RBrid

I hereby officially start SuperBuickGuy's new build thread. Yesterday we brought home his new '76.

I took this picture just before we pushed the vette onto the trailer and I fell flat on my face because the floor was oily.

RBrid

... of force

RBrid

... of flexibility

RBrid

Down to the car hospital she goes.

RBrid

Some refreshing is required.

RBrid

Some motorization is required as well.

I think SBG's plan is to put in a Citroen 2CV engine. He can fill us in with the details...

doorgunner

SO.......you guys found her in the forest!



keep posting the pics as he progresses.

Alan 71

Hi RB,
Looking at the size of the 'bump' in the hood I'd say it's likely 4 or 5 2CV engines will fit under there!
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

gguillot

Woo hoo! Another down and out Vette gets a second chance.

Looking forward to the pictures of the progress.

SuperBuickGuy

I guess the cat is out of the bag - good thing I told my wife

So the basics, it's a 1976, factory 4 speed L48. The guy I bought it from had a blown, sbc in it so he needed some space to cover the blower. Not exactly sure he needed that much - but still, he had good reason. He kept the motor (a 406), and the 5 speed tremec trans. He stopped driving it because at least one brake caliper is leaking. It is in rough shape, it's been loved, used, abused, loved, then sat so the bones are in pretty good shape and minus the primer on the rear, I could probably buff this out into a 50 footer (yeah, except the hood).

So it's going to look similar to my last C3

that started like


I had help, as alluded by the face plant (thanks for taking one for the team - all good projects start with a bruise)



Regis has been at the start of these before (Buick was just a twinkle in his mother's eye)


that one looks like this now

SuperBuickGuy

More pictures
so I got the transmission (Super T-10), but it's missing a few teeth


and the motor for it - PO says it wasn't the stock motor, I haven't run the numbers but I'm pretty sure he's right. He said it had a flat cam, I think it was over-carbed and had a severe knocking problem. Fortunately the engine had been rebuilt before so it has forged pistons, 882 heads that were opened up to 2.02s, an air gap intake. I may screw it back together and use it as a pony motor (one that is used to move cars about during the build process).... but we'll see.

the fastest cars are rentals and the toughest trailers are rentals. My H3 has locking front/rear differentials and I had to use them to get the trailer where it needed to go...



no trees were harmed in the retrieval of the Corvette


success


with a little bit of stretching at the end


future plans


that Denali behind it was bought for one trip to California then it donates its motor to the C3 (and the hydroboost). Before you shed a tear, it's a salvage title vehicle that has lots of e-gremlins and I paid chump change for it..... which I'll make back selling body parts.

So, that's the motor - a 6.0 LS. I don't know on the trans, yet. The ST-10 would be the fastest/cheapest option but I may go Regis' route with a Tremec (I tried to get it from the PO, he said no... ah wel). It will have side pipes, it may even get turbos

suspension will be C4 control arms and rack. rear will (and this could change a lot) be a guldstrand set up (I have the parts to pull this off)

Body is getting custom image flares that I bought for the other C3 but couldn't bring myself to cut the body that are 2" wider front, 4" rear.

Color will either be maroon, or black. In any case, my attention to detail is no where near Regis so if you're expect nut and bolt - I'm sorry to disappoint.... otherwise, this should start mid to late summer... until then, if anyone knows of a 5 speed Tremec that needs a good home... errr, strike that... a home where it will be abused to within inches of its gears.... let me know

SuperBuickGuy

under carriage shots

lots of leaks

I wonder what he hit....


the exhaust is also oval


bright side is they did a great job of protecting the underbody.... and I won't be using it anyway, so it's all good.

it really seems silly to me that the area under the cabin isn't cross braced..... so that is one of those things I'll add to this car.

SuperBuickGuy

thinking Duramax.

SuperBuickGuy

so here is the rear suspension I'm planning on using
http://www.corvettefaq.com/c3/6link/

and pictures of the bits....


​and no, the stack isn't right - but it's the basic idea.

Richard Daugird

Curious about the rear suspension-have any forum members got experience with that setup?

RBrid

Apparently Solid LT1 has the Guldstrand 6-link setup.

SuperBuickGuy

I'm still trying to decide what motor. It didn't get any easier this last week, I got as trade a 4 bolt main 454, and have a steel 427 crank... I really, really liked my last C3 - the knuckle-dragging simple no PS, no power brakes, manual transmission, stupid-large cam, hard-riding car. It was the hardest-driving, slowest-fast-car I ever had and absolutely the most fun car I've ever owned... decisions. Do I make it daily-driveable or build another 'race' car for the street? Reminder - I have a LS 6.0 motor that is planned for this car.

I don't need a DD and the only reason I sold the last one was because I didn't want to repaint it when I put the flares on it (that and the suspension was done - and I wanted rack and pinion and the guldstrand rear setup)

thoughts?*

*warning, stock is not an option.

Metalhead140

I'm far from a purist, and of course LS is the obvious choice for performance... But personally I'd prefer to keep it 'period' with a sbc/bbc. Why not build that big block up a bit, 600+hp should be easy enough, and definitely fit with the fun grumpy old car feel. I often wonder how LS conversions will be looked on in 10 years when there's a new popular engine to convert to? An old school sbc/bbc will always be cool!

Where'd you get the Guldstrand rear?

SuperBuickGuy

you get the dilemma.

I had them cut out from plans available on the internet. Those probably won't be my final ones - I think I'm going to have them cut out of 1/4" stainless.

SuperBuickGuy

So a decision was made
Pictures of the new motor
4 bolt main 427/454 - it's a truck motor, however, there are some interesting things about it. I'm thinking it probably came from a motor home. Block is 30 over.
Crank is a forged, 396 crank that's 20 under. It's been balanced and the entire assembly lightened.

clean

new seats, new valves, new springs... in iron heads. Too bad, really. I think these will get a half-hearted Craigslist then will occupy my shelf until a suitable truck motor needs built



funny, I didn't take pictures of the pistons. 10.5:1 compression with reliefs cut for 1" lift. No ARP bolts, but I'll solve that before I put this together.

I can't help myself, knuckle dragging is the right way to build this. This one will be even harder to drive. Have the Custom Image flares on it Jessica Rabbit wishes she had the curves of this one.

So to catch up on the plans 427, 4 speed, side pipes. The motor will be a solid roller motor, 10.5:1 compression, aluminum heads, intake (air gap), 850 double pumper, earth-shattering cam - the motor can handle 1" lift, probably won't go that far but something that starts making power at 3500 rpm and builds to 7k. I'll do geometry stuff to the suspension, but no rack and pinion.

As for the 6.0 LS motor I have, I'll save it for something interesting down the road. As for subtle, I have a 64 Buick wagon with a turbo motor in it...