97 Corvette Daily Driver

Because the corbeaus don't age well, I'm fat, they don't come in firethorn (really like the color and the fact it's pretty rare), they dont fit very well, and they wouldn't be any cheaper after I bought mounting brackets.

I did look into them.

Plus the car is a dd the stock seats should work okay.

So the seat guy was late, and quit returning my emails, which he was normally ridiculously quick at. I sent him an email stating he was late and hadn't received a response to my email asking about delivery in 2 days and if I didnt hear anything soon I'd submit a dispute with paypal. I'll be darned I got one back that night. Stated there was an issue and he had to redo them. Said they'd ship the next day.

Next day he sent me an email, with this.

Thought they looked nice, if not a little dark, figured it was just the lighting or camera correction.

Yesterday I got them, and since I was off today I got to it. Ill spare you all the pics of the process, since yall have seen enough of a corvette seat frame. but here is the finished product.

They are not the sample I received, but I think the color is better. The sample was lighter than the factory color, and didnt match the plastics, these have a little more purple in them, but they actually match the factory plastic pieces pretty well.

The first seat you see above was a nightmare. I got it all together, put it in the car and boom, it wont go back, and I cant drive it all the way forward. Take it out and put it back for testing a few times, making small changes, NOTHING. Finally decide to bite the bullet and pull the bottom back apart. Get it down to rail and it works, wont work with any weight. Do some looking and pull the module off the track solder all the relay points, and reinstall, works better, reinstall seat bottom upholstery, and reinstall.

Alright on to the next one.

You can see the difference in color, the factory ones are shiny and have a little more red in them. They were also taking in sunlight and the new ones were taking in shade, so the pics arent exact.

Then I look back in the car....I had almost forgot how much of a berkeleying slob this guy is.

There was dog treats and got knows how much change (I didnt want to touch it so I vacuumed all that E36 M3 up. No condoms this time, so I got that going for me. Also had quite a bit of staining. The dark black is from the grease on a seat gear and I expect that. Went ahead and fired up the carpet shampooer.

Also Shampooed the floormats but they are spent. Already optioned out a set of lloyds mats, just have other stuff first.

I just finished the second one and installed it, I have very little feeling in my fingers left, my back hurts and so does my left, and only left, heel. Its too dark to take pictures so I will get some tomorrow in the light. Overall I was surprised with the quality for a set of seat covers that only cost 250 bucks, install was easy and I didnt have to many wrinkles, Ive got a steam gun Ill hit them with if the last few done come out in the next couple days.

Also I generally dont do any mods until I fix everything but I found a loophole in my rule yesterday. My shift knob looks like E36 M3. I hate the factory shifter and knob, so 2 birds one stone. I ordered my first mod and I used the excuse thats its to fix the broken knob.

Its a TPS 427 Shifter, which is essentially a C6 Z06 shifter and box that is then shortened and modified to take a screw on knob or the factory C6 knob. I went with a black hurst ball. Kinda wanted white but my buddy pointed out I dont have any white in the interior and I already have 2 colors, then I wanted the C6 knob but Im a cheap ass and didnt want to spend 90 bucks. Maybe later. Ill post pics when it comes in.

Installed in the day time.

Well, we are still talking about a c5 interior here but that looks pretty good for $250 and some labor!

Those seats turned out awesome. Come do the fronts from my Suburban?

Bring them down to nc with the cover and I will if opti won't.

Sets look amazing opti. Good job.

Amazing stuff and a killer deal for $8,500. Just checked Detroit CL and the only C5 under $10K is this for $8.5k There is also a 99FRC done up as a Z06 clone with very little details that look fishy. Moving up to $15K and they are all high mielage auto's. I think yours is a killer deal.

How do the vinyl covers feel compared to the leather and do you think they will get red hot and sweaty in the sun, especially with no AC?

The vinyl seats are quite a bit softer than the factory ones, but my factory ones We're old and not maintained properly so they probably weren't near as soft as they were new. Never sat in a new c5 though. I'm really happy with them.

As far as sweat, I drove it the last few days and they get hot but it's just cause I don't have a/C, feels about like my leather z28 seats did when the a/C broke on it. Should be better when I get the a/C going, which I'm doing right now. I'll make a post about it tonight when I'm done.

I wouldn't do this again except on my own car. A buddy saw mine and wants me to finish his fox body seats he couldn't finish. I ached and hurt way too much at the end of the day to do it again for someone else.

When I was shopping, I found a bunch of autos for 10 and a few m6s for under 12. Just found a wrecked cope for 8500 so I think I did okay, I'm hoping I won't loose my ass on this one like I did the z28 since the c5s seem to be nearing their price floor and I don't plan on modding the hell out of it, Just fixing it and making some small upgrades to make a nice dd. Might be nice to have a car that will hold its value somewhat. Plus people that don't know what c5s are actually going for sometimes pay over the going rate thinking it's cheap because it's a vette.

The only c5 below 10k in my area has no front bumper or fenders after being hit in the front...

So as I mentioned earlier, Ive been sweating my ass off working on the A/C all day today.

Going to replace compressor, orifice tube, drier, flush the system, and if there is trash in the system I was going to change the condensor also, it's not a parallel flow condensor, so it can be flushed but i tried on the Z and i just wasnt able to get everything out, so I was prepared to replace it.

One thing I really hate about the C5 is how much of a whore it is to get it off the ground. I had sub frame connectors on the Z28 and I could lift up one side of the car by jacking in the middle, throwing two jack stands under it then go to the other side. On the vette, you have to install your jacking pucks. Lift up each front corner and put it on some wood or whatever, then its high enough to get a low profile jack under it to lift the front by the subframe, then the same thing in the rear. Seems like a small thing but it really bothers me.

On my boards.

Start pulling it apart, by pulling the orifice tube off to check for trash. Oh hell, not a good sign.

Whatever, keep pushing on. The only thing weird is the batter tray has to come off for the drier, and the waterpump has to come off to get the compressor out.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. My Nemesis. Damn dirty paper gaskets. When I went and picked up my fluids I asked for W/P gaskets, but they didnt have them, said they'd order them and I could come back in a few hours. No biggie, Ill go get it when I start putting it back together. These where quite a whore to clean off even though they have less than 1K miles on them. I got tired of scraping and busted out the wire wheel on a very fast drill, and took the wire brush right to the ankle, taking quite a bit of skin with it. I REGRET NOTHING!!! Had the gaskets off in just a few minutes. Then I bothered to check and see if the aluminum, or whatever metal it is, gaskets on all other LS w/ps would work. Apparently they will. Thought about calling the parts house to make sure they had them but i thought, with all the failing W/Ps on trucks, they are bound to have them. I was wrong. So paper went back on. NEVER AGAIN. I will upgrade them next time.

This looks really familiar, Like I was just here.

Man look at all the oil that was in my old compressor.

Pretty much nothing, all leaked out the seams on the old one. Pretty sure that's why the old one looked like predator had been humping it.

Then I got to back flushing everything, looks like this thing had been recharged many times, there was SOOOOOO much dye and oil in the evaporator and condensor. Didnt have any contaminants in the rest of the system though, everything was very clean, didnt have any black or silver, all just very bright green, so I decided to skip the condensor. Also went through and changed all the orings and gaskets.

Then you just put it all back together. Really it wasnt that bad, if it wasnt for two lower bolts on the compressor and having to get it high enough to drain coolant, you could do the whole thing on the ground.

Ill take it to the shop tomorrow to see what I screwed up, couldnt think of anything while putting it back together, once I get it charged.

Called about my shifter, he is waiting on c6 shifters to come in to modify. Said it should ship next week.

Also I did finish breaking the top of the radiator shroud while doing the a/c, and the blower motor was pretty weak when the a/c did work for 2 days so those are probably my next two purchases, might buy a pass side visor, mine is broken. Its in the back, but not salvageable. PO told me it was broken when being installed, by a mechanic, and thats why he was selling his vette, He didnt get the treatment he thought someone who owned a vette should get when having their vehicle serviced. HAHAHA. Me and the friend that went with me to buy the vehicle still chuckle about that one.

Next big project is brakes. I also need to wash it and detail it at some point.

Update: went to drive it day after a/C repair, and no gauge cluster, literally nothing works when engine is on. It rained that night so I'm pretty sure something got wet cause after letting it sit all day it's fine. I drove it today. Got it all charged up. Pressures looks good and it blows nice and cold. Still need a blower motor so I ordered one from rock auto.

After charging it, it only blew cold out one side. I was worried it was an actuator problem. Reset the actuators and it works fine now. I'll keep an eye on them.

Guess I didn't mess anything up too bad, seems to be working well.

So I have a rule. If Im off and done have anything planned I have to do something to one of the cars. I do this because I was lazy with the Camaro and it took me way too long to get it where I wanted it, and even though it's gone I still have a pile of parts for it in the garage.

I was going to break my rule feeling extra lazy today but I decided, well Ill atleast go spray it off, its dirty as hell and I havent washed it yet.

While washing it I found a bunch of rust spots on the hood. Took me a minute to figure out, but I remembered I had been grinding in the driveway next to the vette and it rained that night. So these little shards of metal sat on the hood then rusted when it rained that night. I could pick them off with my finger but the rust spot would stay. So I decided to clay bar the hood and wax it. Got most of it off but its hard to tell, i was doing it in the dark. Ill check tomorrow.

Before it got dark I did realign the headlight cover. It was way to the left and down in the front right corner. Tried to show it in the pic.

It lined up just fine.

Also installed a new plug/pigtail for the front right blinker. The OP or someone installed a socket but it was wrong and didnt sit in the corner light. These little sockets for the C5 are like 20 bucks. Was a PITA because of the placement and having to get the brake duct out, which I still have no idea how to do properly, always seems like Im mangling it.

Thats abut it. Im really debating buying a vararam. I really want one, and it doesnt help that i HATE, this ghetto ass intake the op installed.

Well my blinker still doesnt work and Im too lazy to go check it out, but I did wash, clay and wax the rest of the car today. Cleaned up much better than expected. I missed some rust spots the other day, but I got the rest of them today.

Opti wrote: One thing I really hate about the C5 is how much of a whore it is to get it off the ground. I had sub frame connectors on the Z28 and I could lift up one side of the car by jacking in the middle, throwing two jack stands under it then go to the other side. On the vette, you have to install your jacking pucks. Lift up each front corner and put it on some wood or whatever, then its high enough to get a low profile jack under it to lift the front by the subframe, then the same thing in the rear. Seems like a small thing but it really bothers me.

What kind of low profile jack do you have? I have (well - used to have... ex-g/f got it in the split) one of these:

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/p-35564-atd-tools-7325.aspx

It's a beast (42" long and 115 lbs) and portable it ain't, but for lifting difficult cars it's pretty damn good.

I have a generic 1.5 ton aluminum low profile racing jack. I got it on sale for 50 bucks. It's light and work well enough for small projects and the z and vette.

Even with that long one I would still have to put it on wood to lift the front because the air dam is so low.

My crappy one is low enough to be able to get under the jacking pucks at the corners and under the rear subframe when it's on the ground. I don't think any jack will fit under the front air dam at ride height considering a soda can won't roll under it.

Dis one.

I lift c5 vettes all the time with only a floor jack. I use a harbor freight low profile aluminium jack and a 2x6. Unless the car has been lowered a lot. I actually planed the 2x6 down to 1.25 thick. Its long enough to go the whole rocker. I do not use jack pucks.

I can lift one whole side far enough to get my smallest stands under. Then do the same for the other side. At this point you can use whatever jack you want and get ashigh as nnecessary.

In reply to Opti:

I have the same jack - "Goodyear" brand and everything. My god it sucks...

In reply to Ian F:

Dude I love mine. It's so light I can haul it around junkyarding and it lifts all my small stuff. Have a big jack for the trucks. I've had it for 3 or 4 years use it all the time. I've been real pleased for the 50 or 60 I paid when it was on sale.

I've had mine for about 10 years and used it a crap-ton. Basically, it doesn't release easily anymore, so lowering something smoothly is a bit of a "twist and pray" ordeal.

I don't think any jack will fit under the front air dam at ride height considering a soda can won't roll under it.

Actually, when i did all that work to a customer C5 last month, i used my HF low profile jack and was able to jack the car up with the front and rear subframes easily and get it up about 18-20" in the air onto my 'big' jackstands. I never even used the jacking puck.

This one.

Its pretty much the best thing ever. I have at least one if not two cars that are harder to jack up than that c5 was due to excessive lowering.

In reply to Vigo:

Yep - the actual jacking part is only like 2.5" high.

When I get my shed and shop built and have more floor space in the garage, I want to get one of those again. They're awesome for lifting a Spitfire. I miss it.

Bought a Blower Motor.

It was wrong. Most aftermarket companies believe GM only made one blower motor ever, which is probably mostly true, but not in this case. Bought one from GM for quadruple the price. It blows a little harder.

Sidebar: There is someone who sells bags of air, and I am not referring to Lays.

When I went and got my blower motor, I also picked up a new coolant reservoir. Ive needed once since I picked up the car. When I did the harmonic balancer I was running low on funds for extra stuff so I tried pookeying it (FWIW, I refer to anything that starts gooey as pookey, In this case it was epoxy). The pookey slowed it down but it still leaked, and it started getting worse as the pookey was deteriorating.

Old Broken one, and orange stuff is epoxy after a few months

New one

New one installed

As I mentioned earlier in thread, I ordered a modified C6 Z06 Shifter Assembly, and then didnt receive it. Well at 3 weeks after ordering something listed as in stock, it hadnt been shipped, so I started a paypal dispute and was sent an email with a credit memo. 3 days later, no credit. Had to send another email asking when the credit was going to be done, this was the only email I ever received a response to. I wouldnt say they are a bad vendor but Id go through Paypal if you use them so you have some type of protection, and dont expect any type of customer service.

Well whatever I got my money back and decided on Hurst, wanted the MGW but didnt want to spend the money, as I was checking out at summitracing, I decided to check ebay right quick.

Found an MGW for 265..pretty much what I had paid for the C6, so i ordered it.

[URL=http://s79.photobucket.com/user/TAEnvy/media/Corvette/20140918_124638_zpswyrwhmlg.jpg.html][/URL]

Shift Knob

Old one out. Some may say, "Opti why would you remove it all together? Wouldnt it have been easier to pull the knob, boot, and cover off separately?" Well that's a good question and the answer is NO! The knob is held on by, what the c5 community call the demon key. You have to pull it out and then the knob will turn. It has earned this nickname because it almost never comes out, and mine has been worked on by PO with no success. I wasnt going to let it earn its nickname on me, hence the sawzall.

I cut right under the knob, above the boot.

Then I finished putting the new one in.

First impressions: the 1-2 notchiness when going into gear of the stock shifter is gone. Now you just have 1 "clunk" when it drops into gear. (it doesnt actually make noise but I dont know how to describe it) Throws are WAYYYY SHORTER. It requires a good amount of force to get it moving.but not too bad. No additional noise. Shift pattern is very tight.

I was once told the early T56s werent made to have short throws, because of the amount of force it requires to shift the trans, and shorter sticks reduces leverage and make it way more noticeable. I believe it, the heft doesnt bother me, but it probably would some, just a heads up from anybody considering it.

I ran an OEM 4th gen shifter (built by hurst) for 8 years with a short stick on it, and I do prefer the MGW in the vette, because it has less slack. May switch to MGW shift box and may add a washer to the detent ball to let it slide into gear easier. Gonna drive it a while first and see if the heft bothers me every day.

Been sitting on my brake parts for a while, finally got off my ass and started to put them on.

Stoptech pads front and rear, stainless lines, rotors, caliper rebuild kits, and red and black caliper paint.

Before

Disassemble. Repeat 3 times.

Just came out of the parts washer, cleaned up pretty good, had a few stains though.''

Put compressed air in back of caliper and blow out piston, replace boot and seal, lube with brake fluid prior to installing piston.

Freshly rebuilt caliper.

Pulled pins out of caliper brackets. grease was nasty as E36 M3 and all dried up. cleaned up the slides, greased and reinstalled.

Tape and prep calipers and brackets. Check out my sweet ass spray booth. Ladder with bungie cords, surrounded by cardboard.

Calipers = Red

Brackets = matte black

Calipers drying.

Brackets are still being painted. Ill take the calipers and knock the paint off the corvette lettering tomorrow and install the new hardware and lines, and probably put it all back together sunday.