The Craigslist Rebuild
My father always wanted a Corvette. He located a “low-mileage” barn-find 1984 C4 on eBay several years ago for about $5,000. The seller's description included the red flag warnings of “ran when parked” and “new exhaust and tires.” I don’t know many people who park good vehicles in barns to be covered by bird droppings and chewed up by mice. Of course, Dad bought it before realizing it had a crossfire injection manifold, which might be the worst fuel delivery system in the history of the American bowtie. I guess the “Heartbeat of America” ate Five Guys seven nights a week and smoked several packs of Camel non-filters a day. Its legendary race-inspired eight-cylinder engine produced an astounding 130 horsepower to the wheels on SUNY Canton’s Dyno, somewhat less than my four-cylinder Honda Accord. I’m getting ahead of myself. When we picked it up, the exhaust looked completely new from five feet away. It wasn’t until I brought it into SUNY Canton’s Automotive Lab that I ...