That Vette's Status

Vette Status

As of August 30^th 1999 (the final update)

The vette is a 1987 blue chevette owned by Wayne Marcotte, Phrases like "She's gone tits up!" have been used in it's refrence, But I know they are wrong!

Alas, the 1980 chevette where we got the engine from, is going to be rebuilt by myself, Chris Wood. It is also owned by Wayne Marcotte. Today, august 30^th 1999. We (myself and a neighbor with a old truck transported the 1980 vehicle with no engine. I have already begun to go over the new but older vette to fix er up. And with a budget of $0, the Vette also known as "Betsy" Had been scheduled for disasembly for parts & engine. :( Saturday or Sunday this week (sept 4/5) Disasembly will begin.

A memorial service will be held @ 3:45pm-4pm Friday September 3^rd 1999 All are welcome to come who has seen this car on the road or has ridden in it. Afterwords, Myself driving, Will pile as many people who want a ride home, and for a last tribute, FLOOR THE PEDAL ONE LAST TIME! I call it the "Suicide Ride." Adam Bowes, Jeff Smith, Ron, Jason Fawcett, Jonothan Fawcett, And Sarah Wood Have priority over other people in the "Suicide Ride"

Genral

Still going strong.

You can bounce the thing like a lowrider hydraulic system (pretty fly for a white guy) by rythmatically pumping the brake in the correct situation. (in drive, engine idling, aimed on level or downhill ground)
NEW DEVELOPMENT!!! Can go speeds in excess of 110 kph! without disintegrating immidiatly, (read on and above for details.)

Suspention

-front left wheel bearings shot. Have been since 1997
They make noises if oyu corner too fast. -same goes for right bottom ball joint.
-Only one shock, right rear, functional.
-Front shocks, Removed, due to top wheel well rust. (nothing to mount to)
-Left rear shock removed because of low suspention. (collision with anti-roll bar put a hole in it)
-Front springs, weary but good.
-Rear Springs, SHOT! Replaced by four other shot springs. One inside the other.
-right rear spring(s) replaced with origonal chebette spring with three spring helpers inserted between coils.
-Bottoms out occassionaly(rear left shock mount bangs on anto roll bar)
-Right Rear Controll arm has fallen off due to rust on frame. Bolt on differential is fine. I removed the arm from there with vice grips & the rest had already removed itself from the car.
-Block of wood inserted into frame on top of right rear spring. Frame rusted out & collapsed, letting the spring rise therefore lowering the rear of the car, Block of 2x4 compensates nicely.

Brakes

-Functional, barely.
-Has sony VO-2850 U-Matic VCR parts in left rear drum brakes.
-Front brakes ok, legal.
-rear park brake not functioning after controll arm failure (fell off) the cable mounts onto the arm and is now dangling in the slow wind.
-Master cylender, Needs replacement, works 75% of the time, pump twice to bring back if not working.
-Park brake siezed mostly, only seems to stop the car in forward motion, does nothing for slowing vehicle in reverse.
NEW!!!___--->> PaRK BRAKE NO LONGER FUNCTIONAL AFTER CONTROLL ARM FAILURE

Tires

-front left wheel replaced by almost full sized spare wheel after dented in a collision with a curb in a snow storm.
-Rear tires badly worn. BARELY LEGAL!
-Front right tire, like rear but only slightly better.
-no hubcaps except for one found in shed. Not for chevettes, but has a chev logo on it
-hubcap was stolen the next day. (July 21^st, 1999)

Steering

-WAY out of alignment
-periodically adjusted with vice grips to go in strait line.
-squeels when making sharp turns.
-front tires aim "together" instead of strait.
-alignment varies depending on suspention position, so going over a bump means conveluted steereing skills to contine in a strait path. Due to frame warping.

Fuel system

-good, no leaks.
-Sometimes a fuel smell is dectected in vehicle cabin.

Exhaust

-was patched back together after the front piece of pipe severd itself @ the catalytic converter. Materials, 2mm steel wire and tin foil.
-Bracket holding front pipe to engine rusted into two onion ring sized ieces of metal. Held on with one bolt and losts of that 2mm steel twine known as "mechanic's wire"

Windows/Mirrors.

-never had right mirror
-left mirror good
-center windsheld mirror, fell off the window, AGAIN. Was mounted to the celing cardboard like stuff with a screw. Won't fall a fourth time!
-Windows in good shape.
-Rear defrost only works in a 1" strip. Relay also not working.
-no cracks in any windows.
-wipers in bad shape but work well
-washer works but the switch sticks on.

Transmition

-3 spd auto(turbo hydra matic 180 model)
-works well
-clunks sometimes because of high idle speed.

Engine

-1600cc 1980 Chevette 4cyl engine. Seventy horsepower. Fast enough. -ide speed purposly too fast.
-good once warmed up/driven within 5 hrs.
-hard going when cold.
-has at leat 90% of origonal power, but smells weird when run at full power for more than 10 sec (flooring it).
-2 miniutes of driving required as warm-up period, runs normally post warm-up
-"faulty low speed operation" sputters between when pedal is between 25% & 50% to the floor
-pre warm up driving includes many stalls.
-by the book, it has a grand total of 65-70 horsepower (1980 engine).
-has some carbon deposits in cylendars. (diesels when shut off)

Creature Comforts

-temprature controll is broken, can be adjusted under engine hood.
-carpeting removed, as well as floor mats.
-heater fan is mint, including controll switch.
-horn not working, watched for panicked driver!!
-Radio is not the real radio, My radio on the other hand is a 25 watt tape am/fm found frozen to a curb in a snowstorm one garbage day friday. works well with 4 30 watt speakers with manilla boxes made from former baseboards of a london england flat my fater used to rent 26 years ago before he came to Canada. It Booms! Plugs into antena for ground & a clip goes to the dome light for positive.
-120 watt 120vac inverter instaled, for a tv. -Seats in good shape, but front seats are very dirty.
-driver's seat has small rip.
-driver's seat position adjutment jammed. Can be moved with skill.
-windows all roll down efortlessly, & go back up too.
-all seatbelts funcional. (driver's buckle was missing for 3 months, so a jumper cable clip held it to the park brake so it looked like it was good to avoid cops.)

Body

-has holes in floor patched with stainless steel & rivets.
-Left side of car sagging, doors stick closed.
-Left rear door jammes shut, is not to be opened for the reason that it may be a major structural support now that the frame (left side) is rotting out.
-Right side still holding up. Exception of controll arm.
-right side of bumper dinged in 2", but banged out with a 6lb sledge.
-corrosponding ding above marker light on same side, on the corner.
-Right doors open perfectly.
-Left door handle broken, but useable with skill.
-Has hole patched in side with rivits and stainless steel materials, left bottom rear corner.
-ding in body next to hood, between the headlight & windshield, left side.
-Right rear controll arm mount (frame) extreemly weak from rust hole.
NEW!!! Controll arm has fallen off!!!!
-bent/bending. in areas corrosponding to front left suspention. Including the floor around the pedals, That scares me, the driver.
-indent on roof.
-all 4 doors rusted out along bottom.
-front top shock mounts rusted out, litrally.
-rear hatch opens perfectly
-left rear door jams shut against frame. is now a frame support and not to be opend.