Pix of 81

[johns81]

Greetings everyone!! Just attached picture of our 81. Has been up and running after being in the garage setting idle for somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10 years. The old girl has 85K on her and she seems to running well. This is the original paint job and it looks pretty good.

 

[67HEAVEN]

Congratulations. You must feel great.

 

[XLR8]

If it's the Vette in your avatar she looks great! Congratulations!

Jane Ann

 

[hdkeno]

Holy Cow,John Its my double. Better check the garage.

Best of luck and enjoy the forum. Later Ken

 

[Tritium007]

She's a beauty. They must be coming out of the woodwork in that paint scheme. A local specialty car dealer has two just like it here in town.

Mike

 

[bill81vette]

Sweet looking vette !!!!!
enjoy the forums!!!!!!!!

 

[herron]

"New" 81

Just purchased my first Corvette (after lusting after one for more than 20 years). It's a 1981, in beautiful condition, with only 43,000 miles. I had a mechanic I trust look it over, and he basically said "What are you waiting for?"

The only problems I know about are a rear strut that needs to be replaced, because of a worn bushing; a gas gauge that isn't working (new sending unit?); a horn that doesn't work (where ARE those darned things, anyway?); and a loose front spoiler, that I'm not sure how to secure.

Anyone have thoughts on any of those...I'm driving it anyway, and having a great time! :cool

 

[bill81vette]

fir st of all,welcome to CAC!!!!we hope ypo'll enjoy the forums,
2nd,the horn..... ,are in the fornt corners of the body,above the marker lites and off to the side from the headlites(If you open the headlite doors and try to peek into the front quarter panel you MIGHT see them),there are 2 green wires that feed the left side plug (drivers) and one for the right,they are grounded by the ground wires that go thru the bolts.
loose front spoiler...(bottom valance????) are just some small 1/4" or so bolts thru the bottom(crawl down there and take a peek,you'll see them.

as for the gas gauge someone else will chime in to steer you as to what to look for!!!

 

[herron]

fir st of all,welcome to CAC!!!!we hope ypo'll enjoy the forums,
2nd,the horn..... ,are in the fornt corners of the body,above the marker lites and off to the side from the headlites(If you open the headlite doors and try to peek into the front quarter panel you MIGHT see them),there are 2 green wires that feed the left side plug (drivers) and one for the right,they are grounded by the ground wires that go thru the bolts.
loose front spoiler...(bottom valance????) are just some small 1/4" or so bolts thru the bottom(crawl down there and take a peek,you'll see them.

as for the gas gauge someone else will chime in to steer you as to what to look for!!!

Bill & Gail:
Thanks. Will look for those valance bolts tonight when I get home (if I can squeeze my thick head in under there...I don't have ramps yet)...and I'll TRY to find those horns! They sure must be tucked out of sight...I knew there were two, but I'll be darned if I could see either of them!

I read somewhere that the gas gauge sending unit sometimes gets fouled, and if it isn't too bad it can sometimes be corrected with a gas cleaner...so I just ran through a can of Chevron Techron (I think I got that name right), through the last tank of gas. Car runs better, but the gauge still doesn't work. Option two was the sending unit ground...not sure how to check that, yet. Option three was a new sending unit!

 

[craig32]

. . .if I can squeeze my thick head in under there...I don't have ramps yet)...and I'll TRY to find those horns! They sure must be tucked out of sight...I knew there were two, but I'll be darned if I could see either of them!

Herron and Johns81 - Greetings and welcome! Always glad to have more support from the Bowling Green sharks! Good luck with them.

Herron, ramps won't help you much, unless you have some really long ones. You're better off jacking it up from the side and using jack stands.
As for the horns, open the hood and reach in front of it, off to either corner, they're about elbow deep! When I first got mine, the horn(s) didn't work. The previous owner already replaced the upper contact. I replaced both horns, from an auto parts store - a high and a low - for half the price of just one of them from GM. And they have quite a manly blast! They worked for about a week until the relay went south, so now everything is brand new.

Craig

 

[XLR8]

Johns81, hdkeno and herron,

Again - welcome to the CAC. I thought I'd post a couple of links y'all may find helpful and interesting.

This is the 1981 registry which our administrator Bud aka Rare81 talks about frequently:
http://www.l81vetteregistry.com/

This is the 1981 model page from the Tech Center > Model Center here on the CAC:
1981 Model Page Click





Enjoy!
Jane Ann

 

[herron]

Herron and Johns81 - Greetings and welcome! Always glad to have more support from the Bowling Green sharks! Good luck with them.

Herron, ramps won't help you much, unless you have some really long ones. You're better off jacking it up from the side and using jack stands.
As for the horns, open the hood and reach in front of it, off to either corner, they're about elbow deep! When I first got mine, the horn(s) didn't work. The previous owner already replaced the upper contact. I replaced both horns, from an auto parts store - a high and a low - for half the price of just one of them from GM. And they have quite a manly blast! They worked for about a week until the relay went south, so now everything is brand new.

Craig

Well, I finally found the horns. One was dead center front, and the other on the left hand side, near the headlights. Both were reachable, with a few wild contortions (not easy for a guy 6'1" and 260, with bad knees). I followed your lead, Craig, and bought two new ones from a local auto parts store (far cheaper than buying from GM). Put two new ones on...and got one rather weak squawk before they quit.

New ones have two connectors, where the old ones just had one (but the installation instructions covered how to deal with that). One horn used the two green wires (already together), and the other took a red. Not sure if the two horns need to be connected together somehow.

I also have a new horn relay to install, but I'll be darned if I can find the old one of that thing, where everyone says it is!

And I can't seem to contort far enough to read a darned thing that's on the fuse panel, to check it out as well.

I'm also wondering if I need to pull the horn button, and see what's what under there? :crazy

 

[craig32]

I also have a new horn relay to install, but I'll be darned if I can find the old one of that thing, where everyone says it is!

And I can't seem to contort far enough to read a darned thing that's on the fuse panel, to check it out as well.

I'm also wondering if I need to pull the horn button, and see what's what under there? :crazy

Your horn relay should be in the area of the fuse box, hanging down. If your lighter, dome light, or glove box light work the fuse is ok as they are on the same link. Use a test light to see if you have power at the horns, then the relay, once you find it, if you still have no power, then you probably need to take the horn button off.
If one of your horns is in the center of the car, someone must have changed it once before. I had one original and one aftermarket when I changed mine. Others have told me that they aren't in a good location for longevity, as they get full of road dirt (and water) where they are.

 

[herron]

Your horn relay should be in the area of the fuse box, hanging down. If your lighter, dome light, or glove box light work the fuse is ok as they are on the same link. Use a test light to see if you have power at the horns, then the relay, once you find it, if you still have no power, then you probably need to take the horn button off.
If one of your horns is in the center of the car, someone must have changed it once before. I had one original and one aftermarket when I changed mine. Others have told me that they aren't in a good location for longevity, as they get full of road dirt (and water) where they are.

Craig:
Well, the lighter doesn't work and the glove box light does not go on...is there a dome light in a T-Top? I never noticed...still too new to me. Still can't find the horn relay. Will have to check that fuse now, too.

 

[craig32]

OK, that 'one rather weak squawk' was your fuse blowing - 20 amp plug-in type. If you have the new relay, you know what you're looking for. And for what it's worth, the fusebox isn't any easier at 5-8, 160 with two usable knees either. And yes, there's a dome light between the tops. Only had it a couple days, huh? I got mine in MD the weekend of Carlisle a couple years ago, and only spent about an hour with it before we went there the next day. I was looking at tons of parts having no idea what mine looked like! Lots of fun (and learning) ahead - it's all good!

Craig

 

[herron]

OK, that 'one rather weak squawk' was your fuse blowing - 20 amp plug-in type. If you have the new relay, you know what you're looking for. And for what it's worth, the fusebox isn't any easier at 5-8, 160 with two usable knees either. And yes, there's a dome light between the tops. Only had it a couple days, huh? I got mine in MD the weekend of Carlisle a couple years ago, and only spent about an hour with it before we went there the next day. I was looking at tons of parts having no idea what mine looked like! Lots of fun (and learning) ahead - it's all good!

Craig

OK...dome light isn't working either. Gonna check the fuse in the morning...found a schematic for the '81 box in this forum, but now need to ID which fuse it is! Then need to find out why it's shorting out. BTW - still cannot see the horn relay!
:confused

 

[herron]

OK...It's not the fuse (still have not located the horn relay, and the dome lightbulb most be burned out) but I'm double checking the connectors (something I probably should have done right away).

 

[KANE]

OK...It's not the fuse (still have not located the horn relay, and the dome lightbulb most be burned out) but I'm double checking the connectors (something I probably should have done right away).

Did you check the contacts under the horn button itself? The horn contact straddles the trim piece on top of the steering wheel and has an extension that goes into the column.

Below is a picture of the guts underneath the horn button.

Usually, if the horn contact gets hung up, it will look like it should work but it won't.There are also a couple of shims that are used to get the right height on the horn button. Sometimes, Bubba leaves them out...

 

[herron]

Did you check the contacts under the horn button itself? The horn contact straddles the trim piece on top of the steering wheel and has an extension that goes into the column.

Below is a picture of the guts underneath the horn button.

Usually, if the horn contact gets hung up, it will look like it should work but it won't.There are also a couple of shims that are used to get the right height on the horn button. Sometimes, Bubba leaves them out...

Yes...and I notice that one of the little white "buttons" is missing...but I figured the horn should still be making contact around much of the button rim. Tried looking at the contacts themselves, and think I have found the problem! One of them (for the green wire) is as badly corroded as the old horns themselves were! Cleaned it off and both horns worked! A bit later, only the high note horn was sounding. I'm going to get a new connector and replace that old one...I'm thinking it should solve the problem! (I only wish I had really been thinking, or I would have checked this possibility first :crazy )