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This project started by a tag in a Facebook post by a good friend of mine
The guy was posting a pic of his recently acquired 85 Corvette with the red GTA setting sadly disabled in the background. My friend ask about it and the guy said he was probably going to sell it because he lost interest in it. After few messages back and forth the next thing I know I was at his house with a trailer ready to possibly buy. After a lot of negotiation I bought the car for $800.00.
The car blew a head gasket about four years ago and the PO yanked the heads off and never put it back together and it just set in his driveway. Before the guy I bought it from got his hands on it it was a very loved GTA with 140k miles that appears to have been garage kept and was completely unmolested down to the original radio. The paint and body are in excellent condition with exception to the horrible wing choice someone replaced the factory aero spoiler with.
First plan of action is to get the engine bay cleaned up and drop a fresh engine in her. The above pic is just off the trailer ready to go into the shop and remove the engine.
For the engine, its getting an L98 out of a 88 corvette i found on craigslist.
The engine was completely disassembled and the status was unknown, so I rolled the dice and bought it for $300 bucks.
The engine ended up needing boring to .30 over to clean up the cylinders and the crank needed turning .10/.10. The heads got new valve seals and springs.
Pic after cleanup and assembly:
I powder coated the valve covers and TPI setup with bright aluminum powder, turned out very differnt than I was expecting... looks more like chrome than aluminum.
I need to start looking around all these farms and find something.
Probably nothing but HAY!!!!!
Thanks! there are still deals on thirdgens to be had around here..
Speaking of farms I went to a cruise in last night and an old farmer rolled in with this:
all original un-restored, he is the original owner. after talking with him found out its been parked in his barn for over 20 years just setting. he just recently got it running and driving again.. Talk about barn find!
While cleaning the engine compartment today I found some rust.. not a surprise I wanted. although it was well hidden behind and under stuff it had to be fixed.
Under the washer bottle:
inner fender where it meets the firewall:
Above the battery box:
Looks like every where an inner fender liner screw was placed it rusted through.. strange.
The good news is after closer inspection those are the only spots the rest of the car is rust free.
The Duplicolor spray touch up paint is too shiny so i am going to sand it back down and just spray it with base to get the original look back. I want it to look as original as possible.
A good looking repair. I ran into the same issue...too shiny. That under-hood is almost a mat finish. I was considering a satin clear, but didn't do it.
battman if im ever down that way id love to see your collection! Gona have to get some of us members together and cruise at "cruising the coast" this year. I should have mine freshly painted by then and maybe I will register this time, I usually just ride around and spectate.
Thanks Dave, yea the under hood paint is straight base with no clear that's what gives it the matte finish.
There's no way, it would come off too easy without clear over it. It would have to be single stage, or just came out of the gun differently. The factory spun the paint, or so i've heard
There's no way, it would come off too easy without clear over it. It would have to be single stage, or just came out of the gun differently. The factory spun the paint, or so i've heard
I don't think GM sprayed two kinds of paint during the process and there is definitely no clear over the engine compartment paint so that leads me to believe it's base with no clear. If you touch that paint with lacquer thinner it wipes off very easy.
I don't think GM sprayed two kinds of paint during the process and there is definitely no clear over the engine compartment paint so that leads me to believe it's base with no clear. If you touch that paint with lacquer thinner it wipes off very easy.
Maybe someone that knows for sure will chime in..
Really great find, nice looking car. As far as the paint goes, as I was told. When they painted the car, the hood was open and when the urethane clear was put on, they painted with the hood closed, so the engine compartment is just the base paint. If you take the under hood insulation on, you will probably see just the outer portion of the hood is painted, the center part, that does not show is gray primer.
battman if im ever down that way id love to see your collection! Gona have to get some of us members together and cruise at "cruising the coast" this year. I should have mine freshly painted by then and maybe I will register this time, I usually just ride around and spectate.
If you're out this way definitely look me up.
I would be down with a third gen meet up at cruising the cost this year! I'm planning on taking the 88 if I go.
I don't think GM sprayed two kinds of paint during the process and there is definitely no clear over the engine compartment paint so that leads me to believe it's base with no clear. If you touch that paint with lacquer thinner it wipes off very easy.
Maybe someone that knows for sure will chime in..
No, there is no way there is no clear over the engine compartment. The paint would come off just wiping your fingers on it if there was no clear. It is definitely clear coated, but it may be a very thin layer since it it has a lot of corners.
All of the 3rd and 4th gens I have seen have had clear coat, because they had to have or the paint wouldn't have lasted.... They barely last WITH clear coat.
Do you think they masked off the engine compartment while they were putting the clear on? Trust me, it is all clear coated, maybe not as thick as the rest of the car, but it is there
Look at this car, it's bone stock and almost completely preserved it has clear coat everywhere you can see paint in the engine compartment
In the first photo, behind the passenger side strut, the paint on the top of the tower is clear "semi-gloss" or "satin" in it's appearance, showing little evidence of any substantial coverage with clear coat. This is how most of my engine compartment looks. Yes, it may have an incidental dusting of clear on it, but it is never wet, or exterior grade/quality in it's appearance. And as a result, it is very easily removed with cleaners or abrasion.
In the second photo, look at the fronts of both of those towers...look at the shine! So I think this shows that if they got clear, it was hit and miss, and incidental, not deliberate.
We'll probably never get to the bottom of this for sure (assembly line processes lost to history).
Really great find, nice looking car. As far as the paint goes, as I was told. When they painted the car, the hood was open and when the urethane clear was put on, they painted with the hood closed, so the engine compartment is just the base paint. If you take the under hood insulation on, you will probably see just the outer portion of the hood is painted, the center part, that does not show is gray primer.
Louis
The above explanation of the under hood finish makes sense to me..
I actually talked to my brother last night about this as he was a painter at a large GM dealership in the early 90's and he told me they did not clear coat the engine compartment.
Well I spent the weekend getting the engine in and running. When it first started it was missing like crazy, so I got the infrared thermometer out and checked the exhaust temp on each cylinder and the whole right bank was cold.. Checked fuse box and one of the injection fuses were missing. Put a fuse back in and she runs like a champ!
Well I took the car to the muffler shop today and got the long tubes connected to the existing exhaust system:
The car already had a Flowmaster muffler installed when I got so I went ahead and used it for the time being. I am actually pleased with the sound combined with the long tube headers. I am still going to replace it later down the road with a Magnaflow though.
That's what ive been working on the last 3 wkends and evenings. Got my spoiler from Classic Industries and it was shipped to me within a week with new hardware and a very nice piece if I might say. It has been a HELL of a project and about 30 hr of prepwork im ready for a fresh coat of bright red hopefully later in the week. Next year maybe I can cobble together a fresh smallblock similar to what you just dropped in and I should be happy with it by then.
Hows the fitment of that spoiler? I'm trying to decide weather to buy one from Hawks or Classic Industries. Hawks shipping is a little cheaper, Classic Industries wants almost $200 for freight..
06-24-2016, 10:23 AM
