Ted's Corvette Page
(How I got screwed or how stupid can I really be)
Let me tell you a story. I purchased this corvette off eBay. I guess I won't be doing that again. Well, maybe but next time I won't believe person when they say they are going to make it right and go right to EBAY right away. It was advertised with some minor problems good driving car by the previous owner Craig Schallmo. While I understand the some of the problems listed here on this page he could not have known about. I'm skeptical about him not knowing the rear end was bad. That cost me just under two grand to have rebuilt. Sure some of the people that worked on this while he had it, really stuck it to him. I also understand that not every repair shop is as trustworthy as the one I run. However, what gripes me the most is that he did offer and never did give me any type of refund. And had I made a big stink about it and been an asshole right off the bat EBay would have covered the repairs. there response was "there is a 35-day maximum filing period to submit a claim with our insurance partner. Unfortunately, because more than 35 days have passed since the end of the auction, this item no longer qualifies for coverage under the Vehicle Purchase Protection Program." So because I didn't push the issue and thought Craig was going to do the right thing which he said he would. I got screwed twice. Once by Ebay and once by him. So I am now listing everything here not only to show what I have been doing to the car to fix it up. But also as a warning to other that if this guys ever sells anything again... "YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!"
The pictures below have been thumb nailed they are large and detailed so the damage can be seen easily.
OK here below I would not have reasonably expected him or anyone to know that these were bad. However, when we dropped the oil pan the engine had already been gone into before evidenced by the one new connecting rod in the engine and the rod's having been stamped by whomever rebuilt it. (assuming the dealership as it had OE bearing installed or they just reused the old ones)
Notice the grooves in the lower left one above and the wonderful discoloration. There are some cool grooves in these bearings. You'll see why in some of the pictures below.
I attempted to show here the bearing slap. Some wear is to be expected.
In the oil pan we found quite a bit more of these metal flakes I had already taken out about eight pieces before I took this picture.
I attempted a close up. You can see flakes of the bearings in the oil pan. (luckily I made it home). Since it does have one new connecting rod I'm assuming it came from the old rebuild. Whomever did it. It was a half ass job and never followed up with cleaning out the engine after putting in the new parts.
The next few pictures show what was wrong with the rear end. This picture was evidence there was something wrong. I must say I was really lucky driving this back from his house 1694 Fiddyment Dr. Romeoville, IL. The Yoke was rubbing against the differential. I only drove it 400 miles. It was something that should have been evident to anyone driving it.
Here are the yokes. I took it to Dragos Corvette here in Flint. They explained that it had been bad for a quite some time before I got it. And this is a normal repair on a corvette of this era. Something that should have been replaced many miles before I ever got the car. The good news is I will not ever have a problem with this ever again. The replacement parts are designed to last. unlike GM's cheap OE parts that are designed to fail.
Here we actually put a straight edge across the top so that you can see what the new part should actually look like.
Ok the car looks pretty good from the outside and Craig didn't have it painted. But the painter must have done it in his garage. Orange peal on the drivers door and then under all the edges along the bottom of car it has two and three inch runs and drips. Whew, I'm glad it was painted before he got it. I will have that all fixed up by next year. As I've shot my wad on replacing all the minor things like the rear-end and bearings. Appearances can sure be deceiving.
