garym52

Hi guys,

1st post here, and glad I found you! I'm just about to begin disassembling my 79 and was wondering do I need to remove the engine before the body??? It seems like it would be much less effort if the body can/will come off with the engine in place. I've bought the assembly manual and a couple of other books, but can't seem to decide which is the correct thing to do. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Also, any advice for the novice, just beginning this process, would be great.

Thanks,
Gary

bryanpl123

It can be lifted either way. I left the engine in, but be very careful that the body doesn't tilt to far forward pressing the firewall against the distributor! Make sure you have a few extra hands around the help take the weight of the nose until you have it on your dolly and to help guide around and look for extra electrical grounds you may have missed (there is always one lol)

Here is the first two weeks of my project w/ pics
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...-vacation.html

Good luck!

eastltd

Yes, leave the engine in place when you remove the body. Once the body is off, you can deal with the engine and transmission.

Make sure you bag and tag everything you remove. If you can, photograph an item before you remove it and place a copy of the pic in the parts bag for reference later.

garym52

thanks guys! You've helped me make my first decision, I appreciate it.

Gary

GD70

also plan to spend a lot more than you think! There will be lots of surprises along the way. Have fun! Also post pics along the way. This will become invaluable to others down the road. Each year has it's own unique issues.
Glenn

killain

And if you have a poleroid camera or a nice digital, photograph every ting you take off or move and BUY LOTS of clear plastic zip lock bags and a felt tip marker. I promise you, Your gonna need them. I went through five just doing my interior restoration. Carpets, console, dash if your lucky can be left in. My car sat in a old shed in New jersey for 15 years before I bought it.

The inside needed some long over due seat rebuilding, and at the time, I took out the dash in front of the driver, speedo and all the gauges. And I bought a quartz conversion kit for the clock, it sounds a lot harder to do than it reall is. Take your time, if your doing a job and your getting a headache, stop and shut the door till your refreshed. I don't know to what degree your restoring or rebuilding, NCRS or something different. If your doing a NCRS restoring, take your time and get a judging manual. good luck, My 1979 won a second flight award in 2003 which I though was pretty good considering what I started with.

spedaleden

This is how the factory did it.

pauldana

Powder coat everything...... find a good powder coat shop...... paint sucks when compared to how well powder coat holds up......

eastltd

If you are into DIY and can paint parts properly (with a gun, not a spray bomb), they will hold up just fine.

Powder coat shops are not all that plentiful up north and charge well. Farming all your parts out to a shop really adds cost to your restoration.

Alan 71

Hi Gary,
After bagging and tagging EVERTHING, including fasteners, have plastic boxes of various sizes from shoe box size to tub size to put parts that are too big for bags into, and to put parts from various areas into, to keep them together. Example... Front suspension fasteners and small parts, bumper fasteners, interior dash parts, etc.
I also learned to keep left side parts and right side parts seperate. It's much easier when you start to reassemble to know left from right.
There will be more than a zillion parts and you need to be able to find them without driving yourself crazy. That will happen by itself.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

72LS1Vette

Don't let your wife see the receipts for the parts.



Rick B.

bryanpl123

I've racked up $6k so far on mine.. doing all the labor myself :-/ I still have interior and paint to go cost wise.. just cleaned and will paint engine and put it back in as is.. but the wife gave me while your at it permission... and it all started w/ body mounts

boatmark

Don't mean to highjack, but just looking at the factory photos and had an uh oh moment. I notice the bumpers are not attached during the body drop. I have fiberglass bumpers that are molded onto the car . . . the bumper bars in there, but I don't think the honeycomb. (its been over 25 years, i cannot remember) Will the body come off with the bumpers in place ? ? ? ? I REALLY don't want to have to cut the bumpers off, but was planning a body off rebuild.

garym52

Thanks again guys. I got the hood off today and removed the body mounts (left rear was stripped so I had to grind the head off the bolt, hope that doesn't turn into a major problem). In the morning, i plan on removing anything else connected to the body and lift it up. We'll see if I have enough time to get it done.

Thanks again for any advice that you might send my way.

Take care,
Gary

garym52

I'm actually in the sandblasting and painting business, specializing in oil and gas/chemical refining equipment, so I will be coating everything at the shop. It wont be as pretty as powder, but will definitely be more heavy duty performance wise. Thankfully, I also have a few different types of blast media that I can use, from plastic to steel, so hopefully I will be ahead of the game from that standpoint. Actually, the corrosion control portion of this restore is the only part of it that I feel confident about.

Take care,
Gary

texaswilkins

Lots of guys say take pictures. I'd like to add that you can't possibly take too many. I can't tell you how many times I've needed a shot just a little off of what I have. Another thing that works is to make a friend that has the same year so you can compare.

Bill

garym52

Anybody in the Houston area?

garym52

Ok...got the interior removed today, including the dash, but I couldn't get the speedometer/tach assembly out. I'm guessing i need to remove the speedo cable?? Also, where do I disconnect the shifter linkage from the transmission?

I'm going to upgrade my accounts so I can post pictures of my progress, and of course ask for opinions of what I'm looking at.

Thanks,
Gary

Grumpy 427

I have a thread going on this site from start to finish of a frame off rebuild of a 1980/ Took a bit less than 2 years to complete.

Grumpy 427

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...e-rebuild.html


Here you go. The car caused me to get in touch with many emotion's. there are several rants in this thread. lolol