1988 Corvette - for once I got a pretty good car to start

[Paul Y]

From memory most of the chevy pumps run at the same pressure - could you not replace the pump with something more obtainable with the correct pulley or is super specific?

If you give me the pulley dimensions I will have a look in the shed of tat and see what size the one on pumps I have are. (terrible English but you get the idea)

P.

[engineer]

Jul 21, 2020 14:49:13 GMT Paul Y said:

From memory most of the chevy pumps run at the same pressure - could you not replace the pump with something more obtainable with the correct pulley or is super specific?

If you give me the pulley dimensions I will have a look in the shed of tat and see what size the one on pumps I have are. (terrible English but you get the idea)

P.

The pump is the same on pretty much all GM. Pulley is Corvette C4 specific. It seems the size is all very different; probably due to lack of space in a Corvette and the different steering rack (small with very short turn-to-turn).

I'll have a look what the dimensions are!

[georgeb]

Jul 21, 2020 11:52:15 GMT westbay said:

Could you get one made (small / bespoke engineering shop) using your 'old'one as a pattern ?

Think this is the route I'd be taking.

[engineer]

Good news on the Corvette; the pump is fixed. As I was trying to get the dimensions the news reached me that a pulley was found. I hope this week it will pass the MOT. Then finally the V8 rumble can be heard again.

[engineer]

Well did this year turn out to be a different one...  I have just confined the Corvette to winterstorage and realised it was on the same tank of gas from when I took it out of last winters storage.

We have toured a little in our area but not that much. Also not too many nice weather days left by the time the Corvette was road legal again.

One of those nice days was a perfect moment for a very late summerday tour with a few other Corvette's.

And then it was time for one last warm-up, filling the tank and driving it into the storage. Only one thing remaining in this year: it is time again to get it's value determined for the insurance.

The Corvette was very expensive the last two years but it is in very good condition now. Drives like a dream. Only one more expensive thing left; all new tyres as the current ones are a bit old. I really hope next year with the Corvette is all about driving.

[engineer]

Wow.. those Corvette's go up fast in value. Had to change the insurance for it. For the price I bought it for + the costs of all the repairs... that still does not buy you a replacement in the same condition anymore.

 

The insurance guy was here in late November and he picked a very nice and sunny day. He really liked the Corvette.

For 3 to 4 more weeks the Corvette is confined to winter storage. With all the snow we have here at the moment that is for the better. This years target (though I'm not very hopefull) is a trip to France to meet up with other Corvette owners and to visit Classic Le Mans. And for the first time in a long while; no plans to visit the workshop. All I have on the list of things to do is to get a new set of tyres. But that does not have to be this year.

[rblote]

Prachtig!!

[engineer]

Last year did not turn out so great for the Corvette. All events cancelled and such. I tried to start the year well by driving it a bit and even found a classic car tour that was corona-proof in setup.









But at this classic car tour things went bad. Not too long after the start we had to use the highway to cross a river. At the top of this highway bridge I suddenly pushed the brake pedal to the floor. Only a little bit of brake pressure all the way at the end of the pedal. And all of a sudden. Using engine braking, that little remaining brake and the parkbrake I came to a safe stop at the gasstation that was very conveniently located. Looking at the brake reservoir and all seemed well. No brake fluid leak anywhere. And after a minute I had brake pressure again as normal. I suspected the not even a year old brake master cilinder of a failure. It had happened before when the Corvette was still in the workshop; within a few days of replacing that master cilinder.






So we and the Corvette came home on a flatbed. The workshop was kind enough to pick-up the Corvette the day after and cover the repairs. The still very new brake master cilinder was send to a rebuild specialist who took it apart and though he could not find anything wrong with it also rebuild it. It then ran a weekend on his testbench without any single issue. But both the workshop and the rebuild specialist agreed that there must be something wrong. I don't remember the manufacturer of the part but this is clearly one to avoid. A different master cilinder was ordered (this time in the USA), tested and build into the car. 
I did not drive the Corvette much after that as the trust is still coming back slowly. Just loosing brakes nearly completely is not funny.



Oh, and BTW it developed a little oil leak on the automatic. Enough that I frequently have to top off and suspected also to be too much to pass the MOT. So I can drive it a bit these weeks but in April it is booked into the workshop again. I really love it but there seems to be always something wrong or about to go wrong.

[engineer]

The oil leak on the automatic was just a small rubber; the one that seals off the dipstick tube. As it turns out that section is under the oil level and therefore leaking at a constant rate. Fixed with a standard oil ring (oil resistant and such) as it was a common shape and size.
New tyres all round and its great again.

Did notice the odometer stopped working... a year ago even. It looks mechanical but actually is driven by a little electric motor.

As work has been very time consuming this autumn there has been little mileage on the Corvette since the repairs. Should find some good reasons to drive it next year.

[engineer]

On a not too cold and not too wet January day I got some wok done on the Corvette. I worked on fixing the odometer.

Its part of the cluster and by the looks it is the only analog part of the entire digital dash.


Dashboard stuff is never much fun. All these hidden screws and then to figure out how to get the component out


Here we go. The cluster also contains the cruise control function so it is pretty full. This is a rebuild cluster though I don't know what they all did. It does have some newer circuitboard on the right.


Thats the motor of the odometer...  Yes it only appears to be analog but really it is also electronic. The motor is calibrated but luckily I got a tested identical example from the USA. It should be the same for all odometers in miles (there is a rare cluster that is all in km) so variation in drivetrain and final drive should be handled somewhere else in the cluster.


See.. thats the whole thing.

[engineer]

Another year passed for the Corvette.

Biggest shocker: Nothing was broken! Well.. nearly nothing. The seatback adjustment on the driver seat gets stuck sometimes, meaning you get the leaning-back position as the only option. Its not much of a difference, but it takes a little getting used to it.

Insurance appraisal was done again this year. Its really getting to a level where I'm not sure if I would have bought it for that price. Seems its a desirable car when in good condition. And its easy to forget that a set of new tyres should raise the value by 2000 Euro or more.







Not much events visited this year but did take it for some small trips.

[engineer]

Corvette wake-up



No issues, no hard start... it all just worked. 


It needed a new MOT for which nothing major had to be done. A bit annoying is that the odometer that I fixed about a year ago has again stopped functioning. 




To celebrate the new MOT I took it to a yearly gathering of Corvette clubs (one of two in the country). On a rainy day but sometimes that's ok.



Quite a few C8's around and they stand-out with a very different profile. As I own a small modern mid-engined sportscar also (Alpine) I know what a different driving dynamic this setup gives. And I trust the Alpine more when going fast. But the sensation of being pretty much at the rear axle with a very long and sloping bonnet in front of you is something unique as well. I think the C8 is less Corvette but more cool supercar, and its funny that even in the days of the C4 they considered going mid-engined. 



The event was next door to the Corvette museum in Wezep - with an even larger collection than the Corvette factory museum in Kentucky has. New to me was a collection of Callaways (tuned Corvettes with sometimes extensive aerodynamic re-design). 


This is a Callaway that at the time you could order at the Chevrolet dealer - with GM warranty still in place. Twin Turbo. Many high-speed records were broken with these cars.

[flyingphil]

Nice to see you are using and enjoying the Corvette. Thanks for keeping us updated.