1988 Corvette C4 Z52 - Video!

What's the deal with the drivetrain on these? What's the setup? You rarely see them lowered or mucked about with. Is the gearbox in the back as well?

Took it out for a bit of a cruise over the weekend to bed it in a little and for me to get familiar with it. All is well so far, managed to take a few pics of it too!




(Need a horn that goes "Twit-twoo" according to my neighbour... )


(motorway grime! Nice!)








(Needs a good clean still, excuse the detritus. Seats are in remarkably good condition, as are all the electrics. Digidash, trip computers, gauges, info centre, central locking, alarm, aircon, cruise, climate control, power seats, windows, mirrors etc, all in good working order!)




(The ol' TPI mill - a torque monster)



Really nice car to drive, mind. Still can't get over the way it corners, with the Z52 bits and quickrack!

Haven't had a chance to do anything yet barring clean the glass and pressure-wash it, just pressed it into useage so far and checked all the fluids to make sure it's all in spec.

It's been doing a bit of a Christine on me too, driving around MK the radio sprung back to life (having never worked), and all 4 Bose amps kicked in too. Remarkable - even more so, they're still working 5 days later.

Got a few bits on order, so hopefully will update this at some point with a few shiny bits

Only technical issue that's a pain at the moment is a still-persistent minor PAS leak. A bottle of 'stop-leak' from Lucas has actually slowed it considerably and according to the bottle, 2 are required for major leaks......I'll hold my breath, though. Worst comes to worst, a new rack is relatively cheap.

Great fun though......Lock it in 1st, mash the pedal to the floor, the LSD locks up, tail sidesteps and the ol' L98 rips up to the redline in a mix of induction roar, exhaust growl and a haze of unburnt hydrocarbons.

.....with a nice, thick, black set of 11s left on the tarmac.

Just the way we like it

Yea, it wouldn't suprise me if it was - I had a poke at the various ground points and they were all lightly corroded - nothing major but it doesn't take much usually. This one's been used regularly so suffers from few of the issues that those in storage, or only intermittent use, typically do.

I'll make a note of sorting them before I do anything else, now you've mentioned it! Get a bit of the old wire brush and contact cleaner going...

A few of the multiplug-style connectors have a habit of 'walking' out of their recesses as well, so will have a poke about! The electrics are usually pretty good but the way the systems interlink means that it only takes one glitch to start throwing everything else out of the loop!

Tyre to wishbone......Like this? :





Yea, know what you mean! Those A-arms always look really twee!

They're die-cast "aluminum" or something as well.

Right........I should, hopefully, get this back today with it's new transmission! Fingers crossed! Delayed a few times but probably with good reason, so look forward to seeing it again today...

Have missed it so!

bdkmotorservicesltd.com/

For those in the Coventry area

So today, after finally summing up the enthusiasm to get to it and the cloudy weather disintegrating into blazing sunshine, ideal for scorching my skin, I pulled the stash of parts out of my room, dragged the tools down to the working spot and set about making things right.

I'm trying not to let the transmission failure 'spook' me about the car, so I'm just going to keep working on it and start enjoying it, keep things moving, improving and thundering along

First on the list was a new cap, rotor and airfilter - I'm changing to an Accel coil when I get the chance, so the old one could stay in the meantime.

Bits!


New air filter in:


Uncovering the dizzy:


New cap:

(Huge!)

And the new rotor:


Old parts exposed, coil sits on top of the cap in these, acting straight down the centre terminal:


Gentle reminder to self, home-brew numbering sequence for easy reattatchement


Coming together:


Swapping the coil over:


New rotor in:


And done:


A rather involved process, that - getting to some of the screws that hold the cap on is very finikity and a bit of a stretch at points, so required some thinking! Glad it's done though.

Hung my 'self reminder' to take it easy sometimes, too - Unclips when required and am paying attention and also serves as in-car G meter! :


So now it sits........


Next thing is I've got to take it to the local exhaust place to have a section repaired after (I think) one of the rubbers gave way and snapped a tailpipe......If it's not one thing!

I'll also get them to do the now-dead O2 sensor whilst they're there:



Which lives down here:



Doable from above but probably infinitely easier from below



Anyhoo........

Did give me a bit of a fright today though - got back in it, turned the key and nothing, absolutely dead. Turned out that one of the interior lights had been left on overnight and drained the battery totally - discovered that they have little 'push' emblems in the corner that allow you to turn them off and on manually, exceeding their 15 second dim-down period after you close the door.

Bulb was so hot it was amazing that it didn't smoke itself or the holder! Still, least I know about it now and it's nice that it's not something broken. Just sitting on trickle now.

Also, throttle body has to be removed and cleaned along with the IAC (Idle Air Control) to cure a slight hunt when cold, just sticking a little.

Whilst I'm doing that I'll take the opportunity to de-screen the MAF (Mass Air Flow sensor) and do what's known as the 'cut-air' lid mod.

Basically, the MAF has a very large mesh screen over both ends, which do nothing bar disrupt the air slightly and decrease flow. They serve no purpose as any obstruction that might hit the MAF has to come through the air filter and anything that could, or might pass through it would easily pass through the mesh on the MAF without even slowing down. It won't improve power much, if at all - but every little helps and I like free-breathing intake systems.

The cut air lid mod is similar - from the front the air cleaner has a series of slats cut into it, allowing air into the filter. To improve this, the entire face of this assembly is just cut out, removing the slats and increasing the intake size (and potential flow) by a vast amount over standard.

A la:



So......coming together!

MPG, well - I tend to average about 15MPG (US) around town and on the motorway, the trip computer will read 25-30MPG, depending on speed and having tested it before, it's not far off. Irritatingly the most economical cruising speed is over 70....D'oh! (I'm only doing 80 to save the environment, Officer!)

I reckon in mixed driving (and going by the trip computer) I average 18-20 US MPG which is (I think?) 22-24 UK MPG. So not too shabby at all really Haven't tallied my bills yet though so will see how I go this time on actual numbers and tank capacity, as I brimmed it and reset everything.

They respond very well with mods to increase these figures though - gentle intake massaging, ITG filter, cut air mod, decats, better coils, plugs, leads, these kind of things, all help smooth and improve the average consumption - provided you keep off the loud pedal after doing them

Nah don't mind at all! My insurance renewal this year will probably be around 600 quid fully comp, full UK & Euro breakdown cover. That'll be with 4 years NCB, mind Would be about 100 quid cheaper TPFT which I had on the previous two but I'd like that extra reassurance knowing it's fully covered come renewal

In the process of ringing around to see if I can better that this year though!

Glad to see you´ve got it back in one piece mate.

Now the summer can come eh? ;D