keithinspace

Just after the turn of the year, I smelled fuel in the garage. Puddle under the car (a 1970). A small original-looking rubber hose was leaking. Drain the tank.

Well, I have the tank drained and this one hose is obviously bad, so I'll go ahead and replace the other hoses. They can't be far behind, right?

Well, I want to be sure everything gets replaced, so lets drop the tank. Wanted to see if there is a build sheet anyway.

Darn. No build sheet. These squeak strips look like crap, though. Better replace those. And the filler gasket. And the rubber around the filler.

Wow! There's a lot of headroom in here. Much easier to see the rear suspension and stuff.

Well look at that. Odd. I have one "early" 1-3/16" strut arm and one "late" 1-3/8" strut arm. And the rubber looks like crap. And I've always wondered if I could trust these universals.

(Out come the trailing arms, halfshafts, rear end, and main driveshaft)

Well those trailing arms look like crap. And this would be the PERFECT time to make room for larger tires. I'd hate to have to take all this stuff apart again.

So that's where I'm at now. I just (today) ordered $1,550 in parts including:
--MOOG Super Strength universals all around
--VB&P Offset Trailing Arms
--new (rebuilt) rear bearing assemblies complete from stud to drive plate including new rotors and stainless e-brake hardware, with Timken bearings professionally shimmed, ready to go ($280/side at Zip...deal of the century in my book)
--new stainless e-brake cable
--all new poly bushings (I already had the spare "late" strut arm in my spare parts)
--new stainless steel trailing arm bolts and shims
--a whole bunch of other little parts including what I need to restore the gas tank.

I'm about to start sandblasting and painting the parts for the start of re-assembly late next week or the beginning of the week after.

And all this started from a $3 piece of fuel hose...for which I haven't yet purchased the replacement....

I'm sure there's NOBODY out there that can sympathize...never happened to ANYONE on THIS forum...

Hofs01

I am in the same boat. Hey, while you got all that room it is a great time to replace that old steel brake line

Greatsteaks

The rear ends connected to the... Drive shaft, the drive shafts connected to the... Transmission, the transmissions connected to the... Well you get the point. Been there, haven't left. Started repairing a leaking power steering hose, now I have my entire front suspension off the car. New bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends and sleeves, shocks, bearings, borgenson steering box, rebuilding steering pump and who knows what tomorrow will bring.

keithinspace

Actually, I'm calling it. I still have a replacement frame in the rafters that I purchased last July. I'll have another bite at the apple...all new brake lines throughout with that project...

At least now I've "touched" every single part in the drivetrain...either repaired, restored, or replaced...from the radiator to the rear lug nuts. Including the engine.

Haven't cracked the transmission, but it feels great.

Opened the diff and it is all in wonderful condition. No reason to mess with either.

3JsVette

The easy part is figuring out how it started. The hard part is figuring out where does it end and sometimes it never really does.

hail to R3

Lol, I'm glad I'm not the only one that does this too.

namvet6869

Been down that road before. Just about like doing plumbing. I just had to laugh

VETFEVER

Luv it - just don't let your wife/partner suggest "painting" the kitchen.

That could make the experience with the Vette pale by comparison

keithinspace

My wife is a very understanding woman.

This particular project was 100% funded by the sale of some parts I had collected when I purchased the car. I sold an original Z28 DZ carb, an original (but unbanded) TI dizzy with associated amplifier, cover, and wiring harness, a set of LT-1 Camel Hump heads, and a set of LT-1 Valve Covers with S-Rivet filler cap. All that ended up yielding about $1,300 which I combined with a few other dollars I had in my "car fund".

So...the wife is pretty happy (and impressed) that this drivetrain overhaul is absolutely SELF-FUNDED. That makes everyone just a little happier.

HOOAH

This started out as replacing a fuse

Terry

corvetteronw

NEVER add up the total of all your receipts (especially if your bride might see the real cost of your obsession).

Zoomin

I've been down that road. On subsequent purchases of Vettes, I always check to make sure someone went down that road first on the car. Doesn't prevent more adventures, but at least it's a change of scenery.

keithinspace

My wife and I own/operate an engineering consulting firm together, so there ain't much hiding of anything. We share everything and the only money I have is what's put in my wallet. Call me whipped, but it works for us and helps with our "togetherness". 18 years married, so something is working I guess!

Honestly, my wife is 100% OK with what I spend as long as I am up-front about the cost and that we really can afford it.

When we decided to rework the engine, I was originally thinking it would be $2,500 or so. May have been able to pull that off if I had stuck to basics. But I ended up having some fun and built my "Bucket List" V8. Ended up right at $5,500. The catch was that the whole deal took 18 months instead of 4 months.

I stretched it out so the money came available along the way.

I also promised that I would not spend ANY money on the car for the next year after putting the engine in. I have been true to that promise and it expires this month.

I actually think I'm doing OK on the car vs. value. Once I am done with the frame replacement which is much more labor than cash, it will be a "new" car underneath, stem to stern. I think anyone would appreciate that foundation. I'll still be under $25k into the car to that point.

CA-Legal-Vette

To the OP, seems a shame to leave that grungy old differential in there with all the other parts off

That's too funny and entirely believable.

Don Rickles

Denpo

As long as the body stay on the frame you can consider yourself lucky.
Kudos for making is right.

keithinspace

The diff is out and I cracked the casing open for a thorough inspection.

Engine builder (very **** gentleman who has built hundreds of posi diffs) said it looked great, felt great, and all play was perfect. If he rebuilt it, he would have it turn out just as it sits now.

So...installing rear cover, washing rest of the gunk off, and making it look as good as the rest of my stuff.

Money saved on the diff rebuild allows me to fit offset trailing arms into the budget!

69mako

Reads like this is a fun series of smaller projects...post some images please

kdf1986

That sounds like many of my projects. What started out as a simple screw replacement led to a complete interior rebuild.

kdf