65silververt

I just purchased a convertible project car last week and plan to build it into a modern 67 L88 Clone.

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Chassis: SRIII Still making final decisions for the build

Body: The body will remain stock overall, but i plan to add wider rear quarter panels.

Engine and Transmission: ZZ427/480hp crate motor fit with L88 air cleaner and Hurst Driveline 5 Speed Conversion. Maybe aftermarket fuel injection.

Here is the overall goal, except it will have different tires and wheels.

BADBIRDCAGE

Damn Chris:

You sure keep busy.

Zoomin

Looks like fun, I'm in for the ride.

65silververt

haha, You have no idea! But i have no one to blame but myself. I have enough leftover parts from 5 frame off restorations and two restomods to pretty much build another car, so I figure why not put them all on one car instead of trying to sell the parts one piece at a time.

Thorson

Are you sure you want to go with "L-88 clone"?
"L-88 tribute" might be another way to go.

BADBIRDCAGE

When I come out for the test ride in the 63 maybe I can help you bolt a couple parts on the new project.

65silververt

Come now, you know what I mean...
The only thing L88 about the car will be the air cleaner and hood. It will be a half restomod, if you can even call it that.

65silververt

Thanks Rich, but I think we will be too busy going for test drives! I've pretty much run out of parts to rebuild or alter for the split window, so I really hope they spray the color and I get it back sometime in January!!!

Thorson

Too late, you said L88 clone. I want to see some 12.5 to 1 compression.
Just buggin. You are building my dream car.

65silververt

I thought it was 13:1, or at least that is what it says in one of my books, which doesn't mean it's correct. I don't think I can find enough octane booster for the local 93 octane unleaded to make that happen! I'll be sticking with the 10.2:1

Marks69BB

Since it is a tribute car i would go bigger cubes with a solid roller. All BB chevy engines look the same so why not go 500+ cubes for 600+ hp at the wheels? You can still keep it at 10.5:1 to run on 93 pumpgas!

Most GM crate motors have mild cams that are under 500hp at the crank which is much less out back where it counts.

65silververt

Yeah, the cam does look pretty mellow for that engine!

65silververt

I wonder what it takes to squeeze a 572 under the hood?

Avispa

A much bigger hood scoop. The 572 is built on a tall deck block (10.2 inch from the crank centerline). Merlin 509s and 540s are built on standard deck height (9.8 inch) blocks and would be a much easier fit.

Any way you go it looks like a great project!

65silververt

Thanks for that info! I don't really want to spend 14,000 on an engine anyways. I'll start looking around to see if GM sells the cast iron blocks individually...wish they sold the aluminum ones!

Oh wait, they do, but it it's 5300

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/na...0850/overview/

Dr L-88

Got one of those too, still in the crate. Sent you a PM.

65silververt

Well, my POS, i mean my 67 Project car showed up today.



She's a bit worse off than I thought...a good reminder of why I shouldn't buy sight unseen, regardless of how "honest" someone seems over the phone. The Vette needs a new front rocker channel on the driver's side, and the front end is going to need to be removed to fix the upper door pillar area. It's not terribly rusted, but it does have some pinholes in the area visible from the inside of the car. I was told that the body was in great shape, but the front end is a pretty big mess Somebody attempted to repair the fender flares and did a horrible job. I actually think it might be all filler. Also, the end pieces on the firewall were robbed at some point and someone glued new ones on without reinforcements and then glued the passenger side piece on incorrectly...it sticks about an inch out from the firewall at the top.

Other news. I am not using the 66 frame anymore and I am currently parting it out. It's a nice frame, but since I'm going to have a lot of money and time invested in this car, I've decided to go all the way and use another SRIII frame.

65silververt

I forgot to mention that the Reliable Carriers van that dropped the car off was full of Dana Mecum's own personal cars. There was a 1930's Duesenberg that is projected to bring 1.2-1.5 million under my car. Unfortunately, they were all wrapped in plastic and I could not get any good photos.

65silververt

Shouldn't the metal pieces that extend from the door latch pillars be triangular?



I need someone to refresh my memory...On a convertible, the only panel that goes from the left to the right latch pillar is the luggage stop, correct? I don't believe there was an extra support installed, but i could be wrong.



Something fishy is going on here! Looks like somebody took the front of the passenger sill/rocker channel and installed it on the rear of the passenger side.





The rust in the birdcage isn't horrendous, but it will still need repair. The very honest seller(heavy tone of sarcasm), told me it only needed one section repaired in the sill and it was about an 8 hour job...sure, removing the front end, repairing the outer windshield areas, and replacing the driver sill and fabricating steel and reinforcing the lower a pillar is an 8 hour job....times 20. Again, oh well! After a full investigation, the rust areas appear to be pretty contained and all can be repaired without too much of a headache. I like the car and as one of my friends claims, "sometimes they choose their next owner for a reason".

Problem area #1. Looks the same on passenger side. Fortunately, the outer area is still solid. I can see it through the holes. i poked at it with a screwdriver and hammer and it did not puncture or flake.





The worst area is at the bottom of the driver's door hinge pillar. The area in the front, from the sill to about 2.5" up is more or less worthless. Ill fab up some new metal and weld it in these places once all the glass is removed.

65silververt

I decided to do a little exploratory surgery tonight and remove the front end. It only took about 3 hours to remove it. Somebody has definitely been all over this car previously and while it's not as bad as i thought it was a month ago, it is still going to need a bunch of work to correct the previous work. The front end isn't in great shape, so I will probably order a new one instead of spending a bunch of time trying to salvage this one...not sure yet, but will known for sure once i sand all the crappy primer off.



The rust in the birdcage is concentrated in the lower areas. The tops of the pillars look good overall.