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Just found this thread. I like it.
It's nice to see young guys interested in American Iron.
I have one question. Why a Corvette when it seems so many guys your age are into the tuner cars, rice grinders.
Just found this thread. I like it.
It's nice to see young guys interested in American Iron.
I have one question. Why a Corvette when it seems so many guys your age are into the tuner cars, rice grinders.
I never really have been into foreign cars, nor do I think I ever will be. My Dad works for Ford, but we always have had Chevy toys. It happens!
I never really have been into foreign cars, nor do I think I ever will be. My Dad works for Ford, but we always have had Chevy toys. It happens!
Good for you man. Please try to steer your buds in the right direction too, especially when you think they are getting ready to buy an import. You guys are our future.
Good for you man. Please try to steer your buds in the right direction too, especially when you think they are getting ready to buy an import. You guys are our future.
My brother has a 91' & 92' Camaro, and my buddy just bought an '89 Mustang
Since the weather has warmed up (in the 30s now!), I've been in the garage a bit more. Here's a small update...
First things first: the brakes. No leaks now... and we got the first go around of bleeding done. Dad wasn't too sure how to bleed the back calipers because there are two bleeders, but we think we figured it out. Just have to bleed again and we should be good to go in this area!
BUT as things start to go good... things go bad. Bad as in the passenger's window regulator . After CAREFULLY removing the glass (and scratching more tint of course), and basically gutting the entire window system (regulator, rails, etc.). I'm pretty sure that the regulator spring is the problem. If you follow me here for a second, the spring should be making contact between the regulator teeth and the gear teeth. Mine does not. It has too much play and therefore was skipping gears and possibly grinding some. Ordering a new spring and we'll see if that's the problem. I'm fairly sure it is because it is really the ONE thing that has not been replaced on the regulator and everything else checked out fine. I'm just really lucky that the regulator spring didn't unload with the glass on it, possibly destroying the glass.
Ok so those are basically what's been going on lately. I went to Autorama this weekend and took a lot of pictures. Not sure if I can link my business's website, but if you want to have a look here is the flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/131756135@N03/
Had a great time chatting with a Corvette restoration company (can't give the name because they are not a sponsor), but I gave them the link to my thread and I was really caught off guard that they wanted to see it. Made me proud that people want to see all the work (and procrastination) that has gone into this car. Aside from that I saw Chip Foose and chatted with Rob Dahm who is local to me in Monroe. Overall the show was great and I enjoyed taking all the pictures!
Looks like a great time at the show. Thanks for sharing the photos. Can't wait for the weather to clear, we are finally getting warmer weather here, near 50 most of this week compared to 20s and 30s last week. We have a local cruise night every other week that gets about 1800 vehicles per event.
Hope all your tests and college prep went well last week.
Looks like a great time at the show. Thanks for sharing the photos. Can't wait for the weather to clear, we are finally getting warmer weather here, near 50 most of this week compared to 20s and 30s last week. We have a local cruise night every other week that gets about 1800 vehicles per event.
Hope all your tests and college prep went well last week.
1800? That's crazy! Thanks for the follow up on the tests, I think they went over well. This weather is pretty nice
Good to meet you at the show Saturday , your thread is excellent, very nice progress, it's refreshing to see your interest and desire at your age.
We met at Steve's booth, my car is the red 56.
Keep up the great work,summer is just around the corner, Brian
Btw,first place in my class plus an "outstanding sport compact and cash!"
It was a fun weekend and great meeting you and your family!
1800? That's crazy! Thanks for the follow up on the tests, I think they went over well. This weather is pretty nice
Yea 1800 to a high of about 2200. It is the largest cruise I know of in New England. Great way to spend a Thursday night and once in a while you get to see a New England Patriot and their ride.
It's been about a week since I last updated so I figured it's time to let everyone in the loop!
Throughout the week we have been working on and off with the brake system. All new pads, lines, and a rebuilt caliper. The other 3 work great but just needed new pads. Along with the braking system we cleaned up and removed each rotor (and the rivets we removed), which turned out great. It took a while to figure out that they were actually riveted in... Google search helped to confirm that.
So with that said a majority of the work had been on the braking system. Tonight the car should be off the stands, re-bled, and have a solid foot pedal brake system. As for the emergency braking system... not so much. I don't believe the braided line is moving then the lever is pulled and to be honest I don't see myself ever using the emergency braking for 'fun'. Would probably prefer to just throw a cup holder in over the lever and call it a day.
Other things I've done this week include plas-x-ing the marker lights. They turned out pretty good although one had paint on it which I had to sand off and you can still see some of the paint along the edges of the marker. I don't want to sand down the edge any more - it looks fine. I prepped the edging of each marker for paint and plan on painting the edging/housing a semi-gloss black. The same paint that we used on the bumperettes in the front and back. Along with the marker lights I polished the front grill lenses too, they turned out alright. Will pay more attention to the grills themselves (they need to be re-painted in my opinion, very faded) sometime soon.
I also cleaned the license plate and back up lenses and replace the bulbs. They work which is a relief because it would be a pain to figure out a new lighting source to make the license plate visible at night! Lastly I removed the existing black paint from the back window trim and plan to repaint them with the matching semi-gloss black. Along with that trim I want to paint the front a-pillars, windshield trim, and t-top trim the same semi-gloss black as well.
I realized my goal of April 3rd was pretty outrageous and plan to have the car ready for Prom (April 18th) instead. Realize that with the brakes done the car is ready to DRIVE, but needs small cosmetic attention.
List of things to finish include:
Grills - Marker Lights - Trim (all around) - 4 brake light conversion - headlight vacuum (find and fix leak) - paint t-tops - paint mirrors - add final back interior plastic piece - figure out back speaker system - door panels - install passenger window + hardware - fix paint nicks - polish rims and purchase tires
It's a handful and I realize the car is far from perfect, but it truly is something to be proud of and I can say I did most of the work myself! Happy to see things finally taking shape.
Alright another week has gone by, and I have a pretty major update to everything!
First things first, I HAVE PICTURES! Finally pulled the car out and played around with the camera today. Those will be at the end of the post.
Ok so, I know I talked a lot about brakes. We had everything done and installed (new lines, bled, shoes, etc) and it turns out the rear passenger caliper has a pretty bad leak. So... we have to rebuild that of course. But, that's the last wrench in the braking system so hooray!
Next, with the brakes done I thought I needed to get onto working on the rims I picked up. Turns out I was on Craigslist yesterday and found a killer deal on four aluminum rims in great condition. No real rash, or scratches for that matter. The last polish they had was four years ago and the guy I bought them from said he purchased them at a GM dealer a while ago. Great deal, and those rims will be going on the car along with P255/60R15 tires.
Since the weather has warmed up we did a lot of body work to the ttops. Still have to sand the old paint edges away near the trim but that's alright.
Speaking of trim we installed the rear trim and plasti-dipped it black (easy to remove). The first go around didn't turn out too well, but it will be removed anyways. Along with the rear trim being black, we decied to black out all of the chrome/polished aluminum (besides the door handles and locks (because both plasti-dip and paint would have minimal longevity on both of those). I think it sounds like a great plan, and the chrome trim just didn't look right with the paint scheme we have going.
Gave the engine a little bit of attention. Something didn't seem right and it turned out to be four fouled plugs. Pulled all 8 out and replaced them with a slightly smaller gap (26A I believe). Still need to clean up the engine area but I'll get to that later. The choke on the carb is not working, but we will fix that soon. Engine starts turn key and sounds great if you open the choke up when starting.
Along with that stuff I plan on getting a new spring for the driver's window. I really don't want to pull it out... but it's too slow. I realized after replacing the passenger's spring that it does the trick, so I'll be fixing the driver's side soon.
----------OK SO THE MAJOR NEWS----------
I talked to my Dad about the "deadline" I had set (Prom, April 18th) and we realized that it just wouldn't happen. My Dad made me a deal that if he got my brother's Camaro painted and ready for prom that we would re-spray my entire car, clean the engine bay, and basically have it be a 'show car' instead of just a 'prom ready' condition. With that said, he told me we will show it at Detroit Autorama 2016 without a doubt. He wasn't happy with how the paint laid the first time, and I put way too many nicks in the paint while putting the interior in. We also have an oil leak in the engine. It could be an easy fix, or it could not be. But regardless the odds were against the 'deadline' I had set and now we have a new one... June 1st.
The bodywork this time will be very minimal. The bondo on the door cracked because of the weather - which is going from 60 and sunny to 15 and snowing within a day - and that set us over the edge with the paint. We hadn't even taken the car on the road yet and the bondo cracked.
I know I missed a few things here and there, but I am really happy with this new goal (who couldn't be?). I have no complaints and am looking forward to June 1st! Ok now for pictures
You say the bondo cracked on the door. Can you post a picture and list what was done and used? Car is looking good.
I will sometime this week, school is picking back up and haven't had too much time in the garage. It's a small crack, and it's not super noticeable. But it isn't the sole reason to re-paint. The paint itself just didn't lay right on the body. The stripe completely fish-eyed all down the body. There was water or something in the gun and there's a few bad runs. Plus the numerous nicks I've put in while getting the interior in. It looks like 5 year old paint and it was just sprayed last September. I'll have a pic of the crack sometime this week.
Sorry for the extreme lack of updates throughout the past month. Things have really picked up with college and the semester is ending tomorrow. As a heads up I will be on a study abroad trip to Europe during most of May... so no updates then either.
On the flip side we are re-prepping the car for paint, and possibly pulling the engine to clean up and paint the engine bay. We picked up four nice 80-82 Wheels and just mounted up the new P255/60R15 BF Goodrich tires... they look awesome. Changes the whole look of the car compared to the rollers that I've been use to seeing for the past year.
With all that said there isn't really much else to add. Have just been extremely busy with college and focusing on a new business I am launching with my brother. We also got his car painted and it looks awesome!
03-06-2015, 08:33 PM
I like it. 
It happens!
. After CAREFULLY removing the glass (and scratching more tint of course), and basically gutting the entire window system (regulator, rails, etc.). I'm pretty sure that the regulator spring is the problem. If you follow me here for a second, the spring should be making contact between the regulator teeth and the gear teeth. Mine does not. It has too much play and therefore was skipping gears and possibly grinding some. Ordering a new spring and we'll see if that's the problem. I'm fairly sure it is because it is really the ONE thing that has not been replaced on the regulator and everything else checked out fine. I'm just really lucky that the regulator spring didn't unload with the glass on it, possibly destroying the glass. 
