Roger, you can call me RBird - no problem. I'm used to it. I don't know about flighty though, SBG

So what happened during the last 3 weeks?

I corrected the rear rotors run-out with shims. Ended up with around .0015" / .002" on both sides:


Ready to be installed:


Then mounted the new 'proportioning valve' - not a quick and easy task:


Even though I'm not going to ultimately use the old wheels, I could not see myself putting them on this shiny chassis without washing, sanding and painting them:






Then I installed the trailing arms (without the shims) and 1/2 shafts:


You can't install those struts without a lot of shim grinding:


I'm still not done with that:


Finally did a dry fit installation of the Shark Bite rear suspension.

These struts that attach to the differential cover clearly interfere with the central bracket bolt. I decided to grind the strut instead of the bolt so I can torque/remove the bolt again more easily.


I don't understand why every customer (I presume) has to go through this, instead of having the manufacturer do it in the first place:

I added primer and paint after the grinding.

Now they could fit properly:


And today, as a Saint Valentine's Day gift to my sweet '77, I finished the dry fit of the Shark Bite system








The body is getting real jealous of the chassis which has been getting all the attention:


Now I have to undo a lot of that work and redo it for good with Loctite.

Thanks for taking a peek

 

looking great!!!!

 

Here we are one month later with one month worth of progress and pictures:

After the successful dry-fit, I removed the Shark Bite brackets that attach to the differential cross-member and put them back on with red Loctite.

Added the stainless steel shims at the front end of the control arms and the parking brake cable:


Installed the struts with the customized bolts:







(I still have some anti-seize to clean up)

Then it was the rear sway bar's turn:




...and finally the Wilwood D8 calipers:



I still have to add blue Loctite to a few bolts and torque them to spec.

I also bought ethanol-safe gas hoses and connected them to the gas sending unit:





What else? I took out the guts of the passenger door and refurbished them:






























Yet another exciting highlight for me: I replaced my dinky cardboard toolboxes with something a bit less laughable




More pictures under February 2015 and March 2015.

Sorry for my minimalist commentary. I am a man of few words.

Thanks for taking a peek

 

Dang thats some sweet work and nice upgrades. Also nice tool chest, very essential (I did the same thing couple of weeks ago)

 

Hey RBRID, see I didn't call you rbird. anyway great job on everything so far. I like the door restoration which I will also be doing. The tool box is also some thing I need to do . Keep up the great work.
r

 

Thanks Jerry and Roger - I used to complain to my wife about my cardboard toolboxes. So I got this tool chest for my birthday. Now I may start pointing out to my kids that I don't have enough tools to fill it up. Fathers' day is approaching...

 

RB a guy can never have too much storage. The one I just got is the Husky roller cabinet with the wooden top there to the right. Half my storage is tools the other half is parts and I still have stuff laying around.

 

jr73, you're spoiled. That's an awesome garage you have there. Looks as clean as a surgeon's O.R.

I started to work on the driver door.



Took out the greasy guts:



I was wondering why my driver window would sometimes make a loud BANG! when moving it up or down. I may have discovered why:
The power window regulator mount bracket was broken off



Luckily Willcox sells the part for $19:

Power Window Regulator Mount Bracket

 

2 things scare me, thats automatic transmissions and window regulators. You are one brave hombre.

 

jr73 that is one nice place to work on things. As a retired cabinet maker you have given me some pause for thought.
r

 

The Easter bunny pushed the chassis out of my garage to have a better look at it and took some pictures:







The body was jealous and wanted some attention - I think it will get a lot of it in the next couple of years:



On my side I continued to refurbish parts of the driver door. The power window regulator had three problems:
#1: A broken mount bracket


#2: Worn teeth


#3: A roller with a flat spot


So I'll get a new one from Willcox.

Here are some finished parts:




Thanks for taking a peek

 

Nice Rbrid, doing some nice work. Keep it up and you will have an awesome ride awaiting.
r

 

Just went through your thread again. Your home made gantry and stackable tote part storage is impressive enough but the components in that chassis and the resto on the frame is fantastic. As far as the Sharkbite system is concerned I dont care if they work or not they look killer.

 

Thanks for your comments Roger & JR! So far so good. I think the hardest phases are still ahead of me (I'm thinking about you, electrical system ).

No exciting news to share. I started to shift my attention to the body:
removed the battery cables & clips, the starter solenoid relay, various harness clips in the engine compartment, water diverters.





A bit scratched up but re-usable:

Can these scratches be removed by the way?

Battery cable clips:






Whatever clip:






Vacuum hoses clips:






I also started to clean up the #2 body mount pockets:
Driver side before:


Driver side after:


Passenger side:


And finally started to scrape the passenger steel floor board:




That's all folks. Thanks for taking a peek

 

A few pictures from the latest progress.

I have been continuing a bit the prep'ing of the floors. It'll be a while before they're ready for an epoxy primer.
I also plugged all the holes inside and out so I could pressure wash the outside without getting water inside the cabin:




There, ready for a bath, with a bath cap:


Phase 1 was pressure washing:


Phase 2 was scrubbing with scotch-brite & simple green:












It was so much fun!

Too bad it only needs to be done once.

I didn't get all the grease off. I'll continue the cleaning with lacquer thinner.

Thanks for taking a peek.

 

Hi RBrid, all the parts you have cleaned and prepped look great. Getting the underbody clean is harder , I think but something that needs to be done. Your right with it on needing it done once. Good job
Carry on!
r

 

Boy, the idea is to clean the car not get greasy yourself.

 

you even got dirt in your teeth

 

Thanks Roger. This week I have been rubbing dirt, grease and paint off the fiberglass with automotive lacquer thinner. It seems I have barely scratched the surface. Man that thinner ate through my rubber gloves in the blink of an eye. Got myself some chemical resistant neoprene gloves today.

Greasy, me? That's my normal look SBG. Are you insinuating that I should be taking a bath too?

The experience was so enjoyable that I had a big smile on my face while scrubbing underneath the body.

 

The vette didn't get any love for 2 1/2 weeks courtesy of a couple kidney stones. The painful adventure ended with a surgery with freakin' laser beams. I'm all better now and back in business.

I cleaned the underbody with lacquer thinner. Took care of most of the grease and dirt. A ton of work remains though before it can be painted.

I also started to prep the firewall. Like the floor pans, it was covered with some thick coating:


After lots of scrubbing with lacquer thinner:


Barely started to get to the bare fiberglass in the rear:


Imagine my surprise one day when I stepped into the garage and a giant spider had cocooned the rolling chassis


I thought let's take advantage of this cocoon and put the body back on the chassis. I'll test out some Gulf-themed race liveries to figure out which one I prefer.




That's all for now. Have a great 4th of July!

Thanks for taking a peek.