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Wow I can't believe it's been 5 years without a vette. I was loosing my mind. Just towed home a 1989 yesterday. Per the NJ sticker in the windshield the car hasn't been on the road since 1994, and it only has 56k miles. Tires are all dry rotted, they could be original.
Here are my RPO codes...
AC1, AC3, AR9, AS8, BGR, B4P, CC3, C68, DL8, D4D, D9B, E5Z, E9Z, FE7, GT7, G87, J55, KC4, K68, L98, ML9, MN6, NA5, NK4, QA1, UQ4, UU8, U52, V01, V73, XAU, YAU, Z51, 1AZ, 1SB, 191, 192, 199, 24S, 96U. Paint code WA-L9192, U9192, 192 whew!
The options that had me sold were the Z51, FE7. ML9, J55, KC4, V01, and the mileage. The differential option was a little unusual being the GT7 (3.33). I thought almost all Z51s were the G44 (3.07).
The charcoal metallic paint is faded, but my be able to be cleaned up. The black leather seats are in great shape and the door cards are perfect. The interior in general looks awesome! My only to do for the interior is LCD panel as the speedo meter display looks faded. Car even came with new weather stripping!
The reason I purchased was because the engine is stuck. I am going to borescope today, but it appears the rings have probably frozen from sitting. I'm just going to pull the motor, tear it down, send to the machine shop (they miss me and my money), and do a stock refresh if the bores are good.
I would fill the plug holes up with marvins mystry oil and let it sit for two weeks the hand turn it and wait some more have done many this way with great results!!!!!!!! or make your own and fill the block too.
Last edited by antfarmer2; 12-06-2015 at 09:39 AM.
OP - I believe the ML9/GT7 quite rare and actually it's generally thought that most '89 ML9 would be a 3.54 build (GH0). A 3.07 only in the A4 builds never with the M6.
** I actually believe that there was a production change and all production for '89 changed to GT7 maybe around FEB 1, a build of earlier than FEB/89 might make the GT7 very unique.
If you're going to rebuild anyway I'd go the the ATF or Marvel Mystery Oil and see if it could be freed up. If it does, fire it up. Not really going to do any damage (if you have oil pressure). Might be able to cruise it around while your saving your $$$.
So borescoped the cylinders and number 7 was very dark. Pulled driver side head and found the cylinder wall completely rusted. My thoughts as to what happened. In 1993 - 1994 the head gasket let go and the owner parked it with hopes to fix one day and never did. 21 years with water in a cylinder is not a good idea.
My previous 1987 popped in this same location. It must be some kind of coolant issue.
Notes to other engine workers, if it has stock manifolds, pull them first! I spent 2 hours bent over trying to get at the 4 remaining head bolts under the exhaust runners and now I feel like someone hit me in the back with a baseball bat. My 1987 had long tube headers and I was able to get to all head bolts, but this thing is stock, stock, stock. Christ, the original exhaust is still on this thing and the tires are Rotted Goodyear Eagle ZR40.
The gas in this thing smells terrible. We are talking terrpentine levels.
Will try to post pictures soon. Sorry out of practice.
Cool find. I'm liking this thread already. Nice option list, and I'm a big fan of '89s in charcoal. I didn't even know about the GT7 code. Hopefully you can buff it out with some rubbing compound and salvage it, at least for a while.
So when you find a cylinder like #7 that rusted out, where do you plan to go from there?
Pull motor. Will have to do rings at least. If that cylinder cannot be borded out, then I'm going to have it re-sleeved. If can be bored, then pistons and rings. If I'm tearing down this deep, might as well do bearings and seals.
My next to do is find fuel lines for the fuel rails. Seller mangled the lines and I don't know if I can braze in new ones. What year fuel rails are interchangeable with the C4's? There are a couple of TPI set ups for sale near me, but I don't know what I can use. I need the two lines that mount to the front of the intake. One runs to the fuel pressure regulator, and the other runs to the passenger side fuel rail. I also need the tubes from the plentnum to the intake base as they were heavily dented.
Wow I can't believe it's been 5 years without a vette. I was loosing my mind. Just towed home a 1989 yesterday. Per the NJ sticker in the windshield the car hasn't been on the road since 1994, and it only has 56k miles. Tires are all dry rotted, they could be original.
Here are my RPO codes...
AC1, AC3, AR9, AS8, BGR, B4P, CC3, C68, DL8, D4D, D9B, E5Z, E9Z, FE7, GT7, G87, J55, KC4, K68, L98, ML9, MN6, NA5, NK4, QA1, UQ4, UU8, U52, V01, V73, XAU, YAU, Z51, 1AZ, 1SB, 191, 192, 199, 24S, 96U. Paint code WA-L9192, U9192, 192 whew!
The options that had me sold were the Z51, FE7. ML9, J55, KC4, V01, and the mileage. The differential option was a little unusual being the GT7 (3.33). I thought almost all Z51s were the G44 (3.07).
The charcoal metallic paint is faded, but my be able to be cleaned up. The black leather seats are in great shape and the door cards are perfect. The interior in general looks awesome! My only to do for the interior is LCD panel as the speedo meter display looks faded. Car even came with new weather stripping!
The reason I purchased was because the engine is stuck. I am going to borescope today, but it appears the rings have probably frozen from sitting. I'm just going to pull the motor, tear it down, send to the machine shop (they miss me and my money), and do a stock refresh if the bores are good.
Got the other head off. No surprises. Pulled the bell housing bolts. The lower driver side fastener was a pain being blocked by the clutch slave cylinder. Required a 2 foot extension and universal joint to get at. Ran out of time. Only have the two motor mount bolts to pull the motor.
Dt86- please let me know and I can pick up. Thanks
12-06-2015, 08:21 AM
I'm Back with my new to me 1989 Z51
. Just towed home a 1989 yesterday. Per the NJ sticker in the windshield the car hasn't been on the road since 1994, and it only has 56k miles. Tires are all dry rotted, they could be original.
Waiting for bore scope analysis.
