gearheaddroppings

Well,

Last weekend we finally got the straps afixed, the final body bolts out, and the necessary weather to perform the body drop on the 1970.

For the most part the process went fairly smooth. I was nervous, to say the least, since I strapped the body to the ceiling of my garage and lowered the chassis on my four post lift.

Here are some images.



The body supported by jackstands. The new chassis is parked below for storage.


Inside the engine compartment. The red strap was used to support the nose of the car during the chassis drop.


I re-enforced two of my garage ceiling joists with around 15 2x4's. They were interconnected in an x-pattern. I then used two 8-foot chains and wrapped them around the joists before dropping them through.


The rear of the old chassis. The lower sections below the kick-ups are starting to rot pretty bad and the DS trailing arm is rusted through. The fuel tank is also shot even though it looks decent (repainted around 10 years ago).


The front of the chassis is fine. Engine and transmission need nothing other than a nice cleaning.


Can you believe it? Some of the original masking tape is still present on some of the shims. I didn't think I would find anything like this.


Unsure of the condition of the rocker channels, I ran the straps under the body. It turns out that the rocker channels are fine and just need a good wire brushing.


The rear body reinforcement mounts were shot and came off in pieces. The paint on the car is driver quality and is not getting redone. I want to keep the car as a nice driver.


Another shot of the front of the chassis. Fuel and brake lines were replaced by Bubba sometime in the past. I also found original stickers on the front springs.

Thanks to my buddy Carl Braun and neigbor John Socks for help. It was quite an experience.

Tom

81vette

Ahh...brings back wonderful memories!

steves_77vette

Keep up the good work! I am on the up side slope of my restoration and it can get pretty frustrating there while you pull the thing apart. Felt like an eternity as I kept taking stuff off before I made POSITIVE progress and started the actual restoration part. Stay focused on the goal and small steps along the way!

stpman

Good Work glad to hear your rockers are ok

Stp

JoeC427

cosmicvette

Thanks for the photos I love seeing shots like that. Keep them coming!

Do you have shots of the new chassis?

cosmicvette

Bangkok Dean

I also would like to see pictures of the new setup.

RATT7

Great pictures - Keep us updated

gearheaddroppings

Enclosed are some images of the new chassis.

It still needs some detailing work before I transfer the drivetrain. It needs paint touch-up and some other items, but for the most part it is rebuilt and complete. It is from another 1970.

The fuel tank from the images is wrong (I have the correct one) and everything needs to be torqued and greased correctly.

I'm hoping to have everything re-assembled for the Woodward Cruise in August.






Tom

steves_77vette

Dad gum, if it wasn't in your garage and I can still see my chassis in my garage I'd swear that was mine! Same color shaft, diff, front end, amazing! But I guess that's the point of a restoration.

http://77vette.blogspot.com/

68/70Vette

Gearheadroppings:

I looked at the gas line, where it runs over the rear wheel arch. In the "old" photo, the gas line seems to run from the top of the frame rail to the bottom of the frame rail, about where the rear axle is;i.e. the line seems to change from running on top of the frame to the bottom at this point. In the "new" photo the gas line runs on the top of the frame rail all the way down to the triangulat pocket where the half shaft bolts in. Did you change gas lines. You have a 1973. I never saw the brake line configuration as shown in the "old" photo. The brake line configuration in the "new" photo looks like a 1968, 1969.

The reason I'm asking is that the brake line in the "old" photo looks like it could be replaced without taking the body off of the frame. Could you please comment??

Thanks

601P

Thank you for sharing...
very cool

I'm in Chesterfield Mi just about a mile north of Selfridge ANGB

redwingvette

Great looking pics. Brings back memories for me too: Body-off

74 vert

Nice pics. Nice 68-69 442 too.

gearheaddroppings

You are looking a two different chassis. The old chassis (photos at top) had the brake and fuel lines replaced around 20 years ago. These were done with joints by the previous owner.

The new chassis (lower photos) has new brake and fuel lines. I believe that this is the correct configuration for a 1970 non-LT1 car (with vapor return line).

tzeller

Nice Job! Thanks for sharing the pics.

barkingowl

You're doing a great job!

1980 454

thanks redwing vette you helped me out with mine not even knowing it.

gearheaddroppings

Thanks Redwing Vette.