I had my first ride in my "new" Vette, a 77 L48 Auto with 100k on it. It's a southern car with little rust. Although I know the limitations of the L48, I was still a little disappointed in the power, I'll need to check the usual..plugs, wires, etc..I plan on engine work next winter. The exhaust was surprisingly loud in the cabin, it seems to resonate. Maybe some sound deadener under the carpet would help. I have a new 2 1/2" dual exhaust coming from Corvette Central so I can lose the 2 into 1 cat setup.
The steering feels loose on the highway. I'll check the rag joint this weekend, and read up on the steering gear adjustment. It pulls left under braking, despite having recent brakes incuding calipers, and a front end alignment. I'm not sure about this one.
The driver's door glass goes up well, but not quite straight. It hits at the front upper corner and stops with about an inch to go. Both doors close straight, but with a bit of clanking inside. I'm thinking I'll pull the door panels, clean off the old grease and see what's loose and worn.
There's a broken vaccum line under the hood leading to the hot water valve. It's a very thin plastic line and seems quite brittle, I'll need to find a supplier for that. The horn doesn't work, so that'll take some diag time.
The seat covers have been replaced and fit well, but the drivers seat is very soft, I think they replaced the cover but not the foam. Another project.
The clock doesn't work, but I've seen replacements with modern mechanicals, so that shouldn't be an issue.
I was surprised at the tight fit around the pedals. I don't know what someone with big feet would do in one of these things, the floor mats make my foot hit a panel under the dash. I guess there's no fix for that one.
Hopefully I can find some time this weekend to start tracking a few of these issues down. Plenty of projects, not enough time!

 

Congrats.

The true dual exhaust will liven it up some. The pull in the brakes may be caused by worn suspension components. Look at the rear trailing arm bushings. Well worn bushings caused mine to pull under hard braking.

Enjoy the ride!

 

Welcome to the forum, and to the 1977 appreciation society. Check that your current exhaust is hung with rubber isolated hangers, and that it does not hit the little tunnels in the trans mount crossmember. Any undamped contact with the body/frame can cause drone or harmonics. A noise attenuation mat will help as well.

Track down and repair all vacuum leaks as these cause lean running which affects both power and driveability. There's about a mile of vacuum tubing on these cars and it's all likely in similar shape as the broken one you already know about.

Access to the inner door mechanisms is severely limited... many clanks and rubbing noises associated with the doors are caused by such things as a worn striker, contact of the door glass with the body, brick hard weatherstrip allowing too much movement of the door and glass and other items like worn hinge pins which allow the door to sag, and forcing it to jump upward when slammed on closing. I would investigate these areas before I dove in behind the panels.

Get an AIM... assembly instruction manual, and the genuine GM chassis repair manual for the car. The AIM is a stepwise guide for factory assembly of your car, and no aftermarket shop guide is as comprehensive as the real Chevy item. Between those two guides, and probably a 1977 wiring diagram book (also Genuine GM) you'll have the essential reference works for keeping your drive alive. This forum is the best I have found for real enthusiasts who actually wrench these cars; any questions you might have will get honest, considered answers here.

 

Hello and welcome.
It looks like you are already planning out your action list. Check out the mechanical items with the brakes, and check the hoses for wear. This is a cheap fix and you will have piece of mind that your car will stop as good as it goes.

Good luck in all your projects.

kdf

 

Congrats on the 77, and sounds like you have a good plan scheduled ahead.

 

I have a 76 and knew the exhaust system was at it's life's end when I bought it. The noise can come from a cracked exhaust manifold/header, loose bolts to the old original pellet cat converter, corrosion holes in the cat converter, holes in the exhaust pipes especially at the corners or where moisture could sit. It is not unusual for the cast iron oem rams horn exhaust manifolds over the years to fatigue and if the exhaust system has a hanger or two broken, it can jostle the now more brittle than normal manifold and put a crack in it. When I re engineered mine, had true duals with two bullet high flow cats put on through flowmasters the sound was entirely different. It came out the back of the system, was richer, fuller and more like a Corvette! The engine is now uniform through the cycle in each gear with respect to power in each gear; the top end rpm is 750 rpms higher; the top speed in each gear is 7-10 mph faster than it was. Haven't tested 4th top yet. I can't tell you how much all that came from getting rid of the old pellet cat converter which was doubtless modestly crapped up and how much from more than doubling the exhaust restrictions in cross sectional area by using two pipes instead of the 2-1-2 but I'd guess I got about 10% more horsepower from whatever it actually was if nor slightly more. No drag car but is now acceptable to me. You'll have similar results with an in tune carb, new plugs, new wires.

 

Hi Ted,
New Corvette, NICE!
It sounds like you're going to enjoy it!!!!
Tinkering can be part of the fun of having a 35 year old car. You can actually fix things on them.
Pictures?
Regards,
Alan