Sorry guys, I need to vent....

[five-oh]

about this POS '86 I have! It's been sitting in the shop while I do stuff to it the former owners never dreamed of- stuff like normal maitnance. Finally got a couple of new tires on it to replace the rear tires, which were balder than I am. Changed the oil, chased down the freakin' coolant leak- throttle body hose was loose- O2 sensor replaced. I'm thinking I'll drive this thing to work next week while wifee's CTS is in the body shop and she's got my truck.


It was 75 degrees and beautiful outside, so I took the Corvette to my favorite BBQ stand about 25 miles away. Got ready to leave- dead battery. Got it jumped, going home, get on the interstate and get on it a bit getting on the onramp- and the POS shifted outta overdrive. Now no overdrive.

For what it's worth it's the hated 4+3 that someone has wired to a toggle switch, bypassing the factory setup. Guess I'll be giving Frizz's company ( or competitor) a bit of business Monday. :leaving:

Just need to vent. Carry on.

[Frizlefrak]

Take a breath......deep breath.......a couple sips of 'Shine....and it'll all be better :D

We've all been there. Many times. We'll all be there again. We're here to listen my brutha..... :cert:

[DukeAllen]

Take a breath......deep breath.......a couple sips of 'Shine....and it'll all be better :D

We've all been there. Many times. We'll all be there again. We're here to listen my brutha..... :cert:

:iagree: what he says. Sometimes we almost hate them when they let us down, but can't love them enough when they run right. Sorta like our wives:lol:

[five-oh]

:iagree: what he says. Sometimes we almost hate them when they let us down, but can't love them enough when they run right. Sorta like our wives:lol:

'tis true..... All the way to the BBQ stand, I was as thrilled as could be about how well it was running. I had almost convinced myself that I had NOT made a mistake trading off my dependable "girly-man" car for this toy. :D.


And by the way, Friz- I thought of you and Sweetsie today. A friend and I were talking about someone he knew that made old fashioned "Apple Pie" 'shine... I told him I knew at least two people that would probably enjoy that very much...:shots:

[PLRX]

Sell it and buy a newer one without problems. Cars that sits on shops are dead money pits like animals. You invest, invest and invest and get nothing back from it.

There are a lot of threads about the 4+3 in the CF. I hope that helps.

[five-oh]

Sell it and buy a newer one without problems. Cars that sits on shops are dead money pits like animals. You invest, invest and invest and get nothing back from it.

There are a lot of threads about the 4+3 in the CF. I hope that helps.

:D It crossed my mind to do just that. I knew going into it that this thing was gonna be a money pit, and truthfully, I anticipate doing some minor things to it and selling it for a small profit to some other lovestruck idiot that wants a 'vette. Did that with the '84, did it with the '93- I still regret selling that one- and will probably do it with this one. I'm in it cheap enough that if I sold it for $3500 I'd make a nice profit. I do alot of horsetrading.:D

Intentions are to acquire a LT4 - if I don't backslid and look for a FRC- within the next couple of years- a nice one that I don't have to work on constantly, just normal maitnance. But, in the meantime while I scrimp, save, and pay bills, driving this thing a few miles a weekend still scratches the itch for a 'vette. And the wife isn't killing me about it either. Three of these cars has taught her that I'm a happier husband with a Corvette, no matter how ragged. :lol:

[Frizlefrak]

Happy wife, happy life. :cert:

And that Apple Pie 'Shine sounds mighty fine.... :D

[C4fan]

Bobby, you are not alone for sure. Everyone knows the issues I've had since the stroker build. I haven't put on 300 miles in the last year and most of that was diagnostic runs. The worst part was that it was actually very dependable before. Anyway, I still enjoy the experience and learn every time I beat the cars attempt to make me look bad. Just have fun with it.

[RetiredSFC 97]

These things amaze me. For a car so expensive, fast, and cool, the build quality is about that of a friggin yugo.

My dang PCV is spitting oil, I had to rebuild my ignition switch, I had to adjust my park brake because they failed to put a self adjusting mechanism on after the engineers tried to get them to.

If I ever get of rid of my FRC, that's it for me and vettes. I'm not looking to, but if it happens I will.

chrysler products are thought of to be the worst. Heck I've had practically no issues on my Dodge Ram and it's a 97 with 120K on it.

I put 5K into my 90, mostly stuff the PO didn't address. Little things that added up, I sold it with 67K on it. Now this thing is no different and it has 77K now.

I can see why an owner may let some things slide. It gets rediculous after awhile.

[Wathen1955]

These things amaze me. For a car so expensive, fast, and cool, the build quality is about that of a friggin yugo.
:iagree:
I'm always telling Pete how much of a shitty job they did with the interior. I could not imagine back in 1996 paying $35k for this car. That was a lot of money back then. Buying my 96 for $12k was better in 2009. My Ford F150 Crew Cab runs perfect. I've had 2 coil packs go out, and just a few weeks ago, I had new upper and lower ball joints installed. Prior to this, I never had the truck aligned. It always steered perfectly straight and never had abnormal tire wear. Never drips oil either. I have 127k on the clock; however, I do like the vette for a fun drive.

[RedLS1GTO]

I think a big factor that goes widely overlooked in terms of quality is what we ask these cars to do.

My old GMC Yukon has 175,000 miles on it and runs like a champ. ... I've also never asked it to turn 6k rpm, pull high speed, High G turns, etc.

[Taurus]

These things amaze me. For a car so expensive, fast, and cool, the build quality is about that of a friggin yugo.

My dang PCV is spitting oil, I had to rebuild my ignition switch, I had to adjust my park brake because they failed to put a self adjusting mechanism on after the engineers tried to get them to.

If I ever get of rid of my FRC, that's it for me and vettes. I'm not looking to, but if it happens I will.

chrysler products are thought of to be the worst. Heck I've had practically no issues on my Dodge Ram and it's a 97 with 120K on it.

I put 5K into my 90, mostly stuff the PO didn't address. Little things that added up, I sold it with 67K on it. Now this thing is no different and it has 77K now.

I can see why an owner may let some things slide. It gets rediculous after awhile.

I guess I've been lucky, I've had my 04 for 2 years now and other than an oil pressure sending unit, it's been perfect although I do have too much right front tire wear that none of my customers that do quality alignments can figure out. I'm on the hunt for another project and thinking I want another C3. I missed out on a fairly rare big block car a couple years ago when family members got involved, but maybe that's what I'm craving. Spring is here so on with the search.............

[mike100]

Don't even remind me that my C6 will probably turn into a big steaming pile of UAW's and GM's finest in a few years... I was just chasing down pedal squeaks of all things...not just one pedal- 2 out of 3.

I was a little surprised at how many things went south on my 91 with only 30k miles on it...obviously some was age related and other abuse.

$35k was waaay out of my league in the early 90's...I remember my 92 Z-28 cost $17k new and that payment kept me busy. I think it was about $300 a month...I rented a room in a 3 room house for $335/mo as perspective. A discounted ZR-1 at $55K -$57k was strictly for rockstars, business owners, and drug dealers.

[RedLS1GTO]

My 02Z hasn't been too terribly bad.

I have had it since 2005 and put 60k miles on it... many of those in anger. In the time I have owned it, I have had the following issues:


Driver's seat rock - annoying and one of the piss poor quality items, but an easy fix
Clutch switch (that needs to be pushed for the car to start) - couldn't figure out why it wouldn't turn over. Turned out that the switch bracket got bent somehow. I probably kicked it with my work boots. 5 second fix once I figured out what it was
3 killed batteries - I blame Optima. Current Interstate is going on year 3 with no issues. It killed Optima red tops in less than a year each.
Water Pump - no idea what caused it, but it flat out broke the impellar drive. It wasn't an age related failure. The C5 "Reduced Power Mode" got me home no problem.

EBCM - This is the only 1 that really bothers me. IMO, the weak spot of the C5. It is almost a 100% guarantee that it will go out before 100k miles. At a few hundred dollars a pop to fix, that is unacceptable


Maybe it is because I have no problem fixing things myself, but I think the pleasure way outweighs the pain of those things.

[RetiredSFC 97]

I have had the seat rock, the PCV is throwing oil on the TB, my EBCM is out, but it comes and goes so it may just be a ground, but it mostly goes, had to adjust the parking brake, front turn signal bulb (another thing caused by bad seals), the ignition switch, that's all I can think of. Oh yeah, I have the paint bubble and my paint is terrible. I know I'll never win a show, but I don;'t care about that anyway.

But I don't run the piss out of it. Just drive, sometimes with spirit. But it is fun and as long as I can fix it myself or have money to pay for what I can't fix I'll keep on smiling.:lol::dance:

Oh yeah, one of my flags blew off

[Vette Jockey]

Happy wife, happy life. :cert:

And that Apple Pie 'Shine sounds mighty fine.... :D

:iagree: :cert:

[five-oh]

Today was bad close to perfect. Sunny, in the 70's- perfect Corvette weather. I put the new battery on mine, performed some troubleshooting and determined that the problem with my overdrive was very simple. The plug had came disconnected at the overdrive solenoid, and the wire that the previous owner had bypassed the factory set up with had fallen on the exhaust and was burnt up. Twenty minutes and some new wire, and I had a working overdrive again. I drove the car most of the day, around 100 miles, with no issues. :dance:

I ALMOST traded it for a Harley sportster last night. Dude and I were gonna talk today about it....much as I love the Harley, I think I'm gonna keep the vette. At least until the next time it ticks me off.:D

[Sweet 90]

I ALMOST traded it for a Harley sportster last night. Dude and I were gonna talk today about it....much as I love the Harley, I think I'm gonna keep the vette. At least until the next time it ticks me off.:D

Sooo Bobby, you'll have a Harley tomorrow:D:leaving:

[C4fan]

Sooo Bobby, you'll have a Harley tomorrow:D:leaving:

:iagree: but don't ya love the loose wire fix.

[Frizlefrak]

:iagree: but don't ya love the loose wire fix.

Bitch to find, seconds to fix. :yesnod: