Well I finally have my 'Vette. An '85 with the 4+3 and z51 handling package. My dad bought it new and it has been garaged for five years now. I offered to take it off his hands two years ago but was delayed by a couple of hurricanes, a career change and returning to school. I towed it from Louisiana to my house in Oklahoma City this last weekend and this thing is going to be a beast to get going again.

It was stored in a garage in a high humidity area so there is surface rust on almost every damned bolt, I can't even get the fender off all the way because of a combination of hornets nests and rust on the bottom bolt which are preventing it from sliding off after loosening it. I've removed all the hornets nests and started wiping down the engine bay I need to pick up some penetrating lube tomorrow after work and start spraying down parts.

I'll try and get some pictures posted soon, I need to rearrange my garage so that I can actually get some work done on it, and figure out a way to move it into a better position so that I can access both sides easily. (I have a two car garage with two separate doors and a divider down the middle, makes it a beast to put the car in the middle of the garage).

I did manage to place a battery in the car but the system only register 11.9 volts, I think it is because the battery cables are so damned corroded. I don't want to fully pull them out and replace them yet (I know it is a pita) Anyone have any suggestions on a good way to clean them? Or should I just cut them and put a bolt on terminal until I can get around to replacing the whole cable?

My current list to do on this car consists of:

Drain gas and replace
Replace Fuel Filter
Change oil and oil filter
replace air filter (I just pulled one that is half black out)
flush coolant and replace
bleed brake lines and check calipers for rust

I wiped down all the fluid caps and checked fluid levels, which surprisingly all were within tolerance levels and the appropriate colors, I had expected something to have leaked.

Also the belt and hoses are all pliable and look to be in surprisingly good condition. The interior is a little worse for wear and the paint is sun faded on the rear and scraped up in spots, but I'll deal with cosmetic after mechanical is taken care of.

Here are some pics of what greeted me before I started hosing it off, I'll get some after water pictures up tonight.

 

Start he up and post some pics....

 

Hey man, we're in the same boat ahhh....errr.. vette I should say. I inherited my dads 85 coupe. It too was in storage for about 5 years. His Vette was stored in a warehouse in South Dakota so I didn't have to deal with hardly any corrosion problems or exterior damage due to exposure. You've got a good plan set up to get your ride back on the road. The belts and hoses on mine looked and felt OK but I swapped them out anyway. Drained out old gas, changed all fluids etc. except for brake fluid, it seemed OK an my dads mechanic saw no reason to purge the system. Check for dry rot on the tires. They can look alright on cursory examination, but ya gotta really get up close and look at them, especially inbetween the grooves of the treads. Some scary cracks hide down in there. Another thing is that Doug Nash 4+3 tranny. Theres some maintainance issues there too. Look for leaky seals, theres a filter in it that probly needs changed, use the search feature on the site to learn more about that. If the seals between the 4 speed and the overdrive fail, you got a mess to take care of. As far as battery problems, I just put in a new battery and it runs fine, I didn't think to check voltage.

Good luck on gettin yer ride on the road

 

Good luck! Enjoy it!

 

Congrats! Now let's see some pics!!

 

Congrat's! Get that baby running and have some fun.

 

Even if your hoses and belts are still pliable I'd change them, cheap insurance. Nothing worse than to pop a rad hose on your maiden voyage.

 

You've got your work cut out for you. Good luck.
Take your time, take some pics for us to see!
You'll have fun doing the work and even more when done.
Take care,
cc

 

CHRIST where in the hell do you store something to have it look like that?

Good luck on the resto!

 

Haha good 'ol Louisiana it was in an area where it was kept dry but the humidity is through the roof and pavement doesn't quite reach that far so there is always dirt kicked up in the air, half the reason it wasn't driven for so long was that the roads out there are hell on a car.

 

OK, OK, I was thinking the same thing. Or more like, "What the h3ll was your Dad thinking"????

Anyway, Dude has his Corvette and a journey ahead of him that will be rewarding in the end......

cc

 

Won't take much to have her breathing fire again.