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So this is my first corvette and it has given me anxiety attacks.
My 84 Corvette
The previous owner had replaced the fuel injection with a edlebrock 1406 carb. He also had left it on his lawn for a year so all the tires have the rot. He also put on ferrari doors and body kit. But the reason my panics happen, the car died twice on me and had to get it towed to a dealership to get it fixed. Now when I put it into reverse the rpms drop to 500. How can I up the RPM on reverse? Should I take it back and get the original fuel injection system reinstalled as he gave me the old system? I would love any help because I just wanted this to be my daily driver but it keeps giving me the fear.
I appreciate the help. Talked with one of the mechanics that worked on it and said that I need to add 92 octaine with an octaine booster to deal with the ethonal.
Do you have access to all the parts of the original fuel injection system? It was a Cross fire injection system which is a nice fairly simple and reliable system.
It all boils down to what are your plans for this beautiful Corvette? You realize that this is a "Thirty-five" year old car we are talking about, right? You want it for a daily driver? These older Corvettes are aging well despite the damage of time passing.
I have a 1988 Corvette Coupe and it is fun to drive and such but it has turned out to be a real labor intensive car to drive. I bought our C4 back in the late 1990's and it took me years of shaking it down to find the weak points so I could fix them. The car has provided me with far more work needed per mile driven than my 1968 C3. The C3 was purchased and it took me 5-6 years of getting it right just the way I wanted it. Corvettes are fun to me but far from regular transportation. I have a C3 convertible and the C4 Coupe, my wife and I had two children. They are more of a lifestyle and fun to drive.
To get a 35 year old Corvette to be reliable enough for every day use is possible would take a very deep pocketbook and a very good next door neighbor who is a Corvette mechanic.
What you are dealing with is probably something to do with your automatic transmission and the Carburetor controls. There is a kick down bracket or something attached at the throttle. Carburetors and automatic transmissions have to be designed to work together. Your transmission might require the connection to the throttle to be "set" properly.
If it were my 1984 and I had access to the old fuel injection system that is the direction I would go in. You have a beautiful Corvette, keep it the way it was designed as those Boys and Girls at GM actually might have some idea when they designed your car the way they did. What a revolutionary model with all the changes over the C3. Keep it stock and hand it down in your family after you have had a lifetime of fun driving it!.
The car will always be worth more with the original systems still working. Like the cool Atari dashboard and a sound system that was considered one of the best when it came out. The 1984 model handled better than several far more expensive European cars and stopped better as well. The 1984 is quite the car and there are a lots of die hard 1984 fans here on this forum.
Buy an old Buick to drive to work and then use the Corvette for the fun times. Not depending on an older car like that is probably wise advise.
I don't want to sound like a downer but "you asked" so I am telling you what I think....
Honestly, if you're paying someone else to work on it and you want a daily driver, you need to sell it and buy something else. If you're willing to learn and do your own work, that's a better plan, but it will be a while before it's ready for DD duty.
The advice to learn to work on it yourself is good advice. First thing to do is get a Factory Service Manual (FSM). There is also the electrical trouble shooting supplement which you also need. Then remember that it’s a Chevy so most things are pretty straight forward.
They are old and brittle but my 19 year old son uses mine as a daily driver so it can me done, but I have spent a bit of time and money to get it reliable.
I would reinstate the crossfires fuel injection because computer controlled cars are more drivable in my opinion and you already have the parts. I guess it depends on what’s been done to the car and the wiring harness in particular. You can get the crossfire to make reasonable power with a renegade intake manifold so there are performance options as well.
be real nice to see some pictures of the engine bay.... really sharp car you have there.
Daily driver defined as "the only car you have available to drive to work" , and would be in trouble if it didn't run ?
Probably not the year of a car you want to rely on. Unless you're a mechanic, which it doesn't seem you are.
But if you have a backup vehicle, it could work. You wouldn't drive it in the snow, anyway, would you?
Honestly, if you're paying someone else to work on it and you want a daily driver, you need to sell it and buy something else. If you're willing to learn and do your own work, that's a better plan, but it will be a while before it's ready for DD duty.
Good advice here. If you are mechanically inclined and have the time and money, you might be able to swap the car back to original. However it is often hard to undo Bubba’s work. If you have to have the car towed to the dealer every time it dies, and you aren’t able to adjust the idle speed in a carburetor, just sell the car and buy yourself a daily driver. I’m not sure if you “won” the car or if it was dumped on you.
be real nice to see some pictures of the engine bay.... really sharp car you have there.
Daily driver defined as "the only car you have available to drive to work" , and would be in trouble if it didn't run ?
Probably not the year of a car you want to rely on. Unless you're a mechanic, which it doesn't seem you are.
But if you have a backup vehicle, it could work. You wouldn't drive it in the snow, anyway, would you?
Good luck with this pretty red one.
As asked here are more pictures
Originally Posted by jv9999
Honestly, if you're paying someone else to work on it and you want a daily driver, you need to sell it and buy something else. If you're willing to learn and do your own work, that's a better plan, but it will be a while before it's ready for DD duty.
So I went to a car show today and asked other classic car guys their for advice as well and they also said get a daily driver car and have this is my secondary. They also told me my panic attacks are because I don't trust the car to break down. So I am looking for another car to use as the daily as I will use this as a show car. For an update. I found out that my first big mistake on the car was I filled it up with 87 octaine with ethonal. Several people told me that I should have filled it with gas only and 92 octaine at that. Others said I could use the 92 octaine with ethonal but need to add a octaine booster to compensate for the ethonal. When I put in the booster the car died almost immediately but with my dad's help he was able to mess with the carborator to be able to run with the boost. When we got it to the gas station, turning off the engine had a backfire. I then filled it with 92 octaine and was able to drive it home. The car's idle went from almost dying at 500 rpm to 1000rpm with backfire. So I am going to talk to a trusted mechanic from what the classic car guys send their car too so I can get it timed correctly as well as info on how to fill it up and where to fill it up.
I always ran 87 unleaded, (10% ethanol) during the summer, let in run low in the fall, and then fill it with 92 octane premium containing no ethanol, for over the winter storage.
I doubt that choice of gas is causing your idle speed issues, but stay will the premium for awhile , and see if it stays good. Put some miles on that car...
You should not have to worry about the ethanol. If your Edlebrock carburetor was built in the pre-ethanol era you will know soon. There are a lot of rubber parts that get destroyed including the accelerator pump diaphragms. I use Holley carburetors on my C3 (1968) and have modified them all to use ethanol blended fuel. I too would suggest that you stay with 93 octane until you get your carburetor sorted out. I too will use regular in my L98 and have had no ill effects that I am aware off. It makes the car a lot less expensive to drive and enjoy.
The pictures of your car are very pretty, it is a beautiful Corvette you have there!
When I first saw the picture (Where is the EFI?) popped into my brain. It looks okay with a carburetor, it would look okay with dual quads, a six pack even Fuel Injection. What size carburetor are you running there? If the carburetor is not properly set up and jetted for this engine that would make your job tougher. The first thing to do is figure out what you have there.
Backfiring could be from the timing being off a bit. It is also possible that it is running WAY TOO RICH which will make a back fire occur.
If you decide to drive this car much with the carburetor I would seriously think about one of those little Chrome Halon Fire Extinguishers that you can attach to the interior. I would have to seriously take things apart before I trusted Bubba's work on the carburetor swap. If the swap was done by a reputable company I don't think there would be any problems. I have an extinguisher in my C3 and check it in my pre-drive checklist before leaving home.
My 1988 C4, it runs and runs and has broken the 30 mpg barrier and still sounds great inside and out. My C4 is stock except for the newer design rear end parts and poly bushings and it is a great car. If I focused more attention on it the car could be reliable enough for semi-regular use. I love the overall design and especially the engine compartment with the clam shell hood. The C4 is and always will be a CORVETTE and that is what makes it so special.
Not to alarm you but those kind of air cleaners have a bad reputation of catching on fire if there is a backfire through the carburetor as the foam element can become gas soaked.
Thank you guys for the replies I can honestly say that the backfire is coming from the exhaust. I currently don't feel comfortable driving it and from one of those pictures they saw that the fuel regulator is one of the cheap kinds. They also pointed out that the bleed off line should be before the regulator but it currently is in front of it. From the car show A bunch of different classic car guys that said they do body work but don't mess with the internals pointed me to a local a mechanic that they take all their classic cars to. So I set up that next tuesday I will have my corvette towed to the place and hopefully they will sort out the fuel system and let me know if there are any other problems.
I also want to thank you guys for letting me know how good the car looks. The previous owner who did the carb switch said he put most of his money on its looks but never really drove it after he put in the carb.
Not to alarm you but those kind of air cleaners have a bad reputation of catching on fire if there is a backfire through the carburetor as the foam element can become gas soaked.
Not to mention the fact that the smallest particle they filter is about the size of a pebble.
Thank you guys for the replies I can honestly say that the backfire is coming from the exhaust. I currently don't feel comfortable driving it and from one of those pictures they saw that the fuel regulator is one of the cheap kinds. They also pointed out that the bleed off line should be before the regulator but it currently is in front of it. From the car show A bunch of different classic car guys that said they do body work but don't mess with the internals pointed me to a local a mechanic that they take all their classic cars to. So I set up that next tuesday I will have my corvette towed to the place and hopefully they will sort out the fuel system and let me know if there are any other problems.
I also want to thank you guys for letting me know how good the car looks. The previous owner who did the carb switch said he put most of his money on its looks but never really drove it after he put in the carb.
Hope it all works out. Do you know anyone who has skills working with a carburetor? If you or your dad have a friend who has played with 70's cars, that would be much better for you. You could learn a lot and save $$$. Having a mechanic work on it can really add up. Here in the Bay Area, you're looking at $100/hr. Good luck.
Backfiring in the exhaust is often a result of the engine being way to rich. Pull the plugs out and if they a black and sooty you will know for sure. I sounds a bit like the last owner changed over to a carby and didn’t drive it cause it ran badly ie too rich.
Good advice to find someone who can set up a 4 barrel, like your dad or one of his friends (someone my age). If you can find an old bloke with a dyno tuning business he will get it purring like a kitten.
Good luck with it it really is a nice car.
From: Arizona - If you don’t know CFI, STOP proliferating the myths around it...
Like mentioned, their may have already been too many Bubba hands "fixin'" things to make it run "better" than a CF by now and may be rather hard and very expensive to put it back into the CF configuration. If you have the time and skills, go for it. If not, if it were me, I would pull the carb, sort out everything under that hood (wiring/connectors) and put an EFI on it and call it a day. Then you could drive the **** out of it and have some fun. Your motor is very typical when people do not understand how to work on a CF motor, get frustrated, make it run even worse and they think the answer is to pull it all off and run a carb. Sometimes that doesn't work either because of various reasons. Good luck with it whichever way you decide to go.
Welcome to Corvette Forum!
I won an 84 Corvette
