Project Craig: '99 Corvette

[Ryan T]

So as some of you are probably aware my older brother took his life about 6 weeks ago. My mom and I flew to Colorado and took care of everything and then the rest of my siblings came out and we spread his ashes, etc, then loaded his stuff up and my twin brother and I drove it back to my moms house in Virginia. As less of you probably know, my older brother had 2 cars; a '99 Corvette and a '92 Supra Turbo. The Supra has been in my moms lower garage for years and the Corvette has been with him in Colorado. Anyways, got it all back home and I've been slowly working on it and while it hasn't been 'given' to me yet, it stays exclusively at my house and I'm the only one who uses it. So I figured I'd start a project thread. I haven't taken a lot of pics of what has been done so far, but I'll do better I promise.

Loaded it. This is the larger uhaul trailer and the tires rubbed on one side and you couldn't fit a pencil between the other tire and the other side. Uhaul trailers don't like 305s...



At a Cracker Barrell somewhere between Kansas City and St. Louis



You guys may notice the strange top. Sometime in the past 6 months the top flew off of his car and smashed the glass. My brother and I folded a tarp over the old frame, pulled it tight, taped it in place with duct tape and latched it in place with the factory latches on the frame. Held up perfectly for 1500miles and the inside didn't get wet at all. Currently looking for a cheap top, I'm not really interested in spending $700 on one right now.

The car had an aftermarket shifter at one time but all the threads had been stripped off at some point. Caught 2nd gear and the shifter came flying off. Ran a die over it to clean up and rethread it and bought a used shifter for $20.



The next step was cleaning the car up because it was NASTY. Cleaned the outside (which can be difficult with no top, gotta be careful with that water hose!), shampooed the carpets inside and went over the interior 4 or 5 times.





Windshield is busted in all the pics. New windshield went in Friday of last week. Replaced a few lights that were out and cleared some of the codes it was throwing so it would pass inspection.

Things that need to be sorted out:
1. Shifting into reverse. It wouldn't hardly go into reverse at all when I got it (which made it really interesting getting it on that trailer). I took the shifter off and lubed everything/fiddles with it and it will go into reverse just fine now so long as I go to 6th gear first and then into reverse. Not really sure what the problem could be but now that it will at least go into reverse reliably it's not very high on my list.
2. Center console latch needs to be replaced.
3. Intake is currently taped on and the latches that hold the filter in are broken. I have an old bridge from my old vette I'm going to replace it with, just have to find a filter first.
4. Hazard light button is missing, just bought one, gotta put it in.
5. TPMS are gone. May replace them if I find a good deal but I'm not going to pay full boat for them.
6. Service Column Lock displays every time you get in the car. The lock has been disabled but a $40 part will turn the warning off so I'm going to do that.
7. Traction Control switch needs replaced. It was broken when I got the car and the "service traction control" came on every time I started the car. I took it apart and cleaned it/tidied up the wiring and it works fine until I hit a big bump. It's pretty cheap to replace so I'm going to just change it out rather than try to chase down problems with it all the time.
8. Rear exhaust doesn't line up really well. Seems like a good reason to put in an X-pipe and cat-back system.
9. Car needs a top.

I'll keep this thread up as I do work on the car. It's only been washed once. I'm going to wash it another time or two then wax it.

[CaptainHenreh]

Sweet car, sorry about your brother, though.

[Jeff]

+1 to Rex's post.

[WRXtranceformed]

Same dude, my condolences. Fixing his car up is a great way to remember him though. Any pics of the turbo Suprah?

[davej]

^^ truth. Sorry to hear man.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[Ryan T]

Anyone have any ideas on the shifter? It won't go into reverse from neutral but will from 6th. Its only been like this since the new clutch was put in in january.

[ViPER1313]

Sounds like the clutch isn't fully disengaging - try to adjust it. Really common issue on the SHO - I had to shift that car from 2nd -> reverse for years. By shifting into a synchronized gear you are causing the trans internals to slow down / line up long enough to get it into reverse.

[Goodspeed]

My condolences Ryan once again, as Lee said this will be a great way to remember him. Looking forward to the progress!

Sounds like the clutch isn't fully disengaging - try to adjust it. Really common issue on the SHO - I had to shift that car from 2nd -> reverse for years. By shifting into a synchronized gear you are causing the trans internals to slow down / line up long enough to get it into reverse.

This. I had the same deal with the Miata post-clutch install. Get under the dash and adjust the pedal free play, you probably need to bring the engagement point closer to the seat in order to move more fluid.

[Ryan T]

Any pics of the turbo Suprah?

This is the only one I have. I will try to take more.

[ScottyB]

good luck with the project man, and so sorry to hear about the circumstances...you've got a great platform to start with and i hope it will keep the good memories of your brother strong by seeing it restored to its glory.

[Steve85]

To echo those before, very sorry to hear about your brother. Looks like a great project, enough to keep it interesting but not overwhelming and the finished product an incredibly fun car to carry on the memory of your brother.

[Ryan T]

Was hoping to get a good amount of wrenching done after mowing the yard but first the mower wouldn't start, then right before I finished my mom stopped by asking me to cut a bunch of things. Ended up having about 30 minutes to work on the car before dinner/Sam went to bed and I couldn't be loud in the garage.

Thought replacing the hazard light would be quick work, little did I know I'd have to take half the lower dash out. Some remove the entire lower dash, radio, etc, but I was able to take the panel off underneath the steering wheel and reach my arm up in there and find it. Doesn't look like much progress, but I have a hazard light now for my ricer flybys!



Also re-attached the brake cooling ducting on the passenger side but it's kinda hard to take a picture of so I didn't bother. Cleared all the old codes and took the car out last night and beat it like it owed me money. Only threw 3 codes (when I got it at my house I had 11) so I was pretty happy. Traction Control and Steering Wheel Sensor Monitor are acting up. Nothing that will cause major driveability problems but something I'm going to look into. TO replace the steering wheel sensor you have to pull the whole steering wheel but if I need to I will. Other code was a security code. Cleaned the key with a pencil eraser and the interior lock mechanism with some liquid contact cleaner and all problems solved. More work to come this weekend I hope.

[Beej]

I'm so sorry for your loss, but glad you can carry on his memory in a way you enjoy and will remember. All the best.

[Ryan T]

Another picture I found of the Supra for Lee and Goodspeed



As for progress on the Vette, there has been some but not a whole lot worth taking pictures of. Adjusted the clutch and reverse engages much easier now (Thanks Adam and Goodspeed). Also spent about two hours and chased down some electrical gremlins with the fog lights and other warnings being thrown. When washing the car I noticed water leaking into the floorboard underneath the passenger side dash. The utters were all clogged up. There are 3 on the drivers side underneath the wiper motor and one big one underneath the battery. The one under the battery was the worst but the 3 on the drivers side were pretty bad too. If you don't clean them out water leaks on the passenger side and water can back up on the drivers side and burn up the wiper motor. They look like this:



Here is the one underneath the battery, totally full of dirt and leaves and 174k miles of shit:



Purchased a top but I'm not picking it up until next week. Picking it up in Harrisonburg. I'll be in Richmond from the 19th to the 23rd for firearms qualifications so I'll pick it up on my way back out of town. Then I won't have to worry about being caught out in a rain storm (again).

[SlimKlim]

The Supra looks great in that color

[Ryan T]

So I picked up the top on Friday. Kyle at City Motors had one sitting around and he gave me a great deal. The tint is peeling a little and there is a small scratch in it but I don't care. It has to be in direct sunlight to see the imperfections and since it stays in my garage all the time the top will only be used to wash the car and to leave it sitting in parking lots/in the rain if we are out in it. Seals are in great shape. When the windshield was replaced they put on new seals with it as well so it's super tight.



As for the Steering Wheel Position Sensor, bad news. It needs to be replaced. However the part is no longer available. The 97/98 and 01-04 all used a model that is still available however the 99/00 models used one made by another factory that is no longer in business and since the bankruptcy/collapse of the domestic automotive market a couple years ago there is a lawsuit pending between Chevrolet and the defunct factory that made that particular part and they are not available anywhere. They have a small tab that clips into place when they are installed to set the "straight" point and it's nearly impossible to remove the sensor without breaking that tab. The only real option is to buy an entire steering column from a 99/00 with all the exact same options as mine, replace the column and hope that one doesn't go bad. I'm not really willing to do that. The only ill effect it has is the active handing does not work. Traction control and ABS still work fine, and oddly enough Competitive Driving Mode still works. I guess it's something I'll just deal with until the part becomes available again.

Planning on running some Seafoam through it in the next week or so and see if it clears up a minor studder it has at around 3k rpms and 3/4-full throttle.

[Jake]

I hate dealing with one-year-only type of parts. Makes everything such a pain. Hopefully you can figure something out at some point, but it doesn't sound all bad since it hardly affects the drivability of the car.

[Ryan T]

Well it was dark and rainy before I got downstairs today but I managed to do one small task between football games and the damn work pager going off. The passenger side rear tire wouldn't inflate. It's been at 25psi for a few weeks and none of my 3 air chucks would inflate the tire. And here is one of the parts of the Vette that annoys me. I went through the whole ten minute process of backing the car out, placing the ramps I made, pulling forward, checking my placement, pulling forward a little more, finding a big piece of 2x12 to put on top of the jack, jacking the car up and placing the jack stands; in order to do the 30 second job of screwing the old valve core out, screwing the new one in and inflating the tire. Works great now. Also took this chance to check both rear wheel bearings and the passenger side could use replacing soon.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Are rear wheel bearings a common occurance on vettes? Just seemed like you were expecting it by the way you sounded.

[Ryan T]

It has been making some slight bearing noise lately so I figured one or the other was going out. They are a pretty common wear item on the C5's, especially for the mileage mine has. The bearing comes as an entire hub assembly for the C5 so no pressing needed.