Can't beat that - a no $$$ fix.

 

Minge,

Did you ever satisfy the C3?

This post is 3 yrs old...would love to hear how the car is now....

Cheers,

 

Great story! I just walked out on mine myself. How can you invest so much in a relationship, and get nothing but cold hate in return? I'm convinced my car wants to kill me when the time is right. At least I'm glad I'm not alone.

 

Welcome to C3 Ownership
But Have Fun
Drive it, work on it. DRIVE IT WORK ON IT. SO ON and SO ON

IT'S JUST THAT WAY BY ALAN JACKSON

 

Sooooooo , I was looking through an auto shopper today, and found a 1990 for 5995.00, and my gut reaction was, that's a good deal, but it's OLD, oh yeah I forgot, my lover is a 69," ONLY" 41 years old . Well, they are old cars, that just how it is. Side note, 41 is ok for a corvette, too old for a mistress,LOL

 

That'll change..... Now that I'm more mature(ok, older) a 41 year old mistress would be just about right..

 

ummm... is there a story in here about apparent dead battery actually turning out to be loose battery cable connection?

Been there, done that..

 

The reason I have 5 cars is that 2 of them are C3 corvettes.

These cars have a lot of little quirks that you learn over time. Funny thing is that when something goes wrong in one of the non-corvettes, I usually get pissed and threaten to launch it into the local bayou. When the vette leaves me calling friends for help or a towtruck, I smile and laugh about it. It's a weird relationship.

 

Love Hate Breakdowns relationship
You can't help but love a C3

 

This is just the "charm" of owning one of these old girls.

I cant wait to have starting problems . Take a look at my pictures, all I can do is think about what it might be like to actually drive it some day.

Mines been on the body dolly so long that I don't remember what it was like to drive it (2yrs now). I saw a post the other day from someone who took his teenage daughter for a ride the other day and just had a great time with her that he will never forget. My only memory so far with my 8 yr old daughter in the car (then 6) was her complaining that my car was getting dirt on her....turned out to be rust from the windshield header pouring out on her when we hit bumps.

I just got done replacing my windshield frame header and upper corners this past Sunday.

I keep telling myself " but its the tinkering I really love to do" . When I see guys crusin around in their cars now and again I think about how I cant wait, then I see my car in the garage in two big pieces......

 

Until this summer ('10), I regularly charged my battery after the C3 sat for 4-5 days. Buddy says to me: "My daughter has a '90 Mustang LX 5.0 (he stuffed a 351W in it) and it is always draining the battery... I had her put a quick disconnect on the battery and she religiously disconn's the power after driving...".

I tried using my disconnect and it solved my problem. Now, the car can sit for days and when I'm ready to drive it, I just connect the battery and I'm off to the races. And, after taking it for a spin, I don't have to worry about the battery not being optimal if I stop to fill up before returning home. I think my newer in-dash CD/AM/FM player drains it along with the analog clock that always runs.

Granted, I don't like having to re-program the radio but I solved that too... I don't listen to it when driving! I prefer the melody of my duals!!

I've not had to put a charger on my battery since then. I can imagine the alt, battery and starter will all last a bit longer as it no longer is operating 'down' on electricity at start-up.

My next project is to remove the digital player and replace with an OEM AM/FM/CB that I picked up online a couple years ago... mine is an orig. CB car with the dual-purpose automatic antenna (works the radio and the CB).

I also picked up a new radio/gauge plate as the digital player req'd a custom plate. Will set the digital player/plate aside. Will be nice to leave the radio on a station, unplug and be able to enjoy the radio with its analog **** channel and vol/treb/base controls.

 

The rewards of driving a C3 overshadow the pains of working on it, although working on it can be great therapy!

 

the best tool I have for mine is patience. I swapped a 700r4 into mine (keep in mind, i was told those 3 magic words "it was just rebuilt) last march. I have been fighting the thing since then. Guess what I get to do now??? that's right, it has to come out...

but it keeps me sane, broke and out of trouble... it's a trade off

 

does the "theater" interior lights go off after 2 minutes? if not, they may be running the batt down. sounds like a batt problem to me.
also, welcome to c3 ownership- sometimes it gets bad , sometimes it gets to beer time really fast.

 

Same thing happened to me, except I tried starting the car with the light switch pulled out. Don't do it. It shorted the battery (I'm guessing) because the next 30 minutes were spent in panic because the starter wouldn't engage.

A jump fixed the problem though. I'll never do that again. No more what ifs. :>

 

As someone else said, If you start at $4k you get allot more problems. I started at 10K on my 74 and now am well over $20K. New motor, headers,alum rad, wires, water pump, you name it. But alas, it runs great every time I hit the switch now. Also won best in class at Super Chevy show and beat a frame off restore to boot. Pure Pleasure. Now onto Vintage air, Foose wheels / tires,large rotors and brakes. Does it ever end? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my daily driver is a 95 suburban, and I bear it so that I can spend more time with my baby on the weekends!!