Hello Everyone!
I just picked up this 1971 Coupe from ndmick last weekend. Trailered it home 700+ miles from SC to NJ. The car is in great shape but needs just a little TLC to make it perfect. The car has a front and rear coil over setup from Van Steel, as well as a Borgeuson steering box. I have to determine the paint color (some type of resale red) so I can try to find some touch up paint. Then I have to tinker with the carb as it is loading up. I think it was rebuilt by a member on here named Lars. My goal is to have a nice driver that I don't have to panic about taking out onto the roads of NJ. I want it to look as original as possible, while making some concessions to drivability and enjoyability. Here's the first pic when I got it home. This is going to be a long process of fixing little things as I go while still enjoying the car. I look forward to sharing this journey with everybody.

 

Nice.
For paint matching, take a t-top to a good paint supplier and they can color match it with a reader and spray-outs. Then you have the formula to buy in small cans to do spray touchups or they can put it in an aerosol can for you.

Contact Lars about it before you tinker. He can tell you if it's indeed the carb and what do do specifically, he's that good. email: v8fastcars@msn.com

 

Nice looking 71, welcome aboard

 

When I sell one of my hot rods I always give the new owner all receipts from the build including paint details. Maybe you could get the same details from the previous owner?

 

"She is a Keeper ! "

 

Thank you all! Been out of commission for a few days with a bad cold. This weekend I am going to get it registered and start driving it.

67:72- That's a great idea! Me, I would have brought the whole car to different places instead of just the T-top. I am fortunate that my dad is working with me on the project as well, he worked on these when they were new. But i still may contact Lars. I also notices that there was quite a bit of moisture in the gas tank, so I am going to pump that out and put fresh in.

71 Vert LS1- I do have a stack of paperwork I have to take a good look at in addition to quite a few books the previous owner gave me. I think the car was painted before he got it though.

 

So this weekend I was able to make some progress. I siphoned all the gas out of the tank and refilled it with fresh gas. After doing that my father and I adjust the carb slightly and it seemed to smooth out a bit. My father is excited to break out some of his old tools to tune it up. I took it out for a ride and it rode pretty good, just a little stiff. I spoke to Eric at Van steel and he answered a few questions regarding adjusting the suspension. Hopefully this weekend I will get some more done.

 

Make sure the rain drain near the fuel filler (the rubber shield under the lid) is allowing water to drain out the rubber hose. If water is getting trapped in the rubber catch basin it could eventually overflow into the tank. So check out that whole fuel filler area, fuel cap etc to be sure no more water is getting into your tank.
Was the “carb loading up” just water in the gas?
Enjoy.

 

LowOptions- I will take a look. It looks like this weekend will be a washout, but I may be able to check it.

The water in the gas could certainly have contributed to it. Those were my dad's words when we had first went to check out the car. He did show me how to adjust the idle screws which helped out. This is the first car I have ever owned / driven with a carb.

 

I have been driving it on and off for the past week. It seems to be running great. I am now going down the rabbit hole of upgrades to do.

My first thing is probably going to be a headlight upgrade so that if I am driving at night I will not have to use the force. I hope to find an upgrade that will allow me to retain the factory fiber optics (once I get them all working).

Second may be fixing the speakers and possibly upgrading the stereo, going to try to keep a factory like appearance.

 

Add a bottle of water disperser to the gas tank to break up water in the fuel line and fuel pump.
Post some pics when you get a chance

 

Nice purchase and welcome to the forum.
Do a search for Lars and either send him a private message on the forum or send him an email regarding the tune on the carburetor.
Lars is one of the best contributors to our hobby, a super great person who has built hundreds of carbs for people and helped thousands with their cars.
He has published papers regarding the carburetor and timing sit-up and adjustments for these cars that are specific and will make your car run perfect.
Don’t let anyone touch that carb or do any adjustments before you talk with Lars.
If he built it, it’s perfect.
Keep us posted and enjoy!

 

I had pumped out all the old gas and threw some seafoam in when I put fresh gas in. It has helped a bit. I plan to message Lars at some point this week.

I was able to take it out for a little bit on Sunday and got a few pictures. I put the factory steering wheel back on. It was all gummed up but some rubbing alcohol took care of it. I fiddled with some of the fiber optics as well. When the car was repainted, they painted over the sensors in the light housings.

There are a few spots on the nose that I have to take care of once I get some touch up paint. That is going to be something I do sooner rather than later.

 

Good Evening Everyone!

Apologies for the delay but I have been dealing with a few things all at once, and still trying to drive the car as much as I can. I seem to get more smiles per gallon than I do miles per gallon. I ran into a little issue about two months back when I noticed that the alternator was not charging. After doing some digging we noticed that one of the fusible links had burned up and after a quick patch we were able to diagnose that as the problem. I still have to replace the horn relay and figure out why my ammeter is not reading.

After doing that I had been driving the car locally to get the feel of it and see what else it may need. About three Sunday's ago I was out for a ride and after about 25 minutes of driving locally, while sitting at a stop light, the car died on me. It would not restart and I had to push it across the intersection and let it rest. I figured it may have vapor locked as it was well into the 90's and humid. After sitting for about 20 minutes it started and I made it part of the way home before it died again at a light. Fortunately I was able to restart it and make it home. When I came out a little while later, it started and idled just fine.

I have decided to take a dive into the fuel system and have noticed that the hard line coming up from the pump was kinked right near the carb and the nut was rounded off a bit. I've ordered parts and will be doing some more work this weekend.

Temporary fix on the fuse link.

Cooling off in the heat.

Getting started on the repairs. My dad is in his element working on this with me.

 

Coils will fail when they get warm or hot.
After the engine cools for a bit, they will operate just fine until they get warm again.
I would try replacing the coil and see if that does the trick.

 

The ignition / coil are going to be the next thing I work on. I am going to do the coil and probably plugs and wires. When the PO installed the Pertronix ignition system, it appears he did not reconnect the mechanical advance and routed the wiring wrong in the distributor. I have to pull up the instructions for the kit, but I feel like fixing that will help as well.

Parts have been coming in, hopefully I will be able to get some work done on it this coming weekend.

 

Also do the "wiggle" wire test. While the engine is warming up wiggle each ignition wire under the dash to see if you can cause the engine to stall. Then go to the engine bay and do the wiggle test on each ignition wire to see if there is a loose connection or maybe the wire stands are broken inside the plastic/cloth insulation.

 

I am going to do this as well over the next few weeks. My dad has been trying to teach me to be more methodical in my diagnostics, unfortunately I am of the computer generation where we just plug it in. I have a basic understanding, but I learn best by doing.

Unfortunately last weekend Covid got me again, so I have been delayed at getting to work on the Vette. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to make some progress on it.

 

Congrats on your new to you C3 (not so new to you now in this thread) and what you’ve done with it so far. There’s a guy on youtube who bought a C3 that had not ran in 20 years. He walks you through every step of diagnosing and repairing it all. I watched every single one of his vids. He is all about getting what’s there already into working order, without buying parts. Then, selectively replacing things as you’d like. A very valuable series of vids if you ask me. He goes under “Problem Solver Garage”, and the video series is “Corvette C3 restoration Series, how to restore a Corvette C3”.

 

I am going to look into that. It sounds like exactly what I am working my way through now. Thank you