I immediately wish everyone a Happy New Year and then I wanted to ask which are the most important spare parts To buy and keep in the box for a 1992

 

I don't buy parts until I need em.

Maybe stock some oil and filters whenever they're on sale. Coolant if I catch it on sale. That's about it. Maybe some fuses.

 

Actually, I have to take that back.

I do keep spare light bulb sockets with pigtails around in a drawer. And bulbs.

For the amber bulbs, NAPA has the true amber glass ones.

The ones at Auto Zone and Advanced Auto are just those junky painted on amber ones.

 

Welcome to the Corvette Forum Jo bar! This is the place to be if you own a Corvette!

I agree with and tend to be like Natty C in I am an "Opportunistic Buyer", when I see a good sale I stock up on oil, filters, Brake Fluid, Brake Spray Cleaner and such. I will admit as I do have a complete set of wheel bearings and the entire light bulb set for the 1968 C3. They were all on sale while up at Covettes@Carlisle where great deals used to be found. I broke a half shaft U-Joint on my C3 once so I have a spare set of half shafts for both my C3 and my C4 ready for service. I do have a complete 1988 C4 ABS system that was functional when I bought it. Those are getting older and harder to find parts for.

On your 1992 you likely have this Ignition system called Opti ignition mounted on the front of the block. If you do have one of those on your engine then I would seek out a working "backup" or spare Opti unit for the Corvette. There is a lot of knowledge on how to maintain a Corvette with an OPTI ignition system here on this Forum. Buying and having a spare systems and having them rebuilt it makes sense with a item like the Opti. This way your down time is to a minimum if it goes out on you.

The Most Important thing to have when you own a Corvette is a set of the Factory Service Manuals! Get a set for your specific year Corvette, my 1988 C4 has a 2 book manual set where one is Mechanical and the second is the Electrical. They are priceless when trying to fix a Corvette and it's EFI systems. They are available in hardcover for ~$85 from Helm Publishing and the DVD "PDF" version is about $35 at RockAuto. Whatever fits your needs just have a copy when you want to troubleshoot something.

Good Luck and Enjoy that Corvette!

 

reading in this forum I understood that the c 4 has many electrical problems and many parts can be broken, for this reason I asked this question, I have owned this car for almost a year and I replaced optispark, fuel pump, spark plugs, spark plug cables, I have engine overheating problems in the summer and other small problems but I still use the car once or twice a week

 

i bought this for now

 

I guess I'm the odd ball. I'm looking for a spare Dana 44. But right now I have 2 hard tops, a spare rear hatch glass, a full set of rear knuckles with half shafts, an extra transmission, an extra motor, a hood and various interior parts. You just never know when your going to need something that just can't be found anymore. That and around here the biggest killer of summer time cars is deer. So I like to keep extra parts on hand just in case.

 

Whatever you buy is guaranteed not to fail :-)

 

I have one of those old, outdated ones just like that for my '90. It was in the car when it shipped up here.

I've never used it for anything.

I bought a CD version of the FSM which also contains the electrical diagnosis supplement and it's served me best. They're just two .pdf files. I copy/pasted them onto my laptop and never even touch the cd itself. Heck, I donlt eve nknow where it is now. And that was way cheaper than what I view as an over-priced physical book manual. Think I spent around thirty dollars for it.

Only down side is, being a '90, I have to wade through all of the ZR-1 stuff I don't need that's littered all through the manual.

 

Ha. Famous last words. I've installed a few parts that were duds right out of the box.

 

Actually, I have intermittently purchased spare parts over the years for my '89, and have by now installed most of them:

Water pump
Alternator
Fuel pump
IAC

Having them in stock is always a mixed bag. You might never need it before you sell the car, but on the other hand, having one on hand will likely speed up the repair. I do this for my airplane as well, where parts availability is even spottier than for a three-decade old Corvette, and lack of a part could potentially strand you in the middle of nowhere for weeks.

 

is it the same cd they sell on rock auto?

 

Probably.

I got mine on eBay.

 

ok thanks what spare parts can I still buy to be sure I won't be idle for months because I live in Italy?

 

I buy some parts when I get a chance just so I have them if/when needed. I watch for hard goods on sale, those that won't age out with time and have 3 shelves int eh mancave reserved for car parts, If I use something I grab them from the shelf and then start watching for a replacement in the future. I've had a couple of those hard-to-find parts go bad and was able to keep driving thanks to my spare parts collection. I also save old parts that can be rebuilt for cores, and do with time.

 

Deer and corvettes get along well, corvette hits deer. Deer sheers off headlights most of time leaving hood polished breaks windshield minor to major but broken is broken. Deer lands behind car runs away leaving with a $1000 moment and no venison in the freezer

 

thanks for your advice