A/C (still doesn't work), and on and on. That was a great college graduation present.

Once in my hands, I realized that I was in a little over my head. I know nothing about cars. The car still had some lingering major issues that only came up as I drove it (requiring a new carb rebuild, new gas tank and fuel lines, etc.). I had a mechanic do these for me, but that got real expensive real quick, and I felt like I was missing out on an opportunity to do it myself. So, finally after years of keeping the car in parents' garages far from where I was, I decided to drive it from northern WV down to Richmond, VA.

My wife was following in our pickup as we came over the mountains during the night. About a half hour in I noticed the brakes were losing some power. I didn't think too much of this, the mechanic had told me my power booster was going to go bad sometime soon. Another hour in, however, and I didn't have much brakes left at all. Well, it being late and me incredibly stupid, I decided to power through and get that car home. Somehow, I managed to do it. The only accident I almost had was forgetting how bad the brakes were (by the end of the trip, it was E-brake only) as I pulled into my dad's driveway and almost rear ending his 1992? corvette.

Don't rail on me about the stupidity of driving a car without brakes, believe me I know. I fully realized it the next morning when I woke up and realized how lucky I was to be alive.

ANYway, so now the car is in the same general area as me, and I have had the opportunity to work on it. My first attempt at working on the car involved twisting the main fuel line shut while trying to remove the fuel filter. It's gone uphill from there.

As it stands now, I've replaced the master cylinder and power booster (getting to those bolts from the passenger compartment is a b****). While those were off I replaced my rag joint that was about 90% ripped through (fun with hammers!). I found out I had a leaking rear caliper, which explained some of the brake problems, so I replaced the rear calipers with rebuilds and the rear caliper lines (everything was pretty fused together, so this involved a pair of bolt cutters). My father and I went to bleed they system, and immediately discovered that I have a fairly badly leaking front caliper, which explains the rest of the system loss. So, now I'm waiting on enough money to replace the front calipers as well, so I can attempt to bleed the system, and perhaps finally taste success on my first big car project ever.

Now, understand that I've really been learning as I go. I bought a 1974 Chevy passenger car service manual, and that, along with the immense amount of knowledge on this forum, which I think I referenced as much as my manual, everything has gone more or less smoothly.

I have discovered that I love working on this car. It is just a ton of fun. I had a friend help me that owns a '68 elky, and he told me he's swearing off corvettes after trying to help me get that power booster out. I loved it though.

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has contributed knowledge in this forum, and perhaps someday I'll be able to as well. Until then, I'll just pick your brains.

 

Welcome to the joint. I wouldn't fool with general rebuilt calipers. Get them from VB&P and forget about them. You need a AIM for that year & a Chilton's for Corvette's (not general Chevrolet). The Chevy Service Manuals are excellent also. These can be acquired from ebay. Hope you are already bald, it helps.

 

Welcome aboard it is going to be a fun ride.

If you get as much enjoyment as I do working on my Vette you are going to love the vette, the forum and the forum members. You have found the secret of vette ownership they are fun. Fun to drive, fun to work on, fun to take to car shows, fun to talk to other vette owners, fun to wave at passing vettes, enjoy it and take it slow. Always read and research 3 times before you attempt to do it.

First and foremost get the car in safe operating condition. Body work is not one of the fun projects and if you drive without brakes you are going to need body work in short order.

 

the shark bites again!!!

 

Welcome to the club! I'm sure if you look at most of our message histories you will see that all of us were at one point at your stage. I, for one, still am! This place is a GOLDMINE. I seriously dont' know what I'd do without it. Even with a broke car just going and getting sweaty, dirty, and stinky made me smile. There's got to be a name for this condition we all have. Oh yeah, Corvette owner!! Enjoy it!
-CR

 

Don't automatically replace the calipers. The piston seals can and will go bad causing a leak. Also check the run out on the rotors. Too much runout pulses the pistons and can let air into the caliper area "softening" up the brakes.
I overhauled by brakes two years ago and just replaced the piston and seals with the o-ring style instead of the lip seal type. The caliper bores were still smooth and round - no need to replace them.
Welcome to the Richmond area. You know ZIP Products is in the neighborhood. There is an active club in the area, I am not a member, and the local NCRS folks get together about once a quarter for a tech section. I live in southeast Chesterfield across the river from Hopewell.
Roger

 

Welcome aboard! Sounds like you got a great deal there...

 

I hope you brought your checkbook.

 

Welcome to the club.

 

Everything I've purchased, I've purchased through ZIP corvette here in Richmond, so I know the products are good quality. My caliper rebuilds aren't general, they're specifically OEM calipers from ZIP. I went with rebuilt calipers instead of replacing the pistons because 1. the calipers were a bit rusted, and 2. I read (I think on here) that the sleeves on rebuilds are done in stainless, as opposed to the original sleeves which are just steel.

I've heard of the club here in town, I went to an event they had out at ZIP and had a really good time there. I also used to live in the Chesterfield area, my wife and I just moved downtown. Closer to work, farther from my car.

 

Your uncle is an NCRS judge and he sold you a car that needed that much work, doubt I would be talking to that guy again.

Just bustin chops, enjoy the 74.

 

Nice Car!!!

 

Welcome aboard