1988 Convertible for sunny day drives

[Rruuff Day]

Well, as life always does, it jumped up and bit me in the butt.

On friday, my back went out. Spent the night in the hospital and am now honbling around the house. It’s an old injury that jumps up and drops me every now and then. Broke it on a medivac a couple hundred miles off Sable Island in 2002 and now have a disc bulge at L5/S1 that the MRI says “nerve impingement”. Which is a nice way to say it’s going to drop you like a sack of bricks when you least expect it and for no particular reason.

Work on the Vette will have to be “curtailed” for the next while (on the order of months, at the least). Hard to bend over to reach anything below my waistline right now and as we all know, the Vette is...loooowwww.

To add to the misery, money has gotten kind of tight for the next couple months.

So the Vette will be mostly linited to some polishing work and a few fixes (ie: AC).

It also has me rethinking the plans.

Not sure if it will be done anytine soon, but I sure like the idea of a 427 Ci small block under that long, low black hood.

But...the upside is (out of our stable of vehicles) the Vette is the most comfortable vehicle I have for my back. The reclined position is the best for my back and the C4 has a very nicely “open” seating postion. It’s just the getting in (and out) thats a bit of a challange....lol!

Sorry to hear about the back Tourmax. That really sucks. Rest up...don't push it...read lots of past and future threads on the forum, and keep us up to date on thngs on the East coast....

 

[12cents]

Ditto, look after your back and research your plans for the Corvette in the meantime. The car is still enjoyable as is but a messed up back is never. Take care of the important one.

 

[Tourmax]

Rainy day and house bound.

Seems like a good day to take the C4 racing in the Bernese alps!

Ok, yeah: it’s just Forza 6 on xbox. But at least it’s a ZR1 and it’s putting the hurt on a feild of Ferrari’s!

lol!

 

[Tourmax]

Alrighty. I got tired of that big spoiler hanging off the back of the Vette:

It is a “real” Greenwood body kit, but that great big spoiler looks like it would be more at home on something like a Honda Civic with a fart can sticking out the back than a “sports car” like my C4.

I’d like to say it came off easily, but my life never runs out that way. Half the 6 nuts came off the spoiler studs, the other 3 just spun in the fibreglass. I ended up taking most of the rear apart and cutting two of the studs off and the third ended up pulling out through the fiberglass “foot” on the spoiler.

But, I gotta say, it looks much better without that big drying rack hanging off the back:

The crappy part is they bored out 6 rather large holes to mount that abortion:

Seriously, did they have to bore out such large holes? I get that you want soem "fudge room" to get it aligned properly, but these buggers are so F'n large the nuts nearly pull right through them!

The paint I can fix easily enough with the rotary buffer, but those holes are a problem.

I’ve got a couple options in mind.

One is a small “lip spoiler” that will give the car a small bit of the modified look and tie in the lower body work. Something along these lines:

It will cover the 3 rear holes, which is a plus. The front holes? Well, I’m thinking fill and paint or maybe a couple black “decals” to cover them over until I can fill them properly.

Second option is to fill and paint. That's something I can manage at home myself if I have to.

Third option is a new rear bumper. Which will means lots of $$$ and a respray probably.

Fourth option is making a full custom fiberglass rear spoiler that will be nice and small yet cover the holes.

Right now, I’m leaning towards option one...

 

[Rruuff Day]

Option one would be my choice as well. She needs a lip there to set off the look IMO.

 

[12cents]

Yep agree that the ironing board off looks a lot better. And agree that with the body kit something is required to tie the back end to the rest of the car in looks. I think the subtle looks of a lip spoiler is the way to go. How hard would it be to fashion up one of your own design that would cover all 6 holes?

 

[Tourmax]

So, I've been looking at what's available:

Yeah, not really a big fan of most of those. They look like "stick on" stuff.

I actually kinda like the Shinoda rear:

But, in other pictures, it looks pretty big and perhaps just a little...."more"....than what i had in mind.

So, it looks like I'm going to have to make my own to get the look I want.

Once the Vette is fully laid up for winter (ie: salt on the roads and snow on the ground) I'll build up a clay form on the tail of the Vette and take a fiberglass mold off it. I will most likely take some inspiration from these two styles:

I like the "C6/7" style edge where it dips down in the center.

It's "edgey", which will probably work well with the C4's "angular" form. The pictured one is not bad, but perhaps just a shade too tall for me. Not much, maybe lan inch or less too tall. It's only for looks, so it being too low to do anything functional is not a big deal. Truthfully, very few "trunk spoilers" actually do anything with regards to creating down force. They do absolutely nothing functional at legal road speeds.
The blue one is not bad either. Plain and simple, yet not overly large. You can see where the lips flares out to nearly the full width of the bumper cap, which is what I need to cover the existing holes.

The overall plan is to make it nice and low, but still noticeable Visually thin and light, but enough coverage for the top of the OEM bumper/light cap.Not as "upright" as most aftermarket ones seem to be but more raked back, taking a bit from the Shinoda full rear cap style.

I've got the image in my head, now to see if it will translate into fiberglass reality........

 

[Tourmax]

You know, I’m actually starting to warm up to the “no spoiler” look:

 

[12cents]

Hmmmm....... I see where you're coming from. At a distance it is not bad. I still think a subtle lip spoiler would be nice too. Choices, choices, choices. Either way I think will be a winner.

 

[Rruuff Day]

Still think I'd prefer the lip...jmo though.If you like it without, go for it.

 

[Dave91TM]

Quite a tale. We have all had issues, but you've found and solved some dandies. You have the right approach, always look for something simple first.

Welcome to the club, hope you are enjoying the silly grin that only comes with a corvette. BTW your wheels are from a 91 or later.

 

[Tourmax]

So I think I’m going to “pause” any serious work (ie:$$$$) on the Vette for a while.

I’ve decided I need an ac/dc Tig machine. Mainly for welding cast aluminum and they don’t go cheap. I’ll need to save up some bucks for that.

Something that kicks out around 200-250 amps.

Criteria is pretty loose:

Foot pedal prefered, 200-250 amps in ac tig, pre and post flow would be nice as well as HF start and slope adjustments. It needs to use torches and attachements that are available at local welding stores so I can replace the “consumables” without having to search/order from overseas.

Going to try and get out the door for somewhere around 1, 000 CAD. That pretty much knocks out all the NA brand names, which means a Chinese something-or-other.

I’m not overly concerned that it will need to be an off brand chinese welder. I don’t need TIG a lot with the stuff I do, so working around some machine limitations (like low duty cycle) is something I’m willing to deal with. If I were using it a lot or doing some production work, I’d pop for a hobart, lincoln or miller, but I’m not so I can justify 2-3-4-5 grand on a tig machine.

I’m also working out a long term plan in my head, so the L98 will propel my C4 for the next couple years. That’s not a bad thing though: 250 ho doesn’t sound impressive these days, but 350 ft/lbs of torque moves that fiberglass body out with plenty of authority as it is. Not to mention; the L98 has a nice meaty torque curve right where I end up driving it day to day.

Plans are really loose right now. But I’m pretty much settled on a fuel injected aluminum block 427 for the vette. A 383 would be easier, but there’s just something magical about “Vette” and the numbers “427” in the same sentence. Only bad thing is there will be no way to make that look like a “stocker” with the hood up, as the TPI intake will have to go. No way to get it to breath enough to feed a 383 properly, let alone a 427.

But the engine work is years off right now. First: I need an ac/dc TIG.....

 

[Rruuff Day]

So I think I’m going to “pause” any serious work (ie:$$$$) on the Vette for a while.

I’ve decided I need an ac/dc Tig machine. Mainly for welding cast aluminum and they don’t go cheap. I’ll need to save up some bucks for that.

Something that kicks out around 200-250 amps.

Criteria is pretty loose:

Foot pedal prefered, 200-250 amps in ac tig, pre and post flow would be nice as well as HF start and slope adjustments. It needs to use torches and attachements that are available at local welding stores so I can replace the “consumables” without having to search/order from overseas.

Going to try and get out the door for somewhere around 1, 000 CAD. That pretty much knocks out all the NA brand names, which means a Chinese something-or-other.

I’m not overly concerned that it will need to be an off brand chinese welder. I don’t need TIG a lot with the stuff I do, so working around some machine limitations (like low duty cycle) is something I’m willing to deal with. If I were using it a lot or doing some production work, I’d pop for a hobart, lincoln or miller, but I’m not so I can justify 2-3-4-5 grand on a tig machine.

I’m also working out a long term plan in my head, so the L98 will propel my C4 for the next couple years. That’s not a bad thing though: 250 ho doesn’t sound impressive these days, but 350 ft/lbs of torque moves that fiberglass body out with plenty of authority as it is. Not to mention; the L98 has a nice meaty torque curve right where I end up driving it day to day.

Plans are really loose right now. But I’m pretty much settled on a fuel injected aluminum block 427 for the vette. A 383 would be easier, but there’s just something magical about “Vette” and the numbers “427” in the same sentence. Only bad thing is there will be no way to make that look like a “stocker” with the hood up, as the TPI intake will have to go. No way to get it to breath enough to feed a 383 properly, let alone a 427.

But the engine work is years off right now. First: I need an ac/dc TIG.....

Try Princess Auto. Cheap but the best warranty out there. You aren't happy after years of use, bring it back. No receipt...no problem... Can't find it in their system?... no problem....

 

[Tourmax]

Try Princess Auto. Cheap but the best warranty out there. You aren't happy after years of use, bring it back. No receipt...no problem... Can't find it in their system?... no problem....

Already looked. Anything that’s tig around a grand is either DC Tig or low amperage.

Anything ac/dc Tig and over 200 amps at PA is waaaay too expensive...

 

[Tourmax]

Saw that Princess Auto had car covers on sale. The 17 footer was 39.99 so I thought I'd go look. Ended up buying the "HD" version for 69.99 becuase the material was better.Fits pretty good:

That will do nicely for a heated garage and it didn't break the bank!

 

[Tourmax]

Well, I was looking for a corvette lower TPI manifold to hack on and do some porting. Maybe even a polish job.

I didn’t want to mess with the oem one on the vette, so I cruised ebay for a while.

An aftermarket one like edelbrock or accel would have been a noce starting point, but they are all going for rediculaous prices. Around a grand CAD, and thats for a used one.

Hell to the NO!

Oem ones were all going around 200-250 CAD. That’s also a stupid price for an obsolete piece of tech.

Then I found one they were asking 150 for with a “make an offer” on it. I chucked in 50 bucks and they countered with 85. I wrote then back saying 50 was my top dollar and if that was too low for them I understood and no hard feelings.

Comes back as “accepted”.

Crap. I just paid 100 CAD for an oem lower intake manifold.

Oh well. At least if I mess it up, the orginal one on the vette will still be "unmolested".

 

[Tourmax]

Well, need an AC tig. Looks like this might be taking up a spot in my garage:

Everlast powertig 250ex. 250amp, ac tig. Water cooled gun. Cones with foot pedal, but no water cooler unit. No big on the cooler, I’ll make my own here at home, I’ve got more than enough parts to build one. It’s juat a pump, tank, fan and radiator. Easy peasy.

It also does dc tig and stick, although I prob won’t have a lot of use for those. Maybe when I work with stainless (ie: dc tig), but I never use stick and to be frank; anytime I’ve tried stick, I suck hard at it.

 

[Tourmax]

Well....shite.

Tig welder I was looking at went on thanksgiving sale. But, still a bit out of my reach. Oh well, thats the way the cookie crumbles I guess.

So I did a bit more work on the LT1 manifold jig:

I added a couple “stops” on the sides to more accurately locate the manifold bottom edges and then a “plate” to represent the location of the throttle body:

You can see the difference in locations between the L98 and the LT1 throttle body.

Most guys are fine with punching a hole in the back for the dist, running hoses for coolant, using a remote thermostat and just live with the throttle body being much lower and out of alignment with the ducting.

I’m looking for a little better integration, so the jig will allow me to put the throttle body where it should be and incorporate the front water passages with the provision for the thermostat housing.

Now all I need to finish it is that Tig welder.

Oh well, maybe black friday in nov will offer something up at a decent price...

 

[Tourmax]

Man, I am torn 6 ways to Sunday on this car.

On one hand, it’s just about perfect “as is”. The TPI makes it’s power peaks right where I run the car and everything else just plain WORKS for me.

On the other hand, I’ve got that annoying little “mod-monkey” chewing at my ear.

I’ve flipped back and forth on the tpi vs the LT1 intake, flipped back and forth on leaving the TPI alone (polish for appearance) or welding it up and porting it out to within an inch of it’s life. Etc...

Flopped back and forth on the managament system. Leave it alone, buy the gpu1 and tune the oem 165 ecm or do a full on swap to obdII with a 411 pcm. Etc....

Then theres the dash issues. Swap out for analog and give up some of the oem features, swap to a 411 and use analog guages, parallel the 165 ecm with a 411 PCM to run the drivetrain and the 411 runs the dash, etc...

Stick with the 700r4, or swap to obdII and use a 4L60e. Or go whole hog and use a 4L80e. Maybe even use a 411 as a stand alone transmission controller and run the L98 with the orginal ECM. Etc....


And then we’re back to the beginning again: just leave it alone (performance wise) and do some appearance stuff.

So confused......and no one to blame but myself....

 

[12cents]

Isn't a nice problem to mull over to get you through the non-Corvette season