MadMaxVette

Hey guys, A little intro. I was set to buy a nice C4 vette back in 1996 but the guy who owned it was racing a friend of his (yep, street racing) a couple of days before I was going to make him an offer on it. A car pulled out in front of him not knowing the vette was going close to 100 mph in a 40 mph zone. He tried to avoid the other car and lost control. The vette spun around and hit a metal telephone pole sideways almost cutting the car in half. His girlfriend died instantly and he was airlifted out with major injuries and died two days later. I still remember it like it was yesterday. I went by the accident scene the next day and found one of the rubber brake master cyl covers laying next to the curb. I hung it next to where I keep my car keys (still there today) as a reminder that there is a time and place for that kind of speed. I have been mostly a Ford guy so I put away the desire to own a corvette and haven't really thought about another one since.
Fast forward to this past weekend. My son who is 25 showed me a local corvette for sale and wanted me to go look at it with him. The car in question was a bit rough but I couldn't really beat the $1900 price. It started, ran and drove just fine. It is an 89 with a ZR1 body kit. For whatever reason, the previous owner converted it from TPI to carb. That is a step backwards in my eyes but it runs really well so I will just leave it for now. Tires are one year old and it has a borla exhaust system. The fan is also bypassed with a toggle switch so that will get fixed asap. The car was plastidip sprayed a few years back and it is peeling in spots.
What do you think. Decent deal?

PS. After reading this is seemed like we were just looking at it but we did in fact buy it. Sorry for the confusion.

chevyman_ky

Welcome

csthews

Welcome. Sad story... especially the girlfriend part. From the pic, it looks more like a 91-94 with a body kit.

81c3

First, welcome to the C4 world.
Second, thats some story!
Third, that body kit has absolutely nothing to do with a ZR-1
Fourth, changed to carb because the previous owner couldn't work on the TPI system is my guess.
Fifth, $1900. why not?

kael

Welcome back!

To help nail down what's really the correct year and so forth, check the VIN, it will have the year.

Next, on the bottom of the center console cover, there should be a big sticker with lots of three letter stuff on it, those are RPO codes and detail what options were put in at the factory, find the specifics by Google or the Corvette Black Book.

May we please have a pic of the engine bay? Sounds interesting.

L98Justin

BrandensBeast

Congrats on the purchase, curious to see how the car comes out!

MadMaxVette

The PO said it was a ZR1 body kit and it even has a ZR1 badge on the back bumper. I had no clue but after looking at pics of ZR1's, there is not much similarity, lol.

MadMaxVette

Here is a pic of the engine bay. Try not to laugh at the cobbled together throttle and TV cables...

hcbph

Welcome to the forum. For $1900 you pretty much have carte blanch on what you can do and feel comfortable with on the car. As far as the carb vs tpi thing, drive it a while and see if it's all good or not. If not then you can consider your options then.

bac22

Decent deal for $1900 if it's running, but I'd probably try to put what I could back to stock...wonder why they carped it??? Guess it was Plasti Dipped because the original paint was in bad shape otherwise I'd considered peeling it off and return the tires to chrome.

MadMaxVette

I drove it about 30 miles to the house when we bought it. I was on the interstate and it drove great with good throttle response. A few rattles here and there (mostly the targa top), but drove nice with no pulling or vibrations up to the 70mph or so I was going.
I texted the PO to see if he still has any of the TPI stuff. He said he will look for it.
After building/racing my 88 Thunderbird Turbocoupe for several years and tuning it's standalone fuel injection system, I am pretty confident I could put the TPI system back on and troubleshoot any problems.

JimLentz

Welcome and it's hard to beat that price!

cv67

your intake and carb will make more power hate to say
dont know why so many hate carbs they have been used for 100 yrs and work just fine.
Unless you have to have EFI leave it...or if you switch do some research on pros/cons of tpi

MadMaxVette

Yea, switching it back to TPI is pretty low on the priority list right now. My son isn't interested in making more power as long as it starts, runs and drives good. He just likes the looks of the C4 vettes.

The carb setup seems to work well so other things like the seats, new weatherstripping and fixing some small electrical things will take precedent.

1bdvet

Welcome and you ask can't for anything better then bonding with your son.
Have fun!

81c3

Easy... because they dont understand how they work or how to tune & rebuild them.... This is the new school generation were dealing with here... It has to give immediate satisfaction and need no maintenance or its not good to them. I have news for alot of people, the Rochester Q-Jet is one of the best carbs ever built.... more complicated than Holley, similar to Carter, but still better in tunability and fuel economy... Hands down the best throttle response of any carb when properly set up. The 800 CFM carbs off larger engines are pretty sought after to carb guys.

The Rochester Quadrajet carburetor is probably the best-kept secret we Chevy folks have. No self-respecting Mustang hugger is gonna think your car runs hard when you open the hood and reveal a Q-jet. Forget about the hard-core Holley crowd taking you seriously until you wax ’em off the line. With a Q-jet, you can fool almost anyone into thinking your engine is a lo-po stocker and still have an engine that runs hard, idles like a kitten, and responds quicker than your paycheck disappearing on a Friday night. Chevrolet has equipped more engines with Q-jets than all other types of fuel mixers combined, and those who can understand and repair a Q-jet are highly respected individuals. The Q-jet is probably the best carb ever designed for the street. It combines small primary fuel economy with performance, and it can be rebuilt at home in just a few hours with minimal tools and equipment.
Complete rebuild kits can be purchased from any auto-parts store; all you need to know is the vehicle application or carb casting number to get the correct kit. If you don’t want to tackle the rebuild yourself, most shops can usually do it for less than the cost of a new carb.

KenMathisHD

Not a carb guy by any means, so I'm assuming many will make fun of me, but it sounds like the Q-Jet is like the LS equivalent of carbs yea? Lots of potential, decent to work on and parts are available everywhere?

Also, MadMaxVette, welcome to the forum! The plastidip makes her look a little rough on the outside, but considering it runs for $1900, why not get it? I can't wait to see all of what you and your son do for her That carb should really help her make some good power, I'd get her dyno'd before you swap back for a TPI

TorchTarga94

I'd say keep it how it is. Clean everything up under the hood, get all the wiring clean and in proper wiring looms, and motor on.

You guys did good.

FASTAZU

Cool Welcome.