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Thanks. I really appreciate all the helpfulness on here. I still feel pretty good about the purchase. Given the cosmetic looks of the car and the newer engine, transmission, radiator, starter, carburetor, and suspension parts I feel like it's a good value as long as Corvette paramedics doesn't tell me I have some crazy repair bill like $8000 or something like that. But I suppose it is whatever it is and I guess I'll find out on January 12. That's my appointment. I think an inspection and a list of important repairs and secondary repairs is what I'm headed in there for the on the 12th. Ed basically said they'll give the car a complete look over and let me know what's very important and some other suggestions as well and then I can tell them what I want them to do.
There were a few out there that were decent that I could've gotten for a couple thousand dollars less but they all had issues whether it was the interior or the paint or their own mechanical and rust issues or a weird seller or in some cases all of the above. Obviously, I have some things that need to be worked on here, but this was the best combination of an easy deal on a car that seemed to have some positive aspects. And, the car that had the look that felt perfect for me.
for now, I'm going to treat whatever rust I can, keep the car dry and in my garage, and do some work on the few pieces of interior and elec things that I want to handle.
I live in Millstone New Jersey. If you're ever nearby and want to see the car and share some vette expertise, please do
thanks for this. Perhaps I will get started on pulling all of his wires out. I did notice that once I took his LEDs out, the blinkers stopped working.
A risk of a fire would be a big concern as it's parked inside the garage attached to my house. Probably not coincidentally, he made some mention of sometimes when he was storing the car for a long time, he would disconnect the negative battery cable- have a feeling he knew about the electric issues. Do you think it would be smart to disconnect the battery when I'm not using the car while I'm figuring the wiring out?
as for the heating and air conditioning and the coolant leak right now, the heat and the air conditioning are not working. He told me that before I bought the car. Frankly, I never really had any intention of fixing it. So perhaps if the leak is coming from the heater unit, maybe I can just bypass it?
I recommend a battery disconnect. Will save you in the long run until you get the "trons" figured out.
Yes. For now I have the negative battery connection disconnected and I just ordered a disconnect part which I'll install later this week.
below are pictures of the chamber. 2 1/2 to 3 inches was a bad guess. Checking it with a level, the top of the passenger tire is in about an inch and a half from the bottom. The driver side is a bit less- 1.25 inch
Last edited by 80VetteNJ; Dec 1, 2025 at 08:10 PM.
Order new heim ends, and replace the poly bushing ends on your adjustable strut rods. It has failed, and that is the cause of your squatting. Even if you get the camber back correct statically, your camber will be all over the place when driving. Check your trailing arm bushings, too. You have so much camber, your trailing arms are twisted, and even your lower shock bushings appear to be failing.
Poly is great almost everywhere where they have a single rotation movement. It is not suitable for strut rods and trailing arms, which have a complex movement. There was also a bad batch of poly bushings that made the rounds perhaps 20 years ago. Perhaps you got some of those.
Here's the thread on DIY heim jointed strut rods, or you can order complete heim-jointed strut rods from a Corvette vendor.
Thanks. It seems like there could be a number of issues with the suspension. At this point it seems what I'll be doing is leaving it parked until my appointment with Corvette paramedics on January 12. I'll start it up and back it out into the driveway once or twice a week just to run it a little but obviously I won't be driving until then. It's a 25 mile drive from my house so I guess I'll be trailering it there. I'm glad when I brought it 100 miles from the sellers house to mine, I used a full trailer and not a front wheel only roller. I'll be doing the same to get it to Corvette paramedics.
Last edited by 80VetteNJ; Dec 1, 2025 at 08:36 PM.
Thanks. It seems like there could be a number of issues with the suspension. At this point it seems what I'll be doing is leaving it parked until my appointment with Corvette paramedics on January 12. I'll start it up and back it out into the driveway once or twice a week just to run it a little but obviously I won't be driving until then. It's a 25 mile drive from my house so I guess I'll be trailing it there.
I don't want to discourage you, since I'm sure they do great work, and hopefully can knock out some easy projects cheap.
These cars are (relatively) easy to work on, if you DIY. My 79 came from NJ, with over $12K(!) for work done at that shop (that's pre-COVID pricing, BTW). And I still had plenty of stuff to fix when I bought the car to get it squared away. No doubt this is why the PO's wife was so thrilled to see him sell the car.
Hopefully you have tools, and a place to work. Pick up a copy of the 1980 shop manual, and the assembly instruction manual. It helps to know how to do the repair, even if you farm out certain tasks. And watch YouTube videos! They can be informative, or garbage, but they should at least show you what is going on. Check against the "correct" (usually) procedure in the shop manual, and on this Forum.
As much effort as my 79 needed, my 80 needed EVERYTHING.
Originally Posted by Bikespace
I had hoped to just replace the rear leaf spring and strut rods. Really! But it escalated, and now the entire rear suspension is out of the car.
Good.
You are well on your way to getting this sorted out.
It's a process.
Once you get a good look over, and a repair list, you can decide which ones you want to tackle yourself, and which ones to let a mechanic handle.
The frame looks solid, and so do the trailing arms, and all the suspension rubber stuff looks clean and newer.
The body mounts can be done, one side at a time, lifting each side 4-6 inches at a time.
The full frame helps with that.
All the suspension alignment stuff is completely independent of the body.
IMO the body mounts could wait a bit.
If you feel like a drive my way, stop by, mine is a complete frame off at this point.
I recently purchased a 1980 coupe. Cosmetically sharp and clean inside and out. Nice side pipe exhaust. The previous owner redid much of the mechanical with a new zzr crate motor, holly 650 cfm carb, aluminum rad with poly fan, elec ignition, new trans, some new suspension components.
I didn't have the opportunity to have it inspected. Other buyers were anxious to take it. Price seemed great to me so I took my chance. I am generally pleased with it. Very fun and powerful drive except there are a few issues- some of which i noticed/expected when I bought it and some I did not:
-somewhat high rpm idle leading to slight clunk into reverse and drive
-small coolant leak under passenger door which i think is coming from heater unit
These two above I expected and hope can be foxed relatively easily, but i have 2 surprises:
-previous owner added some LED lights inside. And also changed the original radio to a pioneer CD player. The LED lights seem to be malfunctioning in that they would come on even when they had not been turned on. That happened a few times which killed the battery. I unplugged and removed all of the lights (but not wires). Charged the battery and jump started the car. I don't know if it's a coincidence, but it would seem too coincidental. The blinkers immediately stopped working after that.
-I noticed today that the rear wheels are tilted inward. I'm almost certain that it wasn't that way when I bought the car a week ago. I would've noticed that. I'm wondering if it's just a coincidence that some normal component wear would've happened in the week since I bought it. Or, if perhaps it could be a sign of something more serious like frame damage and the wheels tilting inward was a persistent problem that the previous owner may have adjusted to straight before he sold me the car knowing it would tilt back in
I am curious if anybody has any thoughts on the above items and/or a recommendation to reliable Corvette repair and workshop in Central New Jersey.
Welcome and ice looking car. I experienced the same clunk as you, I replaced the differential snubber bushings and that fixed it, though your issue may be something different. Just my 2cents.
Moving along a bit- found what seems to be a good shop to handle some things for me.
They took what I hope was a good look over the car and the items they think need replacing/work are the passenger U joints (up to me if i want driver side done too), adjusting strut Rods, changing strut rod bushings. They found two seal leaks in the transmission that led to low fluid and they believe this was causing the shifting clunk. Also slightly high idle rpm fixed with a carb adjustment. They took a good look over the brakes- saw some surface rust but no leaks or deteriorated lines and nothing that seemed worn. Adjusting the cable on the emergency brake so that it works better. Installing a battery kill switch for me.
Body mounts and electric bugs were not up their alley. I'll save those for my appointment with Corvette paramedics but I feel like I'm off to a good start here.
question- they told me the u joints on the passenger side are what really needs replacing. they told me they certainly can do both sides, but it's up to me. They seem to be giving me a pretty good price so I was thinking to have them do it on the driver and passenger side. It would make sense to put in new components on both sides at the same time to me. However, am I correct? or should I leave the driver side alone and not mess with something that's not broken
Last edited by 80VetteNJ; Dec 5, 2025 at 09:50 PM.
Yes, chances are the u joints are original and 45 years old. If there’s signs of them needing to be replaced then I would do both sides as well as the driveshaft.
Did they fix the trans leaks or is it the front pump seal which requires removing the trans and did adding fluid reduce the clunk? I would do both half shafts and replace the bushings with rubber, or just replace the entire rod, they are not a ton of money. If you still have the clunk ask them to change the differential snubber while they are at it....
For me on my 82 I had one U joint that "needed" replacing but just to get them all on the same page I replaced them all. Now I don't have to worry about one going bad next year.
The transmission leak is in the speedometer seal and the pan seal. They are fixing both. To make sure that was the issue they topped off the transmission fluid first
i'm definitely going to have them do both universal joints on the driver and passenger side.
when I talk with him on Monday morning, I'm going to double check to make sure that they check the yolks and all the bushings and I'm going to have them replace bushings that are even remotely distressed, especially if any are poly
is the snubber bushing easier or more logical to fix while you're doing the new joints? Or unrelated?
I'm definitely looking for ideas on anything that they didn't say was necessary but is something that you might as well do while youre at it- especially if they're not expensive
The dreaded "Might as well"..... While we are in there might as well replace/do this, that, and the other thing...$$$$$
They will be working on and around the differential for the work you have planned and the snubber often goes bad after 50 years so if they can change it without removing the drive shaft you "might as well" change it. Of course its your budget and since you are not sure where you are going to be with body mounts and electrical maybe leave it alone if it's not yet really bad...
One thing, go on Fleabay and order the genuine GM service manual for you car...its a must have and really a good resource...
The transmission leak is in the speedometer seal and the pan seal. They are fixing both. To make sure that was the issue they topped off the transmission fluid first.
Originally Posted by 1860army
The dreaded "Might as well"..... While we are in there might as well replace/do this, that, and the other thing...$$$$$
The ultimate "while you're in there" would be to replace that transmission with one that doesn't have a transmission pan. Avoid future leaks!
The Tremec TKX kits at Silver Sport Transmissions still use ATF inside them, so there's no avoiding that, unless you find an older Muncie or B&W Super T-10 4-speed.
The ultimate "while you're in there" would be to replace that transmission with one that doesn't have a transmission pan. Avoid future leaks!
That's not the ultimate, just an expensive start and not something everyone wants or needs, especially when you add labor. If you are going to do that might as well change the rear gearing to say a 3.55, go that far and you might as well get rid of the differential all together and convert it to cast iron so it can handle the hot rodding...Add in the other stuff he has going on and we can turn that 9K car into a 29K one that's only worth 15K, very easily...
That's not the ultimate, just an expensive start and not something everyone wants or needs, especially when you add labor. If you are going to do that might as well change the rear gearing to say a 3.55, go that far and you might as well get rid of the differential all together and convert it to cast iron so it can handle the hot rodding...Add in the other stuff he has going on and we can turn that 9K car into a 29K one that's only worth 15K, very easily...
60
Good idea!
That's exactly why I have a small, but growing, collection of 3.55 iron diffs.
The transmission leak is in the speedometer seal and the pan seal. They are fixing both. To make sure that was the issue they topped off the transmission fluid first
i'm definitely going to have them do both universal joints on the driver and passenger side.
when I talk with him on Monday morning, I'm going to double check to make sure that they check the yolks and all the bushings and I'm going to have them replace bushings that are even remotely distressed, especially if any are poly
is the snubber bushing easier or more logical to fix while you're doing the new joints? Or unrelated?
I'm definitely looking for ideas on anything that they didn't say was necessary but is something that you might as well do while youre at it- especially if they're not expensive
In a previous post you opined 'but this was supposed to be an affordable fun car.'
Given the already-long (and growing) list of deficits; many of which are quite costly to correct --- perhaps now's the time to divest ? just askin'
I don't think there's any need to divest from it. I haven't seen or heard anything thus far that would amount to $20,000 of repairs as someone just suggested. The opinion of the two mechanics who've seen it are that I may end up in the $5000-$10,000 range between the stuff being done now and the few items left for the future. Perhaps I should've defined what I meant by affordable. I'd be perfectly fine with the $10,000 purchase and $10,000 in repairs over time. My concern was that it would need $10,000 or more in repairs right this minute to even be drivable which does not seem to be the case. When I said affordable, I meant in comparison to some of the earlier models that can easily be $50,000 or more, which would be more than I would want to spend on an entertainment item.
I am not too worried about what the car is worth for resale. It's more about the amount of money that I was willing to spend for my own entertainment. It's not an investment in my opinion. I know a lot of people try to look at it that way to justify the expenses, but for me it's a pleasure/entertainment expense. If I was looking for an investment, I would've put the $20,000 in an index fund- standard returns on that make it about $150,000 after 20 years with zero work and zero maintenance. I'm not foolish enough to think that a common sports car from 1980 was an investment. It's an entertainment expense.
Last edited by 80VetteNJ; Dec 6, 2025 at 02:56 PM.
I haven't seen or heard anything thus far that would amount to $20,000 of repairs as someone just suggested.
I wasn't suggesting dropping 20K in it, just clowning around with Bikespace... and you are right, no way are these a financial investment, we all have our own idea of what is fun and when it becomes not fun.
