Cynical

Thank you, Brack!

We have quite a wealth of 'projects' at home... that being a 70 1/2 Camaro, 91 Camaro RS w/ a V6, and a 92 (25th) RS with a 305 5 speed. Both the third gen cars are my twin brothers... but he hasn't exactly 'restored/re-purposed' them at all. Just a respray and he wants to swap the interiors and sell the V6. My dad's 70 1/2 has basically been the family projects for a good 4 years, but he still has a long way to go before it's road worthy. As for the my vette, I've done all the work myself minus actually painting the car. Everything has basically been done by me Something i'm proud of and will be for as long as I have this car. Thanks for the comment

Denpo

You're doing great job here. Congratulations.
That was i great write-up too.

Given your relatively young age, it's just awesome.
When I was 16 all I could work on were mopeds...

Cynical

Update 12/1/14

Still at a fairly consistent halt on the project... waiting on windows and now deciding what parts I still need. Over the past two months i've really had some bad luck with the local window tinting guys (7 weeks and nothing done) so I decided to take the windows to a different shop and they should be done this weds.

Took some time to bolt down the seats (probably their first time BOLTED to the floor in 10+ years), new shift boot, and a few little things here and there. Nothing major, just kind of riding it out as the winter season finally sets in.

So with that said, I still need to find some parts... mainly a glovebox and a nice set of used tail lenses. I can't seem to find any vendors that sell them (glovebox) and it's really my main setback right now for the interior. Also, I need to figure out how the power mirror works on the drivers side... and what I need to buy.

Other than that I thought I should let you guys know that I'm 17 now. Happy holidays.

TileArt

Hey Josh, I have a glovebox you can have if you pay for shipping. PM me your address and I'll get it to you probably this weekend.

BOSTONCAMARO

A few Chevies are rolling around that Ford Family driveway

Nice to see your project coming along, great work!

929nitro

Hi Josh. I have a set of tail light lenses off my 75 that you can have. PM me info if interested.

Cynical

Sending a pm inquiry to both of you, thanks in advance!

929nitro

Response sent.

Cynical

Thanks to Roger (TileArt) and Dick (929nitro) I will not be needing to look for a glovebox or lenses Thanks!

As for today... I'm still kind of deciding on what direction I want to go with the wheels for my car. Long story short I really want to be able to take my car to the local shows every week and hopefully attend some of the mideastern corvette ones. Locally though, there is at least four SILVER 1978/1979 Corvettes that go to the shows. I want my car to stand out from them, but in a good way. I'm not exactly looking for any originality awards or top flight type of trophies, because this is my car, so I want it to reflect me.

Long story short, I think you all have seen the paint scheme I have (through the pictures) and if you didn't know I'll be adding a red pinstripe around the gray stripe that runs from the hood to the back bumper (across the ttops of course). The one thing that I know I am missing though is the wheels for the car.

Right now I'm looking at these XXR 521s (link) as maybe an option for my car. I would go with the flat black with chrome rivets. I think this would match the trim of my car nicely because I plan on blacking out all of the trim that was chrome, including the rockers. Flat black would look pretty good in my personal opinion, but I just don't know if I should go with these more modern rims. If I went with these rims, I was thinking either 17x7 in the front and either 18x8.5 in the back or 18x10 in the back. I am assuming that I will have to run adapters or spacers as well. I really like the staggered look of modern rims, but also really want to have wider tires in the back (without having to notch the frame or anything out of my abilities). I don't have the original rally wheels for the car, instead some 1980s aftermarket 16 inch ones were on it when I purchased the car (so it's not like i'm ditching the original wheels at all).

Although I like the look of some rally wheels, I want my car to stand out and be it's own. I also want to stay within a threshold that the older guys will still appreciate my car and all of the hard work that I have put in over these past couple months. I guess my main question would be are the XXR 521s (link) too gaudy? Or would they add something different and modern to my car (in a good way)? Also, I need to call and get some more information on the rims. But I do like the look and hopefully would be able to afford a set sometime in early 2015.

Hopefully you guys can help steer me in the right direction, I'm open to a lot of different options I just need to be within a reasonable budget.

Denpo

You need wheel with the proper backspace.
If you need to put 3" spacer, your nice and pretty thin wheel will let appear... a small rotor tucked far away.
Otherwise I agree on the wheel size, bigger and it looks goofy IMHO.

Cynical

Agreed, hopefully I wouldn't have to put anything as large as a 3" spacer. I need to definitely call the company and check the offsets and such. I wouldn't be looking at purchasing any rims for a while, just trying to gather ideas.

Cynical

Update 12/6/14

Just a write up today, as I haven't really been taking any pictures, but have made a lot of progress! Over the past few days I've taken it upon myself to finally get the doors in order. That being the power window assembly/regulator, tracks, glass, etc.

So, with that said, it's been a pretty fun past few days. First, I started by removing (and labeling) the tracks that the windows fit into. Each track was wire-wheeled cleaned (because why would I put back in dirty parts?). Removed the old and solidified grease and replaced it with new all purpose. Also rebuilt the passenger's power window regulator... I'm still wondering if it will be worth it to really clean up the drivers or just grease it down (it works fine). It would be more of a hassle to try and get it out/back in and have the chance of something going wrong, so I'll probably just grease the regulator teeth tomorrow (decision made!).

After disassemble, obviously re-assembly is required. I probably spent 2x as much time on the internet looking at how to put things back in that what I did actually re-assembling the tracks. Better safe than sorry though, would be a real nightmare for something to have gone wrong after putting the windows in. First part of re-assembly was to put the sports mirrors back on the car. After that I found out I had to snake the power mirror cord through towards the door jamb and back to it's corresponding hole (that way it doesn't interfere with the glass). After assembling each track on each door, I'm finally ready to put the new tinted glass in.

By the way, the glass came back on weds, and it looks great! I got 20% tints all around, but it doesn't look obnoxious. I chose the darker tint for the sake of the back window, because I don't want to deal with sun damage anytime soon, and I didn't want different shades of tinted windows on the car (like 35% on the sides and 20% on the back). Also, me and my dad were able to get the passenger window in tonight, with very minor scratches to the window tint (in between the mirror and the windshield area, hardly noticeable). I have to say, I'm really pleased that the power windows still work after I worked on them . But, I took my time to make sure everything was right, and it definitely paid off!

Next update I should have the driver's window in, and in working order. We still need to put all the new weather stripping on the car, so I am not worrying about putting the door panels on anytime soon because I need access behind them to adjust the glass. Lastly, the back window will be in the 11th, we're having a local company put it in. We didn't want to risk putting it back in and breaking it.

So, that's about it. Really have learned a lot about my Vette this past week and how much is actually involved with common things like power windows. Makes me take a step back and think... how we take things like that for granted in new cars. Hope you guys are having a good time dealing with all this cold, luckily I have a propane heater here in the depths of Michigan weather !

Joshua

P.S. - Is there any way to get the thread name changed?
P.S.2 - I'll have pictures in the next update post!

chstitans42

Joshua,
I have been following your thread, and am enjoying it. I too bought my first corvette at a young age (18) after saving up for it though all of high school. The jobs you are doing on yours sure take me back when I was in your shoes. I am 26 now and many many corvettes later I can say it was worth all the effort! Keep it up man!

Oh and PS. The wheels you showed especially in flat black don't really fit the look of C3s. (Remember this is my opinion!) Whenever I see flat black rims I think "oh man here is some green 16 year old that couldn't do anything worth while or substantial to his car, so he painted his wheels flat black" (and the tail lights, and head lights, and everything is carbon fiber.... Anyways what I am saying, is that most of the "old guys' on here love mods as long as they are tastefully done, and what they call "period correct" and or period looking. There are alot of excellent cragar wheel type mags that look amazing on these types of cars. Just my 2 cents of course!

Cynical

Thanks for the opinion on the wheels! Just what I needed. I gave it a second thought and I too think that flat black is really bland. Although the rims are just an idea, I do think that I am going to black out all the trim. Just to be different, and hopefully will find a set of (affordable) wheels that will compliment the car nicely. Who knows, it's all up in the air. Thanks for the two cents!

doorgunner

That's the same thing my uncle did to his car..................................... ..........in 1956!

Cynical

Oh jeeze, I don't think i mentioned that there are like 3 other 78 silver vettes around my area. They all go to the shows, but you can't ever pick out who's car is who's. That's why I wanted to black out the trim and add some modern touches and stuff, stand out from them!

Richard Cooper

Excellent job CJ, keep at it!

Cynical

Thanks Richard!

Brack c

Love the look of blacked out trim ( kinda biased though ) ..
Black it out & make your car standout from everyone else . Make it your vision .

ajrothm

Nice job on the project. Good to see young guys today taking an interest in these old cars.

When I was 16, I took on a similar project on a 78' Trans Am... I ended up keeping that car for 8 years.. Now I regret selling it..

The time I spent with friends working on that thing was priceless, not to mention all the crazy crap we go into with that car.