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AngryVette - The story of an 81 now living in Europe

33K views 116 replies 26 participants last post by  mjollnir 
#1 ·
Now the car is back in belgium (click here for the story) I'm starting this thread about my needalota TLC vette

I had some issues getting it back from the port. When I started it for the 1st time in belgium fuel was spitting all over the engine.. a luck I had the hood open so I could turn the engine off before something bad happens.. dunno who played with my car but I had to tighten fuel filter hose clamp..

Then I realised the brake pedal was just pumping air.. so I didn't even dare to pass 'D'. Got it back on a flat bed, safer

I'll post some pics of her
 
#2 · (Edited)
Richie the seller in Willits, CA






In oakland hotel, before going to the port




In Oakland port before entering the container

 
#3 ·
good thing you caught the fuel leak when you did! Congrats on the new 'vette. I'm sure you'll have her looking and running well in no time :thumbsup:
 
#9 ·
My first objective is to get it legal here

So I need to fix the lights issues:

- lights don't pop.. though they did in USA. Maybe I need to drive it to repressure the system?

- turn signals don't work. Can't hear any relay switching.

- fix power windows

- buy new door locks.. seller lost keys :spanked:


Had to add some brake fluid. Now it's breaking but not as it should. There's some air in the system. I had the car on jacks, wheels removed but the drain plug broke when I loosened it (!) Should have it drink WD40 for a day before attempting this

When I had it on jacks I could see the suspension joints are in a really bad shape.
 
#10 ·
I built this to bleed my brakes:



Couldn't use it yet due to the broken drain plug on a front caliper but it is holding 30 PSI.. should be enough to bleed my brake system
 
#11 ·
Some pics of the interior before I throw all the junk




There was so many uninsulated wires under the carpet, now they won't mess again with the chassis ground




Dirtyyyy oily




What's this pull button for?




Can someone confirm the upper thing is for lights? What's the below thing?

 
#12 ·
The upper switch is for your windshield wipers the bottoms witch is your actual headlight switch that must be why they didnt come up;). if its like my car you need to replace them both to get them to function properly


Can someone confirm the upper thing is for lights? What's the below thing?

 
#13 ·
Right, 2 new things on the buylist

I started to dismantle my door panels. The left window motor is working but something is blocking or the window is not properly aligned cause it won't go up more than a few inches

The right motor doesn't respond at all

I'm amazed how many options were available in such an old car.. power window, cruise control, power seat.. those options appeared way later on European cars
 
#16 ·

Hey Ben, Looks like you are really into the
wiring. I fixed some of the wiring problems with my 81. I 'll have to take the dash apart
to fix more of them.
Glad you got the car home okay and your trip went well. You had more of an adventure in the US than most people who live here. A lot of people never get out of their own state.
The car looked and sounded ok when you were
loading it on the flatbed.
Anyway, good luck with the project. Larry :thumbsup:
 
#17 ·

The car looked and sounded ok when you were
loading it on the flatbed. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/I]
Oh yeah it was running fine in the USA.. I think she didn't enjoy leaving his motherland :laughing:
 
#19 ·
I removed the door panels

What a mess inside the metal sheets



Is it possible to remove the inside part of the door to access the power window motors and guides? Something is blocking the front motor after a few teeth up or maybe the engine has become weak. The window goes up 4 inches then claps-claps-claps

Maybe broken teeth, gotta check tomorrow
 
#20 ·
I removed the window and put the camera into the door:



Half of the teeth are worn :(
 
#22 ·
Mine now lives in europe, but across some more water from you. I'm about to start on the doors on my 81. windows go down a short distance with a lot of effort. Door locks don't work at all. I've done loads of work on the car from each end, but for some reason? I'm not looking forward to starting the doors. Keep the photos coming, and I will do the same.
 
#23 ·
Yeah door working is not the most funny thing

Where do you live digweed?

I'm waiting oversea parts to fix my window so I'm working on the door locks now + how to interface it with my new alarm

Both door locks engine seem to work but the harness has been cut. What hasn't been cut in this car? One of the previous owners was a serial cutter :spanked:

I just received my GPS online tracker, that's a security device enabling you to follow your car on google earth (just in case it's stolen)
 
#24 ·
I live just outside Brighton on the south coast of England. What you say about your wiring is very similar to mine! Whoever wired up inside of my doors looks like they used anything they could find, whether it worked or not. My car has not long been painted, so I've recently started compiling a list of what door parts I will need, so hopefully when door cards go back on. They hopefully won't be coming off again in the not too distant future! (yeah right) good luck with your project.
 
#25 ·
Digweed> oh you're very close to me

I found why the dome fuse burns. On my door panel picture.. low right there's 5 wires (power lock) uninsulated. Sometimes they were touching the door sheet causing the short-circuit.

That window issue leads me to solving other issues, that's encouraging :)

Digweed> that might help you: year by year wiring diagrams
 
#27 ·
It means Thor's hammer (mjollnir) ;)


Faultly wires causing the troubles:




I began to install the alarm:

 
#28 ·
I'm on holidays in Finland have some free time to update my thread. We saw 3 C3 in 2 days here, that's impressive for an european place. A blue 80-82, a gray late one and a white 80-82 all in south-west part of Finland, maybe the owner is on DC

I will modify the first post of this topic with a month by month "done" list

And post some pictures for now

I got it running fine, brakes are fixed on rear, AN tubed now
and O-ring converted (original design didn't like dot 5.1)








Centered the power steering

Fixed a LOT of electronic issues (some are still left). For example I found a wire touching my radiator, and another one (+12V) that has melt on the exhaust pipes + several others non-insulated touching the body inside

Learned basics of arc welding and installed mounts + motorbike muffler on the open pipes (it is one of the 2 mufflers from my 600cc sport bike so it is probably WAYYY too restrictive for a 5.7...).

Fixed lights poping issue/alignment. Had to bubba this homemade part on:





Installed the european legal headlights&hi-beam, led tailights, leds turnsignals.





Fixed the turn relay issue

Installed the alarm

Highered to maximum the VBANDP rear monoleaf because my exhaust was touching the garage entrance

Bought a fire extinguisher (never safe enough)

So we had the first neighborhood/driving session a few days ago, gf was shouting on acceleration :devil: (mufflers quite noisy at WOT)

Planning to pass inspection next week when I'm back from Finland


Really happy about my vette
 
#29 ·
Your cars making good progress! In Belgium, does car need some kind of front side lights to pass inspection? I've seen some with, and some without in the U.K. Maybe it just depends if the tester is sympathetic towards older american cars. Keep up the hardwork. You're certainly getting stuck into it.
 
#30 ·
In the first time I thought I should go as you described but a few weeks ago I've been to a old car meeting, and some still had the american headlights and I oftenly see brake lights turn signal coupled with normal licenses. Yeah might be "à la tête du client" as we say here.. they don't seem to be very rude about ancestors.. we'll see in a few days.. summer is back in Belgium and it would be a good time to cruise with real licenses :smack
 
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