Really could use some help, 1989 Superchared Vette

[1989 406]

I had posted before that I came in contact with my father's 1989 Corvette Convertible. It was supercharged and he traded it in with about 28,000 miles on it.

I went to drive the car and the supercharger was pulling 6 psi, which was good. There was smoke burning off of the exhaust which ended up being a head gasket leak. The car had a major hesitation when I got on it. I was told that when they fixed the original problem, the head gasket was not put on properly.

The original problem I was told was, that because the car had only 59,000 miles on it, it does not look like it was driven much. Apparently all of the injectors were clogged and fuel burned a hole in one of the pistons, so they replaced it. This is probably when the head gasket was put on wrong supposably.

My dilemma is, does this car sound like to much of a risk to take on? I could afford to pull off the purchase but not keep dumping money into it?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Edmond]

The first question would be, are you doing the work yourself? If not, I would stay away from it because the shops would absolutely kill you for labor. I know it was your fathers' car and there is the sentimental value there, but there has to be a limit.

My thought is that you don't replace one piston, you do them all. And when that engine is torn apart, there are other things that should be done. Either way, it won't be cheap. There is expensive and then there is robbery.:L

 

[vetteboy86]

The initial cost will be substantial. You need to pull the motor, and have it gone through right. Then have it tuned. If you do all the necessary steps, instead of dancing around the problem, you wont have to dump all that money, all the time. Remember the farther away from stock the car is, the more likely to have problems. So far, I am very pleased with my engine. I built a stroker motor, and it has been great. The car sounds like one hell of a sleeper. If you can make it work, do it.

 

[Moonunit 451]

What is the purchase price and who owns it? A C4 of that age is likely to require maintnance repairs of all sorts of things from hoses to waterpump, radiator, brakes, tires and thi list goes on.

It's gonna depend on the initial price, how much you are willing to do yourself, what has already been done and when, and the quality of the previous work. It sounds like there is a pretty good possibility there could be major problems that might occur and that are not readily apparent.

 

[1989 406]

You guys are all right.

I think you guys all make a hell of a lot of sense. They are my thoughts exactly. The sentimental value is what is hard.

The car is up for $11,000 at a used dealership which makes me even more skeptical. I will stay with my 86 SVO for now, it has been a great car and sleeper.

Thanks for all of the input.

Dean