How Many Brubs Does a BrubTub Brub if the BrubTub Can't Brub Brubs

[ChrisoftheNorth]

This guy gets it.

I have so much stuff to do around the house, that anything other than those things is an epic waste of time. Particularly cars since they just get you around and we already have one that works fine and we both like.

On the drive home yesterday, I mentioned that if my dad doesn't want the C3 when he's got it running that I'd like to take it and tinker with it. "We'll have to see about that" she said "we have a lot going on, the last thing we need is another project taking up space in the garage".

Right. One car only, anything more is here. K, thanks.

Hell, she was trying to get me to bail on picking it up last Sunday. The fact that I wanted to do it just didn't compute with her, it was 100% an obligation to my old man and a complete waste of my time.

Yea we may be married to the same woman too. the whole “we will have to see” gave me chills

My C5 was probably my last car project as long as I'm married. That STILL COMES UP as what a "time suck" it was. The fact that I enjoyed it just means that I'd rather be in the garage with the car than with her and doing house things.

Which is why I've pretty much given up, it's easier. I made my choice by getting married.

The C3 wouldn't even cost anything monetarily, but the time cost would be substantial. Even taking time to wash the 4R in the driveway results in

[wap]

Yea we may be married to the same woman too. the whole “we will have to see” gave me chills

My C5 was probably my last car project as long as I'm married. That STILL COMES UP as what a "time suck" it was. The fact that I enjoyed it just means that I'd rather be in the garage with the car than with her and doing house things.

Which is why I've pretty much given up, it's easier. I made my choice by getting married.

The C3 wouldn't even cost anything monetarily, but the time cost would be substantial. Even taking time to wash the 4R in the driveway results in

[ChrisoftheNorth]

My C5 was probably my last car project as long as I'm married. That STILL COMES UP as what a "time suck" it was. The fact that I enjoyed it just means that I'd rather be in the garage with the car than with her and doing house things.

Which is why I've pretty much given up, it's easier. I made my choice by getting married.

The C3 wouldn't even cost anything monetarily, but the time cost would be substantial. Even taking time to wash the 4R in the driveway results in

It's this or I sit here alone surrounded by broken/half complete machines.

[D Griff]

Do y’all’s wives not have anything they like doing for fun or care about outside of or spending time with you?

[D Griff]

I guess it’s always something, I’ve gotten away with weekend cycling trips and track day bro shit no problem but am forced to drive a 328i like a poor.

[Tar]

Do y’all’s wives not have anything they like doing for fun or care about outside of or spending time with you?

Those are some needy

[coogles]

Do y’all’s wives not have anything they like doing for fun or care about outside of or spending time with you?

She's sort of into photography? But that just leads to more . So no, not really.

[Huckleberry]

Do y’all’s wives not have anything they like doing for fun or care about outside of or spending time with you?

Mine enjoys car stuff. She'll go to car shows and such with me. The El Camino is hers and she enjoys driving it. She's not disassembling motors or anything like that, but she doesn't get on me if I spend time in the garage.

[Huckleberry]

Took a few more pictures before I left yesterday...

Underneath from rear:


Underneath from front:


Rear suspension


Cleaning up the engine. The only oil leak was from the valve covers. Popped this side off to find that the only factory sealing was a thin bead of of orange silicone around the perimeter of the valve cover. It was blatantly leaking from an area that was particularly thin. New Fel Pro rubber gaskets and a thin bead of silicone around it should take care of the issue. Looks near new when cleaned up


On the outside, here's the worst part of the paint. No way around repainting it, but right now my old man likes the ZFG style and isn't in a hurry to fix up the cosmetics. He wants to get it running 100% first then figure out if the cosmetics are worth it.


The front air dam is flawless:


New brakes going on today, fluid changes will be taking place for the engine/transmission/powersteering/etc tomorrow. Cleaning the fuel tank next and then the fun begins. Unfortunately, I'll be doing it remotely. I'll see the car in a month, it'll probably be running and driving by then.

That thing is pretty clean underneath. I don't see anything that has a real cause for concern. Replace the exhaust and get a dual exhaust crossmember for the transmission, and the majority of the ugliness goes away.

Hopefully that cracked PCV grommet isn't an indication of the condition of the rest of the car's rubber. I'd recommend stainless brake lines if you have to replace them anyways. They're cheap enough these days.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Do y’all’s wives not have anything they like doing for fun or care about outside of or spending time with you?

Nope, that's it.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Took a few more pictures before I left yesterday...

Underneath from rear:


Underneath from front:


Rear suspension


Cleaning up the engine. The only oil leak was from the valve covers. Popped this side off to find that the only factory sealing was a thin bead of of orange silicone around the perimeter of the valve cover. It was blatantly leaking from an area that was particularly thin. New Fel Pro rubber gaskets and a thin bead of silicone around it should take care of the issue. Looks near new when cleaned up


On the outside, here's the worst part of the paint. No way around repainting it, but right now my old man likes the ZFG style and isn't in a hurry to fix up the cosmetics. He wants to get it running 100% first then figure out if the cosmetics are worth it.


The front air dam is flawless:


New brakes going on today, fluid changes will be taking place for the engine/transmission/powersteering/etc tomorrow. Cleaning the fuel tank next and then the fun begins. Unfortunately, I'll be doing it remotely. I'll see the car in a month, it'll probably be running and driving by then.

That thing is pretty clean underneath. I don't see anything that has a real cause for concern. Replace the exhaust and get a dual exhaust crossmember for the transmission, and the majority of the ugliness goes away.

Hopefully that cracked PCV grommet isn't an indication of the condition of the rest of the car's rubber. I'd recommend stainless brake lines if you have to replace them anyways. They're cheap enough these days.

It's only ugly on the hoist An exhaust upgrade might be a thing at some point, should improve performance a tad and worth considering if the car stays around.

Oddly, the PCV grommet is the only dry rubber we've found on the car. All vacuum lines are remarkably pliable, hoses look new. Fingers crossed that everything is good once it gets going.

Old man bought new rubber brake lines to go with the stainless sleeved calipers. Stainless lines would be major overkill for this thing.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Old man got the C3 running. Said it runs really well and drives down the road great. The gearing is garbage and he said "190 hp seems optimistic" but overall he said he somehow likes it more than his Vagon, probably due to the ZFG nature of it.

Only hiccup getting it running was the HEI module died. It had fuel, compression, and turned over without effort, but just wouldn't start. Replaced the HEI module and it fired up instantly.

Gas tank wasn't very full, so used a fluid transfer pump to pump it out from the top, and the opening was big enough to put an arm in to clean it out with a rag. 5 gallons of rec gas, pumped ~1gal through the fuel lines, and she was good to go.

Old man is really taking to the project, he's fixed:
Brakes
Power Antenna
Power window switches (replaced them)
Dim dash indicator lights (turn signal barely showed), just needed to pull the bulb and clean corrosion
The rear spring mount somehow had a broken bolt. No idea how because the car was never worked on, just sat. Old man still has contacts in fastener engineering at GM, so he's going to send him the broken bolts for analysis...weird failure.

Everything now works...radio, lights, wipers, etc, etc. The tach isn't working, but he's got it out and thinks it's just contact corrosion like the indicator light. Pretty remarkable overall.

He can't get it registered because the title is so old it's out of the state vehicle database, and it hasn't been registered in 35 years. Will be interesting how this one plays out. He said the vehicle people are clueless.

The thing sure does look I'll be down in a few weeks and hope to take it for a spin. I expected to do some wrenching, but it doesn't look like there will be much to do.

[Huckleberry]

Good stuff.

Yeah, tall gearing and low compression was the winning formula in the 70s/80s for improving fuel economy.

[coogles]

Looks even if slow as balls. Very cool

[SAWCE]

Yeah that looks cool as fuck.

[Gberg2119]

[Desertbreh]

Very cool. Just needs a crate motor and a Hooters gift card.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Very cool. Just needs a crate motor and a Hooters gift card.

It's tough. The only tiny bit of value this thing maintains comes from it's originality being completely untouched/unmodified with just 11k miles.

On the flip, it would probably be a riot with TKO 5 speed, and 3.73s. But that's pretty much what the car's worth, so Old man has no interest in touching it.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

Good stuff.

Yeah, tall gearing and low compression was the winning formula in the 70s/80s for improving fuel economy.

Old man claims the thing has 3.08 gears.

[max225]

about speed in this thing. It’s all about the sound and the looks and I’m sure it has both.

I really like how it turned out.

[ChrisoftheNorth]

about speed in this thing. It’s all about the sound and the looks and I’m sure it has both.

I really like how it turned out.

My old man thinks the sound could be improved, but whatever...he's not adding "anything but miles". He intends to use it as his main transport for the summer for fun.

I drive like an old man now, so I'll probably find the thing adequate. I'm very curious. It looks the part, which is the entire point of the thing, but I personally struggle with a slow Corvette. There's a lot of compromises in that tiny badass looking shitbox, and if speed doesn't matter, I'd probably pick something a bit bigger and more of a cruiser. Fortunately, it's not my car unless the old man wants to off it.

[max225]

about speed in this thing. It’s all about the sound and the looks and I’m sure it has both.

I really like how it turned out.

My old man thinks the sound could be improved, but whatever...he's not adding "anything but miles". He intends to use it as his main transport for the summer for fun.

I drive like an old man now, so I'll probably find the thing adequate. I'm very curious. It looks the part, which is the entire point of the thing, but I personally struggle with a slow Corvette. There's a lot of compromises in that tiny badass looking shitbox, and if speed doesn't matter, I'd probably pick something a bit bigger and more of a cruiser. Fortunately, it's not my car unless the old man wants to off it.

The way I see it... if you want to go fast you get a modern Vette. An old thing like that (pre 1990) is more like an "art piece" you don't go hooning it around the block.
There is no ABS, there are no airbags etc. Fucking up in a car like that will end up costing you your life. So it's like a great sunday cruiser to a beer spot or a park... or a nice relaxing sunday drive.
If you want to go fast there is a different route.

[Desertbreh]

about speed in this thing. It’s all about the sound and the looks and I’m sure it has both.

I really like how it turned out.

My old man thinks the sound could be improved, but whatever...he's not adding "anything but miles". He intends to use it as his main transport for the summer for fun.

I drive like an old man now, so I'll probably find the thing adequate. I'm very curious. It looks the part, which is the entire point of the thing, but I personally struggle with a slow Corvette. There's a lot of compromises in that tiny badass looking shitbox, and if speed doesn't matter, I'd probably pick something a bit bigger and more of a cruiser. Fortunately, it's not my car unless the old man wants to off it.

In high school my buddy had an 82 Camaro Z28 with a four speed manual and 145 screaming hp out of its 305. It was piece of shit but V8 + always has merit. Gonna be a bit tough coming off that big cam Ellis

[wap]

That thing is crazy clean. Nice job!

[Huckleberry]

Good stuff.

Yeah, tall gearing and low compression was the winning formula in the 70s/80s for improving fuel economy.

Old man claims the thing has 3.08 gears.

A quick way to check is to rotate the rear tire one revolution and count how many times the driveshaft spins around.

The good thing about starting off with low power is that he doesn't have to make huge gains for it to feel like an improvement, should he get bored.