its my girlfriends vette, been sitting in front of my house for 4 years. i dont know how long it was sitting in front of hers. ( i think she purchased it in 81. i remember putting an alarm in it way back then.) she was busy raising her kids and tooling around in an aerostar, luckily that thing died. the first two things i need to do is find out why the battery gets drained after sitting for only 2 days. we have wasted a few batteries. the second thing is when you shift frow drive to reverse there is a loud thunk in the rear. any ideas about that? 3rd , where can i find a really good manuel on this car so that im not running blind.

 

Welcome to the Corvette forum. The clunk could be U-joints or rear end gears. Battery rundown could be a lot of things. Need to monitor the current while you pull each fuse to see which circuit is draining the battery. You can get a Corvette Service Manual here: http://www.helminc.com

Should also get an Assembly Instruction Manual. Several aftermarket Corvette supply houses sell them. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress or any questions.

 

thanx for the reply, ill get a manuel and get started.

 

try e-bay for the service manual, I got mine there for 40 bucks. The thunk could also be worn differential cushions. I switched out all 6 u-joints and it didn't help then replaced the differential cushions ( alot easier also) and it fixed the problem. I spent about 3 batteries and 3 months looking for a short/ground and finally discoverd that it was the starter after I replaced it. Also, check the swithc that controls the under hood light. Mine had been cut off and was grounding my lights out. Good luck on that one.

 

thanx, i just got a manuel off ebay for 9 bucks shipped. when it arrives ill look at the diff cushions, then ill try and figure the electrical.

 

Your on the right track now.
Good call R6R check those cushions.
73shark is 100% correct, all I can add is to disconnect 1 lead from a freshly charged battery and connect 1 lead from an ohm meter to that and connect the other lead from the ohm meter directly to the battery. Start pulling fuses, when the meter goes to zero, that is the circuit that has the problem.
I'm not sure if your 77 has a timed courtesy light, if it does disconnect that, it's a small box behind the glove box, and take the clock fuse out first.
PG.

 

I also had some loose wires in the engine compartment on the passenger side that were also draining the battery. Check all the connections in the engine compartment over by the passenger side right up by the fire wall. The red one going down to the starter caused me some issues and had to put in a new wire.

 

thanx guys, all this info is very helpful. ive worked on cars all my life, but i know nothing about this vette.
itll sure be nice when my girl can start taking this thing to work a couple days a week.

 

Hope it was a Chev. Corvette Service Manual and not a Chiltons or Haynes. Another helpful item to get is an Assembly Instruction Manual (AIM). Good luck w/ your girl's car.

 

I think pg meant ammeter,NOT ohmmeter!
Ron