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  • Originally posted by Loren View Post
    I wish I could have given someone this loose-but-functional old Bridgeport before it sat out and turned into a rust ball, but no takers...everybody says they want one but (curious thing) no one steps up. I bet I put a thousand-or-more hours on this in the '90s, making forming dies. Ready to go off to scrap now.



    Weather in San Diego sunny and 65 today. Hopefully another round of primer on the Camaro then, and back to regular work for a couple months.

    Dang, I wish that Bridgeport wasn't so far away! Been lusting after one for years but never made a connection. Probably too late, in the realm of "I don't buy green bananas."

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    • I had a kid who wanted it so bad, talked about it over and over, then I figured out he was going to use it to make ghost guns...well, whatever, I told him I'd give it to his father and then his father could give it to him and have that matter on -his- hands, but then they didn't show up to get it twice, and suddenly I heard he wanted a machine that was a bunch of money but he didn't need, and...and...he wound up getting nothing at all, just talk and talk. Two other local guys did their own version of the same crap. After that I let the tarp covering it go to rot. Now it's still something I would have loved to have when I was a kid but after dealing with the last lathe sale, guys with their hands on their hips picking at details that don't matter, I'm done. However this does feel like sending an old friend off to his doom.
      ...

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      • That's sad.

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        • Damn. Too far away.
          no space.
          life marches on.

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          • Craigslist shopping; I pretty-much blew off yesterday to chase around CL stuff. Sick in bed for Christmas, empty house, I could use some diversion.

            I actually didn't buy this Corvette though I came very close and may still be hovering.

            After being a fan of the '68-up's as a kid and subsequently watching their annual slow descent into apparent hopelessness in the late-'70s but still getting a couple final injections of "cool" w/ the Silver Anniversary thing and later minor restyles, I was beyond jazzed when instead of dropping the 'Vette altogether, GM for '84 stuck together some fiberglass to sheet metal, designed a set of neat-o aluminum suspension parts and came up with what really was a budget supercar near equivalent for the time. ("Blows away the myth of the exotics", was what the billboard in town said.) By gosh, look how the hood flipped forward like on a '57 gasser and showed off that styled-up mag Cross Fire Injection. I was a long long way from being near able to afford one but collected up the magazine articles and some promotional material anyway and told myself I'd get one used some day. It would have to be a first-year (never-mind the crap-fire injection, partly fixed with the '85 tune-port and fully fixed with the improved '86 MAF system) and a stick shift (never-mind the weirdo 4+3 and that the Dana 44 was still a year away), and preferably blue or red.

            So I forgot about my promise to myself until just-now I came across this, cheap. But they put a carburetor on it which I will never be able to smog, and the interior looks like tweekers have been living in it...worse, a tweeker who was into electrical work. I dunno. The sheer amount of rotted plastic which probably can only be replaced by making metal replacements is daunting. Meanwhile, the doors shut right, it's said to drive fine and the Crap-Fire, uh, crap, is supposed to be included. ???

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            I did buy this: Vernier calipers are named for the "vernier" scale along the top and bottom of the the sliding part, with lines placed just a little farther apart incrementally than the other ones so that in any position there will be one line that matches and you can read thousanths-of-an-inch by eye, a clever and simple deal. Unlike a dial scale you will never misread by an even rotation or because the dial shifted, unlike a digital you will never forget to zero or have a dead battery. HF and others have cheap versions that are fine but some old machinist left this really nice German Helios inch/metric set in an estate, picked up by some guy who didn't want them so put them on CL for $20. The ad sat there for a month with no takers...I just saw so much pride and care here, that this finally needed to come home and live with me. They really are a beautiful and precisely-made tool. I remember spending almost a week's minimum-wage pay on my first 8" set of Japanese Mitutoyo verniers long ago.

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            Yes I have ten other sets of calipers 4-24" various styles, I use them for work.

            We'll find out later if I was willing to let that Chevy sit there, or did it need to come here and live with me also. It's unlikely I'd ever find another one that is close to what I originally was after, for what's practically pocket-change these days.​
            Attached Files
            ...

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            • The calipers are stunning. I seriously think that old tools hold the wisdom of their previous owners and are waiting for a proper new owner to release that wisdom. I have no doubt you're a worthy recipient.

              As far as the 'Vette - I think C4s are wildly under-rated. All the right parts in all the right places just waiting for someone to sort them out and have fun. I know the E-dash was a horror show but somebody (forget who) makes a plug-n-play replacement that uses the factory plugs to solve the issues. Not cheap but worth it - IIRC, it's about $1K.

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              • I imagine I'd wind up switching a lot of stuff out for late-'80s parts and systems, including the instrument panel. It would be cool to make the Cross-Fire work, probably by adapting in a different injector and spark control.

                I parted out a wrecked '86 a few years ago and it wasn't really that complicated of a car. Shortly after, I did the same with a '95 Trans Am and it was seriously awful, amazing the difference.

                A down side of C4s is that to put a pair of catalytic converters near the manifolds while keeping the traditional transmission, they have to share foot space with the passengers in what is already a narrow compartment...and with little other room around you as well it's a cramped place to travel in. (If they could only have made it an inch bigger in every direction...) I have always believed that when GM set to use a transaxle in the later C5s it was for foot room as much as to have a great weight-distribution spec to advertise. Somehow the C5-on 'Vettes do nothing for me (I was offered a nice Z06 in trade for the Impala, no) although I like the new mid-engine ones but not enough to buy one.

                Instead of buying another car I should be writing a check for parts for my long-time-project '72. $2500 would probably get most of what I need short of tires and paint.
                ...

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                • The C4s aren't a terrible car and have great potential - but a cease fire? The idea behind it was great, but the execution was terrible. As you mention, Corvette about didn't survive so there were some design compromises that didn't get fixed until later. The issues can be fixed, however.... they improved the suspension in 87, and got real needles in the dash in 91.... it's not me, but were it me, I'd wait for a 92 6 speed and put a LS3 in it.... the money you'd save would be substantial. Best of all, it'd be double the hp, get better fuel economy and pass smog.



                  Doing it all wrong since 1966

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                  • A newer one would be a better car, for sure. At-least move up a year or two and get a Dana 44 and wider rear wheels. However...somewhere I have the David Kimball illustration of the '84 from when they first came out, and that has been what I'm stuck on all these years. Below, source; random internet:

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                    I don't need this right now, but don't know when I'm going to come across another one cheap, manual trans, red is a plus, with a body in good condition...there's a few cracks and such but the bumper caps are good and everything's pretty solid-looking.

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                    Yep it's all mine now. I'll probably cruise it around a couple days then stick it under cover for later while I wrap up other projects. I will be thinking about drive train options.

                    Interesting, once I made the deal with the 88-year-old owner, he offered a few unrelated extra parts and I got a quick tour through his shop. Nasty small-block '70's-style sprint car with zoomie headers which he said he once took down to the I-8 freeway a mile or two away, didn't say how far he went. The guy was a nut which I say in a good way. Also, a fabricated-chassis Crosley Bonneville streamliner which I was about to be all over but he was wanting to move on. Anyone would hope they were as healthy as him at his age.

                    Side note: 4:12 am Saturday just now, small earthquake. 'Morning, Callifornia.

                    ...

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                    • Congratulations! Does it just have to pass a tailpipe sniff test or does it have to pass a visual inspection.

                      Inspection rules in NC are dumb.
                      http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum...-consolidation
                      1.54, 7.31 @ 94.14, 11.43 @ 118.95

                      PB 60' 1.49
                      ​​​​​​

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                      • Originally posted by Russell View Post
                        Congratulations! Does it just have to pass a tailpipe sniff test or does it have to pass a visual inspection.

                        Inspection rules in NC are dumb.
                        pretty sure that in California, if the driver farts the car fails.
                        Doing it all wrong since 1966

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                        • Seriously, please keep us in the loop on the smog test ordeal. My CA daughter wants the Stang when I'm done with it but it has the 5.8 engine, removed AIR pump, and other changes although almost all of the mods have EO numbers. Anyhow, I'm not sure she could register it if she had it and I figure we have a bit of time to work out the process.

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                          • In CA, '75-up, pretty-much everything has to be right on...visual and sniffer. Where you might get latitude is in a pre-OBD II car, it can maybe not be right as long as it looks right to the inspection station guy. For example I had an '88 truck with a gutted converter (I didn't do it) and they passed it, would never happen w/ OBD II. If the car was a non-CA car originally it only has to comply with original for where it's from, such as my Texas '78 El Camino didn't have an a.i.r. pump so it doesn't need one now, in theory. If modifications have E.O. numbers you can take those to inspection, if they aren't buying then you go to what's called a Referee Station to work it out which is something I haven't done, yet. You can install a newer motor (not older) than the car year but the newer requirements will apply, including OBD II if the year motor had it...such as my plan was to use a '95 car motor in the light-truck El Camino requires every single smog-related thing on the '95 motor has to come along, and I'll be at the referee station showing what year the motor is and that it's correct and they'll supposedly give me the pass. Truck motors with looser regs don't fly in cars. Dan's Mustang will need the a.i.r. pump at-least and sounds complicated. With all that it helps to have a friendly test station, not to try to bypass rules but to stick within the spirit of the law while not hassling tiny things that don't matter, within their control. For example my Cherokee had a crack in the vent hose from the valve cover to the air cleaner, my station ran a piece of electrical tape around it and passed me, another station might have nixxed it just for that. Stupid but our governor is very proud of his deal, previous guy Arnold-the-tough-ass Governator didn't help when he rescinded the rolling-25-year rule and made everything '75-up, forever, one of the dumbest auto-related laws ever passed. Thanks, jerk. Any '75-eighties car with a newer stock or aftermarket injection system installed will run far cleaner than the original but will be illegal in California where there's a line of bureaucrats and representatives alike ten-thousand people long to make sure that common-sense reality never trumps socialist theory.

                            Back to the world as it is, my GTO went to the local station three times and had a different issue each time. All the so-called or self-proclaimed experts I knew turned out to be like a lot of "experts", they tried something once and got lucky so they thought they must know what they were doing. I eventually gave up, a car with everything good kept flashing codes so, no dice and it's been sitting ever since. That is the BS that can happen. I also have a Saturn that worked/didn't work/worked/didn't work and after spending as much as the car was worth at the smog repair guys, gave up on it, except that I have a $1,000 HF scanner that needs me to figure out how to use it.

                            The plan for the OBD I Corvette would be to set up some sort of deal where it looks right, I've wondered if I could adapt in any newer system that used two physical throttle bodies and make it so. The next option would be to swap in an entire system from a newer 'Vette such as a '90 or whatever, trying to keep it OBD I. Lots of good C4s get parted out for their suspension, I may be watching for one to use as a donor. Otherwise if I LS-it I'll pretty-much need an entire donor car which is beyond what I really want to do here for what will just be a cruiser and not my highest-performance car.
                            ...

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                            • Originally posted by DanStokes View Post
                              Seriously, please keep us in the loop on the smog test ordeal. My CA daughter wants the Stang when I'm done with it but it has the 5.8 engine, removed AIR pump, and other changes although almost all of the mods have EO numbers. Anyhow, I'm not sure she could register it if she had it and I figure we have a bit of time to work out the process.
                              Dan - it has been years since I have had to smog anything in California BUT here is what I think I remember.
                              1. Any thing newer that 74 has to be smogged. At one time there were rural county exceptions but I suspect there are fewer of those now.
                              2. If the engine has been changed with an engine that was not an option in the year the car was first sold - you have to go to a BAR referee(Bureau of Automotive Repair - they have a website if you want to learn more). Here is where the hill becomes steeper. I believe that the transplanted engine has to be newer than the car but in all cases the smog equipment has to be completely intact for the NEWER (of the two) engine. This would include OEM camshaft, carburation, ignition timing and most likely a host of other things (even with your EOs).

                              So here are my thoughts
                              1. LIE to them and tell them it is the original 302 that came in the car. Highly probable that the smog tech won't have a clue.
                              2. Find a disreputable smog tech that has a clean (pre-computer car that he can hook up). Back in the day, these could be pricey and doesn't relieve you of future smog challenges.

                              Smog challenges were a significant influencer in my selection of the 57.

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                              • Thanks Loren! Very useful info. I have the AIR pump but the heads w/EO number don't have the AIR passages like the OEM heads so I didn't see much sense it leaving it in place. Maybe I should bolt it back on and run tubes to the cats so it looks stock-ish. I wonder if the inspectors would notice that the deck surface is 1 3/4" higher than the 5.0? Yes, it is OBD1.

                                The CARB people were horrible to work with when I was at EPA. They were convinced that they knew more about everything than anybody else, kind of like Mercedes. We hated it when we had to work with them but luckily that was rare. I wonder if the RPM Act will sink into their thick skulls. PSA, all who read this: Support the RPM Act!!!!! It's our best chance to get reasonable smog laws for our special-purpose vehicles. A car driven a couple of thousand miles a year should not have the same restrictions as a DD.

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