When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
After a couple of months of research here, PMing a few members for info and watching ads, I found a Corvette in CA and brought it home yesterday.
1976 coupe, L-48/auto, tilt/tele column and the AC needs repaired. Recent paint applied by the PO, who paints his own hotrods. It has new carpeting, seat covers, dash and a few other interior components.
The frame and rear body mounts looked so good during my flash light inspection that I figured the birdcage is probably good.
I have a few pictures, I'll get more as time goes by.
I pulled the wheels off to inspect the brakes and suspension. It's getting tires, brake hoses and a brake flush, everything else looked and felt good.
I was happy to see how good the #2 passenger side body mount looked.
And there was a surprise waiting for me in the right rear wheel well.
It has the original engine, that I suspect has been rebuilt. I was told the car has 142K miles on it, the engine runs awfully good.
Going by the engine # it's an original CA car.
I originally wanted a 4 speed but after a couple of short drives in this I don't know if I would have the leg room to get my foot onto a clutch pedal.
Before I do a conversion I'll find a manual equipped car and see how I fit.
Congrats
I like to see a Corvette get a new owner, cuz they want to make it a better looking and driving car, and continue to preserve the Corvette history.
The wrench puzzles me, the PO blacked out the wheel wells, but the wrench wasn't blacked out, I suspect it was elsewhere on the car, then slid/rattled down to where I could see it.
Today I ordered a brake hose kit from CSSB and got new tires mounted. I may paint the rims before they go back on, so far I haven't found the paint I want.
Two tire stores told me they'd have to order the tires, they didn't stock this size anymore.
I tried looking for newer used tires, I'd like to upgrade the wheels later and didn't want to spring for new 15" tires.
I found new tires, but that shop couldn't mount them, I had to go to another shop to get them mounted.
I removed the smog pump and bracket, and the AC compressor bracket. The AC compressor wasn't mounted, I was told it doesn't work.
Eventually I want to upgrade to R134a and a smaller compressor.
I hope to get it on the road middle of next week.
It has some door issues, and the shifter is stiff so I'll look into that too.
I suspect it needs a thermostat too, shortly I'll do a complete cooling system service with new hoses. I may replace the water pump too, just for peace of mind.
The car did come with an AIM, I still need to order the factory shop manual.
These are the kinds of things I like to do to cars, fixing all the little mechanical details.
I'm looking forward to doing some engine work, probably next winter. I want to put some miles on it and get a feel for it as is first.
Used to be, moved to NV in 2013.
I never considered a C3 while living in AK, I didn't want to subject a classic to living there between the potential for developing rust and the leaks.
Yes, I got the "free" wrench out. It's made of chinesium, it almost went in the trash, but it has a story.
I've been tinkering a bit while waiting for my brake lines to come in the mail.
Today I took a look at the left #3 mount, it looked better than the right #2 mount that I checked previously,
I also removed the trim tag so I could soak it to remove the paint. The paint was so thick I couldn't make out it's birthday.
Tidying the engine up will be a work in progress, I made an EGR port cover and removed the AIR line and heat riser controller in the pic. I need to come up with something to plug the hole in the exhaust that the AIR line was plumbed into and wire the heat riser valve open until I can fix it properly.
Last edited by AKjeff; Feb 13, 2022 at 03:11 PM.
Reason: Deleted question, will post in another thread.
New Corvette Owner
and a free wrench.
