My cousin who I was fairly close with over the years passed away about a month ago. We had a lot in common and were the same age. One thing we had in common was Corvettes. He had an 02 that he bought in 2017. It's a well equipped convertible with a 6M. All the bells in the interior which is light gray. The car has an ancient Vortech Blower kit on it that was working fine until he had the blower belt shred some teeth. Vortech to their credit still had the kit number and parts available for it. It is not nice and neat like the A&A kits of today but somebody took the time to install it as per the instructions of which Vortech had to download also. The blower head unit is on the drivers side and the alternator is on the passenger side which is a very early kit. They had them for sale in 2004.

Anyway... in his will he gifted me the car. It has been sitting in his garage for 3 or 4 years as he was always going to get the belt on and get back to driving it.... I pestered him about it and told him just hire it done but he said he was going to get to it..... and never did. I was surprised when after the funeral his son told me Dad wanted you to have the Vette. I had tried to buy the car from him on several occasions. I told his son that he needed his Dad's car and he said we aren't Vette people, we have horses and live in the country and would not know how to get it running right. So a friend and I drove up to Montana and picked up the car last weekend and brought it back. The car only has 25K on it for mileage so I'm fortunate there. I told his son I would get the car back up and running and was humbled that Cuz wanted me to take it from here.

I had a Mag Red 2002 with an automatic maybe 15 years ago and let it go to buy a C6 Grand Sport which I had for a long time. I did have an A&A blower set up on the C6., So will be asking questions as I get into getting the car on the road of the brain trust here on the C5 hangout....

This is how it was stored in his shop..




Got it home and started to clean it up......

 

Sorry to hear of friends loss, and the car looks like it needs some work, to get back running properly.

So when that happens, and you are behind the wheel think of your friend riding along with you enjoying the thrill.

 

Condolences on the loss of your cousin, he must have thought very highly of you to leave the Corvette to you.

Never seen that early blower setup before.
Looks like it has the air-to-water intercooler on it.
What a packaging puzzle there!
Great project to tackle.
Good luck with it and keep us all updated on the progress.

 

Condolences on then loss of your friend. What a nice gesture in him leaving the car to you. Best of luck getting things sorted out and then enjoying the car.

 

Keeping it then? Or converting it back to easy maintainable stock and reaporoaching the son?

I had a 28 stall, 48 acre sport horse farm and also lived out in the country. I'd still have wanted to cruise or rip around on occasion with dad's corvette.

 

Condolences for your cousin's passing. Get it fixed and keep the memory of your cousin with you always!

 

...I have told them several times that I am happy if they want it back. One of the sons is a disabled vet.... he cannot drive..... the other just said they were not Vette people, they are not down on the car, just not their thing..... After I see what it is going to take to get it back on the street I will reapproach them to see if they have misgivings or at least offer to pay for the car .... we will see..... at this time I'm trying to figure out if I should keep the Vortech on it or take it back stock..... about 50-50 on the opinions of that with my other Vette friends.....

What do you guys think? its an old Vortech kit that has been on the car a long time. The blower belt shredded teeth as I am sure it was the original on the car. It is a big job to replace the belt as you have to tear a lot of stuff of the front of the motor to get to it...... I would send the Head unit off to Vortech for a rebuild or at least inspection. Those A&A kits ae so simple compared to these early kits....

 

Six of one, half dozen of the other kind of deal.
Would likely be cheapest to return to stock.
Did you get the tuner that was used to tune it for the blower?
That would go a long way to returning it to stock, as the tuner should have the stock tune file backed up on it.
Your junior cousins really sound very disinterested in the car, but devoted to carrying out their father's wish that you should have it, so suggest just leaving it at that.
It's a great color combo, should come out looking very good whichever way you go.

 

I'd replace the belt and see how it drives. Ya it's old maybe but the car doesn't have many miles on it and who knows how many were on it when it was installed. It might run really nice, you wont know until it's replaced.

 

Check all the turning parts and engine to make sure they are all spinning freely before doing this.
Has to be a reason the belt was shredded and wasn't replaced long ago.

 

It will be easier to replace the belt since it is all set up for the blower. I will send the blower unit to Vortech to make sure it is up to spec. They will inspect it for a 100 bucks and if they replace seals and such it cost $500 for the upgrade. Cheap insurance I think. Also will replace idlers and belt tensioners just to rule out any of those things freezing up.... On this set up the drive belt can become out of adjustment or allowed to get loose on the pulleys...... maybe that is what happened. To replace the belt it has one bolt from behind that at this point hopefully we can get at when the car is raised up. lot of things were unusual on these older kits..... appreciate your input....

 

Sorry to hear about the loss of your cousin. It seems like he knew his kids didn't want anything to do with that car. It seems like he put a lot of his own sweat and tears into it and knew you'd at least try to get it road worthy of again. Keep us updated.

 

My C5 was also inherited, definitely get it going and drive the *** off it in your cousins memory.

 

Condolences on the loss of your cousin. Sounds like a good plan to bring the car back running the way your cousin had intended. Seems like your cousin left the car to you for that reason. Repair it and enjoy it and his memory.