I remember when I was a young boy in the late 70s riding in a C3 with my sister and her boyfriend. I would say to myself "one day I'm going to buy one". Well I finally got one, a 1975. Oh my she's very pretty but soooooo slow and all over the road. Man this thing is borderline dangerous what the heck was I thinking buying this! The person I bought it from claimed he restored her but didn't do a great job since all the old rubber and 40 year old shocks where still on the car. Basically he just painted it, that was his form of restoration. He told me she was a numbers matching vehicle (not true, which was a good thing I'll explain in a minute) I found a stamping on the rear of the drivers side of the engine and found out it actually came from an early 80s vehicle. Dipstick was on the passengers side - I didn't know these things prior to owning it I'm learning now! So the original engine for this car would have been a L48 according to the vin. What I believe it has is an L82 from the early 80's (I took off the intake, heads, cam etc.) The cam measured out to a .450" lift and the pistons looked exactly like flat ones from a L82. Bore size is approx 4.000". As far as the heads they are heavy cast iron. You don't want that falling on your toes. P.S I wear sandals when I work on cars. Not safe I know.

So I will be asking for some help from you folks in this forum for build recommendations. I do not want to race this car! I just want to keep up with todays modern vehicles lets say close to 300 HP and make it a daily driver if possible. I have a budget of 10K. Is this realistic?

 

Welcome, and start living your dream, and picture would be nice we love pictures.

 

 

That's a beauty. I think people on the forum have taught me that all Corvettes are supposed to be red so I suppose you've got a good choice. Welcome aboard and hope you have an enjoyable experience with your Corvette and also on the forum here.

 

I appreciate the replies thus far - I have many questions and I have a good feeling I will find the answers in this forum-thanks again

 

Welcome!!

 

Congrats and welcome aboard!!

 

Welcome aboard 🏁🏁🏁🏁

 

Welcome to the Forum and good luck with the car.

 

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your C3!!!

 

Moving this over to C3 General for some assistance.

And welcome to the forum.

 

Love that color! Part of the fun is building the car back up. Enjoy it!

 

If it is "all over the road", you should first check the ragjoint coupling connecting the steering column to the steering box. If the flex disc on it is deteriorating, there can be lots of 'slop' in that joint. The steering box can have wear, especially on and around the 'neutral' position, where you have the wheel most often. Steering joints (steering links, idler arm, and ball joints) can certainly be worn. A-arm bushings go bad, and if the front wheels have any "toe-out", the front end will tend to wander down the road.

If you understand all of those issues, 'GIT 'ER DONE'. Otherwise, I would recommend that you find a REPUTABLE (not national chain shop) alignment shop and talk to the manager. Ask if you can pay them to inspect your car and tell you want is worn and what you MUST repair for the car to drive safely. DO NOT commit to them that you will use their shop for the repairs. That's why you PAY them for this service, instead of getting it free. Then, YOU can choose what repairs YOU want to do and what repairs you will have someone else do (them, maybe).

That way, you find out from experts where your real problems are; then you can put a plan together to get it put right.

 

It looks nice with the 80-82 rear bumper glassed on. I always liked the look of a sugar scoop (that's what I call them) rear window with a 80-82 bumper.

 

Looks like the wife will lose her spot in the garage😂

 

Vette looks good, enjoy.