I started tearing into the car. Why? because there were sparks. Lots of wires with juice running through them but not hooked up to anything. The sparks were coming from the lighter. It had another wire coming off of it going to nothing. Other live wires were spliced into the fuel gauge and lighting wires of the console. These where being used to power the noexistent radio. I have cleaned up that mess and I think I found part of the oil gauge problem. It is hooked to the engine, on the drivers side, under the exhaust manifold to the rear. It is leaking from there. It was hooked to the gauge but was leaking from there too. There had to be half a quart of oil under the console.

If the gauge just works on pressure, can I test it somehow. It seems like all the componants were there but leaking. It should have worked.

I took the wiper door assembly off completely. I am missing a lot of pieces. I think swapping the hood for one that covers the area would be easier and cheaper in the long run. I am trying to make the car nice but I am not worried about being origional. As of right now, it has non matching numbers for the engine and the wrong color exterior and interior.

Anybody want to trade a hood??

I also need the coolant overflow tank and washer bag. But that is for the future.

Thanks,
Mike

I need to start a website to document this.

 

What parts of the wiper door assembly are missing? It can be a pain, but once you get it working it's TOO cool!!

 

Everything forward of the firewall is missing. No vacuume canisters, no brackets, no vacuum lines...nada. I just had to remove 6 bolts and the unit came out easily. Then I cleaned out 10 pounds of leaves.

 

I have a picture of the area if you want to see the missing parts.
Well, I guess you can't see the missing parts but you can see a lot of firewall.... :jester

 

here is a tip i found useful on mine. get a box of diffrent size zip lock bags. everything you take off every nut, bolt,washer, i even used gallon bags for marker lights, tail lights, interior parts, etc put in a bag and label with a black perment mark what it is and where it came from. i can tell you from experance you won't remember where it all went if you don't. this saved me lots of hours and agravation. i even did this for engine and drivetrane components. my spelling is not the best but i think you get the point. hope this helps robert

 

Mike,
My Oil gauge didn't work when I got my car either. I replaced the tubing with new tubing bought at Advanced Autoparts for about $8 or $10. It included new fittings. After I hooked it up the gauge still didn't work. I pulled the gauge out and found a small foam block that at one time had been glued to the back of the gauge had fallen down and jammed the needle.
I pulled it out and re-glued it back, hooked the gauge back up and it worked. They are very simple pressure tubes that expand with the oil pressure and move the needle.

 

Glad to hear you're making progress. I have a bunch of photos of the wiper area on my web page:
http://www.annapolis.net/members/jul...70Stingray.htm

They are a pretty cool system. Pain in the butt when working on them, but neat when they do work. It's the epitome of '70s overengineering. :D They're vacuum driven and generally if they're not working right it's a vacuum leak somewhere. I've seen all the various bits and parts at swap meets. I'd think you could pick up the pieces in the under $400 range. By the time you get another hood & paint it you'd be pretty close to that anyways I'm guessing. Do you have the grille pieces? Just the moving mechanicals are missing?

 

tworottiedogs...

Juliet is right... you will end up spending more to eliminate it. I happen to like that "flip up, over-engineered" piece of history. That's a personal preference. Anyhow... getting back to the point... you don't want us to think you are a "quitter" do you??? At least let us help you try to fix it.

 

I would like nothing more than to completely restore this car to factory fresh. I have a picture that I have added text showing what I have found missing so far. Tell me that it's not hopeless and I will go for it. If anybody wants the picture, send me an email and see if you can narrow down what is missing and if you think it's doable.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Have you installed a battery cutoff switch yet? This is a very important piece of safety equipment and will eliminate one common source of engine fires (when your car is unattended). You should also have a fire extinguisher handy. MJ

 

Rottie,
Good first steps. I too strongly feel you should have a battery cutoff switch AND a fire extinguisher in the car. These Vettes are like oil soaked rags once they get going!

Also. Do as little as possible to make the car driveable IMHO, fix only what HAS to be fixed!

I disagree about the wiper door, Corvette parts are expensive, so it';s totally up to you on what you WANT to do. Personally I would pull the door off, make the wipers work, so I can drive the car, then decide what to do permenatly...

 

2rottie, hate to say this, but in reality, you have to tear the whole interior out including all headers and pads, and dash board with all lower dash...to inspect for rust on the windshield area, T bar up over, and rear 'rollover' hoop...
pull the kickpanels and check the area behind...
those leaves in the wiper door area are a bad indication...
check the frame for rust too....if you don't know...

mrvette72@mediaone.net

 

yours couldn't be half as bad as mine and yours is way cooler to begin with. I wish I could afford a BB vette. I have a BB camaro and that 454 is just awesome.

 

Right now, the battery is out so I am safe from fires for now. The battery shut-off seems like a must have item and looks easy to do on the Vette. Most of the interior is out. Does the steering column have to be droped to get the speedo cluster out. So far, the small gauge cluster is broken on the top. The center console looks good from the outside but the inside is all busted up.

I am thinking about doing a custom setup for the center console and gauge cluster similiar to what I've seen here on other cars.

 

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer:


A. This is a six-pack job, so go get a six-pack of your favorite beer. :cheers:

B. Remove all the screws on the top and sides of the panel.

C. Remove the lower steering column cover (that small vinyl covered part at the column's base).

D. Contort yourself under the dash and unhook the tach and speedo cables (you have to press the clips and pull the cables). The panel is loose now, but you will barely be able to move it, because of the steering column. So...

E. Look under the dash and you'll see two large bolts that hold the column. Remove them, and the column will drop a bit. That may or may not give you enough room to maneuver the dash out and disconnect all the stuff. If not...

F. Loosen the bolts that secure the column at the firewall. That will lower the column a little bit more. However, even after doing that I found not enough room to safely pull the dash (remember: after so many years those panels are quite brittle, and can break very easily, so better not force it too much). So I had to...

G. Remove all the windshield molding, remove the passenger's side dash panel, and then remove the top dash pad. Then I had a lot of room to disconnect all the stuff and remove the dash.


Hope this helps...

-Pedro


[Modified by Pedro'74, 6:44 PM 9/1/2001]

 

I know it is going to sound like I can't stay on one item for too long. I guess that is the case but really, I am just trying to judge how much is wrong and to prioritize all the issue.

I just noticed that the front sway bar looks bent and one of the bushings is gone and the bracket is broke. Looks like time for an upgrade. Looks like new springs and shocks on the front and most of the bushings are poly.

The rear spring is one piece. Is that normal? I thought that they had muliple leafs??? (leaves... whatever the spelling is??)

I am trying to get the drivers side exhaust manifold off. Power steering pump is kicking my foot. The bracket seems to wrap around the entire front of the block. The steering pump looks bone dry. That is another project but it would be nice to do while it's apart for the headers.

Thanks,
Mike
71 LS5 :confused:

 

Don't worry about that. Keep posting, just keep the subjects in separate posts so the appropriate folks who have worked on those areas lately will catch your subject lines and respond. It sounds like you're well on your way. Make sure you do take lots of photos BEFORE too! If for no other reason than after it's all done you can show folks just what you started with. Plus when you get into the doldrums (as we all do at times) you'll be able to remind yourself just how far you've come. I'm no expert, but so far it sounds like you haven't hit any massive problems. These cars are pretty much tinker toys... a screwdriver and a few hours and you can get most anything apart. BTW, have you purchased an AIM yet? That's the assembly Instruction Manual. It's expolded diagrams of the whole car - the documentation the assembly line workers used to build the cars in the first place. It's really invaluable. I have some pictures of some sample pages over on my website if you want to get a feel for what they're like. Most of the mail order catalog companies, and NCRS sells them.
http://www.annapolis.net/members/jul...70Stingray.htm

 

Yes I did order the assembly manual. It arrived very quickly from ZIP. It already has grease on most of the pages...