Hello! I am a 22 year old guy from upstate NY who just bought his first Corvette last September from a neighbor. I have an 88 Red Corvette Coupe with 100k on the clock and well it needs some work. I spent the Fall tearing apart the badly worn interior and giving it a really deep clean. I have started the interior restoration, (carpets, seat inserts, door pulls, bulbs, weather stripping, plastic trims, radio, speakers, etc) and hope to have the interior back together and looking factory fresh by the early summer. Cosmetically the car needs some serious help, minimal dents but serious paint fade and chipping in numerous spots. Mechanically it starts up quick and runs smoothly save for two problems I will state below. The previous owner redid the brakes, light motors, and had an axleback put in that gives it a raspier sound.

So I have 2 questions regarding mechanical issues with the car. First off, the car has a severe parasitic draw, and I suspect it is either the underhood lights or the janky aftermarket stereo the car has now. Currently the battery will go flat from sitting for about 3 days. Any other common causes of the parasitic draw? If I cannot narrow it down, has anyone installed a remote battery cutoff inside the car?
My second issue is while the car will cold start perfectly, if I try to start it hot it will just turn over and not start, if its just warm I can usually get it started with some cranking and tapping the gas. I suspect It is an ignition issue and am anticipating having to rebuild/replace the distributor. Anyone have any other ideas on what commonly causes this?

Also, I have primarily worked on Import 4 bangers or sixes and am new to the Muscle car scene. In the next 2-3 years I'd like to put a gen 1 SBC 383 crate engine in it, and probably have the auto trans reinforced and swap the rear gears. Looking for eventually 350 wheel, 400 crank HP. That said, usually for the tuners I have worked on there have been guides or sticked threads that lay out the parts you need, where to buy them, necessary supporting mods, and sometimes even step by step instructions. However, I cannot seem to find resources like that on here. Am I just missing something right in front of me, or is that not as common for Corvettes since there is such a wide variety of options? Anybody know of any resources based on my basic description, looking to spend 5-6k and wouldn't start until probably the Fall so I can finish everything else I am working on now.

To wrap this up, 2 fun facts about this car:
Someone hardwired an 90s era K40 radar detector into the car at some point, with the sensors behind the bumper and basic controls attached to the lip of the cowl over the dash. No idea if it functions, but it does still light up when turned on.
This car once belonged to a State Assemblywoman and I even tracked down some pictures of her with it. I keep finding candy in weird places in the interior from when she used to throw candy from it when driving the car in parades.

Sorry for the long post, looking forward to hearing from you all. Have a good one folks!

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Welcome to the forums

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Welcome aboard!!

Post your questions in the C4 section.

 

Moving this over to the C4 Tech section for some answers to your questions. And welcome to the forum.

 

How I narrow down draws is to disconnect a battery terminal. Set a meter to amps and put it in series with the cable and terminal and check the draw. Now, remove fuses one at a time until you see which circuit makes it drop. Now you check what devices are on that circuit.

Best of luck to you!
Oh, and you need to post pics.

 

Welcome, post some pictures!

 

Welcome. I second, "post some pictures."

Regarding the hard start: have you pulled codes off the CCM? For my '93 (LT1 motor- so it's a different beast), this was related to the engine temperature sensor on the front of the block telling the car that it was always running cold. So, the car would stall and the mixture would be set too rich to restart until the car cooled a bit. I pulled the codes and followed the troubleshooting charts in my FSM. This led me to replace the coolant temp sensor.

Here's my post on that issue: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1595713773 (Hmmm. I'm ovedue to update that thread, I see.)
Here's how to pull the codes without an OBD1 reader: http://www.neilkline.com/Tech%20Tips/obdcodes.htm