Hello all this is my first post. I have often browsed the site in my free time absorbing all the knowledge and beautiful Corvettes belonging to the fellow members. I look forward to being a contributing member of the forum.
A little about myself, I am a College Student in Cental California. Studying Mechanical Engineering. I work in the Manufacturing field as a Draftsman/CADD Designer.
I've Owned my Corvette Since 2003. I had a blast driving her for a about two years until parking her at my grandmothers house due to cylinder head related issues. Time flew by as life got busy. Fast forward to 2011 as fortune would allow I now have my first house and finally got the Corvette Home. I hope to learn alot from the forum, while making ammends for the past few years of neglect to my 76. I already have a few questions I will post in another Thread.


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Welcome!

I'm also an ME, and owned my '76 since 2003. Eerie!


And when you insert pics, you only need the http address (i.e. http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/...d/DSCN9069.jpg)
between the img tags.

 

I have the jackstands and big floor jack but wondered what the sequence is to use when jacking the car up on all four? do you do both on one side then shift to the other side or the front two then the back, or vice versa?

I've done the front or the back but never both on one side or on all four yet and am curious what the safest way is to get them up on the jack stands. I actually have six and could put two under the front of the frame then the four where you have them.

I appreciate your advice.

Lance Pearson

 

Trae, looking good. It's nice to have a garage to work on it . . . makes all the difference in the world. You can start and stop working on it whenever you feel like it.

Lance, I do side to side. I place my jack on frame just forward of the tranny x-member, jack it up, place a stand on frame just in front of the rear wheel and another forward of the jack in the front before the frame curves upwards. Then roll to the other side and repeat process. Never had any problems. It was a little daunting the frist few times, but no big deal anymore. I always put the car on four stands, just seems more stable to me that way.

 

Trae, Thank you for the assistance with posting images. Is that your vette in your image? She looks good.

Hello Lance my jacking method is similar to Redmans. However I was told years ago to open the hood and leave both doors ajar. Something to do with the body flexing. Not sure if this is correct however i err on the side of caution.

 

That's actually dz_speed's garage, I was just helping him with the pics. I wish mine was that neat.


No problem, and thanks for the compliment.

 

welcome, and have some fun.

 

Welcome!

It's always fun to get 'em going again!!

 

Thanks guys I'm fired up for the future experiences that lay ahead. I know I'm definitely in the right place. It amazes me the amount of knowledge rhe fellow forum members posses, if only they gave out doctorates in corvettes!

 

Thanks for the info, guys. tomorrow mornings the big morning to jack the car up side to side and do as you guys do. I've done it two on the front and blocked in the back or vice versa but never four before so it will be a learning experience. Should work fine. Like most of these things, the first time is hard and I'll be careful to be sure the jack stands are seated correctly on the frame also. Two or three small things to do and it should be easier doing it this way.

Lance

 

Hello lance. It's not so hard as long as your careful. What kind of project do you have that requires the vette up? I'm in the middle of dropping the tank to clean out the fuel system, and at the same time I want to refinsh the rally wheels. I'd like to see what your vette looks like if you have a thread you can point me to?

 

DZ...Nothing earth shattering. I need to change the oil and filter, lube it and will sand off a couple scratches that are on the oil pan and repaint it while on the car. I want to pull the electric wire off the proportioning valve as well and make sure the contact is clean. I really wish the car didn't have that valve. It's new but...

I have two steel ramps but when I drive forward with these big wide tires on my smooth concrete floor it pushes them forward. I may instead of jacking it up on all four just jack up each front tire and slip the ramps which are sturdy under each front tire and do it that way.

Here are some photo sites where you can see the car and you can see it in my album here on this site if you drill down in my name here.

The racing at VIR site actually has quite a few engine and undercarriage photos I added as well recently.

At VIR to race for a day May 5 plus many general and engine and undercarriage shots
http://albums.phanfare.com/slideshow...k&a_id=5108145

Short side yoke axles and differential
http://albums.phanfare.com/slideshow...h&a_id=5152738

New Exhaust System
http://albums.phanfare.com/slideshow...J&a_id=4981805

In yard with new luggage rack on
http://albums.phanfare.com/slideshow...2&a_id=4935785

 

DZ since I'm tall at 6'4" I removed and kept the original rear view mirror and instead installed a new 1977 that glues to the glass down lower. For me it removed a blind spot to the right up high. I also added a passenger side mirror as well. The original Vettes up through something like 60-62 all had them mounted on the dashboard down low. Works for me.

Lance

 

Hello lance. Thanks for the links. Your vette is bad ***. I barely noticed your rearview mod in the images. I have a few questions if you don't mind. What size tires are you running?What series flowmasters do you have? Is your exhaust system coated? I totally dug that wot blast, sounds awesome. How did the projects go today?

 

I do like my Vette especially now that it has none of the 70's EPA nonsense including timing. Tires are on Progressive 8.5" x 15" rims that came with the car and are BFG TA rwl 255 x 60 R15's (new in late May to match what was on it) that I run 31 psi cold in. Less than 25 and you run the risk on a wide rim of rolling the sidewall and creating a flat with a sharp turn in your driveway! On the track I ran 35 psi cold per their recommendations. I was slower than the DB9 with 585 hp, two M5's BMW's and two Porsched 911's but i had 200 less horsepower and zero experience and learned and improved each lap, session.

These tires are wider than the factory tire and if I had my druthers I'd probably put 16 or 17" new tires on but that means you must buy all new wheels and they are expensive and I like mine. The car corners like an octupus with 16 arms given 10" wide tires. Grip is good.

The Flowmasters are series 40 I believe for a 2 1/4" pipes exhaust system that was custom built out of thick doublewalled tubing with one joint so it can all come off. The Flowmasters give a nice deep rumble but at around 32 to 35 mph they give a sort of drone that can be annoying. I just find it no problem not to drive 32-35 mph with a Vette. Anything above that the sound is way behind you. I chose not to put side pipes on it because the sound is too loud and right by your ear. I much prefer what I have though there are other combos.

The man in the shop who does the heavy work on the car, Harry, built the system, hung it with custom J hangers in rubber blocks and then removed the whole system from exh. manifold back and laid it on a bench and used three cans of VHT silver high temperature paint to coat the steel. I used some on my own to hand coat the cold exhaust manifolds later at home with a 1" wide throwaway brush...it flows easily and coats well. So far, heat does nothing to it.

With respect to engine it had plugs gapped at .030" in it when I got it which was way too narrow for an HEI higher voltage about 50,000 volt system so now they are at something like .045", new plugs, new 8.5mm spiral wires. The timing on the rebuilt carb was set when installed at 7-8 degrees tdc as specified by GM since GM put it on. Since then, recently, I bought a timing light and reset it to 13 degrees TDC which smoothed the engine out nicely.

It had no A.I.R. pump on it when I bought it in Oct.. It had the 2-1-2 exhaust system with that super crappy pellet cat converter, leaks, holes, loose bolts, etc. on it when I got it. In January, we ripped it all out and the cat converter was pretty well crapped up. The max throat the 2 went down to was something like 2 or 2.5" at the cat which choked the exhaust. Now it has more than twice what it did for exhaust cross section in total, put two bullet cat converters with wire and low pressure flowmasters and the net effect of all this from whatever horsepower and torque it actually had when I bought it was this:

--Smoother, uniform power throughout each gear...uniform torque application apparently.
--750-1000 rpm more at the top end of each gear when you wind it up.
--55-60 mph steady speed was 14.4 mpg with the Borg Warner S10 four speed and a 3:36 to 1 rear end. This last trip to Skyline drive I did that and got 17.1 mpg on the last 175 miles of 55-60 mph highway steady state use.
--at 3,000 rpm with the foot flat down you get a pretty big kick in the pants which I believe is the centrif. weights kicking total advance fully in. I'll check that next time I take the light out but I know the car pretty well.
--much better and richer sound without any leaks so it all comes out the back

The timing change was a rather large improvement on this 76 L48.

I have no access to a dyno and the way it's configured with cam, valve size, hydraulic lifters and so on it will never be a thumping drag car but I believe that the engine which was originally rated at 180 hp sae net is now probably somewhere around 230-240 hp which compares favorably with the late 60's 300 hp SAE gross ratings. I know it's a pretty nifty road car that handles well now. It also has all new KYB shocks, all new rear bushings and some other things.

Car is up on the two steel ramps and I washed it today and will change oil and paint the oil pan in the morning and lube it. Did some other chores of household living. I did lift one side as suggested to see and could have done the jackstands but just really need to be under the front end and the front wheels are now 8" off the floor.

I have a rebuild kit with springs and all that for the headlights which work fine for this winter and I am thinking that I am going to investigate clamping each vacuum hose connection. With all the heat in the engine compartment rubber tubing doesn't last years before getting brittle and the 76 has lots of vacuum driven actions.

Hope that's helpful to you with yours. There are small changes year to year but it's surprising how similar many years close to one another are.

Lance