kwkenuf

Good looking engine David... Those valve covers are too cool! Couple of questions for you. What type of throttle cable is that, stock? What are you going to do with your intake plumbing?
To answer your question on PCM location I'm thinking either drivers side splash shield or behind the drivers side kick panel.. If I get real ambitious I suppose I could relocate it to the trunk where there's lots of room... but that's a whole lot of wires to splice and extend....

david srour

Thanks! The throttle cable is a stock Camaro Z28 one covered w/ nylon split loom wire cover. My intake plumbing is a 90degree elbow to the right w/ a cone filter. I was thinking about trying to take it through to in front of radiator. I relocated PCM to right behind battery on the floorboard upright surface.. Fits pretty well and should be protected from elements w/ splash panel. I thought about behind pass side kick panel, but have speakers mounted in them and was wondering if magnet would affect pcm.

blandacre

I see you have a Billy Dawson frame. You are gonna LOVE the way that thing drives.
Mine (62) sat a little higher in the front than I liked with a stock
87 spring and 215x15s in the front and 225x15s
in the rear so Billy trimmed the front spring a little for me.
Bud Landacre

kwkenuf

Mine still looks like a 60's era gasser also..... My spring has already been trimmed so I'll wait until I'm finished with everthing installed and at final weight. I still have basically just a shell. I expect it will settle some more... What I need to get is some stock rear spring bolts. The rear suspension I got had a lowering kit in it already and it looks like it will be too low once the car is loaded.

david srour

I got a custom spring from Vette Brakes and the wedges, its still maybe a a bit too high, but it definitely settled after a month or so of driving. Billy told me he takes the stock spring and trims off a quarter inch w a table saw.

firstgear

we will be out your way during thanksgiving.....staying for a few nights.....perhaps we can get together and see your car?

let me know if you would be up for visitors....

regards, Herb

Stan's Customs

Andy....

I've been admiring Billy's frame for a couple of years. In fact nearly bought one last year...but decided to hold off a little longer....
.....the only thing I'm not familar with on Billy's frame is the possible routes for the exaust. I guess the only pics I have seen are of cbernhardt's frame with side exhaust and spiral baffels. Is that what you plan on doing or is there room to go over/ under the rear suspension to the rear of the frame/car?

.....Stan M.

mcgirr455

Do you still have the old frame ? I'm looking for one to repair mine I need from the rear kickup on the RT side to the very rear crossmember. David

kwkenuf

Actually there is plenty of room to run the exhaust over the half shafts close to the center section. Billy also sells custom bent exhaust specifically for his frames. The reason there is room in his conversions vs. a lot of the others is that he modifies the "batwing" by removing a great deal of material leaving room for the exhaust. I'll most likely get my exhaust bent up locally to save on freight.. But everything here in Vegas gets real expensive when I mention 61 Corvette..... funny how that works...... Maybe I'll just bring the rolling chassis in and tell them it's from a Studebaker or something.....
Here's the exhaust pic of one of the Corvettes at Billy's shop. Not run all the way out the back but it does go over the half shafts.

kwkenuf

So I figured I'd update this thread...... I have now qualified for the maximum discounts at Corvette Central, Paragon and Zip..... Boxes have been arriving almost daily for the last couple of weeks (at work) and the guys in the mail room and the warehouse are starting to look at me funny... I've got a couple of extended backorder issues at Corvette Central but pretty much everything else is here or on the way....
To update, I started with an Ebay "project" that was basically stripped of all it's trim, interior, chrome, etc...... Just a shell really.
I am doing preassembly and needed to have all the parts to mock up so I can plan out, then accomplish my final bodywork the next time the body comes off. The good thing about these cars is parts availability.. The bad thing is cost...... That has probably been the major determining factor in the length of this project..... trying hard to not incur any debt before I finish.
Next step is to mock up all exterior trim and bumpers to ensure everything lines up..... pictures as I progress......

aupaul

Is the strain very bad on the body the way you picked her up? It looks scary to me. I have the same type lift. And I want to remove the bodie on my 62. I think my seatbelt holes would not work. I want to look the frame over. There are a couple repairs that I can see. The resto Mod new frame my be in my future.

kwkenuf

Writers have been on strike I guess, so no progress on my 61 "Lost" resto mod project in a while. (see post #28)

Spent the day modifying the front bumper brackets to match up with the frame tabs provided on the Corvette Corrections frame and bead blasting them to get ready for black powder coat.... issues with my bead blaster so I didn't finish today.
The body on this car is much worse than it appears on pictures.... I've been busy trying to fit chrome before final body work and have found a few things. Upper and lower grille areas are a bit wavy as well as a couple of the cove surrounds and the parking lights have a 1/2" gap on the lower side..... which begs the question.... When the parking lights are correctly installed are the screws holding the glass lens completely horizontal? Mine are not and I suspect that is part of my fitment problem..

kwkenuf

Rather than start a new thread I'll keep my ramblings on my on again, off again project in one place....
Started some of the fiberglass work for the conversion. Did the top side of the trunk opening, and the interior firewall where the tub splits. I intend to smooth out the engine side of the firewall and I'm starting by reinforcing the interior side before I cut the joint on the engine side. I'm working on positioning a fiberglass mount for the hydraulic clutch cylinder and I've also got to work on the tunnel to accommodate the relocated shifter.
Here's the cutout for the rear suspension



And here is my rough work to box it in



To be followed by some duraglass filler etc. I'll reinforce the bottom side the next time the body comes off...

New project completion goal date: August 09.... hopefully ready for Hot August nights in Reno...

Stan's Customs

Just curious how things are going Andy..

Haven't head from you in a while.

Stan

kwkenuf

Thanks for checking in on me Stan..... No real progress on my car... I have purchased a lot more parts though! Work and life keeps getting in the way.... I'm hoping to get some quality time in the garage soon... I will post here when I do....

Stan's Customs

Roger that ...look forward to it..

Stan..

Black$heep

Stan's Customs

Stan...

kwkenuf

Just a little work on the car this weekend...

Got the rear bumper support bracket (the long one) slid into place..... push it some, bend it a little, push it some, bend it a little, etc., etc. Not as difficult as I thought it would be, but it did not install itself... Then I mocked up the rest of the rear bumper brackets with only a couple of small complications.... Moved on to tranny work.....

I'm running a t-56 6 speed trans from a 2002 Camaro in my car and the t-56 does not have a provision for driving a mechanical speedo. . The options are:
Modify speedo to convert to electric drive... Best looking, least hassle but uber $$$$
Add a "Cable X" box to translate VSS output into mechanical speedo drive... $$ Lots of folks use the cable x box but I've heard varying reports of reliability issues and jumpy speed indications....
And the last option which I chose, is to add a speedo drive gear to the trans tailshaft.,, $ This involves removing the tailshaft extension housing and sending it off to have it machined for the speedo drive.

There's a guy on the third gen F-body forum that does the job for a bit less than the commerical outfits. So I pulled the housing and boxed it up for the UPS guy to pick up Monday....

Stan's Customs

Allrightey then Andy...

Glad to see your making some headway. I just dug my rear bumper brackets out a few days ago to contemplate the best way to put them on Billy's frame...body on of body off. Which way is best?

Looks like you'll have yours going before long now...Congrats on some progress, keep it up..

Stan...