aklim
Well-known member
Simply offer him the money and sell yours privately
Simply offer him the money and sell yours privately
I doubt that some one selling a 92 would want an 84 as a trade, but you can always ask.
Depending on the condition of the 84 you have now, and based on your current situation, my take on the course of action would be to maybe fix up the 84 and get it in as good condition as possible and sell it. Save up some extra dough and get an LT1 equipped car.
It would be much easier then re-inventing the wheel with the 84 and the rest of the car is better too.
Unless you have an attachment to your current car and don’t want to part with it. There is noting wrong with that, and there is nothing pathetic about being 19 and doing what you are doing. If you really want to keep the 84, I would just research whats out there as far as bolt ons, and see how much they would cost. Compare the cost vs the price of getting another car. Remember, you don’t get back what you put in.
Do you know how to do any of the work yourself? Or do you need to pay top have it done?
Depending on the condition of the 84 you have now, and based on your current situation, my take on the course of action would be to maybe fix up the 84 and get it in as good condition as possible and sell it. Save up some extra dough and get an LT1 equipped car.
It would be much easier then re-inventing the wheel with the 84 and the rest of the car is better too.
Unless you have an attachment to your current car and don’t want to part with it. There is noting wrong with that, and there is nothing pathetic about being 19 and doing what you are doing. If you really want to keep the 84, I would just research whats out there as far as bolt ons, and see how much they would cost. Compare the cost vs the price of getting another car. Remember, you don’t get back what you put in.
Do you know how to do any of the work yourself? Or do you need to pay top have it done?
Highway Man
Well-known member
choices
He couldn't do any more than say yes or no. If you are going for another car I'd say shop around. There are some really good buys out there but you have to look. Try autotrader.com there might be a dealer who would take your vette in on trade for a newer model. I was looking at an 89 and a 92 and you can buy a 92 for less than 9500 and still get a good one. When you look at the difference in the performance capabilities it was the 92. I also bought the 92 for the same money as the 89. Yeah I know that there are newer vettes that will smoke mine but so what. I got what I want and I'm happy. To me the most important thing about a car is the mechanical condition. If its pretty but don't run worth a hoot it ain't going to do you much good. On the other hand if a car is sound mechanically but needs some cosmetic attention that's not as tough-at least not to me. You are an intelligent young man-take your time and don't get in too big a hurry. I'm 58 and I blew a lot of money on my first car. It was a while back but I still remember.
He couldn't do any more than say yes or no. If you are going for another car I'd say shop around. There are some really good buys out there but you have to look. Try autotrader.com there might be a dealer who would take your vette in on trade for a newer model. I was looking at an 89 and a 92 and you can buy a 92 for less than 9500 and still get a good one. When you look at the difference in the performance capabilities it was the 92. I also bought the 92 for the same money as the 89. Yeah I know that there are newer vettes that will smoke mine but so what. I got what I want and I'm happy. To me the most important thing about a car is the mechanical condition. If its pretty but don't run worth a hoot it ain't going to do you much good. On the other hand if a car is sound mechanically but needs some cosmetic attention that's not as tough-at least not to me. You are an intelligent young man-take your time and don't get in too big a hurry. I'm 58 and I blew a lot of money on my first car. It was a while back but I still remember.
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vetteboy86
Well-known member
Been there done that. Being of the younger generation I can sympathize with you as it wasn't long ago I was in your shoes. It took me a while to realize that you can't just go through a book and add up all the horse power numbers from all the bolt on's and have an additional 100 hp.
How did you acquire the vette you have now? Would you be willing to sell it? Rule of thumb, buy the newest you can afford. Not always true for everyone. you need to realize now that I am seeing very nice low mileage L98 cars that have alot of life left in it. Put a set of headers on an L98 car, a good tune up, free flow intake air cleaner, and you have a very fun car. Do a rear gear swap and do nothing but smoke the tires.
Either way, your worlds ahead of others your age. Owning a vette means you have an appreciation for things, and keeping those things nice.
boomdriver
Well-known member
I'm glad that you're starting to see the light...I know that the reality of certain situations is not always pleasant, but its always real. These people here have absolutely nothing to gain. The facts mixed with personal opinion is about all that they will ever offer. The Corvette community is made up of the best, nicest people on the planet and they will not steer you wrong. Use their experience to guide you.
At you age, I was having to rebuild a rusting F-150 pick-up, and had zero concept of PATIENCE. So, you are doing alright.
And yes, like other "older" :eyerole guys I wasted piles of money on experiments and slick marketing. If the ad said there was a 3 hp increase, I bought it and eventually added up all the 7 and 12 and 5 hp parts and had a 600HP C-4 that ran on regular gas ! Ya, right.
All that stuff was mostly useless, but all a part of an education. Your income/age/status should not now, or EVER limit or influence YOUR dreams. If anything, use it as motivation.
I thought the insurance was expensive at 28 when I bought my first...19? OUCH. You better save some $$ for that...its gonna sting.
In a case like this,do the research, educate yourself, and formulate a long term plan, and execute. Patience.
Plan the work, then work the plan.
It takes time.
Don;t fall in love with cars you're looking at. If you mis one there will be another.
Like girlfriends, they will come and go until you find the right "one".
How will ya know? You know, after you drive one for awhile..
it'll just feel right every minute that you're together.And,
Think like a business. You will NOT be able to sell the car for what you have invested in upgrades. never happens.
You could use the 84 as a stepping stone to bigger and better things. Drive it as is for a while, save and buy the next one thats newer and nicer. Everybody starts somewhere. There is no such thing as a 'bad' Corvette. Like they say, I'd rather push my Vette than drive a Mustang.
If you want to bad enough, you can save the money. Its always a matter of sacrifice. I've seen guys that saved and bought new cars or homes when they were still too young to buy a drink. Money adds up quick when you have a plan and you;re willing to stick with it.
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bartric
Guest
@warren s, well, my original intent was to offer it, plus a boot. So, he may not be getting an equal value car, but it is still a corvette and some money in his pocket. And my only rule of thumb, as far as mechanics go, is if I can't do it, I'll learn, it's completely unacceptable to me to pay like $300 in labor to get your breaks changed, tires rotated, oil changed, oil filter, new air filter (all the small stuff that'd take you about an hour to do for 1/4th of the price for parts and a little bit of time). I have the Haynes manual for my car (and always buy the one for whatever car I have), I've done basic things such as changing coils, alternators, spark plugs, etc, but am completely confident in my abilities to do anything else I may need to. And if not, I've got my dad, which has been there and done that, plenty of times. Never hurts to have some one looking over your shoulder or to give you advice.
@Highway Man, you're very correct, I plan on taking my time just to make sure (because you ALWAYS find the better car after your purchase). And like you said, I'm looking for the car that will make me happy, not outrun everything (although, I do want it to be decently quick, that's what the name is all about, Corvette: Speed, Style, Beauty, and over all Performance).
@vetteboy86, the 'Vette I've got now, I got through a clever trade. I was honestly looking to buy one anyway, and found one at an auction which I got out bid for, then found another one about 100 miles away from where I live for $3300, I decided not to get it (even though it was supposedly in great mechanical condition) because it had a quite banged up fender, probably a bad choice on my part. Then my dad found one about 200 miles away from where I live, offered the guy to trade for his Toyota 4Runner, the guy jumped on the deal and my dad got the Vette. He only had about $500 in his truck, but the guy needed a running vehicle (no the Vette isn't CURRENTLY running but will be soon) The guy had to replace a timing chain (which wasn't broken so we have yet to figure out why) and was dumb and removed the distributor (thus pulling it out of time) and unhooked the battery, unhooked the starter, pulled off the air intake part of the crossfire leaving the injectors exposed (looks like some water may have gotten in one a little as it has a white residue around it). The guy also lost the key to it, so we just recently replaced the key lock cylinder, the horn contact retainer was broken inside there, so currently waiting for it to arrive at my house to finish putting the steering column back together, and get it moved into my dads building to work on. We thought the engine was stuck, but then my dad turned it a bit, so then we came to the conclusion the starter was stuck, then the other day we were looking around and realized the starter was just unplugged. So all in all, everything may work, just trying to get the steering back together to get it into the building to slide a jack under it's 5" ground clearance body to re-hook up the starter. But regardless, I got a Vette for a $500 truck, at the price of having to buy my dad a replacement truck whenever he finds one he wants. And I could part the thing out for more than that.
To the second question, I'm most definitely willing to sell it as long as it's on to my journey to getting another Corvette.
Appreciation for nice things, 'Vettes are my dream car, my death wish would be to get a 1000 hp Vette, and take it to the tracks against a Veyron or Pikes Peak Escudo, and watch it eat dust as my independent axles hugged the ground with a loving 1k hp embrace and deafened everyone with a roar of the engine and squalling tires so intimidating the ground rumbles. Corvettes are my number one car and the most amazing cars in my eyes, they're always number one in new innovations, independent axles, amazing, magna fluid ride suspension, ingenious, 0-60 in 3.2, breath taking. They are definitely the number 1 car in the world, both in my mind, and my heart.
The only thing I think would be a great concept Corvette: Euro'vette, rear placed engine, AWD, carbonfiber EVERYTHING, that thing would eat the ground for breakfast.
@Highway Man, you're very correct, I plan on taking my time just to make sure (because you ALWAYS find the better car after your purchase). And like you said, I'm looking for the car that will make me happy, not outrun everything (although, I do want it to be decently quick, that's what the name is all about, Corvette: Speed, Style, Beauty, and over all Performance).
@vetteboy86, the 'Vette I've got now, I got through a clever trade. I was honestly looking to buy one anyway, and found one at an auction which I got out bid for, then found another one about 100 miles away from where I live for $3300, I decided not to get it (even though it was supposedly in great mechanical condition) because it had a quite banged up fender, probably a bad choice on my part. Then my dad found one about 200 miles away from where I live, offered the guy to trade for his Toyota 4Runner, the guy jumped on the deal and my dad got the Vette. He only had about $500 in his truck, but the guy needed a running vehicle (no the Vette isn't CURRENTLY running but will be soon) The guy had to replace a timing chain (which wasn't broken so we have yet to figure out why) and was dumb and removed the distributor (thus pulling it out of time) and unhooked the battery, unhooked the starter, pulled off the air intake part of the crossfire leaving the injectors exposed (looks like some water may have gotten in one a little as it has a white residue around it). The guy also lost the key to it, so we just recently replaced the key lock cylinder, the horn contact retainer was broken inside there, so currently waiting for it to arrive at my house to finish putting the steering column back together, and get it moved into my dads building to work on. We thought the engine was stuck, but then my dad turned it a bit, so then we came to the conclusion the starter was stuck, then the other day we were looking around and realized the starter was just unplugged. So all in all, everything may work, just trying to get the steering back together to get it into the building to slide a jack under it's 5" ground clearance body to re-hook up the starter. But regardless, I got a Vette for a $500 truck, at the price of having to buy my dad a replacement truck whenever he finds one he wants. And I could part the thing out for more than that.
To the second question, I'm most definitely willing to sell it as long as it's on to my journey to getting another Corvette.
Appreciation for nice things, 'Vettes are my dream car, my death wish would be to get a 1000 hp Vette, and take it to the tracks against a Veyron or Pikes Peak Escudo, and watch it eat dust as my independent axles hugged the ground with a loving 1k hp embrace and deafened everyone with a roar of the engine and squalling tires so intimidating the ground rumbles. Corvettes are my number one car and the most amazing cars in my eyes, they're always number one in new innovations, independent axles, amazing, magna fluid ride suspension, ingenious, 0-60 in 3.2, breath taking. They are definitely the number 1 car in the world, both in my mind, and my heart.
The only thing I think would be a great concept Corvette: Euro'vette, rear placed engine, AWD, carbonfiber EVERYTHING, that thing would eat the ground for breakfast.
Highway Man
Well-known member
Dreams
Bartric, Its great to have dreams and don't ever let anyone steal them from you. Nineteen and already have your first "vette"-you're doing alright. Right now is a buyers market for just about anything and just so you'll know I have seen late 80's and early 90's model vettes going for 5500 to 7500 dollars. You've got to be careful because some of them are junk but among them are some really good values. You have to be discerning and ask a lot of questions and evaluate not just the car but evaluate the seller also. That will tell you a lot about the car. If you choose to buy another car ask for sevice records-ask for the seller to provide you with a carfax report. Find as much history on the car as you can. What you find out about its past will tell you direction the car was going in. It will either be one with a lot of service left in it or it will be headed to the heap. One of the first things to overcome is vette fever. This makes a person buy the first vette they see. Good luck on your quest for "your" vette and I hope you will keep us informed about your progress.
Bartric, Its great to have dreams and don't ever let anyone steal them from you. Nineteen and already have your first "vette"-you're doing alright. Right now is a buyers market for just about anything and just so you'll know I have seen late 80's and early 90's model vettes going for 5500 to 7500 dollars. You've got to be careful because some of them are junk but among them are some really good values. You have to be discerning and ask a lot of questions and evaluate not just the car but evaluate the seller also. That will tell you a lot about the car. If you choose to buy another car ask for sevice records-ask for the seller to provide you with a carfax report. Find as much history on the car as you can. What you find out about its past will tell you direction the car was going in. It will either be one with a lot of service left in it or it will be headed to the heap. One of the first things to overcome is vette fever. This makes a person buy the first vette they see. Good luck on your quest for "your" vette and I hope you will keep us informed about your progress.
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- #48
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bartric
Guest
Well, I will most definitely always be a part of this forum. Right now, I'm just looking forward to getting my current one pieced back together. It shouldn't be too much longer, still waiting for a horn contact retainer, then it should be a quick step from there, as long as there aren't any surprises along the way... which there usually are. But I just recently got a surprise $400 from my schools financial aid, so it'll get fixed soon enough.
How many miles are on your 84? and whats the over all condition as it is now?
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- #50
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bartric
Guest
Overall condition, quite good I'd say. It's not currently running, but that's easily fixable, and it should be running soon, just waiting for a steering wheel part. The body is quite clean, just has a scratch/scuff on the passenger side, and a scratch and chip on the hood. Other than that it's a quite clean body, interior is quite dirty, been working on cleaning it lately, it was originally red interior, but most of it is either black or gray at the moment (I really don't know how a car gets that dirty). The people that owned it before me smoked, but most of that smell is out now due to industrial fabric cleaner. The digital dash works, the guy installed an aftermarket radio which he took out, he also installed some pioneer speakers in the back which it could have done without personally. I think that's really all that's wrong with it, which is just small things (which cost a fortune to fix just cause it has the name Corvette associated with it, haha), oh and the carpet covering the rear area behind the seats was in terrible condition so I ripped it out. I'll post some pictures of it tomorrow maybe.
Oh, and I think it's 70k, maybe 80k. Somewhere in that area, it's not a whole lot.
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- #51
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bartric
Guest
Pictures!
Like I promised here's pictures of the car and all the 'nasty' spots. Brace yourself cause it's 19 pictures. I wanted to make sure I covered EVERYTHING. Finally got it pushed into my dads building though and jacked up on car ramps to get to the starter.
Pictures on this post:
#1 corvette lettering showing some paint chips
#2 showing bad weather stripping
#3 a scuff or something on the back of the car above the exhaust
#4 showing some paint bubbled up on the driver door
#5 showing a scuff near the vents on the passenger side
#6 shows the only actual body damage on the car on driver side rear
#7 shows the engine with the crossfire removed exposing the injection system (how the guy had it when I bought it, notice the hoses and wires just running everywhere *sigh* lots of sorting to do)
#8 shows the center dash where he removed his radio
Like I promised here's pictures of the car and all the 'nasty' spots. Brace yourself cause it's 19 pictures. I wanted to make sure I covered EVERYTHING. Finally got it pushed into my dads building though and jacked up on car ramps to get to the starter.
Pictures on this post:
#1 corvette lettering showing some paint chips
#2 showing bad weather stripping
#3 a scuff or something on the back of the car above the exhaust
#4 showing some paint bubbled up on the driver door
#5 showing a scuff near the vents on the passenger side
#6 shows the only actual body damage on the car on driver side rear
#7 shows the engine with the crossfire removed exposing the injection system (how the guy had it when I bought it, notice the hoses and wires just running everywhere *sigh* lots of sorting to do)
#8 shows the center dash where he removed his radio
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bartric
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#9 paint chips around the passenger headlight
#10 the rear part of the car doesn't seem to line up correctly with the fender, not sure why, appears to maybe be from a later model C4
#11 rear area of the inside, with my haynes manual, arm and hammer cleaner for the dash and stuff, the pieces of the crossfire injection, all covering where I ripped out the torn up rear carpet
#12 the dirty carpet in the front area of the car with the seats removed
#13 paint chips around the driver headlight
#14 the driver mirror is 'out of socket'
#15 paint bubbling near the 3rd break light
#16 the seats, look how dirty they are (this is after cleaning them twice with industrial fabric cleaner) there are only 3 rips in the fabric, two are small rips and then a third caused while cleaning the head part of the seat
#10 the rear part of the car doesn't seem to line up correctly with the fender, not sure why, appears to maybe be from a later model C4
#11 rear area of the inside, with my haynes manual, arm and hammer cleaner for the dash and stuff, the pieces of the crossfire injection, all covering where I ripped out the torn up rear carpet
#12 the dirty carpet in the front area of the car with the seats removed
#13 paint chips around the driver headlight
#14 the driver mirror is 'out of socket'
#15 paint bubbling near the 3rd break light
#16 the seats, look how dirty they are (this is after cleaning them twice with industrial fabric cleaner) there are only 3 rips in the fabric, two are small rips and then a third caused while cleaning the head part of the seat
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bartric
Guest
#17 The corvette sitting in his shop, what a beautiful car
#18 The symbol of luxury, beauty, and speed, living together humbly under one roof
#19 the front floor mats, also equally as dirty as the seats, after one cleaning with the industrial fabric cleaner
This is all the pictures I have for of the car, if you want to request others feel free, I'll take them and upload them as requested (if requested)
And yes that is a Chevy Nova in the background. It's my dads.
#18 The symbol of luxury, beauty, and speed, living together humbly under one roof
#19 the front floor mats, also equally as dirty as the seats, after one cleaning with the industrial fabric cleaner
This is all the pictures I have for of the car, if you want to request others feel free, I'll take them and upload them as requested (if requested)
And yes that is a Chevy Nova in the background. It's my dads.
Attachments
Looks like it just needs a lot of TLC. That's a nice garage you have there to work in. Its great that your dad also is into cars. Whats with that Nova? What motor is in that?
93Rubie
Well-known member
Give her lots of TLC, you see potential where others see just a 84 Corvette. A diamond in the rough for sure, but it is all there and when fixed up should be pretty cool. Good Luck with your project. We all could have a lot worse hobbies.
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bartric
Guest
@Warren S, and a lot of TLC it shall get. It is a fairly nice garage, and decently sized at that, my dad had it built a few years back. As for the Nova, it's a '71, currently it has a 454 in it, but my dad doesn't feel like investing the money to get better suspension to support the weight, so instead he's building a 350 to put down in it. (which kind of makes me sad, I'd like to see it pushing around that big block, or rather, the big block pushing it around)
@93Rubie, I will, all Corvettes have potential, some people just won't give them the time of day they require to be restored at least to a drivable condition. I've definitely seen some worse looking cars get restored, so I consider myself lucky.
News: The starter is not the problem, we now think that it's the starter relay thing that's behind the radio area. Will be looking into that probably tomorrow.
Question: Anyone have any information as to why the back of my car doesn't match up with the rear fenders correctly? Picture #10
@93Rubie, I will, all Corvettes have potential, some people just won't give them the time of day they require to be restored at least to a drivable condition. I've definitely seen some worse looking cars get restored, so I consider myself lucky.
News: The starter is not the problem, we now think that it's the starter relay thing that's behind the radio area. Will be looking into that probably tomorrow.
Question: Anyone have any information as to why the back of my car doesn't match up with the rear fenders correctly? Picture #10
boomdriver
Well-known member
wow,...
its actually not as bad as it could be. the seats...usually those are torn and shredded like rags. Dirty is fixable. The engine....I hope the old owner was running some form of air cleaner and not runnin g around too much with the throttle bodies sucking whatever junk they could...
As I said before, Corvettes never die, they just get a new owner. This will be a good project. Carpets are available is sets of pieces, there are lots of salvage places that sell the parts one at a time, trim, carpet, everything. Get your service manual off e-bay and go to work.
The big secret here is patience.
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bartric
Guest
Okay, so, I'm sure the guy left the air filter part on it when he drove it, I think he only took that off when he started working on the car.
My new 'diagnosis' of why the car won't start:
The guy that was working on it wasn't too smart. He installed a new radio and cut into some extra wires which happened to include part of the starting system running to the starter relay switch. He couldn't figure out what was wrong, so he just started replacing junk on the car (i.e. the timing chain which was quite good looking for being 'broken').
How I came to the diagnosis? Well, the engine isn't locked up, the started isn't locked up and works, which narrows it down to something between the key and the starter, so then we went to the electrical system between that, runs from key to neutral safety lock, then to the starter relay and on down to the starter. Found out the starter relay is behind the radio area in the dash. Pulled out a huge mess of wires from back there that have been spliced and chopped all to hell. when trying to start it, if you shake the wires, the starter will start to turn over the engine. Which makes the diagnosis of 'faulty wiring due to idiot' seem fairly plausible.
My new 'diagnosis' of why the car won't start:
The guy that was working on it wasn't too smart. He installed a new radio and cut into some extra wires which happened to include part of the starting system running to the starter relay switch. He couldn't figure out what was wrong, so he just started replacing junk on the car (i.e. the timing chain which was quite good looking for being 'broken').
How I came to the diagnosis? Well, the engine isn't locked up, the started isn't locked up and works, which narrows it down to something between the key and the starter, so then we went to the electrical system between that, runs from key to neutral safety lock, then to the starter relay and on down to the starter. Found out the starter relay is behind the radio area in the dash. Pulled out a huge mess of wires from back there that have been spliced and chopped all to hell. when trying to start it, if you shake the wires, the starter will start to turn over the engine. Which makes the diagnosis of 'faulty wiring due to idiot' seem fairly plausible.
Schrade
Well-known member
Best advice.
Get a multimeter, the FSM off of eBay, and learn to tune it to spec. A properly running C4, with a SMOOTH idle is more impressive than WOT and smoking tires, which hides TONS of problems, until you get to a stoplight, with fear that it will cut off.
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bartric
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Any chance you could link me to that multimeter thing, can't find it.
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