the Good & the Bad

[Ripp 73]

It has been a long cold winter and too long of a time not to be around the Stingray. As some of you may know she is resting back in my hometown while I am at college about 3 hours away.
This weekend I got to go home and take her out almost all day (enough to get my nose sunburned ). After doing some work to her over the winter she ran great. Got the distributor in properly (she was 180 degrees out), new plugs, wires, battery, tweaked the ole' Quad-ra-Jet, new fuel filter, new rotors, two new calipers (like I said, long winter).
Got to run along with a 70 Charger 340, a 71 Mustang fastback, and a 66 GTO. Nothing off the line but just cruising along with each other. Lots of grins and smiles and thumbs ups .
So the day comes to an end as I need to get her back to the garage :cry. I back her up to the garage (with the door still down) get her aligned, pull forward a little to adjust and pawoosh and white smoke everywhere. I quickly turn off the car, jump out and pop the hood open, smoke everywhere. Get under the car and find a red liquid shot all the way to the back of the car. Blew a power steering hose. Guess I missed a few hoses over the winter. Looked fine upon inspection, at least it happened right in front of the garage and not hundreds of miles from home. That's what I get for picking up an older Stingray.
Still a great day. Thanks for letting me share my story.

 

[78SilvAnniv]

I agree that you had a great day! It's great that the ps hose burst at home and didn't leave you stranded or having to use all your muscles to make turns with no ps. I had a 74 Camaro that I lost the ps in and had to drive it for two weeks before it could be fixed. My arm muscles were sore, then they got beefy! It was bad of me to drive it with no ps as I wound up having to replace the front bushings also. PS not only makes sterring easy on you but also on the related parts' wear and tear.
Heidi
When replacing the lines, be aware that some of those lines require specific hoses to withstand the pressure. Your average Parts Store hoses aren't going to be adequate.

 

[Ripp 73]

That is no joke about getting some muscle's from no power steering. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get her in the garage in her tight space. The Stingray gets parked within a few inches of a 90 Corvette, talk about a hair raising experience.
I have already found an entire set of hoses specific for the model year. If one already blew, might as well replace them all. Can anyone think of anything else I should replace while I'm at it?

 

[LT4man]

Does your Vette have that weird cylinder thingy that is attached to the link that moves the tie rod ends? Is yours in good shape? What I am trying to say is this might be a good time to replace that part.

I hope you are not too confused. I know I am! :confused

Save The Wave!

 

[Ripp 73]

I've been thinking about replacing that. Seems to be in good shape. Then again, I do not believe that anything on this car has been replaced in about ten years. The previous owner owned it for ten years and only replaced things at the beginning of his ownership. Even things like the fuel filter and spark plugs. Just playing with things now. My next major project is to strip off this greyish paint job and put the original Bright Metallic Blue color back on.