97 Corvette Daily Driver

Alright guys so in the last week Ive got some parts and quite a bit of work done.

New timing cover.

PCV Hose assembly, mine was torn.

Started disassembling it.

Dropped the old exhaust to get the flywheel holder in place.

In this pic you can see the old oil pressure switch. They fail often, and are a whore to get to.Later I plan on swapping to an LS6 intake and removing all the evap E36 M3, so R&Ring the intake should e much easier. So I got a new shiny OPS in there.

Got the rack out and access to the harmonic balancer.

Removed it and you can see where the outer ring has separated from the inner part of the hub and moved forward.

Got the new timing cover and balancer on, made it all the way to 140 of rotation, excited because in the past I havent been able to get past 120 on other LS engines. This is why I changed the timing cover...damage from wobbling harmonic balancer

Then I thought, well it will be much easier to reassemble everything if the radiator is back in the correct location. So Im gonna go ahead and swap in the new radiator cradle.

Old and Busted

Next to New Hotness. Yes this mofo was mangled, these pictures do not accurately display the damage, it was fubarred. And from what I can tell the crazy damage was from contact with a curb. Some damage is normal on C5 and C6 these things take a beating. You'll notice the busted air dam mounted on the new cradle, I though about using it temporarily but its too busted and they are only about 90 bucks so Im just gonna put a new one on, just gotta order one.

The worst of it was the front mount, there are four, on the pass side, the nut sert (its like a nut thats riveted into the frame) was torn from the frame. I was feeling lazy and though if I can save the other 3 nutserts Ill just tack the bracket in place on the front nut sert....Or so I though.

I got it all removed with no craziness, well it was starting to get late and I thought, Ive got enough daylight and time (the woman was coming over), Ill go ahead and throw the new one in.

So rushing I cross threaded the other pass side nut sert causing it to spin in the frame. E36 M3TTTTT. Called it a night. Came back at it later. Had to cut the nut. knock the nut sert out, I was going to install another nut sert but figured Id just have the same problem in the future so I tacked a nut to some steel and welded the steel in place, with the nut inside the frame. I have no pics of the work, but I can tell you it looks E36 M3ty but is strong.

I also bought this HF flux core welder for 99 doll hairs. Stuck some lincoln .035 wire in it, and I think I got my moneys worth out of it. I havent welded in over 10 years and I only learned arc welding and got pretty good at it but I couldnt arc weld it with the available room and doing it on my back.

So today I finished up my brackets, got the new cradle hung, got the rack back in, and got the engine assembled. All I need to do is put the starter back on, hang the exhaust back up, and torque the intake manifold, put the a/c cycling switch on, and charge the A/C and see what it does.

New cradle, youll notice the lack of an air dam

By the way, I despise old style gaskets, whatever they are made out of, one of my favorite things about the LS motors is most of the commonly service gaskets are reusable (I did go ahead and swap the intake gaskets just so I dont have to do it later) and high quality. I do alot of waterpumps on 5.3s at the shop and they always have these sweet metal WP gaskets with a built in rubber part, so you just pry them off and slap new ones on. I WISH ALL CARS WERE LIKE THIS. The old school paper WP gaskets were the bane of my existence on my LT1, I pulled the waterpump, SO MANY times, and I hated trying to get in there with a little gasket scraper, screw driver, razor blade whatever, well I was really excited about this little tid bit on my first LS1.

GAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

It took forever to get them off. Then once shes operable, I will change the fluids, and do the brakes.

A bunch of GM dealership shop managers probably got on the manufacturer about using rubber gaskets instead of paper ones.

So i just fixed all my broken links for pics. Also went and bought some parts today. WOOO.

Got 7 qts of Mobil 1, Purolator Pure One Filter, Royal Purple PS fluid (The dealership couldnt get me the weird synthetic stuff they recommend today), GM Trans Fluid (its just Dex 3 but their license for that name has run out so now they just sell it under 88861800. Wanted to run a good synthetic but early T56s have paper blockler rings and synthetics cause problems.), Exhaust gaskets, tie rod end nut (Lost one when working), coolant (not shown, Dexcool), brass barb fitting for TB Bypass, a pump for trans fluid exchange, and some 7/64s vacuum hose.

Exhaust gaskets. None of the parts houses listed anything but the manifold gaskets, but I was able to gaskets for the manifold/hpipe connection, and hpipe/muffler connection. Took a picture for other vette owners looking for these because a GM dealer thats normally real good on pricing is a little over twice as much as these.

Have to wait to change the fluids until my minion gets here with a good inch/lbs torque wrench so I can finally get the manifold torqued down, fire her up, and get her to operating temperature.

Got my new A/C switch in.

Got my exhaust reinstalled

TB Bypass Done

Also fixed the vacuum line for the fuel pressure regulator

Got her all buttoned up, and fired up. Changed the oil and burped the cooling system, but didnt drive her because the headlights dont go down, and I now have a CEL. So ill hook up the scanner tomorrow and see what I left unplugged.

One tiny bit of advice - ditch the dexcool.

Lots of good work otherwise.

How many people headed to CL to look for $8500 Corvettes?

pinchvalve wrote: How many people headed to CL to look for $8500 Corvettes?

Found one! Now to go find 8 grand.. http://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/cto/4430999270.html

You can find autos lower than manuals, Ive seen more than a handful for sell at those prices.

Also I got this thing running yesterday and had a CEL, unhooked battery to delete it and it came right back on and had an extended crank. Awesome I left something unhooked. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, don't be behind the intake manifold.

So I bring my scanner back home from work today a little after 8 oclock and pull the code. P0342, low input from cam sensor. Okay so I left the cam sensor unplugged. Wonder where it is on these engines....

Yes right behind the intake, low. This pic is not mine its from a suburban or something, so I have much less room. After trying to ram my hand back there, I bit the bullet and starting pulling intake manifold bolts. Well by 10, I had it plugged back in with the intake reinstalled, just need to torque the intake down, Ill do that tomorrow.

Well everyone talks about how much better an engine the LS1 is compared to the LT1, well I tell you, it took me much longer than a month to become this familiar with my LT1.

Anyways, Ive almost got this thing running and driving again so I cant complain too much.

So Ive been driving it lately. After the first couple drives the IPC (instrument panel cluster) speaker, you know the one that beeps and chimes for the doors and stuff, started making all kinds of crazy noises non stop. Loud to.

Well after cleaning all the grounds and tracing the the vss output wire. The speedo still didn't work.

Well the speaker is driven by one of the many boards in the IPC that gm never released any schematics for so repairing isn't available and most just cut the wires. I will not admit defeat and figured the cluster could also be the cause of the speedo problems. So I started hunting.

Ebay had prices ranging from 300-500 for good used ones when searching for IPC and gauge cluster, and 200 for ones for parts, but I realized none of the big recyclers were present so I started thinking... then searched corvette speedometer. BOOM LKQ had a ggod used one for 125. Ordered it and installed it. No more noise and speedo works.

Bought a new air dam and tire spats with hardware

Drove it today and got 32 mpg at hwy speed according to the IPC.

Had it aligned and charged the A/C charged. Blows cold but weakly, don't know If it's E36 M3ty GM blower motors like the Camaro or its just getting weak. Will probably pick one up and throw it in to see what it does.

Changed the trans fluid. By the way GM doesn't sell Dex 3 anymore. Some licensing thing, so you have to buy it under a different name, part number on the bottle. Synthetic fluids are not acceptable in early t56s due to paper blocker rings.

PS. Buddy at work who gave me E36 M3 about buying it with problems told me today after seeing me drive it, he's a little jealous. I think I agree with him, I hate it much less now that I'm driving it.

I was told the front "skis" on the rad support (the ones that tend to hit parking blocks) are replaceable without doing the whole thing. Is there any truth to that?

No they are part of the radiator support. But the radiator support is a pretty easy job if yours isn't fubarred. Some people install thick plastic covers or rollers which are replaceable .

So Ive been driving the car these last few weeks, and shes been driving pretty well.

After all the work, I have an on again off again MIL, it will stay on for 2 days and then stay off for 2 days. Its a lean code. Ill smoke the system when I get some time, probably have a vacuum leak.

A/C was nice and cold for all of two days, so Ive got a leak somewhere. Put it under a UV Light this morning. Its a chevy so the first place I look is the compressor, and of course it looks like predators been chopped in half and bled all over my compressor. No biggie, A/C doesnt bother me, I had to do it on the camaro, and I bought a good delphi/delco compressor, expansion valve, drier, and condensor, back flushed everything, replaced all the seals, charged it and didnt have to worry about it again. So ill probably do that in a week or two.

Blower motor is also weak, but they are only like 50 on rock auto, Ill pull it down, and if there isnt anything in it and the evaporator isnt clogged, then Ill just order a new one.

All this E36 M3 news, I did have some good news. Car had a Service Tire Monitor warning on cluster. PO said he had some sensors put in but they where bad. I figured he was full of E36 M3, but decided I would try a reset, it requires a magnet on early C5s, cant do it with a TPMS tool, or by letting air out like most cars. Well with a really strong magnet i got a signal from all 4 and they have been working the last 2 weeks, I didnt have to buy anything, kinda opposite of everything else on the car.

So today I started tearing the seats apart, to figure out what I needed on the seat rails, remember it rocks so far back on accel that your foot comes off the gas pedal, unless you have the seat supported.

Started with taking the targa top off.

Remember I said I needed a new top, notice how dull this one is. I always thought it was cracking, apparently its just a coating on top that cracks and it can be polished out, mine does have 2 actual cracks though so I dont know if Ill polish this one or not, plus I want a body colored one.

He is a picture looking through it.

Also keep in mind its not dirty, both inside and out were wiped down. The corvette guys call this "crazing" Im pretty sure thats not a word.

This is a link to the repair process for future reference.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-tech/2020059-targa-top-refinsh-how-to.html

After roof is out, remove four bolts and a connector or two and boom seat comes out.

Also, PO was a berkeleying slob. This made me realize, I will not buy a basket case ever again, unless its a sub 2K car. I forgot how much I hate cleaning up PO's mess, it had been 8 years since I did it on the camaro, and I forgot how mad it makes me. I can fix broken, no prob, I hate fixing laziness and sloppiness. The lighting hides all the stains, and a lot of the E36 M3. I vacuumed it, and it looks better, Ill shampoo it before I put the seats back in and I found a tear I need to sow up.

Here is the trashed ass seat, I did seats and interior last on the Z28 and it made it a much nicer driver, so Im doing it first this time for obvious reasons. Thing sitting on the seat is a bolster support, you'll see more later. It wasnt attached and I was able to pull it through the gaping hole in the bolster.

This seat was quite a surprise, didnt have any of the common issues, but a few i havent heard of. Flip it over to check what's causing the "Rocking Seat" as the vette guys call it.

Found it.

Notice one is attached to the aluminum bracket and the other isnt, those are the gears for the motors that raise and lower the seat and since the front one isnt attached to its brace, it allows the front of the seat to go up and down as it pleases. No prob I can get a bolt and run it through the brace to hold it in place, it's normally held in with a long rivet looking thing, it has two smooth heads so I have no idea what it is.

Start removing covers and found another reason to hate the PO. This is the recline handle, notice it doesnt seem to fit right. Well Im pretty sure it's not the right one for the car, as it touches the bezel, Im also pretty sure its why the front of the bezel is broken, you can see how it hangs down and the front screw hole is broken.

All my internet sleuthing shows this to be the right handle but its hard to find pictures of the side of a seat.

Got the covers off, not so bad, should be easy to recover them, it only has like 4 hog rings and most of it is held on with ties or zippers.

See where the bolster support is missing on the right side, the hinge was all mangled to, but I was able to straighten it. Its just held on with some rinky dink rivets, so I can just rivet it back on.

Also found that all the air bags are air tight and all the motors are working, that is a common issue with these.

When I was messing with the motors, trying to secure the gear, I notice the big aluminum brakcet is loose. Its held in with the big rivet thingies. So I have no Idea how I can repair this. In the picture you can see the top one doesnt protrude over the bracket but is kinda smooth, so I really only have one holding it and its starting to get loose. I figure Ill have to buy another rail unless you guys have a better idea. The other side of the rivet is not accessible.

I also pulled the worm gear out of the rails to replace what normally causes the seat rock, rubber insulator bushings. Mine were still rubber and fine, replaced them anyways, since I had it apart.

Link for normal rocking seat fix http://www.lieblweb.com/c5seatfix.html

So now I just have to figure out what to do with the rails, I wish I could just find manual rails, but they are rare, order my foam, and order my covers. I found some vinyl covers I really like, but Im waiting on the material samples so i can verify it's a good match.

Also would you guys do a black, white, or seat color corvette script and stitching. In the seat picture, you can see where corvette is embroidered on the back. Im leaning towards firethorn red stitching to match the material, but im torn on the corvette script, considering white, cause I think it will look best, but I have no white in the car, was thinking a white hurst shift ball but Im doing a C6 shifter with stock C6 knob, Im not sure black would look good with the dark red material.

Any advice on the rails.

In reply to Opti:

What color vinyl on the seats? If you are going with the same color red then I'd do black stitching. But if it were mine I'd do black vinyl with red script.

In reply to Petrolburner:

Same color as factory. Heard back from the manufacturer and he said they have the burgundy thread to match so I'm just gonna stick with all firethorn red like factory.

Still trying to figure out the rail situation. Boston thinks I can get a big rivet and fix the bracket. Having trouble sourcing big rivets like that though.

Opti wrote: After roof is out, remove four bolts and a connector or two and boom seat comes out.

is that a condom package next to the drill? is that why guys get 'vettes?

Yes. Yes it is.

And its a magnum, so apparently the myth about a compensator is false in this case.

Yah I vacuumed up like 3 others from under the seat the first time I vacuumed the car, then found another when I removed the seat.

I was wondering how long it would take someone to notice.

That's nasty. Every time I dig into a car and clean under hard to access areas like that, all I can think of is the Mighty Car Mods guys and their descriptive term "human slime". The condoms are a nice touch.

Dusterbd13 wrote: And its a magnum, so apparently the myth about a compensator is false in this case.

Nah, more like this

Got a big box today.

WOOHOO New foam.

Yes I got foam for both seats. I figured out the rails, i found a broken one for cheap, I know I can fix. Still waiting on material samples for the seats, should have them tomorrow or friday. Ordered a new seat control bezel and recline handle, just waiting so I can get these seats done.

By the way. Im seriously considering plasti dipping the whole car in a matte pearl white.

So I got the new rail in. YAY. Well broken rail, thought it'd be repairable. key word thought. Broken part

Also one thing I missed when looking at my old broken rail, was the stop holding the plastic peace to the threaded gear. I assumed I could unthread the broken piece on the new rail and thread on the good one from my rail. I was wrong.

I was pretty bent out of shape at the idea of spending 425 on a reman rail after already spending 175 for a broken one that wasnt repairable.

Then I figured if its not fixable its not a huge deal if I ruin it trying to fix it. Ground off rivet

Pulled it off

Took broken piece off, and threaded the not broken one on, then tacked it in place. You'll see there is a little burnt plastic, not too bad just charred it a little.

I also managed to kill my battery when removing the seat by leaving the key in the on position. Tried and tried and tried to recharged it, tried 2,6,20,30, and 60 amps. Cant get it to come back more than 127 CCA. So no I get to buy a battery. probably an Optima. Buddies had the same one across 11 years and 3 cars.

FINALLY Got my seat material samples in.

They are laid on top of the cleanest part of the seat cover I could find. the bottom is leather and is a perfect match, the top two are vinyl, only difference is the size of the grain. They are less pink in real life and more just a slightly lighter burgundy. Im thinking the bigger grain on the vynil but the factory seat has very little texture to the stock "leather" so Im not sure. Any recommendations?

Got my new seat control bezel in and the correct seat recline handle (top one).

Riveted the left bolster back on, still need to straighten the hinge a little bit.

I need to get the rails tested before I button everything up, buy the battery and order my seat covers.

According to the seller my covers should be here tomorrow. In anticipation, I wanted to get my rails ready to go. Just needed to finish putting new bushings on the carriage for the worm gear, to prevent the seat rock that is so common.

Guy I bought the rails from said they never had a rocking issue, just the broken plastic piece. whatever Im gonna do it for piece of mind, I dont ever want to berkeley with these things again.

Well I got my bushings in, and went to work on my rail, and I broken it. DAMN. okay it was probably already broken but it actually came apart while I was handling it.

See the crack. it actually broke but I set it back together for the picture.

It is cast aluminum and commonly breaks. The have an aftermarket fix, but I already order the 25 dollar bushings, and the repair kit is only available with the bushings. Ah whats another 25 dollars wasted.

Well the new parts came in and I got to it today.

Remove the worm gear. The rubber bushings in the carriage wear out and allow the seat to rock a little. These were pretty bad, so much for "no problems besides broken plastic piece, no rock prior to broken piece." The first one wasnt bad the second one had turned into goo and had to be scraped out.

Disassemble and clean.

Grease, and install new plastic bushings and reassemble.

Cut rivet off broken tab, and punch roll pin out.

Replace broken tab with steel one. Slide stand in rail, so the bolt has something to thread into where the rivet was. Then repeat bushing replacement on other side, and you have a rebuilt seat rail.

Im really anxious about driving this thing, it's been too long. While poking around under hood I did find why Ive had an on again off again MIL. I am stupid and didnt hook my intake tub up to my airbridge. It was sitting close enough to not notice unless you were looking, but it was letting unmetered air in after the MAF.

Why didn't you want to buy Corbeau reclining sport seats? They're affordable, good, and stock C5 seats are not regarded as a good sports car seat.