Month: July 2012

The oldest C4 Corvettes are more than 25 years old now, so it may be way past time to replace the top on your convertible.

If wind noise, water leaks, and poor appearance have left you “under the weather” a little too much, our friends at Corvette Central have just the ticket for you. They’ve got the parts available on their website along with a helpful how-to article on their CC Tech website to guide you through the installation if you’re so inclined to do it yourself.

Chris Petris of Petris Enterprises, who has operated Corvette Clinic in Alabama for 12 years, penned an article about the replacement process for Corvette Central’s CC Tech website, and if you have doubts about your mechanical abilities, he points out that it’s much easier to replace the top on a C4 (1986-96 models) than it is on the earlier cars.

“On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the easiest to install and 10 being the most difficult, I would rate early tops as a ’10′ and 1986 and later tops as a ’1,’ ” Petris writes.

We’ve all bought things that we had to put together, and by the time we got through, we had learned enough tricks to make the going much easier on the next installation – if only there was a next one.

Corvette Central’s convertible top article gives you the advantage of seeing those neat little tricks in advance so that the installation is much smoother the first time around.

Petris says it usually takes about 1 to 2 hours to remove the old top, but it can take many hours to clean off the old adhesive, then another 6 to 8 hours to install the new top. He suggests having an assistant to keep you from having to walk back and forth from side to side of the car to make minor adjustments. He also notes that you can even install a glass rear window on your 1986-93 top, with a kit available from Corvette Central.

So while it’s not the easist of jobs, the hours you invest in replacing your top will pay big dividends in your enjoyment of your C4 Corvette convertible.

Check out the full technical article at Corvette Central.

Source:
Corvette Central

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Want to support a great cause and maybe win a classic 1966 Corvette? There are a limited number of tickets still available for the 24th Annual Classic Corvette Giveaway benefiting Saint Bernard Parish and School in Rockport Indiana. This year’s raffle car is this 1966 Nassau Blue Corvette convertible valued at $80,000.

The Corvette is matching numbers with a 427/425 V8 mated to a M21 manual 4-speed transmission. Other options include 3.70 positraction, F41 special heavy duty brakes and knock-off aluminum wheels, stainless steel brakes, AM/FM radio, hazard warning flasher, seat belts, tinted windshield and Coker classic gold stripe radials.

The Corvette was purchased from ProTeam Corvette in Napoleon, Ohio in November 2011. This show-ready Corvette was fully restored by ProTeam in 2008 and is in excellent condition.

The Corvette hotline number to order tickets is 812-362-7313. Ticket orders may also be downloaded from the parish website at www.StBernardCorvette.org. Make sure you check out the photo and video tours of the ’66 Corvette while you’re there! The cost of each opportunity is $30.00 or 4 for $100.00. Only 10,000 tickets will be sold and the raffle is close to selling out.

“We’ve sold tickets from as far away as Australia, New Zealand, Italy and Austria,” said David Lovell of Saint Bernard Parish. “This is a great opportunity to win a classic Corvette and we’ll be selling tickets up until the drawing time unless we sell out first.”

The annual raffle has become a key fundraiser for the church who uses the proceeds to help fund the Saint Bernard Elementary School and daycare programs at their Rockport location.

The winning tickets will be drawn at the Summer Social and Classic Car Cruise-In held on Sunday, July 8th at 5:00 p.m. CDT. You need not to be present to win, but you must be 18 to participate.

Source:
Saint Bernard Corvette Raffle

Related:
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It was Corvette against Corvette for the title in the closing seconds of the Rolex Sports Car Series at Watkins Glen International on Sunday.

Joao Barbosa, in the No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP, rallied to take a narrow victory in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, nipping Alex Gurney and the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP.

“It was so competitive,” Barbosa said. “Everybody had such a good pace and I saw an opportunity. I had to push a little bit. I saw an opportunity, the No. 99 got hold on traffic I thought it’s now or never. I went for the move. It was really clean racing. I’m really proud to be fighting with some of these drivers now-a-days. I’ve been unlucky in the past few races, but what can I say, the Corvette was awesome during the whole race over six hours. These guys did an amazing job. Action Express put together a car that was unbelievable.”

Barbosa caught Gurney with 20 minutes left and then used lapped cars to his advantage down the stretch run, winning by just .238 seconds.

Barbosa and teammate Darren Law combined to average 102.827 mph to pick up their second victory of the season, while Gurney and teammate Jon Fogarty continue to look for their first win.

“I wouldn’t say the monkey is gone,” Gurney said despite his team’s narrow loss. “I feel like it’s still there. That was pretty disappointing because the car was so good. I just caught a GT (car) at precisely the wrong point and Joao put a nice move on and that was it.”

The win gives Action Express Racing a two-point lead over Starworks Motorsports with one race left in the inaugural three-race North American Endurance Championship, which consists of the Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, and the July 27 Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis. The winner will earn a $100,000 prize.

In the GT class, the action also went down to the wire with Robin Liddell holding off second place finisher Bill Auberien (BMW M3) by 1.340 seconds to give the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GT.R co-driven by John Edwards its first victory of the season.

Chevrolet Racing Road Racing Program Manager Jim Lutz said it was a great day for Chevrolet in both classes.

“Congratulations go out to Action Express Racing, GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing, and Stevenson Motorsports,” Lutz said. “The Six Hours of The Glen is always an exciting and challenging race for our teams in both Daytona Prototype (DP) and Grand Touring (GT), and today’s race was no exception. There is always drama (laughs) during the six hours. The No. 99 GAINSCO Corvette DP had electric power steering issues that the team was able to work around and still hold off the field for a solid second place finish. And in the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT was able to beat several strong cars, which demonstrated their great execution with no errors to go the distance. We’re very pleased with the winning results of all our Team Chevy efforts in both classes.”

Source:
BuffaloNews.com
Photo Credit: Grand-AM.com

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