Hey Dose,

Well, we got in on November 8th so it's come a little ways Need to get the brakes done yet before we can test drive it. I'll do my best to shoot a vid or two - would be nice to have later on.

 

Thanks Redman

Can't... slow...down...must...make...it...run
Must...make...it...run!

 

Just purchased a 77 for the same reasons, Sold my first one back in 1981 after we got married and I've been looking for another one that wasn't all modified. Finally got one with 32K on it and all original.
1978:
[IMG][/IMG]
2012:
[IMG][/IMG]

 

whew... LONG work day. Still going to try and get rolling on the wiring / electrical problems. I removed the handy dandy toggle switch they had going to all the external lights and now I have no headlights. Sort of expected that. Will be putting the center gauges in today - a test fit to see what's up with those. I may need to pull the dash and replace some bulbs in there. No dash lights, left turn signal bulb is out etc, etc etc.

Let the wiring games begin!

 

Really dug into the lighting issues yesterday and managed to get a fair amount fixed. Pulled the dash and steering column and went to work.

Replaced all the dash lights; right side door switch; all three courtesy lights are now working - even the timer works(!); now have headlights - low beam only at this point, tail lights, brake lights, park lights, license plate light and blinkers including the alternating front bulbs and front side marker lights flashing; dash indicators are also working now.

Think all I have left is the high beam switch replacement (on lower column) and figure out why the courtesy lights will not come on using just the headlight switch ****. Looks to me like the brass contact strip in the headlight switch isn't getting a good ground when you rotate the **** to the "click". I may put my old switch back in and test that theory - possible this aftermarket headlight switch just isn't made all that well.

It really starts to feel like a car again when you get the little things working - heck I might even make the door buzzer work just so it feels like it would have back in the day lol.

 

Keep up the great work, love this side by side engine bay shot

 

Looks like I'm going to have to take some vacation time just to keep you in sight! It looks like I have found a transmission though... there's a trip to Florida in my near future. Your car looks fabulous... I really am jealous of the progress you have made in a short time period.

 

slopoke: love the two shots of your vettes...old and new!

adam: This is what I want my engine bay to look like, BUT it's kinda not really feasible since my 77 is my DD. My questions is: how did you get everything so clean (the blacks, so black/shiny), and is that a new overflow tank? When the engine was out, did you pull the parts and clean them individually, or replace parts? I may pull parts on my weekends and start cleaning and whatnot.....just as long as I can get them back in and working before I have to go back to work. Any suggestions on cleaning materials?

 

Great work, Adam. You are really moving along.

 

Thank you guys We're really having fun working on the car.

Turbo - There is no budget for replacing parts unless it's a must have so 90% of this is cleaning, scrubbing, degreasing, scraping etc then wiping down the parts with paint thinner because that will remove any remaining grease and prep the surfaces to accept paint without fisheyes etc. A great degreaser is Easy Off oven cleaner. Get a large oil change pan and spray the parts down - let them soak - repeat if needed and hose them off. Don't use oven cleaner in your garage! The fumes are NASTY. On parts that you need to watch what is sprayed on them - like parts with rubber seals etc, you're better off to clean them by hand using paint thinner, scotch bright pads, sand paper etc. I used some left over reducer from a past paint job I did to clean many of the parts.

The engine compartment is done with 3 different blacks - flat on the inner fenders and firewall, satin on all of the suspension parts and frame and semi-gloss on all of the brackets, ps pump and a few misc pieces. Word of warning - the flat paint will collect dust and show marks like crazy, so on a DD car I would suggest a semi-flat or satin for the inner fenders and firewall.

The overflow bottle was quite a mess and I used water and ice cubes in it and acted like I was making a mixed drink - shake it around like crazy and the ice cubes knocked off all of the rusty scale inside. It's not a fast process, but the results were worth the effort. The lid on mine is still discolored, but it's not a priority right now and is easy to replace when I get to it.

Just take one part at a time and you'll do fine. Prep is very important if you want the parts to take paint well and look good when they dry.

Hope this helps a little,
Adam

 

Most of the detail stuff is done on the motor now. Few more little things to do before we do the breakin runs.

 

You do great work! Now I need to man up and do mine.

 

I've been following along and your work is inspirational! Can't wait to start my transformation next fall. This summer I plan on doing the interior, are you doing any interior work soon

 

Thank you slopoke

I'm in the middle of putting the dash back together now. The car had a large portion of new parts in the interior, but most were installed incorrectly and didn't fit, no wiring fixes or cleaning before they were put in etc. Nice parts, just no prep before the install. I'll take a few more pics of the dash project - it's been, well, intersting lol

I have removed all of the carpet, door panels, seats, kick panels etc and reinstalled some of it already. Not sure how many photos of that I took, but I'll see if I have some here. We will be recovering the seats and putting in some t top headliners at some point, but that will be down the road after we save up some $$. Just doing the best we can with what we have at this point

 

Few more update photos

I made up more of the before/after shots. They seem to show the progress the best.

Engine before / after shots that are a little more of a complete comparison:





And the interior (so far)



I think the gauges and the dash cap turned out pretty nice. I ended up peeling almost all of the old cracked vinyl off of the original dash pad to get the cap to fit properly but it was worth it. The cap came with the car and to keep costs down for now we used it.



Sort of hard to get a good shot of this, but the interior lights and gauge lights now work



Thanks for looking,
Adam

 

Awesome... The interior looks great as well... What's on the punch list, if any??? Excellent work and that baby looks brand new!!

Rogman

 

Thank you Rogman Punchlist? You lost me on that - only one cup of coffee this morning

 

Little things left to do... Attach a wire here, prime the oil pump, etc...

 

Ahh... Yep, just a few things.

Put my new clutch return springs on
Adjust clutch pedal free-play
Add PS fluid
Add water (tighten drain on radiator first! lol)
Gas can trip so it's got fuel
Double-check hoses, bolts etc one last time


Then cross my fingers, pray nothing goes wrong and give it a try...

 

Who makes the headers, Hooker? I see the tag on the pics, but I can't read it.