just got my 71 ls-5 auto car and starting to get her road ready. car is supposedly all original 82,000 miles and been stored many years. car bought by second owner in 88 and placed in storage until 94 where it was made road ready. new a/c, new front end, new gas tank, new rear spring. car was driven for a year then parked again until i bought her last week. car was covered and cranked a couple times a month. car startes right up and idles like a champ. runs down the road but has a miss at speed. not really pushing it yet because the brakes are bad. the driver side rear is missing the caliper. last owner said he had the calipers redone and had stainless sleeves put in. the last owner had 2 new calipers in a box from vette brakes that are new. still in bouble rap and air tight plastic packaging. nice!!!! tried to get the rotors off tonight but could not. torch heating, beating, cusing, nothing. come home and read that the rivets need to be drilled out. thanks guys will get to drilling tomorrow. i cain't believe this car has the original rotors on it. the rod that runs from the center of the diff to the outer hub still has the paper tape from the factory on it. most of the stuff has surface rust on it and i'm thinking of removing it all and painting it and refreshing the suspension components. anyway, i pulled all the codes and number that i could see from the car (except turbo 400 trans, could not get a good look at the numbers). i was going to see if any of you corvette folks could look at them and make sure everything is as it should be.
differental had this : AW W 34 E 1 1500 rpm at 40 mph with 255-60-15 tires .

engine c11s110049 t0125cpj
intake 3866287 a1271
carb (replaced by second owner due to first owner getting a divorce) quadrajet 7042220 c2 em

trans had a metal tag 71 s 2308 and 71 s 399 i could not get a clear view of the serial number because of the linkage and exhaust.
trim tag in door jamb says g 16

master cylinder says 29969

2 new caliper has delco moraine 5473806 5452284 and 229-9x other one has 5473795 5473798

all i could see right now. car appears to be a survivor but will have to see how it checks out. car has a/c and has the brass radiator resorvior on the passenger front fender. factory exhaust manifolds but could not read them. car has no rot that i can see just some light surface rust on the bare metal parts. interior has 454 data plate. everything appears to work, fiber optics included.

thanks guys. i will post pics tomorrow as i learn how. this will be an on going resto and i plan to document everything as best as i can. florida car by the way. all advise recommendations appriciated.
gerald

 

If it looks to be a true survivor repainting the stuff with surface rust will destroy it forever. It is only original once. Why remove the rotors? If they are not grooved check them for runout and bolt the calipers on and bleed them. Usually if the rivets are there and no grooving runout is fine on the rears. The rotors are turned mounted to the outer axle from the factory. Not like other cars. If you drill the rivets and remove and turn them getting runout reset is a major pain.
Your Engine suffix CPJ is 1971 Corvette 454. Check vin
Differential code looks correct for 3.08 which was LS5 ratio
Trans tag looks right. Look for vin
Carb is off a 1972 Chevelle 396
Intake should be 3955287. Check it you probably read it wrong, easy to do. Date code is Jan 12 1971

 

Other than surface rust the rotors appear fine. i have not checked the run out. i was just finishing up with the big block from hell article on brakes. i have new rotors, i did not think replacing them would hurt the car's value. i want the car road worthy so i was replacing all the rotors and brakes to get started. saftey first i guess. i want to pull the rear end down and clean up and repaint everything so i have a clean looking car. the car has 30 plus years of crud on it. am i wrong here? should i drive it around as is? the interior needs some attention. i would put it at a 4. let me say this first since i did not get to it yet. this car had an ecklers 79 tilt front end put on it sometime before 1988 when the second owner bought it. the car has 79 corvette seat and wheels on it also. everything else is 71 as far as i know. i'm already looking for a 71 front end and seats. i like the 79 aluminum corvette wheels and will keep them. car has the original radio also. i don't know if it's still considered a survivor with the front end changed out, but the rest of the car appears factory.

 

thanks mako. i had a 9 on the manifold but wasn't sure. the vin on the engine matches the vin on the car. i thought the rearend had a vin on it to but i could not see/find it. the second owner told me about the carb but he was under the impression it was correct. so far everything he has told me has been correct (except for the carb but i believe that was an honest mistake). what number will i need to find to get the correct carb? or any ideas where to find one and reasonable price. thanks

 

trying to decide whether to go back to the factory war bonnet yellow color or not. not a big fan of the color but want to keep it original unless it turns out the car is not as original as i thought. trim tag read
trim 417 paint 989.

what do you think about changing the rearend gearing to a 3:55. would this hurt the original value?

 

mako, would that carb be correct for a 71 or 72 chevelle with a ls-5?

 

 

no it is not. Actually 1972 Chevelle 402.

 

Everything looks good for a February car. Congrats.

My fiancee's '71 is two months older than your car.

 

Tilt front end kills the survivor award. You could change it out for a factory front clip. Carb should be 7041204 with a build date before car. Get an NCRS judging manual for your car. It has all the correct finishes for the undercarriage components. With most numbers matching I would keep it as correct as possible. no safety danger in using the stock rear rotors.

 

last night we popped the spring off the e brakes inside the rotor to see if they were holding the caliper on. so now the spring is off, i got no choice but to remove the rotor

i got a handle on a possible original front clip so it may be looking more original soooooner rather than later.

thanks for the carb info. i will have to keep an eye out for the original.


mike can u post some pics of your engine compartment for me. thanks

 

Hi AT,
You sound pretty excited and pleased. Good for you!!!
It would be great to see some pictures of just what you have.
If you're thinking about returning your car to original condition you might want to document what you do with 'before', 'during', and 'after' pictures.
Now the FUN starts.
Regards,
Alan

 

yeah, i'm pretty happy so far. i'm having a hard time making myself leave the car alone. i really like clean new looking stuff so i want to pull everything off ,clean it and repaint. everything just has surface rust, crud and stuff on it. i took some pics but left my camera on the back of the car. i'll try and post some tonight but i have never posted pics before so it might be a chore. i had to drill out the rivets on the passenger side rear rotor to get it off (what a job that was. if the car stops ok then i'll return those other 3 rotors and get my money back). i was going to leave the passenger side rear rotor on it but last night we broke the e-brake spring while trying to beat it off. now i have to locate that little spring that holds the emergency brake shoes together. the e-brake shoes look good so i'm just going to clean them up and reuse them. any idea on where to get that spring? anyone have a pic on installing them. i haven't removed the shoes yet but i won't to be prepared before hand. unlike the brake rotor thing. also, i want to check the fluid in the rearend. is that the plug on pass side of diff with the tag that says limited slip fluid only? how do you drain it to replace it?
gerald

 

Hi Gerald,
You need to spend the money to get the 'AIM' (Assembly Instruction Manual) and GM 'Chassis Service Manual' for your 71 NOW!
Regards,
Alan

 

alan, where is the best place to get them? price? this will be an on going resto so i think your right. right now i'm going to get it back on the road and enjoy it while i restor it.

also, i notice today that i had fuel leaking from the top of the new gas tank onto the pass rear muffle. is there anything on top of the tank to leak? i know some of the original rubber hoses were cracked and in-need of replacing and is on top of my to do list.

 

trying to post pics

 

here is the pic before i drilled out the original rotor rivets.

 

the above post is actually the driver side rear,my bad. this is the passenger side that i drilled out. notice the northern rust belt looking metal. this car is from the south and the rust looking stuff wipes off easily with sand paper. not sure what it is, but it is not rust/rot. just 30 plus years of crud i guess.

 

rearend shot with the limited slip tag. passenger side shot

 

shot of the engine. not pretty but runs good.