corvetteronw

Great - did not know that one.Only 31 miles E of Navarre Beach. I think my son in law and I will go fishing while the gals head over there.

AirForceOne!

Very nice! Those rims aren't original are they? I don't think they came out with that style till 88?

Tally Ho

Depending on your timing I think the all Corvette show at the Pensacola NAS museum is in April.

84VetteMan205hp

nice

h.d.fire

Welcome to the club!
Congratulations on a BEAUTIFUL car!

I felt your pain reading the story....my son had a pristine 97' 30th anniversary edition Z28 that was his pride and joy. An icy morning and inexperienced drivers ended it. He was stopped and was rear-ended by a teenaged girl who was texting, then T-boned by a car going through the intersection and hit head-on by a guy in his 3 day old F350 SD. I'm just grateful my son came away with only a concussion and a few scrapes.

As others have said, you'll likely spend some time (and money) on your C4, but they are lot of fun.
Also the folks here are always ready to help if you need it.
Good luck!

Tally Ho

Those are optional 88 and standard 89 17x9.5 wheels.

Stephenms

I was told that they are original. I think they came in a Z package.

I am currently looking for new mats! Two fronts and one hatchback mat. Then a car cover and sun visor. I realized the Vette already has a dash pad which is awesome!

But I actually need y'alls help! I drove it on the interstate for a bit today, about 45 minutes. Got it up to 112 with no isses AT ALL. It drove like a dream. I got it home, no hesitation, nothing. Then my dad came out and wanted to test drive it. It started right up an he drove off for about 5 minutes. He came home and shut it off. Then he decided to switch cars around so it's not parked under the tree. It wouldn't start. No crank nothing. Every single light worked, A/C worked, heater, buttons of all sorts. Just no crank. So I let it sit for about 2 hours or less. It started right up after that. The guy I bought it from said he installed a new ignition in the car before selling it, could this be possible? He said he's had this problem before but was able to start it after a few cranks. He's going to head over to Sarasota and take a look at it. As of now it starts. I just thought that was really weird that it wouldn't start like that. To me it does sound like ignition because it's electrical and those things are intermittent. Any ideas? Kinda stressed out about it..

1993C4LT1

Beautiful C4!

FletchUSMC

Great looking C4! So far as your problem with it not starting, possibly your VATS. I've had my '87 for just over a year now and it has done it to me 3 times, the last time being yesterday. If it does this again, just remove the key and let it sit about 4-5 minutes. When you insert the key make sure it's all the way and and the pellet making good contact. The first time it did this to me I didn't know about letting it sit so it took me about 30 minutes to get her started back up, I kept turning the key before the VATS reset itself.

Stephenms

I didn't even think of the VATS! My 1991 Camaro had the same issue! I had it bypassed with a second lock solenoid. As of now it starts up. I let it sit for an hour and it started up great. The guy I bought it from is a mechanic and will be taking a look at it to see what he can do so it won't happen again.

Docderek05

Nice Car Stephen, congrats, and welcome!..interior looks great...good find!

Tally Ho

Not for 1987. They were 16" in 1987. The wheels for 1987 were the same style as the 84-86 except they had a dark silver centre section .

A quick trick on your key pellet is to take a pencil eraser and rub the contact area. Wipe it clean with some diluted isopropol alcohol afterwards.

Stephenms

The key pellet? The little black weight with the silver strip on both sides of the key?

EDIT: Also, I was wanting to change a few bulbs out today. The roof/third brake lights have bad bulbs and don't work at all but I couldn't figure out how to take off the white piece they sit on without taking the whole back glass out. I also wanted to change the passenger side bulb as well, the one under the dashboard where the passengers feet would be. Do I have to take off the entire plastic protector it sits in? Or is there a trick to it?

I notice my "mileage left" number that's on the digital dash fluctuates quite a lot when I first start it up. It might start at 84, then go down to 74, then up to 80, then stay steady at 68. All in about 2 minutes. That doesn't seem normal but is it accurate when it's at a steady number or should I just watch the other gasoline meter, the dashed one.

At some point in the near future I want to upgrade all 4 disk brakes to slotted disk brakes. Can I just buy disks that fit on there and slap them on? Or do I need stronger pads or stronger bleeders or something like that?

What's the regular city driving temperature of these cars?

Is it possible to put front dashboard speakers in? And if so, what size? I took the far rear speaker grilles off and they look like 6 by 9 speaker holes which is great, I can take the current JL Audio speakers out of my Camaro!

I am currently in an argument with my dad about red mats with black lettering and logo, or black mats with red lettering and logo. I said black with red lettering and logo. Any opinions?

I apologize about all these questions but I really am interested in learning about these cars! But I have one more..

I noticed the car is a little... rickety... Now that doesn't bother me AT ALL! A few friends and even my dad said it's extremely loud in the cockpit. The rear window doesn't squeak (thank god) but it does creek, the doors creek a bit, and the roof creeks a bit. My Camaro did that really bad. It squeaked and drove me insane but I loved it at the same time. Anyways, I was wondering if there are any rubber or carpet moldings that will prevent this from happening? Basically like Dynomat for your windows and doors.

Tally Ho

Answers in blue text.

Stephenms

I appreciate all the answered questions, thank you!

But now I have the problem from earlier happening. The car will not start. All the lights work, A/C, Heat, horn, buttons, everything. But when I turn the key nothing happens. I saw the battery voltage when I turned the key to the "on" position, it reads 9.1volts. Now the last time I checked it was at 13. Is 9.1 to low for it to even begin to start? There is no crank, no clicks, there is just light dimming and silence. For the life of me I can't find the starter to give it a quick smack and see what that does. This is really frustrating. After throwing thousands into a vehicle that was not nearly perfect (the Camaro) and had so many issues but then to buy a newish car and the guy said it "needs nothing done to it" yet it wont even start when I want it to, is very frustrating. I have no idea why the voltage dropped like this either. I was showing it off earlier with the lights on but that's it. I have started it and driven it around today but certainly not long enough for the Alternator to recharge the battery. Roughly a short 5 minute drive.

Any idea why the car wont start and as to why it's dropping voltage?

EDIT: I just tried to start it again for the hell of it, of course it didn't start but I noticed that it's a steady 9.0 volts, which is very low but when I try to start it all the lights dim to the point where the digital dash is almost dark, and the voltage drops to 8.1/8.0 when the key is being turned to the crank position, then it works its way back up to 9.0

The weird thing is that this happened last night also, but after an hour it started up again. The next morning the voltage was a solid 13.3. Now tonight it's at 9.0 and won't crank WHAT SO EVER. Something is drawing power.....

Tally Ho

Measure across your battery with a meter. I know my 89 had an appetite for alternators and when the battery hit 10V or less the car would shut off. What is the box above your master cylinder for? Does the car have an aftermarket stereo or an iPad?

Stephenms

The guy said that it was a battery supplier or something. It keeps the battery charged when it's not being run for a while. It's not even hooked up. And no, all stock. It does have a Sanyo 6 disk cd changer though. I was messing with it earlier trying to get it to work but it wouldn't switch from radio to the cd changer. I don't understand what's going on. This happened yesterday too. Sat for an hour and it started up. But now it won't because of the battery. All day it's been at 13volts. Could this be as simple as a blown fuse draining the battery? And also causing it not to start two days ago?

EDIT: I just read that a regular problem is when the security system won't let the car crank. I did notice the "security" light would blink when I tried to start it two days ago. The little black pellet was dirty and needed to be cleaned. That's not much of a problem now because new keys will be made. My issue is still with that battery drain though!

Slow_Lane

Welome. Nice car. I've owned a few thrid gen F bodies too, I think there is a lot of overlap between fans of those and C4 Corvettes. Makes sense really. My favorite F-body was my 88 Formula 350. Nice car but the Corvette is better in most respects.

Your 87 should run rings around your 91 Z which had the "peanut cam" 305. As for the car being loud and "rickety" that's subjective...I'm kind of suprised comming from a rag top 3rd gen. My 89 is pretty tight & quiet stucturally, most noise is exhaust or tires. You might try tightening your targa top too, if mine is a little loose it will rattle. Don't get crazy, just sug up the bolts. I like to tighten the front two first, then the back two.

I too have intermitant VATS issues. Mine presents just like yours. Since mine is a fair weather weekend car I have lived with it so far but VATS elimination is high on my 2013 to-do list!

Stephenms

Hey thanks! I appreciate the welcome. And without a doubt this Vette could run circles around my Z28 any day!

I've been looking at rubber cushions for the roof and hatchback that are anti squeak. Might be good to have.

Is it even worth having VATS? I got fed up with my Camaro always locking up on me so I bypassed it with another lock solenoid and key under the dashboard. Never had the problem again.

ChevReligion

Hi Stephen! Welcome to the forum. Being a Newbie myself I can tell you that you can learn a lot from reading here. I've been working on Chevys for over 45 yrs and I am fascinated by what I find out about a car I've studied and waited over 40 yrs to own. I bought my 84 in Nov 2011 and had to put it away for the winter after 1 week. (Central New York is not kind to cars from Nov to May). Anyway,I digress. It sounds to me like you have a questionable battery. What do you read voltage-wise when the car is running? Should be 14 +/- volts; if that's so, your alternator is OK. If you put a DVM across the battery when it's running and shut it off and the voltage starts to drop off and falls below 12.6 Then I would suspect the battery is bad. Don't rule out grounds, make sure they are solid. My car came with a cheapo Pep Boys alternator; over the winter I bought an AC Delco and kept it in the car for insurance. Sure enough, the alternator died 2 days before I put it away this past November, and it had 6 months and 3000 miles of use. So don't skimp on parts. Mid America, Corvette Central, Ecklers,etc are great sources for certain things but for things you need to depend on RockAuto.com or Dave'sDiscountAuotParts.com are the way to go! Squeaks and rattles are a way of life with C4s but there are a lot of little things you can do to alleviate the problems. There are a lot of books out there that address these issues. Anyway, I've gone on longer than I thought I would, so hope I was of some help, and Happy Trails!