My 1996 Corvette

T

TheTodd

Noob
This is my summer fun car... or as I like to call it... the reason I can’t afford better gear for my SQ car.

I really have a bad habit of buying decent fixer-upper cars, fixing them, getting bored with them, then selling them only to repeat the process. I’m still working on the fixing with this car but this is the first one I think I can say I’ll probably keep for a long time. This car puts a smile on my face like no other has before. I just started a build log for the stereo, which will be pretty basic, but I’ll keep this one for all the other fixins & upgrades.

The car:
View attachment 8697
It’s got 95 ZR1 wheels on it which are 17x9 & 17x11 & LT4 Grand Sport motor. 330hp/340tq
View attachment 8698View attachment 8699

To start, when I bought the car it had a nasty habit of marking its territory with oil everywhere it went and the additional plus was the occasional white smoke and burning oil smell in the car. Then shortly after came the slipping clutch. Upon inspection someone slathered the intake manifold gasket area with RTV. It calls for a THIN BEAD of silicone between the heads along the valley. I guess someone thought slathering it all over would be better. So, $1800 later I had a new clutch, solid flywheel conversion (rather that OEM dual-mass), new valve cover gaskets, intake manifold gasket, new rear main seal and clutch slave cylinder.

While the exhaust was off to do the clutch, I decided to do a muffler delete. I picked up the pipes with OEM tips for $180 and it was the best decision I made so far. It sounds so bad ass and it’s not as obnoxious as you’d think. Wide open throttle will make you grin ear to ear though.
View attachment 8700

This was now the time I discovered that with hard/quick shifts the shift pattern cap would fly out of the top of the shifter so... time for a new shift knob.
View attachment 8701

I’m now in the process of replacing or repairing interior trim pieces. I also have a decent sized order coming as I type with some new goodies including some new intake pieces (more HPs... yay) as well as other assorted parts to fix a wobbly passenger mirror and a screw kit to replace a LOT of missing fasteners throughout the interior.

The car itself is a really nice 5-footer. The stripes are not factory and were poorly done.
View attachment 8702View attachment 8703View attachment 8715
These are just 3 examples of what the stripes over the whole car look like. There’s also overspray ALL over the entire car from the stripe painting. The last owner tried to take good care of it but didn’t do a great job so there’s scratches all over the entire car. Being a professional detailer I still couldn’t get it to where I’m happy so a repaint is in order. I’ve really been contemplating Plasti-Dip and dipping the whole car in Shadow Black from DipYourCar.com. While I do like the stripes, and get compliments on them all the time I’m not sure if I’ll re-stripe it or not.
 
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The coolant reservoir also decided to spring a leak so that got replaced. The bracket that holds the ECM is broken so the last owner zip-tied it in place and some of the weatherstripping is cracked & dry rotted. Luckily it only leaks under extreme downpours and I rarely drive it when it’s supposed to rain. When that does happen I get a small drip from the roof near the windshield so if I have to drive it in the rain I just put a towel on the passenger seat.

Here’s what some of the seals look like
View attachment 8714
Nothing major, but it’s on my list to replace.
 
Sweet. Too bad those stripes are sketchy, I like the look. Should be a fun car, LT1's are torquey :)
 
TheTodd said:
This is my summer fun car... or as I like to call it... the reason I can’t afford better gear for my SQ car.
Click to expand...

I have two of those now. My '89 S-10 LQ4 swap and now a '99 Neon I bought as a daily (and MECA stock class Installation car.)

Jay
 
If you’re interested in a set of wheels & tires for the S10 project I’ll make you a deal on mine. With 315 wide tires on 11” wide wheels in the rear it should help that thing hook up.
 
I got a smidge of work done this week over my lunch breaks. A little while back I ordered a new shifter console plate and had to get a cheap Chinese knock-off because the original ones from GM are now made from unobtanium. Of course the knock-off version has that stupid rubberized coating on it. And just from laying my phone on the cup holder door it got all scratched/scuffed and it got kind of sticky.

View attachment 8751

So after soaking it in a mild cleaner and scrubbing with a Scotch Brite pad I finally got the stupid stuff off. A couple coats of Duplicolor Flat Black later...

View attachment 8752

It’s not perfect but you can only see the small imperfections close up and I highly doubt anyone is going to get their face THAT close when it’s in the car. Since it’s supposed to be 60* this weekend I’m hoping to get some actual work done on this thing. In addition to not wanting to work in the cold I really don’t want to risk breaking plastic parts... especially when some are made of the previously mentioned unobtanium.
 
TheTodd said:
This is my summer fun car... or as I like to call it... the reason I can’t afford better gear for my SQ car.

I really have a bad habit of buying decent fixer-upper cars, fixing them, getting bored with them, then selling them only to repeat the process. I’m still working on the fixing with this car but this is the first one I think I can say I’ll probably keep for a long time. This car puts a smile on my face like no other has before. I just started a build log for the stereo, which will be pretty basic, but I’ll keep this one for all the other fixins & upgrades.

The car:
View attachment 8697
It’s got 95 ZR1 wheels on it which are 17x9 & 17x11 & LT4 Grand Sport motor. 330hp/340tq
View attachment 8698View attachment 8699

To start, when I bought the car it had a nasty habit of marking its territory with oil everywhere it went and the additional plus was the occasional white smoke and burning oil smell in the car. Then shortly after came the slipping clutch. Upon inspection someone slathered the intake manifold gasket area with RTV. It calls for a THIN BEAD of silicone between the heads along the valley. I guess someone thought slathering it all over would be better. So, $1800 later I had a new clutch, solid flywheel conversion (rather that OEM dual-mass), new valve cover gaskets, intake manifold gasket, new rear main seal and clutch slave cylinder.

While the exhaust was off to do the clutch, I decided to do a muffler delete. I picked up the pipes with OEM tips for $180 and it was the best decision I made so far. It sounds so bad ass and it’s not as obnoxious as you’d think. Wide open throttle will make you grin ear to ear though.
View attachment 8700

This was now the time I discovered that with hard/quick shifts the shift pattern cap would fly out of the top of the shifter so... time for a new shift knob.
View attachment 8701

I’m now in the process of replacing or repairing interior trim pieces. I also have a decent sized order coming as I type with some new goodies including some new intake pieces (more HPs... yay) as well as other assorted parts to fix a wobbly passenger mirror and a screw kit to replace a LOT of missing fasteners throughout the interior.

The car itself is a really nice 5-footer. The stripes are not factory and were poorly done.
View attachment 8702View attachment 8703View attachment 8715
These are just 3 examples of what the stripes over the whole car look like. There’s also overspray ALL over the entire car from the stripe painting. The last owner tried to take good care of it but didn’t do a great job so there’s scratches all over the entire car. Being a professional detailer I still couldn’t get it to where I’m happy so a repaint is in order. I’ve really been contemplating Plasti-Dip and dipping the whole car in Shadow Black from DipYourCar.com. While I do like the stripes, and get compliments on them all the time I’m not sure if I’ll re-stripe it or not.
Click to expand...
Don't ever get rid of that car! There is nothing else like a torquey V8 with a manual transmission in a real sports car. Regarding your shift knob, Hurst makes some damn fine shifters, complete with knobs.
 
ckirocz28 said:
Don't ever get rid of that car! There is nothing else like a torquey V8 with a manual transmission in a real sports car. Regarding your shift knob, Hurst makes some damn fine shifters, complete with knobs.
Click to expand...

ckirocz28 said:
That LT4 intake is pretty damn good, I'm guessing you're getting a throttle body?
Click to expand...

Nope. I just went with some simple bolt-ons. I don’t plan on doing any more HP upgrades. The 330 this thing has stock is plenty for me. As for the shift knob, the pic above is the new one. I got it from Speed Dawgs shift knobs. I highly recommend them. They have good pricing and LOTS of designs to choose from.
 
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Stock intake :
View attachment 8766View attachment 8767

And I replaced it with this:
View attachment 8768View attachment 8769

I'm not 100% sold on the fitment. You can see how the one side of the filter is bowed in a little. I’m not sure if it’ll affect anything but I’m definitely going to keep an eye on that. I also replaced one of the accordion boots with a smooth one. Some people say the accordion boots collapse under heavy acceleration but I have no way to confirm that. It seemed pretty firm when I took it off but, if nothing else, it should provide smoother airflow into the throttle body.

I also managed to replace both broken seat release bezels, fixed my wobbly passenger side mirror, and realized that replacing the broken ECM bracket is beyond my capabilities. Apparently it’s integrated into the mounting for the brake booster and I’m not comfortable removing that myself so... that’ll have to wait.
 
Good to know! For that price I just may buy it just to have it. So far they work without any issue (crossing fingers & knocking on wood) and I very rarely even drive it at night so they hardly ever get used. If it’s an I can see but need to be seen issue I run just the fog lights. In the last 2.5 years I think I’ve used the headlights maybe 3 times.
 
So I did a thing on Friday and made a purchase for the car that will be here by Friday of this week (so I’m told). Pics will follow as soon as said package arrives. *I’M SO EXCITED!!!!*
 
They showed up a day early... yay!

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18x9.5 for the front and 18x10.5 for the rear. If anyone is in the market for OEM or OEM replica wheels I HIGHLY recommend OEWheelsLLC.com. Pricing was great, customer service was awesome and shipping from FL to PA was 3 days. Four wheels mounted, balanced & shipped were less than 4 new tires for the 17s currently on the car.
 
What did the dip cost you? My 92 needs some paint at some point, the satin black looks pretty nice.
 
It was right around $900. The only drawback is that it’s a little trickier, maintenance wise, to take care of vs. paint. Most car wash soaps have wax in them which you cannot use. For the most part my car only comes out of the garage on nice days so it only really gets dusty so it just gets a wipe down with a damp microfiber towel. Sometimes I wish I went with a different color, but I stuck with black so I wouldn’t have to get the jambs sprayed because, obviously, the black gets dirty quick. Other than that I’m glad I did it. It gets lots of compliments & it looks better than the jagged-edge stripes the last guy put on... and it was a fraction of the cost of a regular paint job.

Check out www.dipyourcar.com to check out colors, options, etc. They also have a TON of videos on YouTube.
 
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