Hey guys after long deliberation and my gas tank making a hole in itself I've decided to start a rebuild on my L82 80. The major areas I will hit is suspension, brakes, obviously fuel delivery, and electrical my dash and gauges are completely hire wire plus it looks like a monkey rewired stuff in there as well. Is there any tips and hints some of you pros can give me, I wanna do right by the car and get it back to its head turning days. For the electrical I'm putting in a Dewitts radiator up front with all new gauges from autometer and when it can be afforded a nice stereo, should I attempt to unmuck the muck-up or go a different route? And for suspension is it easy to replace body mounts? Thanks for all the help and photos to come soon.

 

Tips and Tricks: Buy used parts from me!

 

The first thing I think you should do is get a fresh notepad and dedicate the first three pages to 'Stuff to Do' and then the next three to 'Stuff to Get', because you'll soon find one page isn't enough! Put a check box next to each item, so you can keep track of what you're doing and what you're gettting.

Take a lot of photos! Before you take anything apart, take pictures of it, from different angles. Bag and tag all the parts, so you'll know where they came from months from now. I use 3x5 index cards for the tags, because they don't spindle, fold or fall apart from the abuse they take in the bag and use a permanent marker.

Not sure about the Autometer gauges, because the factory gauges work for me, but many like the custom look and lighting features and maybe somebody could chime in.

If you don't have an AIM or Assembly Manual, get one, they're almost a necessity in making these cars right. They'll show you how the wiring should lay behind the dash and elsewhere. The many exploded views help a lot.

A FSM or Factory Service Manual is a must for me too. I also ordered a laminated wiring diagram, and while you can get it for free or utilize the one in the FSM, the huge, color coded and tough laminated diagram hangs on the shop wall and we just have to wander over to take a look, whenever the need begets itself.

The 'search' feature is fantastic on the C3 forum and the internet and you will find a ton of information on just about anything related to the C3.

 

Yea F22 I have a Gm assembly manual and that thing has been helpful in the past and is helpful when planning out the deconstruction process. I will defintely use the idea with the bag and tag wasnt even thinking about that.

 

Is this going to be a 'rolling restoration' or are you going to park the car until all the work is complete? That would affect how you sequence the work, etc. ...

 

As said above - get organized first. It really helps during the project. I put up a dry erase board in the garage to keep track of things and jot them down as I thought of them or ran into things while working on the car. Priority is safety items then shiny stuff, then "wish list" stuff.

Excuse my chicken scratch - but you get the idea I'm sure. The photo of the black Vette is a shot I found online and my goal for the appearance part.



Birdsmith hit it on the head as well. The type of project will help determine the order of things.

Adam

 

Fun thread. I usually have more time to think about a project than to actually work on it so I go through each step in my mind and have lists and sublists. When I come across one now I feel some accomplishment but also a little anxiety.

Keeping parts organized takes effort


Here is my Bubba idea of the day. Since you are near the coast you may like it. On my car the gas tank was held by metal tank straps. These straps helped rust and rub pin holes in the tank. Soooo, I soaked them in WD40 and slid a rubber bicycle tube over them. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

Hello Recon12thman,
I am in the process of doing a 70 LT1.
I used the Nolan Adams check list as one of sources before I will remove the body.
Have fun,
Nelson 007

http://s1060.beta.photobucket.com/us...%20Restoration

 

Thanks for the ideas guys great stuff. I need a dry erase board for hte garage to check off stuff done. But this is a park it till its fixed kinda rebuild since the brakes are gone and the gas tank likes to share with the concrete can't use the car much at the point its in now. I will ask a stupid question if i was to add some electronics like radio and a dual radiator can the current loom take the added draw? And I come across a guy doing electronic headlight door lifters but upon further looking into it its a dead site, has anyone else decided to change the vacuum headlight to something electronic?

 

Watch out for the "while I'm at it" jobs.

Sounds like a pretty good set of projects you are doing. Keep up updated w/ pics. I didn't see anyone comment on body mounts. While I have never done them, I thought about it until I read some of the threads on guys taking a body mount off and breaking something, ending up w/ a body off rebuild just to replace the body mounts. If you do a search, you will see the benefits and hazards of body mounts.

 

Hello recon12 th,
I installed a Dewitt electric fan for my 68 L71.I had to have my alternator beefed up to handle the additional current needed .

nelson007

 

Thanks for the info guy nelson what kinda alternator did you go with or how many amps are you pushing now ?

 

You didn't say whether you are planning to do a body off. That's what I did and to prevent killing the budget with the "while I'm at it" syndrome I used one main criteria for deciding whether to do it now or later. How hard will it be to repair/replace this later? A short list of things I replaced because it was so much easier while I was doing the body off includes brake lines, fuel lines, lower radiator hose, body mounts and trailing arm bushings. Everything else I inspected and replaced if it was worn. If not I removed the rust and painted with rust preventive products. In my opinion, there is no reason to replace good parts that are relatively easy to replace/repair with the body on.

 

I totally agree with you 76 ray this will be a body on resto as much as i would like to take the body off and inspect those things that are tucked under there i just dont have the room to make it work.

 

Recon Dude, changing out to electric would be waaay more hassle and problems than keeping it the way it is. There are decided advantages to having a vacuum system for the headlights and believe it or not, it is an elegant and excellent system that is foolproof once you've fixed the problems of old rotted vacuum lines and actuators. You'll never get a short circuit with a vacuum system, that's for sure!

There are diagrams and somewhere, somebody has a really good explanation of how the whole thing really works and once you understand it, you're going, like "that's easy".

There are different 'circuits', just like an electrical system. You have a 'supply' circuit, a 'control circuit' and an 'actuator circuit' and instead of electrical relays, the system uses vacuum relays and actuators or cans to do the work.

http://www.corvette-101.com/vacuum.htm

PS: You'll need to get a good hand-held vacuum pump. Actron or Mityvac makes these and they are invaluable. Your whole HVAC system runs on vacuum too, believe me, you'll need it to actuate and test all of the interior actuators and valves.

http://www.google.com/products/catal...2689073660810#

 

best advice anyone gave me was to bag and tag everything, and take bunches of pictures.....you can never have enough pictures. also, try to have fun with it. there have been times over the past 2 years that my rebuild has NOT been fun, but that has more to do with not having enough time to devote to the project.

to answer your question about body mounts, I personally don't think they would be to hard to change out, as long as you lift the body a few inches securely so that you can get your hands in there to change them. Just make sure that you pay attention to the shims that are on the mounts. I didn't pay attention to mine when I took the mounts off and had to go back and look at pictures to try and figure out how many were on each mount.....don't know for sure if they are all actually where they go, but time will tell. make sure you lubricate the bolts and that you loosen all of them before you start lifting the body though. some of the old ones can be tough to actually remove, but again, i think you can get it done.

good luck,
gary

 

F22 yea you have a point there im just worried about maintaining vacuum because i plan on making some mods to the engine.

 

Hello Recon,
I took the original 42 amp and was rebuilt to 60amp. I think my mechanic sent the unit to John Pirkle.
Nelson007