I'm so impressed with how quickly you did all this work, especially given that you have a full time job. It took me 4 years to complete my Eagle restoration which was no where near as thorough as yours and I don't have a full time job.

Congratulations on your monumental effort and success!

And yes, the video of the car idling did post.

 

She sounds sweet and i like the rumble. You are getting close Mac keep it up.

 

Thank you for the comment. I did start off with a pretty good car so that helped.

 

Thank you for the comment. She does sound really good, I was really surprised. I will have to get a video while driving some time soon. That's when she really sounds good, a smooth but aggressive sound.

 

Ok so I am a little late posting this but I did get the car the 4th of July car show. It was a lot of fun but did not win anything. Going to try to go to two other car shows next month.
I don't yet have her aligned yet so I have only driven a few miles but it was a blast. Only issue that I have is the steering gear box has a catch and a pop. I am going to have to pull it and send it back I think.

 

 

Wow!...what a shiny Chevy!!!....

 

Beautiful '79 sounds healthy too!

 

Worked on the alignment tonight after work. Have ride height, front camber and caster and rear camber set. Have my strings set up and will set toe tomorrow after work. Love my new digital camber caster gage!

 

Fantastic car and inspiring pictorial! Thanks for posting.
Quick question regarding primer and prep. did you sand or strip your original paint. Not sure if I missed the process in your postings. Also, what primer did you use when you sprayed at home?

Congrats on a job well done. Both on the car and for your service to our country. j

 

Got the car out on the road today and clocked about 25 miles on her. Have some bugs to work out but really happy with everything so far.
Few issues that I have are there is a catch in the steering gear box but the place I got it from is going to take care of that, will pull and mail back next week.
I need to adjust the clutch, it disengages but not till the peddle is on the floor and does not shift well over 3000 rpm.
The left side mirror glass is rattling, tight but rattles and stops if you touch it.
I took the car apart just after I moved from Texas, it was tuned at sea level, now using the same carb and can not remembered what I did with it when I first moved to 5000 ft above sea level. I think all I did was change the primary main jets. Well its way to rich!!
I seem to have a wiring problem with my gages that I can not figure out in my head. When I turn the lights on the oil pressure gage and volt meter go to 0. Fuel and temp gage are fine. Guess I will be pulling the center cluster.

So here are my thoughts so far.
The engine, being now balanced is really smooth and crisp. Lots of part throttle toque and sounds really good.
I have not pushed the car but it handles so much better than it did stock. Now having this car for 16 years I have changed, rebuilt a lot of the suspension multiple time trying to get it to handle better and now I think I am happy, well for normal driving. On the high way it would follow all the ruts and was work keeping it straight, but now it makes my 2015 Malibu work car seem like it darts around. But I think this is mostly from the different upper control arms giving me lots of caster.
The car feels really solid, firm but not stiff or harsh. On a road that my old 2012 Nissan Altima coupe would make a drink in the cup holder spill the Corvette is smooth and even on.

Also as a up date to my home alignment I ended up with the front wheels camber at .3 degrees neg and caster at 7.2 and 7.4 degrees. Need thinner shims to get even I think but .2 degrees of cross caster I think is fine. Rear camber is .3 deg neg. Toe was a bit harder to get where I wanted it, but rear is 1/8 in and front is some where between 1/32 and 1/16. Steering wheel is strait.

I have the next 4 days off but company coming from out of town, will tinker a bit but plan in a few days to pull the steering gear box.

 

I first striped the car using razor blades.....really easy and fast. Then for the remaining primer I used fiberglass paint striper. I only did about 1 or 2 square feet at a time and only let it sit for a few min. Then wiped it down with paint thinner so the stripper did not sit on the fiver glass. Worked well and was a procedure suggested by Dub. I then took a grinder to the filler in the fender seams and refilled using the Vette SMC filler. I primed it will a epoxy primmer that was recommended by the shop that I had paint the car. I did quite of block sanding and then the shop did also.

 

Played with the clutch adjustment yesterday and it shifts a lot better. Just drove around the block.
I think all I am going to do today on the car is wash it. Have Monday and Tuesday off so I am going to get out on the road then and put some more miles on it before I pull the steering gear box.

 

Car looks great, you need to update your avatar now.

 

Drove the car today in some twisty curves and it was amazing!

 

Glad you had a good drive in the car, and those are amazing pictures!

 

Thank you about the photos. Cant tell in them but by the time I got to that spot the car had a nice coating of dust.
And the drive was good, I was very surprised at how well the car handled. It felt like it was glued to the road. Just registered for a track day at a road course for next month so that should be lots of fun.

 

WOW. I havent really been on CF since December, but this was one of the first threads I caught up on. Amazing work all around, and that paint job is stunning

This is a car I would like to see in person sometime!

 

I have been working on getting everything adjusted and fine tuned. I am happy with the steering and suspension, but think I am going to add a little bit of toe in on the front wheels. I also may increase camber just a little bit to experiment with how the car acts with a bit more. Currently I am at .3 degrees of negative camber all around, may bring it to around .5 degrees, maybe more just to see.
I love the borgison gear box. It has really good road feel and I love the quicker steering ratio. I was worried that it would make it feel darty or steer to quickly on the high way but it does not. The car drives very strait and it no longer chases all of the ruts in the road.
I just installed a spreader bar but have not driven it yet to see the improvements. I will post photos of the bar.
I have a Proform carb that I keep jetting down but it is still running really rich. It is a 650 ss dp that out of the box jets are 70 and 78. At sea level it was running well with 72 and 80 jets. When I moved and now at 4500 feet I had dropped down to 68 and 76 jets and it ran well, but to rich now. I went down to 67 and 75 and a bit better as it is now in the range of the air fuel ratio monitor but cruising is at 12:1. I decreased the idle feed restrictor and it was a bit better but now at 12.5:1. I just went to 65 jets on the primaries and will try it tomorrow and see what happens.
Timing is at 36 full and 15 base with full in at 2500 rpms.

 

Took the car out to a track and had a blast, wanted to add a few photos.