Your obsession and skills are commendable.:rof l:

 

Great progress so far. Taking them apart isn't so hard, but putting them back together can be a genuine hoot....thanks for sharing and keep up the work.

 

Welcome to the forum!


Here is a website for TPI parts (harness, ECM, etc.)

Jims Performance
http://www.jimsperformance.com/

 

Chassis is sandblasted & painted with a 2-part epoxy primer (MILSPEC)....

Oh, the frame is PERFECT!! No rust, no problems! WOO-HOO!

I don't like to work with dirty, grease-covered parts; so, I just sandblast & paint everything (you'll notice the u-joints, vents, and steering are wrapped with duct tape even though I'll replace all the u-joints)...working with old, dirty, grease-covered parts is just hard: bolts won't come loose, the garage gets dirty, I get dirty....you get the idea.

After its painted with Sherwin Williams high gloss black, I'll take it home to my personal garage and start disassembly....if anything needs a sandblast touch-up when it comes apart (& they will), I'll do it in my sandblast cabinet at home, reprime & repaint them...then I can reassemble with all new parts.

The rotors will probably get tossed...I'll check run-out just for the heck of it; however, they're old! Calipers will get replaced with rebuilts & every bushing, bearing, u-joint, shock, etc. will be replaced....Fuel and brake lines will be blown out, recleaned & inspected...those that fail my inspection will be replaced (gotta do some things with the fuel lines anyway since I'm installing a TPI engine)....& steering will be rebuilt as will differential.

Just my personal way of doing things - might create a little extra work but it goes faster & easier once its in my garage....oh, I don't powdercoat cars I'm gonna drive: paint is easier to repair if it gets scratched or beatup on bad roads. Sorry for the long explanation...everybody who sees me rebuilding a car always asks me why I do things the way I do; so, I thought I'd just explain upfront.

Just my way of doing things....

 

Good to see you over here from the Garage Journal forum and good luck with the new Corvette project!

Regards,

 

Thanks!

The frame is now black!

My trailer is hooked up & ready to go get it tomorrow morning...when I get it home & on jack stands, I'll start the disassembly & rebuild of the chassis.

Some photos:

 

Did you paint the chassis with the rear end and the rotors/Calipers on it?
Wondering why you did not remove them since you almost got close to a complete frame off rebuid.

 

As I said above:

When I get it home & take everything off the frame for rebuilding/restoration, it will be a complete frame off...

 

That is great work so far. You don't mess around that is getting right to business. I can't wait to see more pics as you go along.

 

autoist,
Love the work you're doing, and I have a few words of advice.

DO NOT put the body on until the fuel (and brake) lines are in place! Some say that it is doable with the body on, but experienced Corvetters would argue against it. Several vendors offer pre-bent new fuel (and brake) lines in both mild and stainless that are guaranteed to fit perfectly if your old ones are suspect.

Brakes: the Corvette factory rivetted the rotors to the hubs and then machined them TOGETHER before fitting to the car. This means that if you fit a brand new rotor to the old hub, you will probably have major runout problems. If you must remove the rotor for checking or cleaning etc, make sure you mark its position on the hub first. Also, five rivets will have to be removed before the rotor and hub will separate. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that they do not need to be replaced.

Steering: I'd recommend that you fit a modern integral power steering box such as the Borgeson unit. It has 2.7 turns lock to lock with a 12.7:1 ratio and does away with the old sloppy control valve, power ram and half of the hoses, all sources of leaks in such an old car. Check out www.borgeson.com .

I'm sure that others will chime in with their words of advice. Keep up the good work!

Regards from Down Under

aussiejohn
6 weeks to go

 

Thanks for the advice...before the body goes back on, EVERYTHING ELSE that attaches to the frame will be in place - to include the engine & transmission.

Now, there's a tip I needed! Thanks...I would've never thought about that.

Chassis is in my garage now....I'm getting ready to put it on jackstands & disassemble the wheel/tires so I can check wheels & sandblast/paint them.

I'll pull the rotors next to check them out.....seems you're telling me that if I can reuse them, I should?

Good tip also on the power steering....thanks again.

 

20 MG'S Good Grief... I need a bigger garage.... Nice work on the Vette so far...

 

Wow! This is impressive! Looks like you got that vette at a great price and your restoration is going by quickly!

As for the rotors, I would keep them! The aftermarket/replacement rotors are no where near the quality of the original rotors.. I have 3 73's that all have slightly over 100K on the clock. All of the rotors on all 3 cars show absolutely no signs of wear. The price of aftermarket rotors looks convincing, but I worry that metal used is no where near as strong as what GM put on originally. I also fear that if you do a lot of driving with this car, you will be replacing rotors again in 2-3 years.

Thats my .02 for today. Too bad I havent seen this thread sooner. Good luck with build and I cant wait to watch every step of the way.

 

I was thinking going the rebuilt calipers route, turning mine in as cores....easier & quicker than rebuilding all 4 of mine...

 

Do you have a budget in mind for this project?

It looks like everything is happening at a rapid pace. Keep the pictures coming!

 

NAH! I never build a budget for my restorations - nor do I keep up with how much one costs me....when I decide to do a car, I decide to spend what it costs to get the end product I'm looking for....what I'm looking for with this one is a reliable, fun weekend driver which means it can go quicker than were I building a show car - & doesn't have to be so perfect.

 

That is not a bad idea.. I was just saying to keep your rotors. Autozone sells remanufactured calipers that comes with SS sleeves and a lifetime warranty for something like $60 + core. It might be something to look into if you have one near you as it would be easier to deal with them in person than trying to deal with a large corvette parts dealer thats a 1000 miles away (that is if you were to ever have problems with the rebuilt calipers).

 

Good idea...I've gotta remember to think local parts houses with this car...with all my MG's, I never think 'local'....

Tomorrow, I'm pulling the calipers & rotors & dropping the rotors off to have them checked for thickness & to make sure they're not warped....if they check out, I'll have them magnafluxed.

Also dropping my wheels off at my friend's bodyshop to have them sandblasted & primered...then, I'll take them to another friend's tire place so he can check them for 'roundness' (is that the right word?)

 

In my garage on jack stands and, as you can see, I've started disassembly.



And here's why I sandblast, prime, and paint everything before starting disassembly. Things come apart easily. I then lay everything out under the chassis where the parts will stay until I start reassembly. This way I can inspect everything & make decisions about what to keep or what to replace.

As you can see in the photo below, I'm planning on replacing the flex brake hoses to the calipers so I just cut them. And the hard line at the bottom of the photo will be replaced because the small 3/8" nut on the flare end is rounded off.

And you can see that I was able to compress the driver-side shock & it stayed compressed. All the shocks will be replaced.



Passenger side. I'll also replace, in addition to all the bushings, all the tie rods and will rebuild the steering.



After the front is renewed and reassembled, I'll tackle the rear end.

Next: compressing the springs.

 

Thanks for saving another C3