Steve's 1985 C4 Corvette Project Car

Steve, one of my first customers saw the '85 C4 video series that I did, and wanted me to bring his back to life as well. This car has been sitting for a long time, so hopefully it can be brought back.
For updates on the projects between the videos, check me out on the following websites:
Facebook:
/ ben.friend.37
Instagram
/ thecorvetteben
Patreon
/ thecorvetteben

[@Paulie1232]

Steve my brother, holy shit, your channel showed up as a suggested 85 vette video from you tube. I wasn't going watch it but said what the hell. Not sure if you ever watched GROUND HOG DAY. But the vette issues had are the same I had with mine except the freeze plug blow out, thank god. The 85 vette I purchased was sitting in a field for 8 years. (SEE MY PROFILE PHOTO) Water in the tank, pumped out 6 gallons of piss...before trying to start it. Wiped the tank like you did, new pump, new gasket. Blew out the lines, new gas filter. Both valve cover gasket like a rock like your's. I played drums with them..he he he...all the plugs fouled out, new wires, cap...new injectors, new fuel pump regulator. The radiator and was dry for years like yours....rebuilt the throttle body and my air pump was screwed. After $1,000.00 in parts and countless hours. I got her up and purring like a kitten. Tell the owner not to give up, My opinion the best engine ever made, just cant kill them just look at the compression you had on those cylinders...hope he changes his mind....

[@kenny3217]

Its videos like this that make me glad I went with a 1980 C3. Small block 350s are so easy to diagnose and work on by comparison and all the parts are cheap and easy to find since they were used in so many cars for so many years.

[@v8berenguer372]

I just Love the style of c4 corvettes.

[@eddiebrown9590]

I am 66 years old been working on cars for 56 of them and you can never know enough, I am just about to buy my first Vette, 89 c4 thats had a lot of minor stuff already done, thanks to you I now know a lot more about it before i pick it up.. Like your style,, you still have a lot to learn, that will come with age but your on the right track you have a pleasant manor and i feel a lot of commonsense. Love the VID, the length is great dont have to go looking for PT1 2 3 etc... keep up the good work... Eddie Australia

[@stevedouglas5443]

This is why I like, and miss old school.

[@timothyhead1832]

Ben you are awesom. I've got an 84 and a tail light went out so I had to replace. Made me appreciate the 73 taillights. I had to Jack up the car , remove the finder skirt ,take lose the side marker light and go in through the light hole to remove the bulb. I felt like I was an obgyn. Lol

[@mjdart54]

I bought a 1985 Corvette new and it was a fantastic car so I'm always very happy when one gets saved, thanks!

[@markandrews91]

I love this guy’s channel. I cannot believe it took me this long to discover it. I have a C3 Corvette myself, and would love to have him do work on it.

[@fmzone4281]

Just bought a 84 Corvette C4 very excited

[@diamonddetails9445]

Another home run. Thank you very much 👍👍👍

[@AJ67901]

I considered a C4 last summer but ended up with a low mile C6 that I love. It's fun to watch you work on these. Keep it up.

[@kellybuerschinger5767]

The reality of the video is what makes it good. I really like the speech at the end.

[@sensaibjay]

I have an 86 C4 Convertible "Down Under" in Australia .... I will be watching this series with great interest Ben. .. C4's are a great car but a lot of work :-)

[@kevinshorter5861]

Your a great Mechanic and thanks for telling us about that too!!

[@KEVRPH]

Great video! Love the honest ending. Even though it had good compression I would recommend that anyone doing a project like this check this first and also not spend any money that is absolutely needed to get the car running like the instrument cluster. I have learned this the hard way, lol

[@racerxnk]

That gauge cluster looks great. Brings back memories:)

[@megababy80]

I learned a lot from your ‘85 vids and did a lot on my ‘87 thanks much!

[@jimratzlaff3112]

Your videos (C4 my interest) are very thorough and honest. To your point about cars that have been sitting; it appears that cars with more miles that have been driven are possibly a better bet to be a "driver" than a low mileage car that has been sitting idle for years.

[@Whitestingray81]

Love the LONG video. Also liked seeing you perform the work rather than just telling us what you did. Can’t wait to see more C3 vids, but I love seeing a C4 being brought back to life!

[@alexgomez3585]

Going to keep the original cluster, I’m up for the challenge. Thanks for the info

[@DIYDanCars]

A project like this is for people who can do the work themselves. The moment you have to pay someone else to restore a car, the "budget" gets out of hand real quick and rightly so as it is labor intensive. I can relate to the owner with my 928 project, it's well beyond the point of no return. Will I get anywhere near what we have into the car. Heck no! Was it fun and rewarding to work on? Heck ya! At the end of the day life is short and we can't take the money with us so why not burn some of it. ;) Happy wrenching!

[@nxt_sean1168]

Amen! Brother

[@chadfoust6942]

What a great video! Definitely going to keep this for when I get my budget C4. Very detailed information on what to look for and what to fix with great camera angles in my biggest pet peeve, audio! Thank you! I also appreciate the honesty of putting a video out with a less than happy ending.

[@rockercater]

DANG --YOU ARE GOOD! and what you don't get with other mechanics is you are honest.Its cool to watch you because you explain things .You also say that you had that with a other vette you worked on. Then you know you have been there before...THANK YOU for another cool video....

[@RobertPerrigoOkiechopper]

Thanks for the memories of days long gone .

[@ustinman8446]

5o $ an hour is great! If I had a Vette, You're My Man .

[@jimh309]

Your final monologue is so true! Honesty is the best policy! Sorry you spent so much time, and I hope you got compensated for your efforts!

[@KevinJohnson-fx6wq]

Bummer, such is life. Cars just don't like to sit, especially newer with all the electronics. Love the way you explain everything so methodically. Great job. Who cares about the leaves. Learned so much even though it was a bust.

[@icurt06]

I agree about Fuel Injector Connection. I purchased a set of 24lb injectors for my '92. Wow what a difference they made! Love my C4

[@handlinsentertainment]

Im looking at a 85 silver with tuned port injection needs some work would be my first time working on a car so I'm excited and slightly nervous but I'll be learning as I go

[@OlaJustin]

Very good video! I look forward to more videos like this every once and a while. To bad it didn’t have a lucky ending. But that’s old cars for you. Hope it will end up with someone with the tools, skills, time and money.

[@PCEngineGaijin]

Thanks for posting this project all at once, it’s nice to see everything in one video :)

[@surfbug1]

Man that is too big of a project for me. Props to you!

[@JimBales]

Thank you. It was awesome and I did get my "fix". You are one of my favorite KZbin subs. I am an avid watcher of the Velocity channel on TV and know exactly what you meant about the "magic of television".

[@STONEDARTphotos]

Really great video. I like that you showed each step especially the steering wheel. Thanks.

[@rubyred93chev]

Great job Ben figuring out the engine running concerns. Hats off to the owner of his '85 too. Notably because he invested some serious cash in bringing the car back to life. Once a heavily used 'Fourth generation' is left in storage, or in the back 40, it's going to require some major cash to bring these beloved Corvettes back on the road. Is is worth it? Not on an '85 with a 170,000 miles on the odometer. Then again, one man's trash is another man's treasure. The problem is these cars don't age well if let sat for an extended period of time. From electronics, to interior components, to engine parts, and the list becomes infinitesimal. Plus there's that 'bubba-factor', and the car getting sold, resold, over and over again. Makes me a bit sad knowing this car will have to be parted out. Then again, with 358,180 - 1984 to 1996 C4's, it's not that big of a deal. Sadly, one of my own 1991 - L98 coupes was repaired by my local Chevy mechanic, only to have something else go wrong(causing the car to have be towed back to Service Department not much time after it was picked up). The point is, these C4's will cost you often more cash than they're worth. [And my 1991, which only has 74,000 miles+ original miles, is a prime example]. Once a C4 has been let go or abandon, they're not a good investment to bring back, and that's why we both know only those low mileage cars will bring decent resale money. (And point well made, this isn't always the norm, or the case about 'abandon' cars, especially Chevy Corvette). Very informative video.

[@ktgarage1126]

Great video Ben. Keep up the good work

I love the C4 Vette.

[@jeffreysparks2728]

Thanks

[@jeffreysparks2728]

Thanks ,

@@jeffreysparks2728 You're welcome.

[@darryljames3798]

I have exact car same color and everything. My fuel pressure regulator was bad when I bought it. Always love your videos

[@iamrichrocker]

Steve(corvette customer)..you only live once..let Ben do a full and safe restore...if you can afford it..doubt you will ever regret it..look forward to progress on your car..

[@vphouger]

Nicely done Ben. Very informative. Thank you.

[@lwoodt1]

Good video.Good advice. I'll keep watching. Thanks

[@socialghost4400]

This video was awesome, keep up the good work Ben!

[@number1pappy]

My dog just looked over my shoulder and took one look at this corvette and went "ruf" "ruf"! I have to say I totally agree with her as this car is extremely "ruf"! Lol!!

[@rcmoot]

Thanks for this video.

[@bikeguy3034]

Great vid, learning a lot from you to help with working on my own 89. Looking forward to more vids like this. Cheers from NZ

[@bigblockchevy2294]

good video, thanks for taking the effort to create the content and post. this is Reality TV for folks that actually drive their corvettes.

[@hausmeisterengineering5952]

What an awesome video and lots of good information!

[@Sodablood]

I love videos like this, thanks for making it

[@tompeck872]

Hey Ben, I Have a 1985 C4 that has been sitting for about 2 years untouched. I bought the car in 1992 at a car show, it had 50,000 miles on it. It was a daily driver show car. We continued driving to shows a perfect weather conditions other wise garage kept. Around 2004 my wife started driving the car to work. The clear coat started cracking. Decided to paint entire car. Mostly taken completely apart. Long story short the car now only has 62,000 miles on it. But now only around 90% complete. After replacing the battery and fuel, I went to crank the engine it was running rough started shooting flames out the tail pipes then it started idling properly for about 5 minutes than the engine just quit running and now will not fire back up. Thanks for the information on the last C4 project you were working on. My car is in a whole lot better shape and I think that with the info you provided I should be able to figure out what is going on. I assume I will start by checking my coil and ignition system, then fuel system, then the general engine condition, compression, plugs ect. Any additional advice would be helpful. Thanks Tom

[@dicknixon2763]

I've an 86 that I just aquired with 90k on it and it'll start up but no codes and wont idle until temp hit 160 or so then idles wildly up and down. At any rate I love ur channel and will likely be spending a bit of time with u till I iron it out. It was something I touched as it drove home fine and seemed to aquire this problem after I spray washed the engine. These cars are incredibly flimsy when disassembling and reassembling. I've finished all the restoration of inside myself without investing in all those expensive repro parts. Everything works except a/c which I've not addressed yet and of course, the engine run problem. Anyways thanks for.the help. TY Rich

[@dpittel]

Nice video Ben! These C4's can be a bottomless pit. My 87 was for sure! Thanks for showing us the reality of it all. I love the C4 despite all the problems but glad I don't have one anymore. 😂

[@greekc4]

Love the c4!

[@douglasbrown8175]

Thanks for that video Ben I really enjoyed it.Sorry that all that work was for nothing, but your viewers learned a lot. I would have cleaned that egr valve while it was apart. Hope you and your family have a nice holiday season.

[@stingray427man]

Coolest thing about the early C4’s was the instrument cluster, so retro.

[@davidgomez5116]

Agreed

[@dicktrickle4197]

The forward tilting hood that reveals the whole engine and 2 big ass tires

[@drew3811]

Really enjoyed watching today, keep up the great work man.

[@cool62chev]

Keep up the good work Big Ben!

[@ckstaff]

Lot of wasted work, time and money. I had an 89 years back. Really liked driving it and to this day still have an interest in a driver C4. Of course it is coming up some 25-30 years since I had it and my biggest problem in the end is not knowing how to work on it back then when it broke down, and it did plenty. Very nice car but in my experience with the C4 you better have deep pockets.

[@msacco175]

Luv your channel. Very real and true.

[@gizzmo5952]

My 86 c4 had a crack in the #7 cylinder, so I bought a new bottom end block from Summit, a ATK 4 bolt main, bored out .040. Installed the stock aluminium heads, and stock TPI system. Block cost around $1600.00, heads checked around $100.00. Runs strong, and lights up the tires really easy,lol. Also change out the idle air control valve, that will help the idle.

[@jamietaylor1799]

I like the longer videos. It's a shame about this particular car, but I'm glad you posted the truth. I'd trust my vehicles with you. I need all four ball joints done on a 2000 Escalade. Wanna do a road trip to Milwaukee? Kidding of course. You keep making videos, I'll keep watching them.

[@hennygoossens3655]

Nice job showing people the wreal thing wenn starting to work on an old project.

[@USCG.Brennan]

Wow.....it must be a special car to him because he's going to have more money into this when finished, than it's worth!

[@TheRealSmithFamily]

Right? I'd do the "Roadkill" mod to it personally!

[@TheCorvetteBen]

Vette CART!

[@robdc4829]

Didn't watch the whole video Curt? 😀

[@rosen380]

I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but my 1993 was $8k [68000 miles; practically mint] and thus far has only cost me a belt and a battery. Looking at the condition of this '85, I imagine even doing the work yourself you'd end up putting a really low value on your time.

[@Aspra]

Really like this longer video.

[@freddieslaughter1107]

This has been very interesting

[@richardking3681]

Love the vid- sorry this one didn’t end up working out. Keep up the great work-

[@deabraywebb808]

It's Worth It It Might Take A While But It Is Worth The Work

[@rcmoot]

Have an 86 project that has been more work than you had. Been a costly, but fun job. After 4 yrs. It is getting close to being fired up.

[@cristianfederico2411]

One of your best videos!

[@seventyeleventy4776]

The same story of my c4... I love it!

[@Saint696Anger]

Some very true facts towards the end 👍

[@stevepen]

Great video, its a shame it didn't work out. Honestly I had my doubts in the beginning. My 88's in mint condition and it gives me problems every now and then so I would have been shocked to see that car on the road for the money the owner was willing to put in it. Not your fault... that car was too far gone. Can't wait to see the next project.

[@jeffreygrindle6396]

Damn that cluster looks great

[@heavyduty1001]

Great content and video legnth.

[@iamrichrocker]

i loved the A OK corral showdown betwixt Noodle and the Chicken..with back up provided by Chopstix!

[@drew9017]

how do you know so MUCH about every corvette!!!! I need your knowledge, pleaseeee. I'm restoring a '76 currently.

[@dadams19111]

Nice Video.. I like the long video!! keep em coming!!

[@dmcnamara9859]

Finally an epic Video!

[@lionelpayette4628]

Great video.

[@dannyhelderdenkende6647]

Damn you are smart! I wish i had your knowledge

[@tileslasher]

I sunk so much money into my 86, I put 3 motors so far. 2 396 stroker motors and 1 383 still has one of the 396 motors in it. I know all about the expense of this project. I saved mine from Virginia City the guy was gonna use the suspension for a t bucket I thought it'd be badass to have a Corvette. I took the stock car to the drag races and got smoked by every Subaru so I was like okay I'm gonna change that. So the project began, have had that car now for 13 years, it's currently in my friends paint shop getting a body kit and a kick ass paint job. I was dumping at least 10,000 a year in upgrades into the car. It's currently got the 396 stroker with a D-1 procharger, 200 cc heads 52 mm TB, 48 Lb injectors, a 4L80 trans got an adapter. gauge cluster is all analog badass it's got a TPIS mini ram, custom chip and this year we will be burning our own chips. But the chip that's in it is insane, it's got hooker headers everything is forged. I could go on an on. I've beaten the best of the best. My mechanic became one of my closest friends in the long run. I kept his shop alive and he hooked me up along the way with a lot of extra stuff. Plus I got an education that I always wanted. It's so hard to cool my car, so now we are also doing a cowl hood. It's gonna be something to see.

[@villyrivera6856]

Letting a car sit that long is no es bueno ! Good video...

[@ReviveAndDrive-mk1]

Those reality shows with cars alot of them are fake they never shows like u show us the "annoying" problems that ends up :) keep fixing cars ur awesome

[@JB91710]

Great Real World video Ben! I had a TPI engine in a 1990 Trans Am and it was a Pain, Period! Couldn't wait to get rid of it. Of course, everything was fixed for the new owner. For the C3's and maybe the C4's, (Computer coordination?), I wonder if it would be better and cheaper to get a rebuilt or Crate Long Block and install a Holley four barrel fuel injection unit (Mileage over a carburator), with an electronic ignition. (No moving and wear parts.) With those cars, in my opinion, they will never be collector cars except for the 68-72, the 78 and the 96, so that might work to avoid headaches, maintenance, future problems, etc.

[@vettekid3326]

That '85 looked more like a $500.00 parts car when you started. What disturbed me was all the rust in the fuel cell. Did it still have the rubber liner still in the tank? My old 1985 C4 had a lot of the same problems when I first got it. Replaced all the injectors with Bosh 30lb ones. all new delco wires and AC plugs and ended up with a remanufactured distributor, mass air flow sensor and idle air flow valve. Checked it like you did and had #1 dead. swapped the plugs and still the same thing but now I had two dead cylinders. Come to find out I had a bad new plug wire on #1 & a bad AC plug also after that it ran great until the fuel pump went bad. Also I used those Felpro valve cover gaskets because they work so much better than cork or plain rubber ones plus their reusable. Something I found is great for diagnosing C4 problems is TunerPro RT software for your laptop. It gives you all kind of info on your engine both real time & stored codes and on later C4's it also displays the anti lock brake status.

[@davidhollis1117]

Your reality TV is reality.

[@markfay1957]

very good video

[@GETUPANDGO]

Great video and project documentation, too bad that the owner is deciding to move on--but that is definitely how it often goes, especially when a car's been left out in a field for X number of years. I see many awesome old cars rotting away in fields in my area, and it always makes me sad.

[@mauroarantes9407]

Very good thanks

[@whataboutbob9326]

Very well said , keep em coming :)

[@CARSON441]

Think of the number of corvettes that are sitting in storage,unused. I had a warehouse that 2 were stored in for years. One day I asked an owner,"Is owning a Corvette everything you hoped it would be?" As I remember he sold it soon after that.

[@Lloyd33]

Hi TheCorvetteBen! I subscribed to your channel and I've been watching a lot of your videos lately (I have a 1980 C3, myself). One thing stood out in this video @27:17 ; you sort of seemed to imply that one needs to remove ALL of the spark plugs in order to do a compression test on a single cylinder. This is not true. If you only needed to check the compression on.. say.. cylinder #8, you need only to remove that spark plug and screw in your pressure gauge. It may have just been the way you worded your sentence and you actually already knew this. Plus, since you were going to to be checking the compression on all 8 cylinders anyway, obviously you would just go ahead and remove them all to make life easier. I just wanted to clarify for any aspiring Corvette (or any other manufacturer) mechanics, that removing ALL of the spark plugs to check compression on just one cylinder is NOT necessary. =) Other than that, keep up the great work! And please come to Savannah, GA and replace all of my 'door guts'. My power windows and power door locks barely function at all (probably rusted)!!

[@MotorScotti]

Great video! What's gonna happen to this C4 now?

[@Highrider_Phil_C]

I have an '85 corvette, I'm very familiar with the snow ball effect, Started with the battery then the alternator, then I couldn't turn the key off, took apart the steering (7 times) replaced several parts still nothing, then I found that the button on the shifter was stuck down, must be all the way up, keys turns off now. The the alarm goes off and kills my engine (ATD) bypassed that with a button, a few days later it starts working again, if I use the door lock opening it with the key sets it off, I now lock it manually other than that the car runs great.

[@eddiebrown9590]

35 years old, like me falling apart... LOL

[@jonbledsoe7158]

You are awesome 😀

[@mjmcomputers]

Things like those freeze plugs are an example of a cheap item but tons of labor to get them all installed.

[@eddiebrown9590]

In some model cars in earlier times it was known practice to cut a hole in the firewall replace what we call welsh / freeze plugs and then plate the hole over again, much easier than a motor out job.. now days you do the lot with either SS or brass ones.

[@mrmrlee]

Getting an older car like this can be rewarding, but just anticipate dropping in a replacement new/rebuilt engine and tranny. If things go bad as they did here, have that expense already in the budget.

[@whoamI-in9jq]

I have a 84 c4 and have been trying to figure out where the thick yellow wire under the driver side kick panel.

[@kendrickhayes3007]

Hope yall continue the work on the c4. I would to see a LS engine swap on the C4

[@jly4517]

i picked up a 95 convertible cheap that had been sitting a year because the owner lost the keys. ended up having to replace the lock cylinder and buying 7 vats keys and got it running. then had to drive it 13 miles to put it away for the winter. a few things I found needed fixing and lots of cleaning to do but hopefully I luck out !

[@ralpheyboyboxing]

the last great era in quaility gm american corvette history 80s reaganomics