Still not sure what to do about buying 89 Vette

[1989 406]

Boy am I still having a really tough decision. I posted on here before about coming in contact with my father's 1989 Convertible Supercharged Vette. The car was supercharged, roller rockers, 3:73, fuel pump etc, about $10,000 back in the early 90s. It ran in the high 12s on 6 psi and low 12s on 8 psi.

After seeing the car over I was told the injectors were all clogged and gas dripped and burnt a hole into one of the pistons which was replaced, due to not being driven enough over the years.(It has 59k on it now, we got out of it with about 28K around 92, Carfax says it is legit).

The guy also says the supercharger is bad because when you pull off the tube you will find oil. It got up to 6 psi and then dropped.

The problem is that I could probably swing the car, but not to keep putting thousands into it which I know Vettes are known for.

I think that I could find a a non supercharged Vette. , but I would not be able to build it to the specs of the 89 due to cost. The 89 was built solid when it was done.

I keep going back and forth about what to do. I know the obvious answer is to pass. But then again if the car only needs some work, I would have a solid 12 second street car.
It would kill me to know that if I passed on it, I would keep thinking I did the wrong thing, but if I buy it and it cost too much, I would kill myself. This is probably a psychological issue!


And of course the sentimental thing of it being my fathers originally, plays a big part.

Please help with any thoughts.

Thank you.

 

[Rogier]

JUST BUY IT

In the worst case you end up selling it with some loss... but that's with every corvette.

Buy it and be a happy Corvette owner.

 

[JJS]

Go with whatever your gut feeling is.

 

[milehigreg]

Yeah, just buy it!

You don't mention price but I assume with the problems you mention it shold be low. Maybe you will need to do pistons and rings. Superchargers can be rebuilt. Injectors can be cleaned. All the pieces parts are there for a blown car. When you add in the sentimental value, even if you have to do all these things would you be upside down? Also depends on how much you can do yourself.

 

[gmjunkie]

And of course the sentimental thing of it being my fathers originally, plays a big part.

Please help with any thoughts.

Thank you.

Yeah!! I know if it had been My Daddy's Car, It would Be In My Barn Right Now!!! Regardless of what it Cost to put it Back in Shape!!!!!!Where their's a WILL there's a WAY!! Like Larry sez "GETTER DONE"!! Just my $.02 worth!! junk!!

 

[1989 406]

Other decision needed if I go for the Vette.

Thanks for the advice. I went and drove the car today. It felt pretty good. Spotted some gas on the ground under car, hopefully it is just a loose line.

My other issue is going to be on what to do with the cars I have now. I have an 86 SVO 5 Speed and a 99 Galant. I owe about what the Galant has left on it, the Mustang I own out right. I really enjoy the SVO, it is a great car and has been good to me.

The obvious decision would be to unload the SVO and put some of that money towards the Vette, I reall enjoy having an automatic and a 5 Speed.

Any thouhgts?

Thanks.

 

[vett boy]

Buy it.

 

[gmjunkie]

Yeah, My Thought's is How many Miles is on the SVO!! What color is it?? What kind of work has been done on it??What Kind of Shape is it in?? Has it got the Original engine in it?? Has it ever been Wrecked?? HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT for it?? What is the VIN # ??The Junkie bought one of those car's New in 84!!! Striate from the SHOW ROOM Far From Stock!! Would not mind having one again for Kicks!! Was just talk'n bout one the outher day on the Forum Here!! Them Little Basturds are Fun and Fast!! junk!!

[/IMG]

 

[1989 406]

SVO is clean

My SVO has about 89K on it and runs great. It runs about 18PSI, 3" downpipe, hi flo cat, good exhaust, Walbro fuel pump.

I would have never considered selling until this Corvette issue came up.

It is one fun car.

 

[Mad-Mic]

to get the supercharger rebuilt it will be close to 2k. running 8 psi on a stock L98 it blew the #7 piston would be my guess and it wasn't due to a leaky injector! too much boost on stock cast pistons! is it intercooled? if it was built back to stock and you want to run that boost you should hook up water and or meth injection to keep the combustion chamber cooler. turn down the spark and install 2 step colder plugs.

i would say don't buy this car unless you plan on spending a few grand to get it right where it should be! like you said you'd hate to make a mistake and start throwing money into it but hey thats the fun of it also! plus it has sentimental value as it was your dads. get that thing tuned right and do a heads cam setup on it with a good intake like a mini ram and you'd have a potential 10 second car on your hands!

1 lbs of boost = 20 rwhp x 6 = 120 rwhp. cam/heads/intake on a 350 = 360+ rwhp + 120 rwhp = 480 rwhp which = 06 Z06 territory so the payoffs if your willing to make this car right will yield a high return in the fun catagory!

 

[1989 406]

The car is water injected.

Because it is water injected, I have a feeling whoever had it before may have not kept the bladder full and the car detonated and this caused the piston issue.

 

[Vettefan87]

I would buy it, you have other cars to drive in the downtime you have fixing up your vette, so that isn't really an issue. You will feel good once you get it back the the shape it was in earlier, and plus it is your dad's car.

 

[1989 406]

89 Supercharged Vette update.

I went to drive the 89 Vette again and it is still detonating under boost. The supercharger is only putting out about 4 PSI when it should be 6.5. I also saw a little oil on the top of the supercharger.

The supercharger is probably on it's way out. Any ideas how much to fix one? It cost about $1000 back in the early 90s to fix it right after running 8 PSI.

 

[Mad-Mic]

I went to drive the 89 Vette again and it is still detonating under boost. The supercharger is only putting out about 4 PSI when it should be 6.5. I also saw a little oil on the top of the supercharger.

The supercharger is probably on it's way out. Any ideas how much to fix one? It cost about $1000 back in the early 90s to fix it right after running 8 PSI.

i think it's about 1800 to freshen one up. if it's detonating under 4 lbs of boost it's going to blow up under 6.5. seems to be a fuel problem or something also.