The Las Vegas Baked C4 build.

louis_white

louis_white

Well-known user
Hi all, firstly just want to say what an awesome group this is. Some top members who are always willing to help. It’s manage to give me the confidence I never thought I’d have to get stuck into my project!

So let me introduce you to my self and my project.
I’m Louis, grew up dreaming of one day owning a classic American muscle car. Many years ago I saw a dark red Metallic C4 parked up in a retail car park next to a newly released Audi R8 and the C4 stole the Audi’s thunder in every way, looks, sound and road presence! Right there and then I was decided, I had to have one! but with zero mechanical knowledge I’ve been putting off buying a classic for years, worrying about what I would be letting my self in for. But I had to scratch that itch!
Two weeks ago after watching a 1990 corvette for sale on EBay for the past 12 months, I jump right in the deep end and made the purchase. I bought my self the car, a Haynes manual, some basic tools to get me started and a full cccuk membership. Felling semi prepared!!!!
Then had plenty of sleepless nights watching YouTube videos to brush up my Knowledge but ended up scaring the crap out of my self that I was in way over my head!

30/10/20 The car was purchased and arrived 7/11/20, originally imported from Navada Las Vegas where it had been sat for quite some time baking in the sun, shipped over to a guy in Bristol who buys and sells imports. Sat in his storage for almost a year and I had eagerly been watching it for months.
It met the exact spec I was looking for in a C4, the colour I wanted, interior, and later model but with the older shape PERFECT! but and it was a big But! it was in more than a sorry state, it looked to big of a project for me a complete novice! But months passed and nothing was coming up in my price bracket and this old girl was sat on EBay feeling very sorry for her self and fate was telling me 'Buy her' so I decided to take the plunge!
When the car arrived, I was blown away by its beauty but scarred senseless by how big of a project this was actually going to be!
The exterior and interior were worse than expected, paint was horrendous, the plastics were all so brittle, if you looked at them the cracked! Filled with damp and desert sands, Mother Nature had threw everything she had at this old girl.
Despite my fear of being in over my head, I just thought to my self how amazing would it be to bring her back to life and her former glory!

So my journey begins....

The old girl don’t have a battery or any fluids in her, so I can’t even turn her over to see what surprises are hidden.
The seller did tell me she has a spark issue but shouldn’t take much to get her running!
Looking at her upon arrival the list of jobs was rapidly climbing.
so while I’m waiting on an order of a battery some fluids and filters, I thought I may as well get stuck in on cleaning her up and fixing the interior up the best I can.
So time to strip her out. Door cards seats and trim first.
 

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louis_white

louis_white

Well-known user
One of the first things I had to sort was the seats and door cards, they were battered.
Also removed an old 90’s phone and it huge antenna from rear window.8561

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Seats out, door cards off and the phone removed! Also removed glove box lid for repair, arm rest and most the interior bezels for painting in original colour to give a fresher look.
I’ve applied some spray foam filler the the cracks in the dash to do a repair job for now until I can get a new dash in the future.

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some cool finds under the seats...

spare set of keys, Some old fighter pilot pins. Possibly belonging to an SR-71 blackbird pilot, loads of US Change and another cool find a hand written agreement offering a payment $4700 for a 1976 corvette in part x for mine when new. Oddly £4700 was the asking price for my car too.
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louis_white

louis_white

Well-known user
Day two of owner ship, was all about fabric/leather dying the seats, painting some of the trim and a little more work on that cracked dash.
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End result.... Not bad what some dye and sharpie can do ay!
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Colour matched the interior trim the best I could and gave a fresh Nick of paint.
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fitted back in the car along with a new gear gaiter.
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It was now time to cut away the excess spray foam from dash ready to bondo fill sand and paint in a few days time.
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louis_white

louis_white

Well-known user
johng said:
Louis, looking forward to seeing this thread progress. I probably wouldn't normally watch a C4 thread, but I really like your imaginative approach to fixing things.
Click to expand...
Thanks John, that’s so nice to hear.
If I can fix something instead of replacing it I will. The door cards have had a fair bit of work to them to save but they’re getting there. I’ll upload a post on this thread with them once they’re complete and installed. Just waiting on the window felt for them 😁👍
 
kentvette

kentvette

CCCUK Member
Like John, I don't normally spend to much time in the C4 section, but this is proving to be an interesting thread and I like the fix rather than replace mentality. Keep it up!
 
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Coffeeboy

Well-known user
Louis the no spark may just be that there is no oil in it ! Think I’m correct in saying it needs oil pressure to energise the spark
Awesome work too it is coming on leaps and bounds it doesn’t look like the car I sat in now roll on the summer and we can get these 2 parked up next to each other once more
 
louis_white

louis_white

Well-known user
Coffeeboy said:
Louis the no spark may just be that there is no oil in it ! Think I’m correct in saying it needs oil pressure to energise the spark
Awesome work too it is coming on leaps and bounds it doesn’t look like the car I sat in now roll on the summer and we can get these 2 parked up next to each other once more
Click to expand...
I hope so wouldn’t that be a great easy fix.
As for that photo shoot meet up, Looking forward to it, will be a legendary moment 😁👍
 
louis_white

louis_white

Well-known user
Just some small progress done so far this week. It’s hard getting stuck in with all the kids at home and spending most my time with them. But I did set my self two missions. Mission 1 - Remove the awful purple window tint and sun visor.

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Luckily the sun visor and the door windows came off a treat with some heat and Stanley blade....8651

still working on the rear which is proving a lot more difficult, but the rest is looking much cleaner already...8652

Mission 2 - refresh the Tune Port Injection logo.
not 100% perfect, will need another coat or two of white but I have high hopes the end result will be spot on.....

before...
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After....
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Coffeeboy

Well-known user
That rear hatch is a cow !! Did side windows fine but the rear !!!
I took it off in the end laid it upside down and put towels in and soaked it in thinners nothing in 2 days ended up with paint stripper and a Stanley blade !! Still bits on it but I got the log book through and wanted to drive it ! So it’s got forgotten about now lol
 
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