Restoring my AS-IS Auction Corvette with 250,000 Miles for $1,400
2021 ж. 17 Жел.
1 062 942 Рет қаралды
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This C6 Corvette Z51 3LT with over 250,000 miles was left for scrap at my local car auction. I bought it dirt cheap and restored it only in a few days in a DIY fashion! It turned out to be an extremely well maintained car and should last another quarter million miles!
Instagram: / samcracc
Email Me: SamcracAuto@gmail.com
This is one of my favorite builds you’ve done. Super practical and super obtainable for the average guy. Awesome find!
@CruzRedEye And I thought everyone had a Lambo or McLaren in the garage but choose to drive a breeder van,🤣
"Super practical and super obtainable for the average guy" Needs to be in the US Needs at least $10k to spare Not so much average guy here.
@@gteixeira i mean, he lives in the usa, he cant make one that would suit ppl outside even tho im a fan from the caribean.
"Super practical and super obtainable for the average guy" please be sarcasm.. there is nothing obtainable about (at least) 10k and nothing practical about a worn out Corvette
@@gteixeira by "average guy" they actually mean "average middle class American" apparently
Those little harnesses are awesome. Got to love the LS. Car looks great!
I assumed most cars are like that since my 07 kia also has little detachable ignition coil and fuel injector harnesses
What about the remaining check engine light?
@@haroldgibson9123 with 250000 miles and with all the rest of the mild problems this vet has had. One might say the knock Sensors if I was to guess
As a C6 owner who loves wrenching, this was awesome! And for someone who is under so many cars, what are you doing without a lift system of some sort? Just picked up a set of Quickjacks, and they are an absolute godsend.
I agree. And there are several solutions. Quickjacks require that you drive the car onto the platform, and it lifts at all 4 corners. The MAXJAX system is a portable 2 post hydraulic lift, which uses traditional body lift points, freeing up the corners. It will handle trucks as well as cars, and lift them about 3 feet. My son uses his to lift Jeeps to replace their suspension systems. Price is near $3,000 delivered. And did I mention that they're portable? You can bolt them in place then unbolt them and store them, or use another set of bolts and install them somewhere else.
Asking myself the same
Really cool to see what you've done with this vette. Mine has around 90k miles on it and this gives me so much more confidence that it will run for a very long time.
My 07 LBM 3LT Z71 has just clicked 50k. For a car nearly 14 yrs old, it's still a beauty. I'll die of old age in it rather than sell it. My 4h Vette over the years. Not crazy where designers and engineers have taken the C8
My Sierra has 315k on the original engine. The LS/Vortec are the greatest engines ever made. 260k on my daughters Tahoe, 270k on my wife's Escalade. I had a 200k 2000 WS6 that was bone stock and crazy fast.
@@irelandgrt My daughter has a 2015 GMC 1500 Denali 6.0 gas.. 72k on the clock. About 6 mos ago that stupid Active Fuel Management (AFM) they most all have now malfunctioned. Instead of dropping to 4 cyl mode, one of the solenoids failed and broke - yes broke the #7 pushrod. Seems to be well known issue. (not necessarily breaking pushrods, but will rear it's ugly head in other ways that damage the engine) No warranty and no Mr. Nice guy at GM either.
@@avflyguy That messed things up. The engine was never designed for it and they added it. None of my trucks have it including my Sierra which is an 07 gen IV and the first year of it. They didn't put it on the 4.8 that year which is what I have. I wasn't aware that any Corvettes had it. I still say the LS/Vortec are the greatest engines ever made.
@@avflyguy If I remember correctly now that I think about it the stick shift vettes didn't get it until the new LT engine as far as I know.
Honestly, with an Auto trans having been rebuilt already and a clearly well maintained engine, there’s really nothing to scare a potential buyer off despite the mileage. That would be a solid inexpensive way into a nice driver Corvette
yeah that's a lot of miles though at that time is when anything can happen
@@gotworc 250 isn't as high as it once was. Better engineering these days
That engine's probably got a good 100K left in it before you'd have to worry about it being tired. And with that age and mileage it's pretty much at the bottom of its depreciation curve, so it'd be great to drive and enjoy without costing you much or having to worry about it. As little as some people drive their Corvettes, it doesn't make sense to have a 70K+ car sitting in the garage gathering dust.
you can tell they changed the oil regularly by the condition of the engine when they took the covers off. That thing had the oil changed even 3000 miles religiously.,
@@evodgamehunter4290 Agreed I had an Iveco Daily 2.9 L 12 HPI it had over 300,000 miles when I got it with a good service history I drove it for about 4 years putting good miles on it and it was still going strong when I sold it.
Great job. This is what most of your viewers want to see, not $50k unobtainable auction cars or salvage cars that frankly, we cannot afford to buy smashed. $2-10k salvage/auction cars are a sweet spot. The rest of the car build channels are great, but truly fantasy.
Well said
My
another car channel you might be interested in is Rainman Ray's Repairs. it's just a guy working on normal vehicles at an independent shop. not the exact same thing as this channel, but normal cars being worked on, all kinds. very informative auto repair channel. i totally agree with what you said, i am completely uninterested in those exotic/expensive car content on here.
This was an awesome video! Love seeing corvettes being restored to their former glory! They deserve the best.
Sam is awesome goes to show if you know what to look for amazing things can happen, I always tell people it’s all about knowing what to look for more over being able to do complex jobs, to do all this in a diy fashion with no major tools and no hoists is great! Good job Sam
One of the best builds you’ve done, budget friendly, something most people could actually do. Hoping to see more stuff like this!
I think the hardest part was finding a hidden gem like this and having the guts to actually put a bid in on it. There could have been so many problems on a car with that kind of mileage. And we all know Sam. He hardly have the best track record when it comes to finding gems...
i get what you mean. but you dont buy an auction car for it to be budget friendly. he just got lucky.
This was such a fun series. Super cheap corvette z51 3LT convertible brought back to her former glory! Epic!
He could easily make $4-6K on that car.
@@bryanhallman8183 I would buy it for 14k all day long even if u had to drop a new motor in it down the road what’s an ls motor cost new crate from Gm maybe 4k?
@@cbruno12180 you wont need a new motor. Ls goes for ever with proper care. I think this one was open road milage.
@@chrisrose3915 I was just giving an example even if you had to replace the engine at some point this car is a great deal it’s in good shape for all these miles wouldn’t you agree
@@cbruno12180 Yes totally
Great job on the repairs and detailing. Another low cost detail is to pull wheels and clean the inside offset with a mag wheel cleaner. I also like to clean calipers and the rusty center hub section of the rotors. A wire brushing or sandblasting followed with a coat of cast iron natural finish paint makes them look brand new.
I have been planning to do a cosmetic restore of my 1998 C5 that only has 54321 original miles. I have had health problems and with covid and all the rest car has not been driven in over three years. Lot of the cleaning that you do has opened up new sources for resto materials. The painting and minor body repair that I see you do makes me feel I can do what I need to do with a lot more confidence. I am 80 years young and have been driving corvettes since I was 21. My first was 64 C3 FI 4 speed coupe with the rare 1 (of) 38 option N03 36 gal. fuel tank and F40 suspension I bought it with 4600 miles from a Corvette Tech Center engineer. He had the factory closely follow the build from start to finish. They made sure the engine was built to exact factory specs and tolerances. He told me it was more of balanced and blueprinted engine. The tech center dyno showed HP at the crank to be 413. He was a rally racer
Glad you're back to regular uploads! Really like these budget repair videos 👌 haven't missed an episode since the pizza car days 😄
More to come!
@@Samcrac glad you are working on cars we normal folk can buy instead of the exotics
Honestly this is in my opinion your best build yet. I absolutely love this build, it didn't take months and month , no crazy wire issues, a very cool car and it's a car that's closer to reality for the everyday man. Most guy watching your channel likely will never own a Ferrari and the Corvette is about as close as we will get so thank you keep this up Sam!
That's what I was starting to think too.
Speak for yourself bucko….we get what we want out effort into your life and you can have anything. True Story!
Never say never.
@@chrisreynolds2410 I can't even sit down in those high end cars, born too tall for it, so a Vette is about as much as I will ever aspire to. A 6'7" guy like myself can sit down in a Corvette. It's tight, but it's workable.
Bronson That does not negate the fact of what I said. No need to address me.
I love how at top of second gear the speedo shows 30mph, definitely accurate :D. Reminds me of a top gear episode where they had to do a commercial. Awesome car btw.
Love how this turned out. So satisfying!
The self lock feature of many older domestic cars is maddening. As a former tech, I used to always leave a window down just in case the car decided to self lock. Great series on this car.
I do the same on my personal car lol!
It's a habit that's always stuck with me as well. I always find myself doing it whenever I step out of any vehicle, even ones that don't have the self lock feature lol. It's one of my better habits I suppose. 😆
i put the window down even as a diyer when working on stuff.
Dude, every time I'm moving cars around in the driveway, I have to leave a window down so I don't have to deal with this.
Yep me too can't stand to use the lockout kit
As a tech I can say that the mileage has nothing to do with a cars condition. It's all about the previous owners maintenance schedule and repair up keep and how it was used. That vette was well maintained mechanical and it shows.
I think it does, because higher mileage vehicles have to be well maintained to get to that high mileage, but any abused car can get to 50k miles
@@adamspitfire We are saying the same thing just in a different way. I've seen cars with less then 50k miles that are trashed with bad engines, bad transmissions or shot suspension. Most people think a 50k mile car is always better then a 250k mile car and from my experience that's just not true.
Well I wouldn't exactly say "nothing" but I agree that mileage alone doesn't tell the whole story.
@@adamspitfire - Yeah. Higher miles absolutely have everything to do with the condition of a car. Sure, there are some high mileage cars that look fantastic, but wear is still worn on the drivetrain. I've owned a few high-mile cars, one with far more than this Vette. The two previous owners took excellent care of the car and after I sold it years later and many more miles, the car continued to drive for years. However, I would not try to have raced that car or drive it hard. Just because it was taken care of does not mean the engine is perfect, who knows how worn the internals have become.
I see it both ways. That kind of mileage, sure upkeep the motor, possibly the transmission would be good. But the suspension, and just that wear and tear. And wouldn't be cheap to fix.
One of the best you have done!! Love the Budget Builds!! Keep up the Great Work!!!
Very happy to see just how well this one went, well done Sam and Sage.
Sam, what I do on headlight lens replacement is to use a vacuum cleaner through one of the socket holes (be sure to seal any other holes). After the sealant is applied use the vacuum to suck the lens all the way up tight. Apply some masking tape to hold it while the sealant sets and bingo, Bob's your uncle.
My uncle's name is Edgar.
My uncle is not named Bob, how dare you assume so. You're officially cancelled. Gtfo.
@@SpeCifiC0507 how do you know, could be, lol
apparently, these people have never watched AvE. good tip, btw. not sure I would have thought of that.
Or my father in law
Man I love a Corvette restoration! I bought a C5 Torch Red last year with C6 z06 rims and rear dodge demon tires, cams, headers and more but the owner shorted and wires in the harness inside the car burnt to a crisp. Bought it for $4500 and $800 later plus a lot of labor she’s running beautiful again
Thanks for that quick reply. 6'2 here too .270 lbs. I'm glad to know that it's a fit.
Great video, learned some new tricks from you today. Look forward to the next build.
This man gives me the courage to fix up my old cars and keep them around for a while.
love the restoration of cars that are in reach of your subscribers, seen a few other channels get larger and move on into cars that are just unaffordable for most, so great to see this one
Love the channel and all the great projects. Major improvement on this car. A black car is really labor intensive to maintain a great finish. Although it does look better after buffing it really should have a proper paint correction to remove all the swirl marks that show up in the sunlight. All in all the car turned out great.
Great job! I really enjoyed watching you bring this corvette back to life.
The Corvette videos are easily my most favorite videos that I've seen you do. I believe that most people would like to own an inexpensive sports car that's easy (and cheap) to work on and most people can probably relate to this video.
I would gladly get rid of my 96 BMW 328i Convertible for a build like this
My favorite video of yours by far. It's really refreshing to see you working on a car that is actually obtainable by normal people and not an utter nightmare to work on either. Well done!
Sometimes you just get lucky and it all goes well. Congrats on a great find and a relatively uncomplicated restore.
Great video! I'm working on a cobalt and you gave me so many ideas for restoring this classic.
Love your builds like this, start to finish with no leaking head gaskets!!
Hard to believe there were no other bidders on this car. Admit it Sam, You STOLE IT! What a sweet deal for a car that only needed a bit of TLC.
Great video! So satisfying to see old neglected things brought back to their former glory!
Great video and example of a realistic DIY project. Look forward to seeing more videos like this one!
Awesome job. Well loved car brought back to where it can be enjoyed for a long time to come. Loved this build! Well done Sam, congrats.
This is great. I like when you do a more accessible vehicle like this versus all the top tier exotics. Best build in a while.
What a great job. I watched this video twice. I love this type of content. Thanks and Happy New Year!
Wow. Just wow. Nice work from the UK. Shows what hard work can do.
Great build, you should really consider getting a decent DA polisher to replace your rotary. In the sun a lot of holograms were visible in the paint which are much easier to create with a rotary polisher since they are harder to use than a DA.
True that! He really needs to work on his polishing skills. His lack of knowledge ,prep, and skills shows. And it being a black car, even more.
yea those holograms were pretty bad
This build was amazing and turned out great.
Great job, I really enjoyed the journey to refurbished this classic!
Excellent work! Loved seeing such a practical and affordable refurb. You likely saved this awesome car from a premature death. What a value! I have new respect for how Chevy builds these cars. I was surprised about some of the thoughtful design that made it easier than you might expect to work on.
Corvettes in general are great well put together sports cars. Most of the problems people have with them aren't the cars but the people that drive them. They aren't rare cars despite every corvette owner thinking their's is special. That being said they are amazing cars that outperform basically all other cars up to high end super cars.
Rockauto is the unheralded hero of the automotive world. Glad to see they are a sponsor and that makes me want to buy even more of my stuff from them.
My toolbox is covered with 15 years worth of purchases.
Only thing about rock auto I have a gripe out is they ship out your order from multiple warehouses and no free shipping. One order I had 3 different 6.99 shipping charges. But the parts are so cheap i think i am still saving $$
@@startingtech3900 same thing I say I still think ebay has better prices just takes longer to get items
Love the budget builds keep up the good work guys
Love this project. Love your channel Sam!
I am glad this came up in my youtube feeds !! Awesome cleanup and purchase.....
No fan of corvettes, BUT, by far one of my favorite videos. Great restoration. Kudos to you guys!!!
This was a steal! I love the C6, it's my favorite but the C7 is close second. The car turned out beautiful, you got really lucky with this one!
I have an 07 base so of course i loved this video. Quite a testament to the build quality that so much of the car is still good.
Great build. That synthetic is the best. Engines last forever. Thank you.
Nicely done, amazing car.. i did the same thing with a 2017 Z06-07 option for $46k. Owner hit a curb broke fenders on passenger side. Total repair cost with paint and new tires $4636.00. I now have a 2017 Z06 with 9800 miles for under $53K. Keep these coming, show what can be done with a little effort and time. Great job again!!
You should do a detail inside the fender wells and a deep clean on those wheels to compliment the rest of the car.
Great Deal and a remarkable outcome. Thanks for the video.
Enjoyed watching your rebuild/restoration. I'm now a new fan of your channel. Keep the videos coming.
Amazing deal 👍 a great value project! Really enjoyable to see it get brought back to it's former glory. Only thing that it needs is some steel wool on that exhaust to shine in back up and it's complete ✅
For $52.20 a pair, you can replace the coil pack harness, they come as just the harness alone, so you pull the old ones out of the plastic case, thats a $90 saving, so essentially you're paying $90 extra for the plastic case
The plastic casing is going to be just as fragile and rotted.
@@DrinkWhiskeyRaiseHell not at all, most of the clips on the harness were broken, but that plastic case had nothing wrong with it. The clips were broken I'm sure due to years of clipping and unclipping not because they were rotted out, in my case I removed the wire and everything clipped right back up as it was
Your enthusiasm & expertise are entertaining, great find!
This is freaking awesome OMG just a little TLC what it needed hoooo I wish to find 1just like that definitely one of my favorites builds
builds like this are my favorite, much more enjoyable than the exotic stuff.
Agreed! I can see myself doing this. The exotics - nope.
Love this restoration. I think this is your best deal of them all. Maybe the Audi R8 is my favorite, but this is a real runner up.
Nice one Sam. As many have said, this build is exactly what most guys would try to pull off themselves. Enjoyed it lots!
Man you make this stuff look so easy that anyone can do it!! I assure you not anyone can do it. You're made for this stuff, pure awesome 👌
I think the “average working man” restorations are the best as they represent something that’s possible for most of us
His cheating the body shop out of 500 bucks was particularly satisfying. 8 )
Great buy and build! The ultimate driver... love it!
Nice job. Very practical refurbishment.
That Eastwood plastic dye is definitely some good stuff. I used it on some plastic interior pieces on a 1968 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible, and 10 years later when I sold the car, the pieces I had used it on were all still in great-looking condition. Just make sure to clean the parts well, and give 'em a light scuff with a Scotch Brite pad. Very light, indeed. They looked great!
Good to know. I googled it to bookmark it for later.
This was really fun to watch, your cost savings are smart and inspirational. I really enjoyed the build and your ability to diagnose problems and solve them so economically. So what did you sell the car for?
As the owner of a C7 and a big Corvette fan, it makes me happy to see that C6 ride with pride again. It wound up at auction somehow. But it was obviously loved and cared for.
EXCELLENT buy and video!!! Thx for the insights
Nice restoration. I enjoyed the series. Any chance for an end of the year review on all your projects. I very curious the status on all the different vehicles around your property.
Great build. Miles definitely scare me a little when it comes to internals like timing chain, cams, lifters. That kind of miles indicates that stuff could be close to needed. But still a great build and buy.
Absolutely love it all the way from New Zealand which there are not very many of them here. Corvette C6 is my dream car and I enjoyed watching your journey with it 🥰. I'm inspired.
Corvettes are just simply the best performance bargain out there. The parts are inexpensive and available everywhere and they are easy to work on. I love me C5 and have enjoyed doing the little things to update it and make it more modern recently.
Looks great Sam! Maybe new discs to make the wheels pop that little bit more would look good? Astounding job as always 👍
That was an awesome build. 🤗 One I would gladly own. Well done indeed.✌️😎
You and me both!
been working on auto projects for 50 years. So satisfying when you step back and look at your finish work.
Just found your channel. This is like going back to school and finally learning all about my 2011 LS 3 GS. Subscribed.
Love it! Great approach at saving a great, well-driven car. Definitely enjoyed this one! Also, a better car to drive around than the aston. Keep up the good work!
Great videos of a cheap vette build.
I found it relaxing watching you work on this car and making it a whole lot better! I think $ 8,000 for this car was inflation and maybe a little hi as it was a gamble but i think it turned out right!!
Love this project, great job 👏
Awesome Series....You made that car look great!!
I really wish I had the money to do stuff like this. Great job guys! Big fan of the channel!
Start with something more budget friendly
Great content Sam, I personally would have dealt with the broken/ missing header bolt before replacing the spark plugs, rocker gaskets ignition wires etc. European Fords in the 90s had a tendency of locking themselves on battery reconnection and because of this and always check I've got a door/window open before reconnecting the battery on any vehicle.
Love the way u bring this car back sam
Thank you for this one it was very informative Merry Christmas
Man the stuff you do on a very limited budget is incredible Sam! Keep it up man. I love your channel!
The thing is, I have zero luck with used vehicles. If I'd won that vette it'd need a new trans, new heads, brakes all around and new tires......
When you said “don’t ever leave your keys in a corvette” I felt that 😂 my C5 LOVES to lock its keys inside but luckily it has passive lock and if you wait a minute and bump the car it will unlock 🤣
My current C6, I've left keys in and closed door and won't lock if key FOB inside. Fine line too. If keys in my left pocket, it'll give me NO FOB error. Won't start - nothing until the keys are further inside the car.
MORE PROJECTS LIKE THIS PLEASE!!
Wow that was a sweet deal Sam. I really thought this purchase and refurb was one of your better DIY series. There were so many trouble shooting tips you went through to help keep costs down. The roof alone would have cost a fortune if you had to take it to a dealer to diagnose and repair. A low cost project like the Corvette, would make an incredible bonus/gift for Sage since he is such a great assistant and valuable protege. Keep up the awesome content and I can't wait to see more projects like this one.
Beautiful car wow - what a fantastic makeover! You missed the wheel liners! ;)
when you buffed that wet bumper you gave every auto detailer a mini aneurysm
And the polishing of the car doesn't seem that great. Still a lot of scratches and some newly introduced holograms on the side..
😂 Yes I know that but I knew the risk was low since repainting was the proper way and the car was still nice and dirty so while I got all full of compound I don't really think it did much else to the rest of the car
Joel Lmaoo I saw that too @19:01 though that bumper came out great for a single stage.
Wow more than impressed. This is my favorite vid . Thanks for the awesome info
This was my favorite build to watch, nice work!
Personally, I'd use paint with a flex agent in it especially on the bumper covers!
Yeah, I didn't get this. Poly bumpers need flexibility, not hardening. But I know fuck-all about modern paint.
I love Corvettes. My favorite car. I do think the C6 is one of the most bland out of all of them, but you guys did an outstanding job. Some real motivation to get back to restoring my 76, that is in a LOT rougher shape than this one was.
I agree I always thought the C6 was bland also. I think Corvettes should always have a big round ass but the C6 has a very flat ass. That's why I'm definitely a C4/1996 man when it comes to the later model Cuvettes.
Awesome info. I just bought my first C6. I like what you did to the Vette. Thanx for all the tips!
This video held me spellbound as you transformed the great deal into an incredible DYI restore project...Looks great sir.
@20:10 is first gear only 20 mph? Is it just me or does it seem mad slow by revving out 2 gears and only going 30 mph??
I thought the same thing but if you watch when he takes off at 19:59 the spedo doesn't register for a second. I think its just off