Bruno Lair

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Aug 4, 2015
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Ottawa Ontario
VetteCoins
656
Car
1993
What issues if any with that year of C4? Is the 4+3 manual trany a good choice? Any advice would be helpful,looking at spending between $8,000 to $10,000. Love the look of the C4. Thank you
 
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Bruno....
Welcome to the site.
C4s are a nice ride. $8-10K should get you a great car..
Don't be tempted by the first one you see out there.
I also recommend that if this is your first Vette have a shop in your area check it out.
There are a few Vette things that can add up in dollars pretty quick.
get out to some local shows and talk to the owners.
Good luck with your search as that is a major part of the experience.
Keep checking in here.
graham
 
It is not easy to find a manual transmission car. Plenty of automatics around. From my experience, the two biggest nuisances with these cars are 1) running hot and 2) electronic dash. Make sure the dash is working perfectly. Best bet is likely the car you find that is in the best condition for the money you spend and to not concern yourself too much with transmission choice.
 
A friend of mine had an 87 with a 4+3. The overdrive unit went on his car but I don't recall him saying that it was a difficult fix. Other than that, he loved it! Welcome to the forum!!!
 
Welcome Bruno:
The C4's are great cars in my opinion, however bias.
As stated the star-wars type dash can be problematic, as can a lot of the electrical on these cars. However there is a few places around that can rebuild your dash at a cost mind you. ( 2 to 3 hundred)
The Doug Nash transmission you inquire about was in the C4's from 84 to 88. In 89 they brought out the six speed. I have no experience with the 4+3, but they do get a bad rep. Not sure if this is justified at all.
As for an 87....... they are much the same as the 88 and 89. One of the big differences is in the later cars 17" wheels were available. In 88 you had to get the Z51 / Z52 package for these wheels. Also every year brought a few changes to the L98 power plant, so later years will show a bit more horses.
For the money you are looking to spend, I would suggest looking at a 89 or 90. A bit more car for the same $

Just my opinion of course.
 
Brian is very correct. The later cars get better and better and your budget should cover many of them. The earlier cars... such as the '87,.. do qualify for the very inexpensive Silver Wheels Insurance. Saving a few hundred there is money you can put into improving or maintaining the car.
 
I purchased a nice '88 with the 4+3 for 9k three years ago in Ottawa - only issue was the headlights would not raise (common problem). $15.00 and an hour of my time, all good. Don't sweat the transmission, the shop on Gladstone assured me that they are a good unit, scheduled maintenance and they last.- abuse, you pay they price. My "Star Wars" dash has never been a problem. Get a "deal" on a ratty car, expect a potential money pit....after all, it is still a Vette.
 
welcome Bruno, i am new here too. Bought a 85 c4 with the 4-3. seems to work ok but wants to shift into OD even at low throttle when i go into second. other than that it is good. fun to drive, heads turn and gets good fuel economy.i think all of us want to play a bit and make them better.
 
Bruno, I have an 87 black z52, automatic. I wish it was a manual and in fact I am waiting to find one to buy and then i will sell my auto. But that is because of how i drive and how i want to race it on the castrol track in leduc. (and eventually the badlands raceway which makes me wet just thinking about it). The automatic can be driven more "spirited" where you manually move the shifter through its gears and its really fun actually. in fact it might be the best way to go except for at the track. i have only "hear" (not verified myself) that the auto trans getting hotter at the track. not sure if that is true though.

My only 4+3 comment specifically is to run the car through its paces and make sure its all functioning properly before you buy it. THere are a couple videos of how the doug nash 4+3 works on youtube. have a look at those, and then go test drive it. make sure it works.

anyway, just buy one and start enjoying it. pretty much any c4 you buy will have stuff that needs to be done to it. but everything can be fixed. and between here and other forums there is HEAPS of knowledge out there that can walk you through everything. If you do the work yourself, plan on replacing leaking seals straight off the top. if you don't do the work yourself, i would plan on spending 1500 on small stuff that ads up. it is possible to find the granny owned ones that are low klm gems, however these usually have worn out, dried out seals and will need gaskets and whatnot done. post your questions here and you will have lots of help!

my car needs to be lowered by 1 inch. :)
 

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One thing I would like to say is the styling is getting a little old on the C4 vettes, personally I like the look of them but I would like to get a C7 when the prices drop down a bit. They are a pretty solid car the C4 I have had mine since I was a teenager back in the early 90's, only thing that went wrong was my 84 vette I blew the rear end out of it. easy fix. But I F'ed up and put the stock 3.07 gears back in I shoud have put the 3.73 gears in it.
 
Another thing. It has never been legal, in Ontario at least, to remove any emissions equipment and there is a fine if you are caught. A lot of the Camaros and Firebirds I see advertised have all that stuff stripped off. It might be a bit of a problem finding these parts to keep the MOE guys happy. Just things to look out for when buying one of these older cars. They don't test to see if the smog equipment works. They just want to see it on the car. An open element air cleaner is a dead give away. I know a guy with a rat rod and there is an ugly old closed breather with the flex pipe down to the exhaust manifold to draw in warm air. The engine originally had this equipment regardless of what vehicle it is in today. Sounds kind of dumb but as they say, them's the rules. If the MOE guys are not absolutely sure, they have garages to send your car to where it will be checked out thoroughly.
 
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Give us a call in Alberta Keith. We have boxes and boxes of never used emissions equipment laying around collecting dust. :rolleyes:
The MOE around here are just looking to bring in some easy cash. If they don't even check the '87 and older cars for emissions, then what is the point, beyond making money. It's time for all provinces to get their acts together as one.
 
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