looking at a 77 L48

[stevolwevol]

I've been shopping for another vette, and I came across a 77 L48. Seems like a nice enough car, but I hear a noise in the tail pipes when running. Hard to describe a sound like this but it's a whispery sound tse tse tse. I thought it was something leaking past the valves maybe. Possibly cracked valve seats?? Or maybe warn valves? It has about 60,000 plus miles. It ran nice and strong, but I can't get past this. It also had a pre 77 steering wheel, and the damn horn didn't work, and was canted to the left with some play.

Any feedback would be very much appreciated.

1 horn didn't work
2 canted wheel with some play, earlier steering wheel
3 brakes pulled a little to the right
4 headlights were very slow to pop up, and go down
5 speedo needle bounced mainly at higher speeds

 

[bill81vette]

how long did it sit???or has been run up till recently?
is this a fun vette or an NCRS restoration?
you can get a new,correct steering wheel.from the corvette vendors.
headlites go up and down slowly,vacuum lines around the engine for cracks,wear,ect,or actuators may need to be rebuilt.

 

[stevolwevol]

The car has been chronically sitting, It has one of the best bright red paint jobs I've ever seen, and the carpet, and seats have been re upolstered. The previous owner put L82 emblems on the cowl, but it's not, it's an L48 I consider that frowned upon. The gears feel like 3:70:1. A horn is just plain necessary, but the wrong steering wheel may be a contributing factor to the horn not working? You tell me. I suspect the valves are not seating properly (slightly burnt), or there may be cracking going on. 882 heads are somewhat crack prone, but performance is up to par, so I don't really know what is causing the mild tse tse tse noise, just wouldn't want that to progress into something worse. He put a square bore Holley carb on top of some type of a Holly high rise manifold, but the bottom end and heads are stock. Now, my 77 sits all winter, but has none of these issues in the spring. The brakes work great, the headlights pop up and down, etc.., runs like i drove it yesterday. I like the car, and I'd buy it if the price was right. He's asking $11,200. Has new American Racing Crager style wheels, with new Cooper Cobra tires, but has the old rallies and all the original parts. Just thought some opinions would be good so I posted this. Please chime in if you have an opinion. Thank you

 

[Tom Bryant]

Get it on a lift. Start the engine and check for exhaust leaks. This also gives you a chance to check the under side of the body panels for damage repair, check the brakes for leaks (right side especially since that's the way it's pulling), u-joints, look for oil leaks and whatever. I wouldn't buy an old Corvette without inspecting it from the under side first. If the exhaust is tight then do a compression check while it's on the lift where you can get to the plugs that are only accessed easily from below. If a cylinder is leaking bad enough to hear like you described a compression check will show it.

Tom