New guy with 81

[Quacker]

Hi all
I'm a new guy on the block, I picked up a two tone 81 that has been sitting for over 5 years. The air pump is missing and alot of the vac lines have been changed or pluged, it runs but very rich and I just can't get it to run right. Can I just change the intake, carb and put in a high energy distributor and by-pass the the ECM and remove the rest of the engine emission controls.

 

[Yoda]

Quacker ~ Welcome to the Corvette Action Center Community ~

Well, if the car has sat for 4 or 5 years.. there will be some other items you may want to address too, e.g. gaskets, fluid change (all fluids), check the brakes.. drive line.. and so on. As for changing out the items you suggested, YES it is possible to do that and get rid of the computer, but you might want to check with your state smog nazi's about what is required for your state first

Good luck getting your ride running and driving smoooooothly

We have a pretty sizable group of L81 owners here at CAC I'm sure we can help you through your questions. And, an added plus is CAC has a pretty LARGE School of SHARKS here too. Lot's of talent and technical help around every corner :dance.

Welcome aboard and Enjoy the Ride!

 

[78SilvAnniv]

Welcome to CACC Quacker!

I'm sure you'll find CACC to be a group of friendly and knowledgeable people you will enjoy getting to know.
Come back often and let us know how you're doing with your new vette!
Heidi

 

[Quacker]

again

I did do a clean up of the engine and fixed all the leaks, next thing I had to do was rebuild the brakes. I have everything going good except the rich running engine, I run cleaner in the carb and drained the gas and refilled it with fresh gas. The timing is at 6 deg.
I checked the heat valve (Exhaust Manifold) and put a vacuum pump on it and it works but I don't know where to plug it into for vacuum to open it. Maybe I should start there. One more thing the tag for the (emission hose routing) vacuum lines is missing from under the hood.

I would like to keep it as close to orig. as I can because everything works right, but all these vacuum lines are driving me nuts plus the missing air pump and pluged lines.

It's going to be a long winter.

 

[Doug'sL81]

Hi Quacker,

I am also a relativly new owner of an 81. I purchased a service manual through helms $60.00 and an assembly manual through NCRS $20.00 these items are real useful when trying to figure out how things went together. In addition to those two books this site with it's knowalageable and gernerous members is invaluable. You'll like the folks here. Welcome.

Doug

 

[DDLS3]

Quaker,

If your 81 has set around as long as you say without being started regularly I suspect that the carb needs some attention. You may possibly find your rich condition to be a malfunctioning choke or a stuck float. Yes you can convert your 81 to an 80 style carb, HEI, and etc. Mine has been done, unfortunately it was done by a previous owner so the exact path is not well known to me. I'm sure there are members that have first hand experience though. Welcome!!!

 

[Wegone]

Welcome.. as a past 81 owner sounds like your proublem is with the carb and the iac. as DDl-81 said put an 80 carb on it and get ride of the ecm. I'm not sure about the dist. but it may also have to be changed...if you have emissions check you may have to replace the smog pump. Good Luck Steve

 

[JHL]

Hello and Welcome,

You can do as you thought and bypass the ECM but you do need an old style HEI. You wouldn`t need to change the intake just find a carb that didn`t have the computer hook up from an older Chevy. Not to many dollars if you find some good used parts and it would get it running. All the original wiring and plugs are still intact on my 81 and I suppose if I was really keen I could put it back to something close on the original set up.

J.

 

[chockey]

Hey Quacker:

Welcome to CAC, as Martha Stewart would say 'Its A GOOD THING' you will meet some of the most helpful people here.
They have guided me through some trying moments and helped me with solutions. Soon Martha will be saying ' I DON"T LOOK GOOD IN STRIPES'
My 81 (sat for 2 years) it has a fast idle and slow response, after checking the carb we found that there is a bad gasket and it is sucking air. The winter chore will be rebuilding this puppy so there is a little more zoom.

Enjoy your Vette
Chuck

 

[Quacker]

Thanks to all

Thanks for all the cheers and the help. It looks like I'll change the carb and dist and get rid of the computer, after checking things out today I found a bad EGR valve and and the carb is bad so I'll start looking in my junk box for parts. I can see I'm getting a lot of help and I thank you all for that. I'll keep you posted.
Thanks again