I've been wanting a 69 coupe with sidepipes since I was at least 14, maybe earlier (35 now). I had a thread on here looking for anyone who might want to sell one with a manual trans in the sub 20k range possibly up to 25k. I 350/350 4spd on CL but could not get the guy to reply to emails or phone calls. Finally I got a response & some info on the car. He was the third owner (so he says) & was selling it because he just didn't have time for it or drive it. It was 1200 miles away in Midland Michigan & that gave me some concern with frame rot due to salt roads. He sent me pics which seemed to indicate it was ok, or at least to my beginner c3 eyes. I flew my father in law & myself up on miles with the intention on driving it back in one day. Which to many people seemed stupid due to the age of the car but which I knew would be awesome. I got there & took it for a test drive & got scared, I didn't fit into the damn thing. I'm just over 6'2" & about 330 lbs & the car didn't have a tilt tele. Not only that but the clutch is a good 2" higher than the brakes & I couldn't get my foot on the clutch. As my panic subsided I figured I'd just have my father in law drive back & have 4" taken out of my shins when I get home. We took it to a parts store & picked up a headlight & a new set of wipers which I had to break the old ones off first. (need to learn the trick to get the wipers to stay up). I noticed the volt meter kind of jumped around which I attributed to it being an old car, my bad. Off we went, the car had new brakes, new tires & wheels, new gas tank & gas lines & some new suspension parts. It seemed to handle & drive nicely but picked up a vibration over 74mph. The tach quit working which I fixed with a little bump on the dash, then when it happened again I broke the original dash pad (stupid I know). The car has no windshield washer tank at all & the dash lights didn't work either except for once when I turned the headlight **** slightly but then the quit & have not come back on. There were no leaks in the rain which was nice but had to keep the wiper door open or else when turning off the wipers the door would close before the arms returned all the way. We each got a nice sidepipe burn & made it to the corvette museum. About 1 hour from home the alternator had finally quit & the car started running like crap as the lights dimmed. We pulled into a closed gas station as the car died & had to have it towed to a walmart to get a new battery & get it home. The next day I replace the alternator & found that the brackets are home made & don't exactly line up well, but good enough to get the car going again. Either way it's mine & I'm not getting rid of it.

Any thoughts or comments.

 

Congrats... You are now officially just as crazy as the rest of us!

Heres a few links that maybe helpful...

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...s-like-me.html

 

What an awesome car and great trip! I hope to see it outside the Abita brew pub someday!

 

Hi USP,
It looks like a 69!
It sounds like you like it!
It seems like it will need some attention, but you appear up for that!
This is a good start to having what you've wanted for more than 20 years1
Have Fun!
Regards,
Alan

I'm curious what the 2 small 'pipes' are in pics 10 & 11?

 

You did more "fun" driving "windshield time" in your first trip with this unknown to you car then most of us have done with major projects cars in years....when I read you were 6'2 and 330 and hadn't had any real windshield time in one I said this is gonna be good.... youll never forget that first ride.

Drive it... fix the safety concerns if any.. Put it up on a lift give a good once over with a mechanics eyes (if yours aren't).

You will break stuff trying to fix stuff on these cars .... especially when it comes to messing around under the dash.. and at your size oh man... you will will be cussing up a storm if you ever try to work behind that dash.

Its a Nice looking car.. its 40sum yrs old and OLD technology. Its gona rattle, smell funny, be cranky when cold, might sweat on hot days (overheat), need worn parts replaced here an there... big thing is... enjoy the heck out of it... DONT turn it into a project. Keep it driveable as much as you can. Keep the projects small in scope ... dont let "while Im at it itus" tie the car up for months at a time.

After all ive done with my car I would say vacuum out those kick panels spray them with black paint close em up and forget about the windshield frame... drive the car. If you dont subject it to too much more rain it will most likely out live you as long as the chassis frame is not rotted.

Lots a luck with it... enjoy it!!

 

nice car

 

Congrats! Glad you go the one you've always wanted. Fix it, drive it and enjoy it!

Later,

Lee

 

Thanks, I plan on using it as a driver but a good looking one that works as it should eventually. As for my size & working under the dash my new tach cable just shipped & I need to get back in the headlight switch area & figure out how to get those dash lights working. Thinking about rigging up some sort of spray nozzle to get some paint as far up on the inside of the kick panels as possible. Have heard some decent things about POR-15 for stopping or at least slowing rust, any thoughts? I'm fairly mechanical, put a LS2 with 4L60E into a 97 Jeep wrangler & a ton of other stuff. Only thing I have not done or think I would be any good at is body work so that will have to be done by a pro. If I can adjust that clutch pedal a hair lower & figure out the vibration at speed I will be in a good spot. It has a Holley carb & the idle keeps creeping up for some reason & it kind of stumbles at low rpm & the side pipes leak where they meet the header but all in all I think its good, for the price I paid I'm not complaining at all.

 

Tip on working under the dash.... remove the front seat its only 4 bolts .

I like this stuff for getting into tight areas where you want to treat for rust.. comes with hose and spray head... be warned it comes out fast and drips all over if you spray too much http://www.eastwood.com/internal-fra...FYSPHwody0oAHg

Check the holley float levels make sure they aren't too high. You would see fuel dripping down the boosters at Idle if they are. I have had several power valves go bad in holleys over the years. It will run fat if the power valve is bad. Some due to deterioration of the rubber and other blown out from back fires. Holley started to install blow out check ***** in the newer base plates. Maybe get a rebuild kit they aren't that expensive and cure allot of ills if you clean the carb out good with spray during the rebuild.

Vibration could be a lot of things.. bad tire/rim, bad universals, I have seen the trans mount go bad and squash out which will mess with the pinion angle (this is usually a vibration at higher speeds). You have side pipes so maybe they removed the exhaust hanger as well that was under the trans mount that would drop you a little bit more as well further upsetting the pinion angle.

You can adjust the clutch pedal travel pretty easily.. Its literally under the master cylinder (look between my brake lines on the mastercylinder threaded rod coming out of firewall). Back the outer nut off toward the front of the car to allow the pedal to move down toward the floor. Just mark it first in case you have to move it back... be sure and test the clutch before going to far so as to make sure the clutch is disengaging.

 

I adjusted the clutch (thanks for the pic) now I can drive with shoes on. I also ventured into my first bit of work behind the dash, replacing my tach cable. Damn that was tight with the seat removed. Also noticed that when the pedal is floored the carb does not open fully. Thinking possibly its a wrong length cable but not sure. On a not so good note I was looking down at the headlights with the hood open & noticed that the metal bar the runs below & in front of the radiator is almost completely rusted away. Oh well it is what it is, took the wife out for dinner in it a few nights ago with the T-tops & rear window out. She loved it.

 

USP, I'm right down the road from you. Just moved from Slidell to Picayune. We have a big corvette salvage yard up here, so you will have access to parts pretty easily. Nice looking car BTW and what an awesome way to get it home.

 

That's easy to determine. Have a buddy floor the gas pedal (with the car off of course) and see if there is any additional travel in the linkage...

Congrats! Car looks pretty straight!

 

Nice 69...I almost made the long distance trip myself...But ended up buying a 72 about 75 miles from home....I think that the radiator support that is rusted out on yours is a bolt in piece, so it might not be as bad as you think....Sounds like you are already enjoying the car which was why they were made in the first place....Congrats.

Brian

 

USP
Welcome to the Forum great looking car and story. I love to buy cars away & drive them home, sounds like you had an adventure. It take a while to make it your very own, enjoy.

 

I did that & there was about another 1/2" of travel possible before the linkage stopped. There are some other carb issues as well, if I'm cruising & suddenly stomp on it the car will start to sputter & run bad for awhile. Not sure what mufflers I have in the pipes right now but going to switch over to STS baffles pretty soon I think.

 

Well the bad running continued for awhile, got to where I had to keep increasing the curb idle screw to keep the car running. Took it for a 5 hour drive last week & on the way back it started really running like crap. A local parts store had a rebuild kit for my Holley double pumper so I grabbed that with a can of carb cleaner & went to it. When I got the carb apart the secondary jets were almost completely plugged off with trash & the secondary fuel bowl had about 3/16" of crap in the bottom of it. Also on the primary side there was a piece of what looked like silver Teflon tape caught in one of the passages. I cleaned it out well & put it all back together. I stayed with a 6.5 booster valve but the rebuilt kit also came with a 10.5. Got 67 jets in the primary & 76's in the secondary. Also still have the stock 28 sprayers. I set the fuel bowl level & the idle mixture screws to where it kept about 12lbs of vacuum (best I could get at idle). Car runs great now, even the backfiring seems to be lees when letting off the gas. The next day I spoke with James @ Spiral Turbo Specialties & ordered up a set of STS baffles, hopefully I can get the crap that's in the pipes out & get these in soon.
Plugged off jets in secondary:

Had to bend this linkage slightly to get the secondary to open fully with the primaries:

Found this in the wiper area, any ideas?:

 

Looks like the underside of one of your wiper arms.

 

Didn't know they had parts that came off..


Well today started off great, got my STS baffles in which was seriously fast since he didn't get the check to his PObox until Saturday. Pulled the side pipes off without too much for troubles then cut back some of the insulation that was sticking out from between the body & frame. Is the insulation normal? Seems like it would hold moisture. Baffles:

 

Was just looking at the STS baffles on line. I'm running hooker side headers with open side pipes. Getting to loud for me and have to get some inserts. Will have to swing by and hear them when you get em going. Give Dino a call, he may have a support laying around. I pm'd you some info.

 

Congrats on the 69 from a Louisiana transplant.

Excellent choice on the STS baffles, heres my 68 with STS installed.