davidfarmer

I still don't see how it would be humanly possible to service a damaged heater core in these cars... This is my third strip down, and I still resorted to the reciprocal saw and a crowbar to get the HVAC componenets out of the dash!

If all goes well, I'll have a cage going in this weekend. Sorry for the crappy photo....from my telephone...think it must be in "mosaic" mode.

xsiveone

Which car is this?

davidfarmer

97' coupe, for NASA ST2

vms4evr

David. When you get it all gutted out and cut to do the roll cage install. Could you take some pictures of the areas that a 4-point roll bar need to be mounted against?

As in the question you posed in another thread about 4-points. I've looked at a lot of them offered by various vendors. Most sell them as "Chassis Stiffeners" because they won't stand behind their product and call them a "Roll Bar". And I honestly wouldn't trust most of them or believe they would pass a thorough SCCA inspection. From reading numerous threads on here it seems that there is really only a couple of ways to mount a 4-point and truly expect it to save your head in a rollover. I really want to see those locations in a picture, like up close and personal

I've got all the pictures from the "Naked Vette" ones and still can't quite visualize how this thing bolts/welds in and is secure.

Thanks if you can. Graham

RAFTRACER

I know of a car with a Pheonix built cage with dash crossbar that we had to service the heater core. Removed the whole box as one piece....It wasn't easy....You have to hold your tongue just right, make sure the kids are no where near and cus your head off at the GM engineers that designed that crap......................

Falcon

Holy Smoke! You didn't waste anytime, did you?

You'll have that thing done in no time!

I'm going to start on the carpet in mine this weekend. I just don't have near the energy you have, so it could take until the 4th of July before I finish.

Cobra4B

Very nice... so you removed all the A/C and heating junk. This is why I'd like a track only beater. Oh well one day.

Cobra4B

When you remove the header core and AC etc what do you use to remove and/or plug the coolant lines etc.?

davidfarmer

I cut the coolant lines between the water pump and resevoir, so I had already bypassed the heater core. I just cut the AC lines, and let the R134A deplete the ozone...oh no, that was R-12...

I actually ALMOST went with Autopowers kit. Here is a link to their C6 Z06 kit. I was going to use it, and think their 4-pt kit would be as good as can be, but the front bars don't go through the dash. Unlike their C6 kit (shown at the link), the C5 kit stops in front of the dash, which I don't like.

http://www.ioportracing.com/rbc/05CorvetteZ06/index.htm

I am basically doing my main hoop just like this....3/16 angle iron as a base, but i'm welding mine to the floor and rear bulkhead, and likely putting a few bolts in for extra protection too.

Jody, took a total of about 3.5hrs to get this far. You need to take your seats out, then EVERY piece of carpet just pulls out. Using an impace wrench, you can have OEM seats out in about 1 minute. If you can get that rear brace apart, your seat will come out pretty easily also.

davidfarmer

hey, btw, I've gotten a bunch of messages about doing cages. If this goes well, I'll be happy to consider doing them for others. If anybody wants and autopower or Kirk installed, I'm happy to do that anyway. You'll have to put your interior back in, however, as some of you guys are too pickey for me.....

Falcon

Yea, I already removed the passenger seat and taking out the driver's seat won't be a big deal, just getting started is the hardest part. I'm going to replace those rear seat brace carriage bolts with screws so it'll be easier to remove them in the future.

Where can I buy some heat shielding to knock off the heat from the transmission tunnel on the side of my leg once the carpet is removed? I know the carpet has some heat insulation benefit.

davidfarmer

Jody,while I can't promise we'll get to it by Atlanta, hold off on the insulation. When we do your exhaust, I'll pull the heat shield and put some insulation around the tunnel UNDER the car. It will be more effective that way. However, if you want, DEI products from jegs/summit work great. They make self-adhisive products with a metallic/reflectiv coating. Basically, stick/shiny header wrap.

Got lucky today, both kids napping at the same time, so I had another 45minute to work. There is actually about 6" of steel under the rear of the wooden floor. Basically it connects the rear seat mounts to the rear bulkhead. I cut out the floor, as you can see, and will recess the 3/16" angle down into the floor. This way, I can weld the angle all the way around, to the floor, the rear bulkhead, and the side of the frame.

tcmc5

Here're a couple:

http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/long66.htm

I used the ceramic fiber type, cut it to fit, taped the edges, then used a high-temp contact cement to glue it in. Worked great.

davidfarmer

Jody, this is what I had in mind. It will work fine inside of the car, but having the reflective part pointed toward the heat source is better, I think.

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...0002_750869_-1

RAFTRACER

I have just been using hot water heater insulation which is aluminum/aluminum with bubble wrap in the middle........works great been in the car for almost a year and many,many miles.

Readily available at your local hardware store............

emf

(to original comment) It's a pain and time consuming , but its not too tough. The service manual has the key: "Remove intake manifold."

Done 2 so far, salvaged everything from both.
. . . . I'm not planning on doing a 3rd.

davidfarmer

I figured accessing the fire wall was key. I removed the cowl cover, but no accesss there.

xsiveone

I thought that automakers had made the switch to R-134a by '97?

davidfarmer

it was a joke.....R12 was supposed to deplete the ozone, R134 safer...

That was their excuse for getting R12 pulled from the market...also happened to be the same time their pattent expired.

NOW they say R134 is just as bad, AND the early years (93' I think) it was EXPLOSIVE and didn't work!

emf

Yeah . . . I did the same thing the 1st time. Intake manifold has to come off if the motor's still in the car, and even then . . . it's a pain.
2nd one, the motor wasn't in the car . . . much easier.

Regardless, I wouldn't wish a replacement on anyone -- book time would probably be insane, and the whole dash wouldn't be the same afterwards. (IMO)


The 2nd time, I made sure to have a whole bunch of towels on standby, too . . . . . . gee, that would have been handy the 1st time around.