The fiero has been gone for the better part of august so my corvette is back home again. Drove it all over, it has been my daily all summer. Even took it on a 500 mile road trip.

a few weeks ago I stumbled across something I’ve always wanted, glass t tops. I found a set in indiana, and drove out one foggy morning before dawn to get them. They are everything I dreamed of and more, I love how they enhance the spaciousness of the interior and the overall experience. Mine are M89.6 PPG tempered Solar-Cool tops, so not original LOF laminated but thats a good thing imo. They are driver quality and will suit my needs perfectly.







Road trip!

 

I love my Borgeson box, but I dont love this;



lost the pitman arm seal one night, changed the seals with the box still on the frame. Not happy with this corrosion, this box is 2 months old, maybe had 200 miles on it when the seals went.

love the fit, finish and function, but I am in no way impressed of the quality control on parts like this, being this kit was over 700$

 

On the note of the 500 mile road trip, I took the opportunity to realize there was white a bit of room for improvement in the comfortability department.



I had a few gripes with the sound system, particularly its whine at high RPMs and its need for a subwoofer.



The windows and top also have a slight leak which is audible.



But none of these were major problems to me. Except one.



2 hours in, maybe 115 miles down, I quickly realized why people order cruise control on cars. My right leg started to kill me. By the time I got there I was eager to jump out of my car and away from it for several hours. Luckily enough, a year ago, I started a project to install GM oem cruise control parts from 1990s junkyard vehicles. I had the transducer on the shelf and a basic sense of the wiring.



I am using a 8K ppm signal generator on my transmission, passed through a dakota digital VSS converter for my 4K ppm signal to my computer, which came from a 1997 Pontiac van. I bought a 1993 F body cable and shortened it, making my own throttle cable bracket. I made my own harness to go into the car. Finally to top it off, I ordered a universal turn signal switch and made an adapter for my steering column. The turn signal switch had NO outputs for on/off and accel/resume, but not set/coast, so I designed my own 3 relay perfboard circuit that switches inputs and allows the turn signal stalk to talk to the transducer. I also ordered a fasten seat belts lens from a 77-79 corvette, and 3d modeled my own light divider to give me two indicator lights in place of the single “fasten seat belts light”. This was printed, and I installed two leds behind the cruise lens to give it two states, red for on, orange for set. The system works perfectly.



I could’ve used the OG vacuum system which started as an option in 77’ but I didn’t, for a few reasons.



A. That system is from the late 60s/early 70s, and those diaphragms are no longer made to the best of my knowledge. I don’t feel comfortable trusting the speed of my car to a 50 year old piece of rubber, especially one I don’t know the history of. If my car had factory cruise, I would not feel as scared because I at least would have known that the diaphragm wasn’t stored at the bottom of a lake or something for the last 50 years.



B. The transducers were notorious for their unreliability or at least lack of longevity, plus they are dependent on vacuum. If I want a better engine down the line, im giving up vacuum. I don’t mind if the headlights are slow but that might render the cruise inoperable.



C. (For cost) it would probably cost me 500$ to put a correct 78’ system together, and more for a 77’ because of its specific stalk. The parts are not very easy to come by, especially some of the 77’ specifics. For a brand new universal Rostra kit, I would probably be in for around 350-400$ all in. I spent 30$ on transducers from the junkyard, maybe 20$ on wire, and 100$ for the VSS parts, bringing the rough total to 150$ and I learned some cool stuff. For me, I can’t beat that. Plus, it’s another stock GM part.



D. Features. The modern 90s system has provisions for an indicator light, accel/coast for easy speed changes, and even speed memory for quick resume.

 

Here are the interior circuits that make it all work.

 

If anyone is interested in doing something similar for their corvette or other project, I can tell you how to replicate this system. Its not all that hard, except a few tricks.

 

Last week I finished changing the seals on my glass tops, because they were old, falling apart, and I had to destroy one.

I had to change the bushings for the pins at the rear of each top as the release handles were under a bunch of tension. The top was pushing up against the pins, and at the slight angle it was at, it made the handles hard to operate.

Well those pins are threaded right? Doesn't matter if it is seized. Of course the threads are equivalent to a #10 machine screw and quickly snapped off inside the pins ruining the actuator rod on the passenger side.

It turned out to be a horrifying mess of a job that definitely contributed to my high blood pressure.

In order to save your computer screen from breaking or spontaneous combustion, I will not admit how I repaired the passenger side top as I believe it was a bit barbaric, but it worked nonetheless, and my top latches and seals fine.

Also, I’d like to share something I've had to learn the hard way. If you are considering buying new weatherstripping for your Corvette and think going with the EPDM or rubber is better for you because it's cheaper, just know that if you want your seals to.. You know.. Seal or fit in general as well as allow the glass to move, EPDM is not the right choice.

I have had nothing but problems and have slowly been changing all my brand new EPDM seals for OEM-Latex style ones. I understand now that there is a clear reason GM used them.

Other than snafu, not much to report. It has just been my daily each day to school. Progress will probably slow down from here though. I bought another classic car which is in pieces and I'm planning on beginning work on it over the winter.

 

And that was indeed the plan. Until I realized, why have one project car when you can have two and work on them in tandem?

So I tore my corvette apart just in time for the first Chicago snow in November and wasted no time removing all traces of aftermarket wire in the interior that I added. Everything; gone.

I did this to make a entire new harness for my added accessories, from scratch. See, as I added things over the years they were all piecemeal, so there was no organization behind the dash. Wires were everywhere, and to top it off, with time I have evolved in how I connect wires. Gone are the days of butt connectors and electrical tape, we are living in a weatherseal heatshrink and solder world now.

I took the opportunity to add several upgrades, as is tradition. Shockingly I also removed some things.

Added;
time delay dome lighting
kenwood 600W amplifier
upgraded phone charger
stock radio
external volts wire
GNTX-453 mirror with homelink
dynamat behind dash


Deleted;
CB radio
ac clutch relay
aftermarket radio
GNTX-177 mirror
bluetooth functionality

Among other things..




I really wanted my stock radio back but I was not looking forward to waiting 6-10 weeks to have it rebuilt. One morning, I had too much coffee.




I was able to restore it to 100% functionality again.

I am able to use the stock radio with my aftermarket amp, subwoofer and front and rear speakers with some creative wiring. It sounds perfect. I missed this radio since the day I swapped it out in the first place.


This is very much a work in progress, but hopefully I will have it back together by the first or second week of January. After that its onto the engine harness for the same treatment. Progress is odd to say the least, with two cars demanding attention at once.

 

a classic example of wishful thinking..

Here we are, in the first week of February, and I'm finally finished. I finished my interior, ripped out my whole engine harness, remade it, reinstalled it, and took care of a few loose ends.

I decided to redye my steering wheel again as the original silver color did start to show through, I attribute this to the fact that I did not spray any primer, as well as my own tendency to "wax" the wheel to make turns with one hand.

Out of all the work, the only photo I have is from when I extended the cruise harness to change its routing, pictured below. Every wire I had previously installed is new, and the install is much cleaner. I also replaced several wires in the stock engine harness particularly those which go to the starter as they were crispy after all the heat cycles over 47 years.

I got rid of my c4 blower motor. It melted some connectors on the HVAC panel, and got a few wires hot, but what I again realized is that the grass is in fact not greener. The c4 blower motor is around 3/4 of an inch taller, so I had 3d printed that spacer to fit it, but any gains in airflow are cancelled out by the fact that the spacer covers the fan, so why even have it?

The interior came out nice as always, and everything works as it should, with the exception of a few radio related issues. The on off switch has left the building, which is disappointing because I need to take the center dash out to get to it. luckily it is stuck on not off. The other thing is that it is too quiet. it goes loud, but in a car like this, you really need the radio to get loud without clipping because of the exhaust. I'm still trying to figure out how to get around that.

Something not pictured is an upgrade I made to to my fan circuit. I was using regular ATO fuse holders and 30A fuses, which never blew, but the fuse holders themselves melted. They were all charred when I was inspecting removed wire, and were a main reason I decided to start from scratch. I switched to MIDI fuses, which are a smaller version of the MEGA fuses I am already using on my charging system. they are mounted in a visible location which I don't like, but I would rather have them visible than deal with a melty, fire hazard nightmare.

The air conditioner will not hold a vacuum, it lost its charge a month or two ago, I'm not sure what is wrong with it because I cannot see any oil tracing on any connector.

I also had a problem with my 8 month old master cylinder. It started to leak the rear pot fluid out of the weep hole. I'm not sure why this happened, it was an ac delco professional. Whatever the case, I went and bought the same one, so someone remind me next year to order another lol.

I am on track to have the whole car serviced, upgraded and clean for initial testing on the first of March, then driving season in April.

 

With a new job, a new truck and loads of stress on the horizon, my "Corvette Summer" has been less of a trip to Las Vegas and more of a trip down the street. I have done almost nothing to or with my car in months.

While this might sound bad, I do drive it to work weekly and it has been getting exercise, but just for work purposes, there has been almost none of the typical old car things like car shows or ice cream.

I might not have picked up a wrench since march, but the car has been 1000% stable this whole time, all I have had to do is change the oil.

A lot of the randomness in my life was spurred when in march I was in a serious car accident which involved me rolling my truck 7 times. At the time I was supposed to go on a date and we were supposed to take the vette, but it needed a LR wheel bearing. The trailing arm for my vette was in the bed of my truck and passed me as I rolled, imbedding itself into the ground. I was discharged from the hospital and went back to the scene, retrieving the parts from the ditch. 24 hours and a bearing later, I was in the garage reassembling the rear suspension while I probably should have been in bed resting from whiplash... but I needed a car to drive so it is what it is and nothing makes me happier than working on my car.

There will be more work to come, including a remake of the vette's soundsystem because I am not happy with it. I also bought another classic car in July, so I will need to split what little time I have between the two.

Stay tuned.

 

Glad to know you survived the accident and are doing well...

 

So sorry to hear about the accident, but glad to have you back. I enjoy your updates even if it's just a thumbs up that the Vette is running well as your daily.

 

Thanks guys for the good wishes.

finally, back to work.

I hate my radio, and it was time to do something about it.

I bought a retro sound radio after seeing that my choices were getting limited, and at first glance I actually like it a lot. The face and buttons are cheap, but the display is nice and basic and the sound is great. I got the one with the Bluetooth so I could get rid of any secondary Bluetooth module.

When I built my custom wiring harness over the winter, I chose to run four wires from the stock head unit to a amplifier I had mounted in the battery box. This system did not work for a few reasons, and left me with four blown speakers and a melted amplifier. Lesson learned.

I replaced the amp, the head unit, the radio bezel, the cabling and all four speakers. The radio is now capable of going loud enough to drown out the engine - perfect!

I also elected to replace my old re pop bezel with a new-sed one that I stripped and painted for a fresh look.

The radio finally is sorted and it should be capable of playing Mötley Crüe with the tops off





Also, it took three years, but it’s finally here.




I tore my 200-4R down for a rebuild. The rebuild is mostly with stock parts, save a few tricks like a shift kit and pump line upgrades. I did find a destroyed thrust bearing between the forward planetary and the sun shell, so progress further is at a standstill until the parts arrive.

The rest of the unit looked ok. The clutches weren’t smoked and the steels weren’t damaged; minus the thrust bearing it probably would have worked if I slammed it in.

I have all the parts from shiftworks waiting in the wings for the car side of the conversion.

To go with the whole lot, I’m swapping my rear end from a 3.08 to a 3.73 and adding a 2200 stall torque converter when the car is down for the trans swap.

It’s very satisfying to finally see the guts of the biggest paperweight in my shop.

When the rebuild and installation of the trans and gears is complete, there will be more to come such as a custom air cleaner, Weiand intake and 1/4 mile times.

 

Transmission progress continues.

It took over two weeks to get the required thrust bearings, which is insane, but it is what it is.

Last night, I got everything assembled to the front pump, so the only things left are the pump and valve body.

All the pistons and clutch packs work under air with no leaks, so hopefully my first transmission rebuild is a success, honestly it is not a big deal to rebuild one imo, there's a lot of parts in them but they all fit together so its difficult to screw something up unless you leave parts out.

With a little luck, I might be able to go for an (over) drive on Sunday, maybe even with 3.73 gears.

 

The biggest things I remember from my short time working on automatic transmissions back in the 90s is to keep the assembly clean, watch your tolerances and stack heights, and check all the circuits with air, so it sounds like you're on the right track. Best of luck and I look forward to the ride report.

 

One good working day later..

My vette gained an xtra gear, the trans works perfect.

Its a completely different animal than the TH350, it shifts much firmer and quicker. The overdrive is nothing short of spooky on the highway after years and years of beating the crap out of my rod bearings trying to keep up with modern traffic.

I put 100 miles on it, and it did act up a bit a block from my house, but it turns out the TV cable decided to adjust itself and become a little sticky. I changed the angle of how the adjuster sits in the bracket and there are no more issues. Fluid is not burning, leaking, full of material, etc.



So long Turbo 350. It’s been fun.

 

I probably have around 400 miles on the transmission so I think it’s time to give it a proper review

It’s a mixed bag. The swap is easy, and the trans fits like a glove, but for me honestly I was hoping for more of a boost off the line from the better first gear and 3.73 axle. Clearly there will be cylinder heads and a camshaft in the near future.

Where it shines is obviously the over drive. When it drops into 4th and the converter locks up, RPMs fall through the floor. In most cases the engine is barely above an idle.

unfortunately, there’s been issues. There is a lot of noise out there about the right way to do this or that, it’s enough to make my head spin.

Problem A; stacked, short shifts. 1-2 2-3 3-4 all happen before 30 mph, and 1-2 can shift as low as 4 mph.

Problem B; starting in second gear particularly when the trans is cold.

Problem C; 2-3 shift is clunky at part throttle.

Problem D; speedometer is broken.

Problem E; governor is so heavy that WOT shifts are at 4500.

I am on the upswing after days and days of failed attempts at adjusting the linkage. Turns out there’s a subtle difference between a 700-R4 TV pull and a 200-4R TV pull which messed me up.

I think I have the shifts fixed for now, but I need to take the governor out and mill the weights down. I figure the caprice this came out of could have had a 2.XX rear end, it’s definitely spinning way too fast with the 3.73 for the current calibration.

I ordered new speedometer cables and I’m still fighting my way through getting this set up perfectly.

Issues aside, the fluid is cherry red and the trans is still shifting good. No damage was done.

Once I’m happy with how it works I’ll do a write up of how I did it and what parts I used. Hopefully it can help someone out who is attempting a stock rebuild like myself.

 

So, things have certainly changed.

I drove the corvette with the 200-4R transmission for 2 months and decided I didn’t like how it shifted. It has a VERY firm 2-3 shift and when the transmission is cold, it starts in first gear. Also the shift points were too stacked.

there is so much noise about the 200-4R and no answers. Every topic online ends with the problem-haver just going back to their builder or calling one of these so called wizards and asking for their advice.

I was the builder, and I have no idea what was wrong, and I am not close to anyone who specializes in 2004Rs. Oh yeah, and im horrendously stubborn.

So, I shelved the vette for 3 months, which im not proud of. I felt sort of at my witts end because even though I had swapped my 3.08 for a 3.73 and got better transmission ratios, the seat of the pants feel felt exactly the same, if not worse than the OE stuff which really discouraged me.

So she sat. All through October, November, and most of December when I decided to try and figure this out. Fired it up, and now it likes to eject fluid from the vent tube. Turns out, I have 300 PSI line pressure all the time. No tv? Max line pressure. Full tv? Max line pressure. Hot? Max line pressure. Cold? Max line pressure.




I tried a few things to fix that, but ultimately it looks like I need to go through the pump again, so the TH350 will be going back in.

I do not know what is wrong. The transmission has acted the same for the entire 1500 miles ive used it. That means this unit worked on 300 Psi line pressure and never gave out or destroyed the clutches, which I am seriously impressed by.

While I rebuild it again, because doing anything twice is the right way, I will be upgrading to a billet input drum because of something else.

 

What do you do when you have an unreliable transmission that can only handle 250 HP?

You put a whole top end on your engine.

I was so disappointed with how the car drove and its lack of power, it was time to make the final step.

I bought 52CC TrickFlow aluminum cylinder heads to replace the 882 76CC stockers. A comp Xe268H camshaft replaced the stock cam, and comp magnum pushrods and roller rockers finished off the top end. I also switched to a weiand street warrior intake manifold.


What a difference!





This motor was rebuilt in the 90s and had a low deck, .40 over hyper pistons and 10cc dishes. All of these figures together with a short gasket give me an 11:1 static compression ratio, which is a big improvement over the 8.2:1 stock compression ratio.

The engine was broken in with no issues. It still has a stockish sound because of my cast iron exhaust manifolds, but it is definitely louder and much more deep. The siding on my garage vibrates while it idles.



Now bench racing isn’t very accurate, but there is a lot of data to suggest that the stock input drum/shaft of my 200-4R, rated at 250 hp MAX, will end up looking like a pretzel after the first holeshot. I guess rebuilding the transmission a second time is a good excuse to beef it up to take the abuse from my “new” 350.

In the meantime, as I said, I’m gonna put my TH350 back in so the minute all this snow melts and the roads arent a salty mess, I can drive and tune this engine without worrying about windowing the transmission.

Doing the engine work was very satisfying. This was the first time I have ever installed a camshaft, and I found the whole job to be very relaxing.

Completely stock with a QJet, this car ran a 16.8-17.2 1/4 mile. Thinking I can shave a few seconds off that.