denpo
Carburated Nihilist
Hi to all.
After 5 years living in Quebec, I finally realized an old dream : owning a C3.
This spring I searched for weeks in local kijiji ads and ended up buy a black on black 76.
Since I was kinda cheap, I looked for the <10k$ one.
for 7k$ the one I got was a mixed bag of fun and problems.
The good :
The engine is a SB bored over .30 with a bunch of performance parts in it :
forged piston, team-G intake, 850 holley, aggressive performance cam, big radiator, lock line, shift kit on a 350-3speeds, loud as hell straight pipes and a couple a stuff I still need to understand. The result is impressive for me, the HP must be somewhere 350hp, even if the power is in the high RPM range (the car was built for drag racing).
The transmission have been rebuilt to take 400+hp.
The engine runs fine and strong.
The brakes and suspension have been well maintained.
The bad :
-Looks like the car lost most of its vacuum, the brakes a idle are almost non-powered, the light have been fixed in high position. I've almost finished the DIY killer-light-like electric headlight conversion and I have a GM suburban hydroboost waiting to be installed.
-The interior was a total mess, every parts had cracks, no electrical power in the dash, electric windows don't work. I've gathered several used-but-in-good-condition part on ebay and the interior should regain a fair condition state rapidly.
-The frame turned up to be quiet rusted in the typical back area :crap: , I still don't know what I'm gonna do, home frame-off repair or take it to a specialized garage.
-the steering pump and the steering valve are leaking: time for a steeroids upgrade if you ask me.
-The paint is quiet crappy : when I'm be finished with it in a couple of years, I'll deal with it, in the meanwhile I like its mad max styling, it gives it a bad boy attitude.
-cracked windshield.
-Left door mirror broken, right on missing : got a pair of bullet mirrors for 30$ (yeah!!)
Apart from the frame issue (i was not expert enough a the time of the purchase), this is exactly what I was looking for, the car runs fine enough and with the years it would get better and better. Being a little crappy it leaves me no remorse modding it, it will still be better that what I have. I'm a cheap guy with time in his hands to I prefer to fix stuff than buying brand new.
I could have buy a project car for much less, but I wanted to do stuff in progressive step while still being able to take it for a ride.
Joined yesterday and already found tons of useful info, this forum is awesome.
If there's vette modders in the Montreal area, let me know, I'd love to talk about C3s behind a good cold one :drink:
After 5 years living in Quebec, I finally realized an old dream : owning a C3.
This spring I searched for weeks in local kijiji ads and ended up buy a black on black 76.
Since I was kinda cheap, I looked for the <10k$ one.
for 7k$ the one I got was a mixed bag of fun and problems.
The good :
The engine is a SB bored over .30 with a bunch of performance parts in it :
forged piston, team-G intake, 850 holley, aggressive performance cam, big radiator, lock line, shift kit on a 350-3speeds, loud as hell straight pipes and a couple a stuff I still need to understand. The result is impressive for me, the HP must be somewhere 350hp, even if the power is in the high RPM range (the car was built for drag racing).
The transmission have been rebuilt to take 400+hp.
The engine runs fine and strong.
The brakes and suspension have been well maintained.
The bad :
-Looks like the car lost most of its vacuum, the brakes a idle are almost non-powered, the light have been fixed in high position. I've almost finished the DIY killer-light-like electric headlight conversion and I have a GM suburban hydroboost waiting to be installed.
-The interior was a total mess, every parts had cracks, no electrical power in the dash, electric windows don't work. I've gathered several used-but-in-good-condition part on ebay and the interior should regain a fair condition state rapidly.
-The frame turned up to be quiet rusted in the typical back area :crap: , I still don't know what I'm gonna do, home frame-off repair or take it to a specialized garage.
-the steering pump and the steering valve are leaking: time for a steeroids upgrade if you ask me.
-The paint is quiet crappy : when I'm be finished with it in a couple of years, I'll deal with it, in the meanwhile I like its mad max styling, it gives it a bad boy attitude.
-cracked windshield.
-Left door mirror broken, right on missing : got a pair of bullet mirrors for 30$ (yeah!!)
Apart from the frame issue (i was not expert enough a the time of the purchase), this is exactly what I was looking for, the car runs fine enough and with the years it would get better and better. Being a little crappy it leaves me no remorse modding it, it will still be better that what I have. I'm a cheap guy with time in his hands to I prefer to fix stuff than buying brand new.
I could have buy a project car for much less, but I wanted to do stuff in progressive step while still being able to take it for a ride.
Joined yesterday and already found tons of useful info, this forum is awesome.
If there's vette modders in the Montreal area, let me know, I'd love to talk about C3s behind a good cold one :drink:
