Day 11 was a short but productive day, another post-work repair session. Today was all about the shocks and ball joint boots. I was jonesing for a drive. I started on the drivers side front corner, pulled the tire, pulled the shock… Oh it is so nice working on a Southern car, no corroded fasteners, well at least not to the extent they corrode up in the snow belt… I did have to chase the threads on the mounting bolts, but other than that, no issues. After I got the old shock off, I used the additional space to break the upper ball joint loose. The joint is fine, but the boot is perished. Put on a new boot and reassembled. I greased all the joints and cleaned off any excess grease, then I installed the new shock. Couldn’t have went better, one corner down, three to go.
The rear drivers side was next. It took longer to get the tire on and off than it did to swap out the shock. The same story on the passenger side, no issues, easy repair. Soon enough, the new shocks were installed, and Wheels on and torqued down. Time for a drive…
I headed for the on ramp, tonight would be the first highway run for the car under my ownership, and from what the previous owner told, it’s been off the road for a year, so it’s been a while. I planted the loud pedal and got a corresponding kick in the back and in no time was doing 70 mph. The car felt decent, not perfect, especially in comparison to my daily driver, but that’s what 18 years difference makes. The vette is not quite ready for primetime, but she handled the highway sprints with aplomb. I did notice I have a brake caliper hanging up a little bit, but I planned to go through the hardware and bleed the lines anyway, so no big surprise there. When I was doing the shocks, I didn’t notice any red flags on any of the brakes, but on a car of this age, there is likely a little corrosion or just old fluid that will cause problems. I gave it a couple panic stops from 70 to 30 or so to get a better feel and burn off any old crud on the rotors and pads.
The highway slog definitely made the lack of fresh weather stripping evident. I’m hoping the addition of new seals will quiet the wind and road noise a bit. Should also help with the minor rattles. Like I said, its not quite ready for primetime.
There is something about this car though… makes me want to go buy some gold chains, unbutton my polos, watch Scarface and rock out to some good 80’s tunes… weird, but we’ve already established I’ve got a sickness.
Parts replaced today:
New Shocks (4) - $105
Ball joint boots - $10
Parts cost so far: $985
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