Oh by the way Alan. I seen the pictures of your 71 you posted recently. I seen a man painting the T tops, I gather that was you? I have to ask, did you do the whole body off restoration yourself at home? If you did, wow, what a great job. I know there's lots of time, money and dedication to a body off.

 

Hi 6...
That fellow in a couple of the paint process pictures isn't me. I only WISH I could paint as well as he can.
I did a lot of the work on my car but felt I really wanted to have someone who knew what he was doing spray the paint. I did do the restoration (except for paint, chrome and powder coating the frame) in my basement workshop.
Thanks for the kind words about the car.
Regards,
Alan

 

Kind words? More like deserving words I think.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.

 

Well I hope you're happy. Now because of you I get to drop my tank AGAIN to get the tank shield off so that I can check it for the build sheet. That's ok, those g.d. worm clamps I used on the new hoses were bugging me anyway so I just ordered the correct spring clamps from Zip.

Were you able to take the tank shield off with just the tank out, or did you have to pull the bumper cover off to get to all its fasteners?

 

Hahahaha, yep I'm happy as you may find your build sheet still there.

Yes, the shield (cover as the 77 GM shop manual refers to it as) will come straight down. Once you get your tank down you'll see you can't get at the top bumper cover bolts, you can't even see them because of the tanks cover in the way.

All the bolts that hold the tanks cover in place, are in plain sight and very easy to get to once the gas tank is out.

One reason we're not going to put the tanks cover back in. Without it, no need to take the tank down if he / we need to get his bumper cover off in the future. A couple years ago we put Hooker Header Side Pipes on his car, so he has no mufflers to contend with in this area either. He'll just have his tank and spare tire carrier back there. Anyway........

His build sheet was stuck on the drivers side corner, towards the front of the car, on the metal cover.

If you still have your original rear bumper cover, the chances for your build sheet still being there are way better than ours was.

Let us know how you if you find it or not, when ya go for it.

 

Yeah, I found what was left of it. Check here for pics.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...ild-sheet.html

Really? Are you talking about the perimeter bolts for the bumper cover? I wonder if that shield is a different shape for your '77 because I can look up behind the tank shield on my '76 and see all the perimeter bolts for the cover. I'd planned on replacing them with the SS kit from Zip.

 

QUOTE=wcsinx;1572029733]Yeah, I found what was left of it. Check here for pics.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...ild-sheet.html



Really? Are you talking about the perimeter bolts for the bumper cover? I wonder if that shield is a different shape for your '77 because I can look up behind the tank shield on my '76 and see all the perimeter bolts for the cover. I'd planned on replacing them with the SS kit from Zip.[/QUOTE]

Well, yes you can see the bumper bolts around the perimeter of the bumper, between the rear frame cross member, gas tank and its cover in place. But it would be a struggle getting the bumper nuts and bolts out.

It would be tough getting both hands up there (tank and cover in place). Add in the fact these bumper nuts and bolts are rusted and stuck together.

It's a heck of a lot easier to take the tank and its cover out. Then the bumper bolts are way easier to get to. They're in the wide open and you can sit under there with the tank and cover out (with the car on jack stands of course).

One of these days I have to change the rear bumper cover on my 74 (original cracked from age). I'll make the job as easy as I can for myself by taking it's gas tank out and removing the mufflers. I'm not struggling with the bumper cover bolts with the tire carrier and gas tank in the way. Oh, the 74 has no gas tank cover.