Beggers

Thanks for the comments guys. The inside hood was finished purely for aesthetics, I wanted the inside of the engine compartment to be as beautiful as the outside. There is plenty of clearance from the top of the engine to the bottom of the hood. The belt drive accessory system is Vintage Air's Front Runner System, very dependable and compact.
Back to the hood; one of the things we have been playing with is grabbing cold air for the intake from in front of the radiator, its very difficult to do with a C2 as there is little room, we have played with a number of ideas and this ones still not the solution but we are getting closer. I hope to have this solved in the coming weeks, Brian:

rtruman

what about a fuelie rad support

Beggers

Thanks Rtruman, That would be one way I did consider, it certainly would be easier, but I would rather go over the top of the radiator more like the C7, I have only seen two other C2s that have managed it, both used fabbed hood hinge set ups that lifted the hood as it opened. That's what we are playing with now. Brian

MOXIE62

Did not realize the work that goes into one of these cars.

Beggers

Good progress this week, the rear wheels tubs and floor are now installed:

Today I enjoyed finshing up cutting, bending and flaring the stainless brake lines. Fitted now before taking it all back apart today for more sanding:



Brian

Beggers

The lines are now super straight:

Good progress on the body, now in its first coat of primer, that's a milestone for me, straightened and smooth, ready for some more blocking and sanding, my plan is to have it in color for Christmas.




More tweaks on the inside of the hood were needed to gain enough clearance for an over the top of the radiator air intake, this not only looks cool but gives plenty of room now, using both the stock hood hinges and the small block radiator support.



Here is a ruffed in view of a prototype air cleaner from a C6, still some work to do but almost there. Brian

Beggers

More progress ruffing it in this weekend, first, with the Tremec and C7 chassis combined with the Dynotech new large drive-shaft, we had to relieve the tunnel about a half inch, the shaft did not touch the original however with a couple of larger folks I could anticipate it hitting. Steve made up this to open it up a half inch:


Here it is installed:

I ordered Allen's Stainless 3" side pipes for this car, the pipes are aluminized with polished stainless tips. I am told these are quite a bit quieter with more insulation crammed in them than the 2.5" pipes, they are said to have a great sound, we will see.
After much fab work, making the hangers to fit the SRIII, flanging the pipes, setting up the 02 sensor bungs, and connecting them to the LS3, I completed the set up and am now ready to hang the covers once the paint goes on. I used fiberglass covers for fitting, but I will use the original aluminum style for the finished product.













Next, I have to reconfigure the console for the Tremec and shifter as the ruff-in for the interior comes together, thanks for checking in, Brian.

Beggers

Final primer going on the body today, excited to hit another milestone, this should be good:








My wheels arrived yesterday as well, rubber should be here within the next week. Looking forward to bolting them on and confirming the fit. With the C7 chassis, I figured had to go with the C7 wheels to maintain the theme, although the centers will have C2 flags to maintain the spirit. Brian

tbarb

Brian,

That is going to be a neat car, thanks for posting pics. I am amazed at the quality of workmanship going into this.

hedgehead

In color for Christmas. Great build. Did I miss it or have you decided on a color?

Probie

Great Progress .... looking good.
If you don't mind me asking ... what size (front and rear) are those new C7 wheels that you will be running and what tires to you plan to put on them. Will they be the same as the mockup wheels from your C7? Looking forward to hearing how they fit.
Thanks



My wheels arrived yesterday as well, rubber should be here within the next week. Looking forward to bolting them on and confirming the fit. With the C7 chassis, I figured had to go with the C7 wheels to maintain the theme, although the centers will have C2 flags to maintain the spirit. Brian

Westlotorn

That is a really nice project. It is going to be a great car. What a great find and to the right guy.

Beggers

Thanks guys for the feedback, it keeps me motivated.
The color is going to be Torch Red, it's not that I am not imaginative, I just love torch red vettes.
The Wheels are 20x10 in the rear with 19s in the front, stock C7 Z51 GM specifications. The tires I am planing to use are Goodyear Eagles, 285/35/20 in the rear and 245/30/19 in the front. The rears have a 11.22" section width and fit well, I went with the 35mm sidewall to help fill in the wheel wheel, the stock Z51 is 30mm. The chassis was engineered for performance by smarter guys than me using this combination so I am very excited to feel it out.
Thanks again for weighing in, Brian

SJW

This is going to be one awesome machine when it's done. Thanks for doing this thread. It's been fascinating to be a fly on the wall, so to speak. Great work!

Live well,

SJW

Beggers

Not wanting to shell out the $1500 for new sidepipe covers, yesterday I pulled off a set from a 66 project car that is still a year away from getting my attention. They were ruff, pitted and scratched from road debris and oxidized beyond what would be acceptable for most of us. I thought I would give a shot at trying to restore them. Here is what I started with today:





I started by sanding with 80 grit at the worst spots, the covers are anodized so the entire
cover had to be sanded down through the anodized surface to be able to polish and restore the finish. I continued to sand finer, 220, 320, 400, until 600 when the cover was ready for the polisher. Here is a photo after sanding down to 600 and before the polisher:



after the first pass with the polisher the ribs looked like this, they needed more time on the wheel:



Once I was done polishing I taped off the new surface and prepped the surface for paint:


I used Krylon high heat aluminum and it was a perfect match, am very pleased with the results, the covers look like new. A ton of labor, but worth it over all. Brian

rtruman

Wow I bought new ones for my 67 and after 90 days they started to deteriorate and didn't hold you did the right thing much better quality and they will hold up a lot better you can get plastic covers for the front part.

MarkC

I would strongly suggest another tire over the Goodyear. The Goodyear Eagles came on the C6 Z06 and while they performed well for a few thousand miles, they became dangerous after 5 to 6 thousand miles. Mine were completely shot at 10,000. I recommend Michelin Super Sports or the PS2's. Do a search in the C6 Z06 forum under Goodyear and you will fine plenty of opinions.

BTW, I installed the PS2's on my Z06 3 1/2 years ago and have close to 20,000 miles on them. They are still performing very well and look like new. I love your build and that torch red is going to be a knock out.

Beggers

Thanks Mark,
I didn't know that about the Goodyear's, they are very soft sticky tires, probably why they wear so fast.

A bit more progress, I fabbed up an insert for my console so that my relocated shifter wouldn't look so out of place.The standard 5 speed Tremec puts the shifter location about 2" to the right of the original hole near the center of the console. I cut up some 3/16th aluminum plate to fit the hole, scribed it to resemble the original and began the mock up process with some Kalahari leather I am using in the interior for the boot. Every day I get a bit closer, Brian

Beggers

More progress to report as we move toward finish paint this week. My interior guy completed the seats last week, finished in top grain Kalahari GM C7 leather:


Tires and wheels fitted, final primer is on and ready for final sanding:






All of my rear window inside trim was rusted deeply, after sand blasting I had to skim coat it all to sooth it off before I can use it again, a lot easier than paying $1800 for a used set, if I could find one:
Before:



AFTER:



Polished and painted my sidepipe trim pieces as well:



Engine compartment covers to keep everything neat and clean are ready for paint:


Next post will be in color, Brian

MidShark

Wow, things are really taking shape, Brian! Great job on the sidepipes. Love the seats, too! I'm going to go stock/original when I eventually start on my car, but I like living vicariously through your build.