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last time I made a post, I was introducing myself and the new ‘96 lt4 I bought. I want to clear some things up because they are a little different from the first time I posted.. so hear it goes!!
1996 LT4 89k miles
white/ black leather.
2 tops.
i don’t know much about cars history, as the previous owner had a stroke, and couldn’t talk much. I did get a kittle bit of info... he owned it for last 10 years, and he bought it with 33k miles. he had a stroke 4 years ago, and it sat since outside in the sun.
it was filthy when I got to it. I put some sea foam in crankcase and gas, and fired it right up and drove it about 30 miles before smogging. We talked on price, and it was sold to me on Friday. I drove it home, put it in the garage and immediately put a list together. Listed are what I have found so far..
1) DOES NOT pass smog
2) glass top cracked
3) center console button is broken
4) driver side storage door broken on door panel
5) tires are old
6) AC doesn’t blow cold
7) horn is very weak
i think that’s all for now. PURCHASE PRICE $6100
i have a few pictures of what is going on currently . My plan is to do a basic tuneup (COMPLETE) fluids flush, new fuel filter ... well, you’ll see the pics haha. Let me know what u guys think!!
$6100 is an absolutely amazing deal for an LT4. Congrats!
AC not blowing cold shouldn't be too big of a deal since it's a '96; just your typical recharge-and-keep-an-eye-on-it situations. Not like the '93 and older that used R12 and are a pain.
The horn being weak is super common; those horns just die after a while, and unfortunately they're riveted together so you can't just repair them. There are FIAMM horns available at NAPA Auto Parts that can replace them, but the ones that come with the correct connector don't come with an L-bracket to properly mount to the driver's side of the car (and unfortunately, the FIAMM units are different notes than OEM, so replacing only one sounds pretty odd). You can get any FIAMM horn, and then use FIAMM part #257142 to adapt it to the GM-style connector that our cars use.
Too bad about it having F45 suspension--you can't get replacements for it anymore, so when those shocks eventually die (if they haven't already), you'll need to bypass that system and replace them with non-adjustable shocks. Just a tiny extra headache.
$6100 is an absolutely amazing deal for an LT4. Congrats!
AC not blowing cold shouldn't be too big of a deal since it's a '96; just your typical recharge-and-keep-an-eye-on-it situations. Not like the '93 and older that used R12 and are a pain.
The horn being weak is super common; those horns just die after a while, and unfortunately they're riveted together so you can't just repair them. There are FIAMM horns available at NAPA Auto Parts that can replace them, but the ones that come with the correct connector don't come with an L-bracket to properly mount to the driver's side of the car (and unfortunately, the FIAMM units are different notes than OEM, so replacing only one sounds pretty odd). You can get any FIAMM horn, and then use FIAMM part #257142 to adapt it to the GM-style connector that our cars use.
Too bad about it having F45 suspension--you can't get replacements for it anymore, so when those shocks eventually die (if they haven't already), you'll need to bypass that system and replace them with non-adjustable shocks. Just a tiny extra headache.
Best of luck!
that was a question that I forgot to ask.. how do I know/can I tell if my ride control is still working? Any way to check?
$6100... Bro, what a great deal for an LT4 w such low miles... I have found with my 96 Grand Sport that the select ride is in tact and working well... I too am having issues w the AC that i have yet to dig into. My grand Sport was purchased in August from original owner so i am still ironing out little things that are expected for an almost 25 yr old Corvette. Overall the car is in awesome condition and runs like a top.
Your list looks to cover it all... Keep us posted.
I have a 96 LT4. I did the weather stripping. It was a time consuming job for sure and broke it up over a couple of days. If you haven't done this job before I would suggest buying the plastic install tool kit from Amazon. I think mine was $10 or so. Its a few plastic type spatula tools that make the job easier and they wont damage the new material as you push it into place. I used the weather stripping adhesive from 3m with the green box. Got it from autozone.
I did run into a problem with the door. Once I had the hole door piece installed on the door itself the door wouldn't close. The molded part at the front wouldn't allow the door to close all the way. I hade to make some changes to it for it to work. If your door stripping isnt totally trashed I might stay away from those. The factory molded pieces are in good shape and not bad just leave them. New window scarpers is always a nice thing to add and will help keep the window from rattling around when rolled down.
that was a question that I forgot to ask.. how do I know/can I tell if my ride control is still working? Any way to check?
It will tell you on the DIC if there's a system fault. But you can have a perfectly functioning system and still have bad shocks. The system diagnostics only looks at the electronics, not the mechanicals. So it can be correctly detecting all the ride height changes through the suspension travel sensors, and can be correctly actuating the servos on each shock to adjust the gas valve......but the shock itself could be leaking or depleted, at which point none of that matters. It's a wear part just like any shock absorber.
My point is that once that shock absorber fails, if it hasn't failed already, there are no replacements. And unlike the FX3 system used in the 89-95, the F45 system has an additional issue where it can actually prevent high-speed driving if you remove the original shocks without bypassing the sensors. Fortunately it's not hard to do, nor is it expensive. The computer is just looking for a specific voltage drop to know that the sensors are in place, which you can easily fool it using a resistor at each shock.
Update on 96 lt4
