Windshield Sealing

When I had to drive the Corvette in the rain, I noticed that the windshield was leaking quite badly. The glue holding the top trim in place had perished and was letting water through. I lifted the trim a bit and there was almost nothing left of the seal. I didn't want to remove the whole windshield so I decided to use silicone to seal it.

I bought a tube of silicone that had the best temperature tolerance, cleaned the windshield edge and squeezed the stuff under the trim. Then I clamped the trim and left it to dry for the night. Next evening, it had set nicely and I just needed to clean the edge a bit. I have not tested if the windshield is completely waterproof yet but it should be much better that before at least...

Also notice the cars mascot hanging from the mirror :)

New Air Cleaner

My car also had a "bug eye" Edelbrock Pro-Flo #1002 air cleaner. What I read from different discussions, they are really restrictive pieces of s*it that might burn your car down. Even though at some points of this project, burning the car down seemed like the best option, now I didn't really want that any more ;)

I was a bit worried if a normal air filter would fit under the hood. I did a small test with some clay by placing it on the current air cleaner and closing the hood. This way I got the current clearance, which was more than I had feared. So I went and bought a new Edelbrock #1223 paper filter that had a dropped base and should fit under the hood.

I only had to turn the fuel line a bit from the carb so the base would fit over it. After installing the cleaner, I checked the hood clearance again. It was about 5 cm in the lowest point. So plenty of room left. Hopefully this new air cleaner will flow better that the old one.

And Lights Fixed

Oh well, the light problem was smaller than I feared. I measured different connectors and saw that no power was coming to parking lights. Then I noticed that the headlight switch didn't get power from the fuse box either. I checked the fuse and it was fine. After some more fiddling I removed the fuse to be absolutely sure that it had not burned, and it hadn't. I put the same fuse back and tested the lights again. They worked! WTF? I can only guess that the fuse had had a bad connection to the fuse box...

I also removed the driver side door card and drilled out the pop rivets that held the velcro retainers to the door. Then I replaced them with new ones and put the panel back on. Hopefully I won't have to remove it again.

Lights Stop Working

I took the Corvette for a short drive during the weekend to get some parts for it. The sound insulation seemed to work and the trunk was quieter now. Thats good news at least. Maybe I'll add some more later to cover all the bare fiberglass.

I drove with only the parking lights on but for some reason other cars flashed their lights to me. I found the reason at home: parking lights and rear lights did not work any more! Low beam and high beam lights worked normally. After dark I also noticed that the gauge lights were not working. Damn! I only had a few minutes to investigate the problem so I just checked the fuses and wiring in the light switch. Everything seemed to be OK.

I hope the new aftermarket headlight switch has not broken already. Its quality had not impressed me as the switch knob does not lock in place and the vacuum hose connectors are quite loose. I'll have to take another look later. I hope that this is just caused by some loose wire or blown fuse that I did not see.

And much cursing was also caused by one of the hub caps. When I got home I noticed that one was missing! Luckily new ones are not that expensive. I need to get retainers for them so I won't lose more.

Cursing In The Rain

Well, I have not been driving around that much yet as it has been raining almost every day since I got the plates for the Corvette. And as I still need to seal the windshield, I don't want to drive around in rain... The few short trips that I've made have been mostly for testing the car. And I've found a few things to do:

• At about 60km/h the passenger side window motor starts to vibrate and this causes a lot of noise. Hopefully this ends when I get the door card in place.
• The "trunk" behind the seats is pretty noisy. I need to add some insulation.
• The transmission really needs some work as you can't find all the gears with the shifter.

Attaching the plates to the car also proved to be more difficult than I expected. The rear plate fit in nicely but the front one didn't. I called the inspection office for options but it just was not possible to get a pair of plates that would fit both ends of the car. I checked some pictures from other finnish C3 Corvettes and the front plate was bent a bit in them. So I cut a bracket from some sheet metal, bent the front plate a bit so it fit in the slot and attached it to the car. Took hours to get both plates attached...

I also bought some black sound insulation carpet and attached it to the "roof" and back wall of the trunk. I need to take a test drive to see if it reduced the road noise at all. Perhaps I also should add the stuff to the corners of the trunk to make it look cleaner.

Corvette Has Plates!

I finally had the inspection today at 8 am. I drove to the same office early in the morning without rain this time. The inspector was an old car hobbyist too so we chatted about my project while he checked the fixes. The driver side hand brake was still a bit weak but otherwise everything was fine. I had also noted that the steering was now much better than before. Perhaps I could tighten the steering box screw just a hint.

As all the mandatory systems were OK, the inspection passed! We filled the papers, I payed for the inspection and they handed me the plates!

I checked from my papers that I had bought the car in 12. of August, 2009. So it had taken me and my friend little over two years to get this Corvette back on the road. Wow, I bet I could have gotten an easier project with the money I had spent on this car but at least I now knew almost every system in the car inside and out. And had learned a lot! :)

One problem appeared when I got home and started to install the plates. Even though I had short, five character plates, it would not fit to the front slot. I'll have to call the inspection office on monday to see if I can get an even smaller plate.

Hopefully I have at least a few sunny days left to enjoy the car before winter. Then I can pull it apart again and start cleaning all the parts that I don't like and maybe even get a few more horsepower from the engine somehow. Oh, and I also need to lower the front of the car. And change the valve covers to cleaner ones. And put the door cards in. And order the rest of the interior from somewhere...

For now, I'll just drive it a few days :)

Ready For Inspection

Today it was time to go throught the last problems. I started from the back-up light switch. After some fiddling, I did manage to loosen both bolts with a small wrench. Then it was easy to move the switch forward a bit and tighten the bolts again. After some testing and readjusting the back-up lights worked correctly! Finally I screwed the cover plate back and job was done. Now all the problems found in the inspection were fixed.

As I had some more time, I also decided to take a look at the shifter cable. This time I put the transmission to first gear and went under the car. Still, no matter how much I tweaked around, I couldn't get the shifter to work correctly. Cable was fine but there was some slack inside the transmission. I could turn the transmission lever way too much before the internal parts took hold. I just had to give up and be settle for the current functionality.

Tomorrow I must reserve an inspection time for wednesday and get temporary plates once more. I really hope this is the last time I need those...

Heater Motor, Shifter Cable and Parking Brake

On the next couple of days I continued with the fixes. I filled the power steering pump with fluid and tightened its belt. Then it was time to move to the electrical problems. I removed the shifter cover plate to take a look at the AC controls to get the heater motor working. I couldn't see any loose wires and was getting a bit worried. Until I noticed that the AC control wheel was in 'off' position. I turned it a bit and immediately the motor started running! I guess I don't know how the car works yet! :D

While the cover was off, I also took a look at the shifter back-up light switch. The back-up lights were not on when the shifter was in reverse. I noticed that the switch could be adjusted a bit by loosening two screws. Unfortunately one of them was in really tight spot and I couldn't get it open. The switch moved a bit with just one of them open but not enough. In the end I couldn't get the switch working properly. I would have to take a look again later.

While I was working with the shifter, I also desided to adjust the cable. The transmission and the lever didn't seem to be in sync so the cable needed some tuning. I checked my Chilton manual which instructed that I should put the shifter in 'drive' and then adjust the transmission lever. I tried this but couldn't get them to work better. I gave up for now and decided to take a look at the parking brake.

I jacked the rear up and removed the wheel. I released the parking brake and turned the adjustmend screw until I couldn't turn the spindle any more. Then I backed the screw a bit until the brake wasn't locked any more and put the wheel back. Finally I had to adjust the brake cable a bit and hope this fixed the problem.

Later I read from a discussion, that I should put the shifter to first gear and then adjust the transmission lever. Oh, well. I'll have to try that and also take a look at the back-up switch again later. These adjustments shouldn't take long and then the car should be ready for the second inspection.

The Big Day

Yesterday was finally the vehicle inspection day for the Corvette. The inspection started at 10am but I woke up early to tune some final points. First I tested the horn as for some reason it had not worked the day before. Now it worked fine. Strange. Secondly I tightened the hand brake cable a bit and finally checked the lights once more. Then it was time to go.

Drive to the inspection office proved to be a test of waterproofness. It was raining quite heavily the whole way but I couldn't see any leaks yet. But another problem appeared! The wipers didn't always work properly. They would randomly stop working. Awkward... I would have to check the wiper switch grounding at home.

The drive took about 30 minutes and I went to fill the papers and pay for the inspection. After a cup of coffee, the inspector appeared and we went to see the car. And first failure was found immediately: the heater motor didn't run. I didn't known that it was mandatory so I had not fixed it. The motor was fine but some wire was loose from the AC control panel. Despite this problem, we continued.

Another slightly embarrassing fault appeared a little later. One of the power steering hoses had been chafing agains the cylinder bracket and was in bad shape. And then decided to burst right in the middle of the inspection spilling fluid all over the floor! Wonderful!

In the end the car didn't pass and I got the fault list:

1. Driver side hand brake was too weak. As all the parts were new, I just needed to tune the brake a bit.
2. Parking light color was wrong. I had yellow bulbs in the lights but they were forbidden. I would have to change the bulbs to clear ones.
3. Back-up lights were faulty. They worked but not when the reverse gear was on. I would have to adjust the switch a bit.
4. Tie rod clamps were loose. Just would have to tighten the nuts.
5. Power steering hose had to be changed.
6. Steering didn't return to center when turning. The steering box adjustment was too tight and had to be set.
7. Gear indicator was missing from the center console. 
8. Heater motor wasn't working. I would have to reconnect the wires.

That's it. Many small things but mostly just fine tuning. Only parts that I would need were the hoses. I had four weeks to fix the problems and inspect the car again. With the list in hand, I drove home in pouring rain. This time some leaks were found. The upper edge of the windshield was leaking and water started dripping in. I had waited this as my friend said he had seen the same thing earlier. I would have to glue the chrome trim again and hopefully that would stop the leaking.

I went to work and found the power steering hoses from US-Parts. I decided to replace all four hoses as most likely they were pretty old. With the hoses in hand, I had all the parts I needed.

After getting home in the evening, I started going through the list. I replaced the bulbs, tightened the tie rod clamps and adjusted the steering box a bit. Problem with the steering box was that I would have to take a test drive to see the effects but couldn't legally drive the car as the temporary plates had expired...

Finally I decided to replace the power steering hoses. I drove the car out to the yard and jacked it up. Unfortunately it started to rain again. I really want a larger garage! Luckily I had a car cover that I used to make a tent :)

This kept the rain away for long enough for me to replace the hoses. It was a pretty simple job, if somewhat fiddly to do without a lift. The return hose needed to be cut to correct length but the rest went straight in. I didn't have any power steering fluid so it would have to be added later.

So after a few hours of working, half of the faults were fixed already. The rest shouldn't take that long either so the car should be fixed soon!