feels good to have a great progress day!!

this was where we left the chassis last week:



and this is where we ended up today after about 5 1/2 hours of work:



We got all the suspension and the motor / trans off the old frame finally. Now it's just a matter of getting in all the new parts and cleaning up & rebuilding the old parts, and than getting everything reassembled onto the replacement frame.

For the replacement frame we only have another coat or two of paint to put on and the frame will be ready to start accepting the parts.

here is the link to all of todays pictures as we were stripping the old chassis:
http://www.vetteclub.org/1980_Project/projectpics5.html

oh, for those that wanted to see more of the cracks in the old frame, take a good look at the last group of pics at the link above, there are a couple good cracks for you to enjoy! One big pothole or speedbump and I think the passengerside frame rail was about to separate from the front crossmember!

We also found more evidence of Bubba working on this car. Look at the rearleafspring mounting bolts pics. There are supposes to be three bolts holding the rear leafspring to the differential and he could only get 2 of them in so he put in the two he could and than to make sure they stayed he mushroomed the end of the bolts after putting on the nuts and tack WELDED it so they wouldn't go anywhere!!
We had to use a hacksaw to get the bolts out. What an idiot!!

we won't even talk about the fact that a few weeks ago we discovered that Bubba decided that the drivers side halfshaft needed a new u-joint and since he didn't have a long enough extention to undo the u-joint to get it off he CUT A HOLE in the fiberglass in the battery compartment behind the drivers seat to get easier access to the u-joint that re-fiberglassed over the hole afterwards.

 

Looks like fun, Barry.

If I remember right this was a car that was dumped on a unsuspecting teenager?

 

Is that a tank sticker build document I see?

 

Looks like ya'll are making good progress. Keep us updated as the job comes along. Have you gotten any vendors to donate any parts?

 

yep, this is the same car that we are fixing for the young man that had numberous cracks in the old frame.

well, it is the remains of the tank sticker - only about 40% of it left and what's there isn't very readable. The original motor is long gone and it has a GM crate motor so the tank stickers isn't worth too much at this point anyway but it is pretty cool to see it was still there

yes, we have gotten some vendor donations so far and hoping for more.
So far Van Steel has very generously volunteered to rebuild the t-arms including new rotors PLUS supply a new fiberglass rear leaf spring.

 

update: 8/12/07

ok, it's been a few weeks since I was able to post any updates and in fact last Sunday we weren't able to work on the car but here is where we are at as of today:

The replacement frame has been completely painted and today we started reinstalling the fuel and brake lines.
The exhaust system had previously been replaced with a true dual exhaust system and had been completely welded together meaning that to take it off without having to cut it the tranny crossmember had to come off the old frame and everything removed at once. Today we cleaned up and painted that crossmember and also wirebrushed and painted the entire exhaust with 1200º high temp silver paint. The exhaust looks like a brand new system!

The motor, trans, and rear diggerential/carrier has all been cleaned up as best as possible short of taking everything apart, glass beading everything and repainting and reassembling. We just cleaned and degreased and even pressure washed everything on that items as best we could.
Got new motor mounts installed on the motor today.
Also continued to work on the sole "issue' on the replacement frame and that's the tabs that the rear bumper brackets mount to - the frame must have been hot a bit in the back at one point and the brackets were slightly bent so we are working on getting them straightened out so the rerar bumper will eventually fit and align correctly after the body is dropped back on.

The trailing arms have already been sent out to Vanb Steel for rebuild and waiting for them to come back along with the fiberglass rear leafspring they are donating (along with the rebuild of the T/A's).

We have also started to get in parts from other vendors that have donated to the project such as Muskegon Brake, Bair's, Keen Parts, and Mid America Motorworks.

Next week we will get the motor and trans back in the frame. Maybe by than we will get back the trailing arms to reinstall and/or the front end rebuild ket that was also donated from one of the vendors (currently backordered) so we can start to get the suspension back together.

for the parts situation we have gotten very lucky and have approx 70%-75% of the required parts donated so far and pretty much all of the major parts are included in that figure. What we still need are mostly more minor items with only one or two exceptions.

sorry, I forget to take my camera with me today so no pictures but i'll have more next week for you to see.