1986 Corvette
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
1986 Corvette
I'm looking for a corvette and came across a 1986 with high miles on it ( over 160.000) the owner replaced the engine with a with a jasper motor. The exterior and interior are in great condition and was told the rest of the vehicle is in good mechanical shape. I have not personally inspected this car yet and my main concern would be the transmission due to the high miles. Other than inspecting and driving this car should I be leary and forget it ? Anyone else ever buy one with high miles ?
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,457
Likes: 9
From: Minneapolis MN
Hard to say from what you have posted. For one thing, is it an automatic or a 4+3 manual? I would say what you really need to look for is how well the car was maintained. Has this person owned it for a long time? Do they have maintenance records? What other work has been done? Was it kept inside or outside? Does it have a clean Carfax or Autocheck record? If you are not mechanically inclined, you might want to consider a prepurchase inspection by a trusted mechanic who is familiar with Corvettes. Or find a forum member in the area who will look at it with you.
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
Hard to say from what you have posted. For one thing, is it an automatic or a 4+3 manual? I would say what you really need to look for is how well the car was maintained. Has this person owned it for a long time? Do they have maintenance records? What other work has been done? Was it kept inside or outside? Does it have a clean Carfax or Autocheck record? If you are not mechanically inclined, you might want to consider a prepurchase inspection by a trusted mechanic who is familiar with Corvettes. Or find a forum member in the area who will look at it with you.
Team Owner
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 90,675
Likes: 304
From: SE NY
Cruise-In II Veteran
Check out:
-paint
-weather strip
-interior
-glass
-tires
-all electronics
-no blue smoke on a cold start
-good oil pressure cold/warm
-hot idle coolant temp stays at 205-215 deg F
-no fluid leaks
-etc
Nearly 12yrs ago I bought my 1st 35th Anni with 98k on the clock; when it was hit last Dec it had over 200k. It had several A4 rebuilds as it saw many, many passes down the 1/4 mile.
Good luck with the hunt; let us know what you find on inspection.
-paint
-weather strip
-interior
-glass
-tires
-all electronics
-no blue smoke on a cold start
-good oil pressure cold/warm
-hot idle coolant temp stays at 205-215 deg F
-no fluid leaks
-etc
Nearly 12yrs ago I bought my 1st 35th Anni with 98k on the clock; when it was hit last Dec it had over 200k. It had several A4 rebuilds as it saw many, many passes down the 1/4 mile.
Good luck with the hunt; let us know what you find on inspection.
