Hi im new to this site and well i am also new to owning a great piece of americas history and well americas true sports car the Corvette! Well here is my question.....when i first start her up when cold she ides iratically and lopes. After she warms up she seem to be ok but missis at idle and when put into drive it gets worse. What could this be caused from? Any help would be greatly appreiciated thank you.

 

Start with checking for any vacuum leaks and fixing if found, then move on to replacing leads, plugs, dist cap, rotor, fuel filter, in fact simply buy a tune up kit from ZIP products and fit all parts, then tune it properly using a good dial back timing light, see tune up details in the top of this section.

If all of that does not remove the gremlins completely, dont worry, you probably needed all those parts anyway and you didnt waste any money.

Next, have a serious look at your carby, I am assuming everything under the hood is stock, the rochester carb is old and needs a full carby kit too, needle, seat, gaskets etc.

None of this work is hard, in fact most of us find this kind of stuff a fun days work (well, maybe not the leads and plugs). $150 well spent and will fix most if not all of your idle and stumble problems.

All of this work needs to be done to diagnose any further, if problems persist you may need to look a bit deeper, crook cam maybe, check the whole emission control system, especially the egr valve and the flaps in the air filter.

dont under estimate dirty, stale or contaminated fuel either.

Buy a Haynes service manual and a factory aseembly manual from Mid America.

Congrats on your car, enjoy. Dennis.

 

I would say that Dennis pretty much covered it all. Enjoy your new toy and welcome to the forum.

And do not forget to post some pictures of your new ride.

 

Sounds to me like bad spark plug wires.

 

well thanks i will be enjoying for sure. Yes its all stock under hood. I planned on the major tune up already, now i forgot to mention that after she warms up the loping and iratic idle calms down and drives ok with the exeption af a miss and a poping in the carb when you really step on the accelerator. Putting into drive the miss gets a little more. Thank you for all your help i appreciate it. And yes i did buy the haynes repair manual. Here is a pic of her....

 

very nice. your problems should go away with the tune up.

 

Welcome to the forum!!! I would suggest pulling a plug wire one at a time while its idling. If you find the wire you pull has NO noticable change in the engines idle, that is where you problem lies.
I've had a bad plug wire on my car for over a year but I'm too lazy to get under the car and change plug wires. They're a PITA!!!!

 

Make sure your choke is working correctly. It should close completely with one step on the gas. Once the car starts it should open about 1/4 of an inch. Then it should gradually open fully as the engine warms up.

 

Thank you to all that replied to help me with this problem. I will be giving the car a complete tune up next weekend so hopefully that will help the problem...Im positive it will. While im typin here does anyone might have a diagram for the vaccum lines for the headlights? i would also like to see a diagram for the under hood wires. there are a couple wires that are not hooked up and id like to see what they are. Another problem i seem to be having is that for some reason my cars battery went completley dead after i drove it the day before. the alt is brand new and well the batt is new as well any ideas on this?

 

I agree with the above posted comment, but would start with the choke. An adjustment costs you nothing. I would suggest searching out Lars here on the forum and email him for his paper on choke adjustment. He is the best you will find on these Quadrajet carbs.

 

That usually indicates an open circuit. Was the stereo left on? Map light on? Will need to start checking circuits with a digital multi meter and circuit tester.

 

Wow do i feel like a dummy....i went and left the curtesy lights on thus having my dead battery. All is good there now. I think my choke may need adjustment or maybe changed cause she takes a while to warm up...i have to keep it reved up to about 1500rpm or so for a few minutes or she wants to die.Ill see if i can search him out on here. Thank you guys so much for your input i greatly appreiciate it very much. Im happy to be apart of this forum.

 

Well good news is that i gave her the tune up she desperatly needed plugs,leads,coil,cap,rotor,fuel filter, and a K&N air filter. The results are..........great she runs smooth purrss even lol i can step on the gas and she kicks into low gear and wants to run. I am happy she is running good now. Although it was no easy task changing the plugs on her i had to do the front four first which was a pain in the rear then i moved to the last for by jacking her up and going from underneath. I even found some old leads that have been cut before. I want to thank you all on who have gave me thier input i really appreciate it very much thank you all. Im sure ill have more quetions/concerns later on and will need assistance from you fellow vette owners.

 

No worries, thats what this forum and hobby is all about.

 

ok umm yeah new problem arised i am having a metalic clicking comming from my oil pan could this be my oil pump cause when i had the motor running with the oil cap off i noticed that only a little oil was being spurted up onto the heads kind of a leak onto the heads. Is there a for sure way to check the pump or? any thoughts?

 

A vague click in the oil pan could be a crank bearing going but check other stuff first.

 

What is the oil pressure reading at idle and cruising?

I get some ticking noise from my engine (sewing machine) and I've been told to just live with it (rebuilt with a higher lift flat-tappet cam). Have had the noise for 11 years since 1999 rebuild and no engine failure.

 

sometimes under but around 20psi at idle and about between 30 and 40 psi when cruising.

 

Oil pressure is serviceable, but seems a bit low. Start your engine and remove and replace one spark plug wire at a time while the engine is idling. If the ticking goes away when a particular wire is removed, you have isolated the problem cylinder. If it doesn't, this advice is for naught.

Good luck.

AJ