I feel pretty good about the place. The guy seems nice enough and straight forward (more so than the first guy I talked to). His shop is also adjoining the building I work in, so he knows he will have to see me every day if he rips me off. The nice thing about that, though is I can walk over randomly at any point in time and check in on the progress.

It also helps that when I told him what car I had he seemed impressed and his assistant asked if it was the red one parked around the corner. Nice to know they had noticed my car and were appreciative.

I will ask for a written estimate, the old parts back, a chance to take a look when the trans is out, and to see the resurfaced flywheel when he gets it back. I think playing curious, but knowing the right questions/terminology (thanks, guys) will help this go smoothly. Besides, I am basically the resident car authority in the office and can send lots of business his way if he treats me right.

That is a great suggestion on the fluids. I was kicking around that idea as well. Since I have only had the car about 2 months, I am trying to get it to a good operational baseline so I at least know when things were changed/fixed/replaced etc.

Sweethence, you mentioned the posi additive. I didnt think all corvettes came with posis. Did they? Is there a way to tell if mine is? Do you put that additive in regardless? See...? You try and help a new vette owner and all you get is more questions

 

Oh...this is the clutch kit I am looking at

 

yeah Im pretty sure that they did for our years (the chrome bumper ones that is, not sure about later). The easy way to tell with your car in the state its in is to jack up both rear wheels and spin the driveshaft, if both wheels turn = Positraction AKA limited slip differential ( i wont start that argument). Or pull the numbers of the diff carrier, and go a get a Chevrolet by the numbers book, and decode it that way. Either way you should own this book!!!!

If for some strange reason your rear is not a posi (who knows what bubba has been doing), then no you dont need the additive, just change out the fluids.

Glad to hear it was just a bad carb to intake gasket, and that metal plate is teh Q-Jet heat shield, dont lose it


Good luck


tim

 

1. Chevrolet by the Numbers: The Essential Chevrolet Parts Reference, 1965-1969

2. How to Restore and Modify Your Corvette, 1968-1982

3. Rochester Carburetors, Doug Roe, Bill Fisher (Photographer)

4. How to Rebuild Your Small-Block Chevy, David Vizard

5. John Lingenfelter on Modifying Small-Block Chevy Engines: High Performance Engine Building and Tuning for Street and Racing

Go get yourself thses 5 books, and you will have all the reference material you need to get you started.

Later pick up te Factory Assembly manual and shop manual for your year car, these are readilay available from any corvette parts resellers



Tim

 

Awesome. Pretty sure I have picked up and thumbed through these at B&N before, but I will make it a point to go pick them up. Thanks, Tim!

 

just wanted to add that in your particular situation, I would have to agree that you might be better off letting someone else replace the clutch (which it already sounds like you've decided to do) $450 is not bad at all for the peace of mind of having it done right, and also the other suggestions about changing the fluids is a good one, especially since you are relying on the car for daily use.

 

Turns out this Corvette Shop is right around the corner too. They just quoted me $450, so I think that is where I am going to take it. Might as well have a real vette shop take care of my baby for me.

 

Good thinking, ask and see if they will do a full inspection of the vehicle to see whats what.

 

Ok, so I got the car back from the shop. They resurfaced the flywheel and installed the requisite clutch parts. It is much less stiff than it was and the clutch point feels like it is about an inch off the floor, not 6 inches as it was, so it is much more comfortable to drive.

While they were under there, they found that my pinion seal was leaking badly, so they replaced that as well.

Trans oil and rear end oil replaced.

They also found that some of the suspension nuts were loose and tightened then and installed new cotter pins etc.

The whole thing cost $700.

Unfortunately, they also found a crack in the frame that the owner was pretty concerned about. It is about an inch long and in the side of the "U" shaped area under the engine. So, that sucks. He said it would cost about $300 to have his "frame guy" remove the power steering, hammer that spot out, and weld a patch on it.