New to corvettes
09-08-2017, 02:42 PM
#21
Le Mans Master
Member Since: Dec 2005
Location: Where Woke Goes to Die
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Thats a nice looking C4. If it looks that nice on the outside, its probably a good bet it was taken care of under the hood as well. Find one with maintenance records and receipts if possible. Good luck to you! 
09-08-2017, 02:50 PM
#22
Melting Slicks
Even the primo ones will cost you money. I thought mine was primo, 1,000 miles later a transaxle u-joint was toast. Two months after ownership, the solar temperature sensor just broke for no reason. One week after that, the drivers side rear Bose speaker went south. Found out how you date tires, mine are from 05, so I'm going to need new tires. Found out the lumbar support for the driver doesn't work.......... Had to do a anti-freeze flush because the car overheated once and popped the safety valve (stuff looked nasty)!
The car when purchased looked as mint as a 25 year old car can be. Interior looked like a BRAND NEW VECHICLE! 52,000 miles, family car since new. Owner was a fanatic about keeping his stuff up.
Doesn't matter, a 25 year old car is going to have issues. Like people told me here. Buy a nice one for 9 to 10 K and you still will end up sinking another 2k into it.
Oh,,,,,,,,,, I forgot, this is my 1st vette, I went into this blind. Next time around, I will be a lot more confident and knowledgeable. I may look for a LT4 Vert, but it will have to be stunning and I won't pay more than 12.5k
The car when purchased looked as mint as a 25 year old car can be. Interior looked like a BRAND NEW VECHICLE! 52,000 miles, family car since new. Owner was a fanatic about keeping his stuff up.
Doesn't matter, a 25 year old car is going to have issues. Like people told me here. Buy a nice one for 9 to 10 K and you still will end up sinking another 2k into it.
Oh,,,,,,,,,, I forgot, this is my 1st vette, I went into this blind. Next time around, I will be a lot more confident and knowledgeable. I may look for a LT4 Vert, but it will have to be stunning and I won't pay more than 12.5k
09-08-2017, 02:50 PM
#23
Melting Slicks
Yes the 4+3 transmission is reliable. Changing the transmission fluid and filter at 10,000 mile intervals is highly recommended. No need to really use 2nd and 3rd gear overdrive. Most of us who own them only use the overdrive after 4th gear. It's just like having a 5th gear. Your top end increases dramatically and your rpm's are greatly reduced in overdrive. You can easily acheive 150mph if desired in overdrive. If you do purchase this car and have questions about the overdrive, ask answers from only those of us who actually own one also. LOTS of bad/wrong information is spread around this forum on them.
09-08-2017, 08:10 PM
#26
Racer
Thread Starter
09-08-2017, 08:47 PM
#28
Racer
Thread Starter
No problem----- $6,500.00. The only problem is the tires are somewhat "dry rotted", but that doesn't bother me. I want to get tires that are a little more flexible in colder temperatures. I'm 71 and I don't intend to let my kids spend my money so other than real snow falls I want to drive it as much as I can, in other words when the temperature goes down to like 10+ degrees, no snow, I'll be on the road.
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I wish you lots of good luck and lots of fun with it!
09-08-2017, 09:25 PM
#30
Racer
Thread Starter
I've known the guy for about 10 years. He bought the car 15 years ago and only put around 3,000 miles on it. I'm sure he is telling me everything he knows, but as someone else said on this thread....the car is 25 years old.
09-08-2017, 09:57 PM
#32
Racer
Thread Starter
63,000 miles. He recently replaced both headlight motors cause one went and he thought the other might and doing them separately is more expensive/headlight than doing them both at once....kinda like buy one get the second at 1/2 price
Last edited by stabac; 09-08-2017 at 10:00 PM.
09-09-2017, 10:22 AM
#33
Le Mans Master
I had a '64 Corvair a long time ago.
I also had an '85 Corvette 4+3 for about 25 years.
There is no comparison. The handling and performance are great on the Corvette.
I have had 7 C4's and love them.
They are like any other car in that they sometimes need maintenance or repairs, but overall, mine have been very reliable and quite low cost of ownership.
They also have a lot more support in the way of parts (stock or modified) than most other cars. Some like to keep it stock and they perform very well, and others like to modify them for more performance. A chevy small block you can make as mild or wild as you want.
The picture show a nice looking car and from someone you know, so it is not nearly as much unknown as when most of us buy them.
Good luck.
I also had an '85 Corvette 4+3 for about 25 years.
There is no comparison. The handling and performance are great on the Corvette.
I have had 7 C4's and love them.
They are like any other car in that they sometimes need maintenance or repairs, but overall, mine have been very reliable and quite low cost of ownership.
They also have a lot more support in the way of parts (stock or modified) than most other cars. Some like to keep it stock and they perform very well, and others like to modify them for more performance. A chevy small block you can make as mild or wild as you want.
The picture show a nice looking car and from someone you know, so it is not nearly as much unknown as when most of us buy them.
Good luck.
09-10-2017, 03:41 PM
#34
Racer
Thread Starter
Took the car on an extensive road test today. When it sits at idle something "clicks" like a switch and the RPM drops and recovers....30 or so seconds later it does the same thing. Is this normal??? As I'm typing this the thought occurs to me ...was the AC on?? because that's exactly what it sounds like. Don't know, I'm home now.
09-10-2017, 04:00 PM
#35
ac compressor. its almost empty and keeps cycling every 30sec.
09-10-2017, 04:06 PM
#36
i see u r considering an 85. mine was exact same when i bought it.
i bought an ac vacuum pump and manifold kit off ebay and refilled the system with r12a. worked perfectly. then i used this same kit on my 86 and 87.
also, the 85 is way way way way more sensitive to the ac kicking in.
you will want to put the most updated chip for the 85 in the car if you felt the transmission was "stack shifting" (shifting to early resulting in engine lugging).
this is for autos only and its the tc engaging super early and is fixed with a simple new chip.
i bought an ac vacuum pump and manifold kit off ebay and refilled the system with r12a. worked perfectly. then i used this same kit on my 86 and 87.
also, the 85 is way way way way more sensitive to the ac kicking in.
you will want to put the most updated chip for the 85 in the car if you felt the transmission was "stack shifting" (shifting to early resulting in engine lugging).
this is for autos only and its the tc engaging super early and is fixed with a simple new chip.
09-10-2017, 04:45 PM
#37
Racer
Thread Starter
09-10-2017, 05:32 PM
#38
Safety Car
No. It will cycle with the air conditioner or the defrost on. Cycling is completely normal. If it cycles every 15-30 seconds or so, it most likely needs recharged. No big deal.
09-10-2017, 05:54 PM
#39
Racer
Thread Starter
Thanks to everyone!! I'm anxious to get the car tomorrow and very pleased with the support on this forum. Plan on "seeing" a lot of me in the future.
09-10-2017, 06:17 PM
#40
Race Director
Member Since: Feb 2002
Location: Compound in the Grove, Ga.
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2020 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2019 C4 of Year Finalist (performance mods)
2018 C4 of Year Finalist
2015 C4 of the Year Finalist
St. Jude Donor '16
2020 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
Welcome, Best of luck on your entry to Corvettes. I'm sure you will enjoy it just remember its an older car and will require some maintenance. 