Got the Optispark all cleaned up as well as a bunch of fasteners. I picked up the new 52mm throttle body so as soon as I get the gaskets, it'll be on. I discovered that the second engine I picked up actually had an earlier cam/Opti/cover plate that was non-vented, probably off of a '94 - kinda panicked though when I first grabbed the older timing cover to clean it up - non of that is compatible to the '95 cam! All's good now though...

 

You certainly are talented and should be awesome car when done.

 

I am on race team with a '94 Firebird with the LT1. The optispark is a weak link really, even the vented version. If you have budget I'd get a conversion system to coil packs so the "distributor" is not arcing using high voltage for reliability. The team owner decided against my suggestion as there are strict $ spend limits for lemons and it we already were cheating a bit with our car, plus it is not going to be driven high miles on the track.
The LT1 is a reliable and powerful engine, but there have been some issues water messing up the system, and the design requires a lot of wrenching to get to it - removing the belts, water pump and harmonic balancer if i recall.

Del tech coil pack conversion

 

I have heard the same. Many guys won't use that engine because of it. I do understand the the Acell stuff is a pretty reliable fix but will have to do your own research on that. Now would be the time to upgrade ... While the engine is on a stand.

 

ive owned three lt1 cars and never, ever, have had an opti problem. just dont drive through a deep puddle or pressure wash the motor and they are very reliable =)

 

I'm building a 67 with a 96 Camaro LT1 and 6sp trans. While I can't speak to it's reliability just yet because it's not on the road yet. I am a mechanic for over 40 years and can speak to the reliability of the LT1 motor. The Opti spark has had a bad rep because of water issues in the past, not to mention the difficulty servicing it because of it's location. Putting it in a C2 Corvette where it's very unlikely to see any harsh weather makes it a good choice of engines for someone on a budget. It's definetly more reliable than the older motors even with ignition upgrades. I would stay away from the aftermarket Opti sparks as I've heard many complaints about them. A vented Delco Opti spark is about as good as it gets. There are a lot of used performance parts for these motors on the cheap because they have lost their appeal with the new LS motors being the choice of car builders today. If you're building a budget driver as I am it's a no brainer.

 

Big, I respect what you're saying but (just an FYI) I have 30k miles on a MSD in my 92 and have put MSD's on 3 other C4s with zero problems. IMO, better unit than GM because of the way it's sealed.

 

That's good to know. I've never actually used the aftermarket Opti spark units, I'm just going on hearsay in the auto industry as a whole. Not all aftermarket parts are created equal.

 

I took the MSD apart @ 20K miles (cause I was doing timing cover seals) , it looked like brand new inside. And I've had it lightly wet from washing the engine, the cap is o-ringed vs GM's paper gasket,

Slalom, looking forward to the install. My 67's body looks like yours does right now.

 

The engine is ready to mate to the tranny so I'll get to that as soon as I get some time to prep the tranny. Lately though, I've started the prep work to start the bodywork. Since it was a northern car, the body back up brackets are all pretty rusty and the rocker channels will get replaced. I could just layer over a brace plate but I want it to be more original than that. Because of the moisture, all the aluminum rivets have developed some sort of corrosion rot that is not fully visible until you remove the head. Anyway, I've been grinding/drilling them out and removing the rusted plates. Here is a few pics of the aluminum corrosion and plates.











I am also removing the rear valence panel anchor plates, everything steel has a good amount of rust. These are thick enough to recondition though. The underside of the fiberglass is very clean and original in most areas.





In order to do the rocker channel properly, I am removing the access covers. Here is the beginning of that process, which I'll document fully. Here is the access panel which you separate from the inner fender with a chisel and great care to not damage it. You can also see the rust rot in the #3 body mount. Along with the new rocker, I'll repair the rust damage here.








I have also removed the #4 body mount plates, captured nuts and deck lid hinges. The nuts and bolts were completely rusted out as well as the springs.





I should get the parts for these repairs in a week or so, until then I'll be cleaning fiberglass...

 

Wow, those seat & seat belt plates were totaled huh?
I reinstalled all those on my 67 last month with solid rivets, bucked about 100 rivets in 2 1/2 hours.

I glass beaded the channels laying under the car, it wasn't much fun.

You're doing a killer job there, it'll look great when done.

 

Bill32,

What rivet tool did you end up using? I've seen the home made ones from air chisel stems and then also the $45 one from vendors. What tool and air pressure did you find works the best for this? Thanks.

 

I looked online at the aircraft tool sites, etc. but they were still $22 + shipping and I didn't want to wait.
Went to Harbor Ft. and picked up the 4 pack of air chisel blades for $4.99. Cut off an end with a cutoff wheel on my Dewalt grinder and ground it concave with a Dremel and a stone. Took like 15 minutes.

I bought 100 of the longer rivets for $10 (from LIC) because of the seatbelt anchors being thicker than the seat mt. channel. I cut the rivets down with a cutoff wheel using 2 different pieces of scrap metal at the different thickness I wanted plus 3/16th for the extra amount the rivet needs for bucking. Just drilled a hole thru this, about 10 seconds per rivet to cut them off.

I only did 4 practice rivets to set the gun, a piece of scrap the thickness of the floorpan and the seat channel. I ended up using only 22 psi on my chisel, you'll have to check your's but this worked really well and the rivets look exactly like factory.

My helper used a body dolly on the heads while I used the chisel.
Note: you have to keep the chisel dead straight on the rivet so that it doesn't slip off and screw up the new paint.
I did get a few marks on the brackets that were painted black, musta had the concave part of the chisel a tad deep.

Once we started, it went very fast and was really easy to do, did the underbody brackets, the sheet metal behind the seats, radiator core support brackets in the front fenders, etc.

 

Excellent workmanship.
My goal is to do a complete project like yours or Steve's '65. The more that I look at these pictures, I'm not sure I have enough patience to do a complete project though.

 

Waiting on the new floor plates/brackets so spent a bit of time cleaning the undercoating off of the body and access panels. Heat and scraper is about the best way to attack it. Nasty work but want to get it all off so I'm looking at clean glass all over. Here is one of the rear access panels just prior to cleaning with laquer thinner.





Also drilled out the spot welds on the luggage stop panel, it was dented in a few places. Dents are now tapped smooth but the panel has an overall curve to it along to top - is this the way it is supposed to be? It's a consistent curve so it looks like it's formed that way - slight curve on top towards the rear but straight along the bottom where it rivets to the body. Somebody clue me in on this so I can get it right before I weld it back on, thanks.

 

No, it's supposed to be straight. Mine was bent back too, I recall that with the pass seat flipped forward you can kinda lay back there with your girlfriend. A long time ago.

It's hard to get that top edge really straight (you know how sheet metal wants to spring back). I put all the bottom rivets in and one of the top ones than pulled it as straight as possible before putting the other top rivet in. used all the factory rivet locations.

 

Thanks Bill32,

I'll see if I can get it straight. If not, I may be getting a new one!!

It has about a 1" curve in it, I had a local CSI specialist test the allowable tension on it and looks like it was supporting the weight of a 115lb redhead in the center of the panel...

 

I would weld in a reinforcing plate on the divider. All it takes is leaning back on the divider one time with just a bit of weight to bend it again.

And, if i were you, i would leave the valance anchors in place. Tape off the surrounding area and carefully hit them with a wire wheel, then paint them with epoxy. Putting those pieces back on and attempting to replicate the factory rivets is a real pain in the ****!

 

Mine was bent back over 1 in. , I pulled it forward more than 1 and bucked the rivets. Then thought, that's good enough, it gets covered with carpet anyway.

Though, the idea of tacking a reinforcing piece on is pretty interesting.

 

Motor looks really sharp. You have some great talent!