Hey guys.

A few weeks back we picked up our 98 in Pewter. It has some aftermarket wheels, Pypes exhaust, and a K&N Intake. We got the stuck stuff too.

Drove great for the first 70 miles on the first night of ownership.

Aaaaand then the 4L60 said goodbye.

So, I had a local Vette shop rebuild it with some upgraded stuff. Awesome job they did.

Now it's back with lots of fun.

Issues: back passenger wheel bearing is growling, oil pan has a small leak, tear in the driver's bolster, one corner light lens is cracked slightly.

Next thing to tackle is the "LOW COOLANT" light comes on. Temps don't get above 200 unless you're having a little fun, even then it was around 215. I drove it like a normal car 20 miles back from the shop and the highest it got was 196*. So, I am assuming that the level sensor is bad, considering it's not low on coolant. PO said he replaced the tank and might have a bad sensor in it. I think what he did was have this problem and then replaced the tank with a used on off eBay.

After that I'm doing an oil change and new plugs.

Mods wise I don't know how much I'll do. More of a fun cruiser car to complement my 76 Toyota Celica. I for sure am going to order the black housing Depo corner lights, and add a light tinted vinyl layover on the tails. Maybe some overlays for the Vette airbag emblem to modernize it a bit.



I didn't take pics of the inside because you all know what a stock black interior looks like. Looks like new aside from the little rip in the bolster, but whatever. Found some NOS GM rubber mats on ebay that say Corvette in silver on the side. Those should be here today. I HATE the stock cloth mats.

Anyway, here are some pics attached.

I'll update this as I go.

Thanks!

 

I'd also look into your exhaust. Muffler looks to be hanging down quite a bit.

 

That's one of my favorite color C5"s! Good luck on your build!

 

Sounds like you are having a good time with the car, even with the minor issues you've found. Good luck getting them fixed and adding your own personal touches to the car.

 

Great color! Hi from UK , I've got a 99...ongoing project !!! 4 years in.... Being over here we don't have much options on being picky on the color... But I love it! Looks clean most of the time, pops in the sun! I actually don't know of another one over here either.. Hope you enjoy your ride and lots of directions to go with it..

 

Nice Vette Brit! Cheers on that mate

So today I installed the NOS rubber OEM GM floor mats. They are out of production according to my dealership in town (I called for you guys), but look on eBay like I did and you might be able to snag a set.

Pics attached.

I also put in LED license plate and reverse lights, but no pics of those.

Interior needs to be vacuumed up a bit, so ignore that :P

 

Most people here get pretty common colors like red, black, white, or yellow.

Mine was a very fair price, even after the new gearbox. But, I actually like this color a lot. It's unique and you don't see too many around my area. Same with my Celica. I hated the color at first, but then it grew on me, and I also found out there were about 150 in that color imported to the US, so it isn't changing.

 

The grey C6Z style rims look great on your C5

 

Beautiful car, vjz, and a Beautiful color too.....

But, I am a bit prejudiced on that matter!

And yeah, I dig those wheels, they look fantastic.....

Good luck on the fixes!

-Ray

 

More pics of the Celica!

My appreciation of old JDM has been growing exponentially as of late.

 

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the compliments.

I couldn't figure out what the rims were supposed to look like. I knew they looked familiar, so after looking them up I was pleasantly surprised! They came with the car, along with the OEM rims. These look much better than the stockers. I love the gunmetal color with the pewter paint. Still torn on what to do with the calipers. At first I wanted to paint them red, but I'm leaning toward silver. I feel red calipers is getting kind of played out on some cars. It was an 80s Ferrari thing to begin with. Most of my cars, I repaint calipers and rotor hats black just so they don't look rusty (Mainly daily driver cars). The Celica has silver calipers from many years back, but I'm replacing them and doing them black, especially since it has rear drum brakes.

Took the C5 to dinner last night. I need to change that rear wheel bearing. Doesn't look like a hard job but I'm not looking forward to removing the ball joints. I hate doing that, but it needs to be done. Once the knuckle is off it looks pretty easy. I could change both of my front hubs on my old Trailblazer in about 45 minutes. But this is a liiiiiiiiiiiitle different.

On the Celica, I have tons of pics. I can post some here tomorrow or Monday. I need to take some updated pictures anyway.

Side note: Carbon fiber GS stripes came in this morning from Mr. Postman. Mocked them up with tape and it's gonna look great. Also going to wrap the roof panel in CF so it doesnt look so crummy with the peeling laminate. Thought of wet sanding it down but I like the CF look anyways. After that I'm ordering the new Depo marker housings. One of the bulbs is burned out anyway, so if I'm taking a cracked lens out to change it for a bulb, might as well replace the housings. (How do you take those out anyway?)

Cheers!

 

So I have an update and a few questions.

New turn signal housings are in. They look awesome. No pics right now. Also carbon wrapped he roof panel and had the windows tinted.

NOW! I tackled the rear wheel bearing job! Removal was not too bad after figuring out the angles for removing the axle and all that from the knuckle.

BUT, upon putting the knuckle back on to the lower ball joint on the passenger side rear, the allen slot on top of the ball joint stipped somehow.

I did some digging and figured out the front lower ball joint is the same. Problem is, I'm worried about pressing it out and in since its aluminum.

Has anyone had this happen and have any pointers for doing the job? I've done the typical "rent the press from the parts store" routine before, but with the arms being aluminum, I'm worried I might crack it.

 

The car is good to roll! Finally got both cars in the garage after cleaning out the other side.

Here's a list of everything I've done as of today.

--Transmission rebuilt
--Rear wheel bearing
--Lower rear ball joint
--New coolant tank/sensor
--New black/chrome turn signals and bulbs
--LED license plate and back up lights
--Tint
--Carbon GS stripes
--Carbon vinyl wrap roof panel
--Carbon door triangles
--Oil change (lol) Castrol Syntec Edge with a K&N filter
--NOS C5 rubber floormats (GM original pieces). Made the car smell like new!


Next up is a tune up in the next few weeks. No idea the last time it was done, so that needs to be rectified. Also need to change the belts and recharge the AC. Blows warm on the Drivers side, cold as ***** on the passenger side. I read that's a sign you need to recharge the system?

Cleaning the throttle body might happen this weekend. Not hard to get to.

A few odds and ends things here and there. But it's coming along. At least now I can enjoy it.

Here's some teaser shots until I can get the cars out for more. It's been raining so much the past week that it's been annoying.

 

Nice looking coupe, the wheels really work with the Pewter.