Amusing write up! Congrats on the '73 - a great year for sure.

Enjoy!

 

Congrats on the new/old '73 purchase... I too have only had my '73 about a month now, and the story lines are almost parallel.

Mine looked great on the outside with new paint, new wheels and tires, recovered seats and new door panels... In fact, I was somewhat blinded to the many other deficiencies
because of the initial WOW! factor.

After having a bit of buyer's remorse, I've kinda' settled in to the fact that the car is less
than what I'd hoped for, but really not that bad for a 41 year old car.

I hope you have good luck with your new '73 and enjoy the journey of bringing it back to life as I plan to with mine.

mardyn

 

Congratulations on your 73, she looks pretty nice from what we can see so post up more pics. There are a few of us whom are battling interior heat so there are a few threads on the subject.

 

Always nice to see another 73 reborn.

 

Just one white knuckle moment. The entire trip pretty much!

I can't FIND a date code on any of the tires. Hindsight being what it is, a trailer would have been a more intelligent option!

+++
LarMan

 

I really, really tried to not fall in love with it until after I looked in every nook and cranny (ok, insert bad joke here). I fully expect to replace EVERYTHING at some point. I joked about the engine or tranny falling out half way home. I've made a real list with 3 categories. Critical/ safety (e.g. belts, tires, ...), needed (door hardware, vacuum system, ...), and dreams (400HP 350, 6 speed tanny, paint). I plan to break each project down as much as possible and keep it driveable more than not. We'll see!!!

+++

LarMan

 

that's kinda what I did with mine, she's a driving project. I started out with safety issues, fixed those then started in on making it dependable, on that front when I finally get a new 5 speed for it the whole drive train to include suspension will be new.

however you feel you need to break it down good luck, take lots of pictures and post often (with pictures of course )...

 

Very fun story. I'm very pleased there is another person out there willing to "share the pain" of owning one of these awesemely spectacular, and at times infuriating, cars.

To give some insight on this particular point, the 4th gear in an M20 and M21 (and M22, for that matter) is identical. 1:1. The differences between "wide" and "close" ratio is in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

I've created a Gear Ratio Comparison chart for my car (since my speedo doesn't work, I have to relate my RPM to MPH).

I have a 3.70 rear end and am pulling right at 2,700 RPM at 65 MPH.

By my calculation, you MAY have a 4:11 gear in the rear end. My my estimation, that gets you to almost exactly 3,000 RPM at 65.

A 4:11 will, of course, give you good off-the-line performance, but will suck eggs during interstate runs.

It WOULD, however, be a good gear choice if you end up running a 5 speed.

If you're going through the car one component at a time, perhaps you could consider a 3:70 or 3:55 rear-gear swap when you go through the rear end. That's when you'd upgrade your universals, and through the IMMENSE pain of dealing with your trailing arms, BTW. You'd get a little better compromise of off-the-line performance with not-as-frenetic interstate RPM's.

I'm OK with my 3.70 gears. They do discourage me from extended interstate drives, but, quite frankly, this is NOT an "interstate" car. But my Hooker/STS exhaust is hella loud and I, like you, have a rather spectacular lack of weatherstripping. For your use in frame of reference.

 

Finally took some time to take more pics of the car. The more I crawl around this car, the more I like it. Sure, it needs attention but all is "doable".

Everyone, PLEASE fee free to comment on anything you see in these pics (good, bad, ugly, out of place, major safety issue). I think I'm actually "missing" some components (like the front mini air dam that bolts to the valance and perhaps the windshield washer plastics (if a '73 had these).

Body

Someone obviously scraped something!




Last paint job was not prepped properly.


Not sure what happened here but looks like the ol' "clear packing tape trick" is holding on this chipped piece of fiberglass.


Lots of overspray and my rusty radiator frame.

Wiper Area




Interior



Nothing like a 2" long, mismatched screw holding in your wiper switch.
YES!!! The clock works!






I'm actually very pleased with the condition of the interior.

Engine Bay



Rats nest?


Vacuum lines are ALL going to be replaced. Lights are permanantly up.
Shoudl I worry about the wires running to this coil yet?


Low-rent aftermarket AC. Still, it works so wll stay for now.


What the heck is this for? Not used on a 73? Comes from a Perfomer intake. I HATE this air cleaner.



Undercarriage






Not sure if this is the side of the bell housing or front of tranny.
Is the plug on the left of pic the speedo cable? Mine does not work and I think the quart of oil on it might be why.


Wet transmission? Would new gaskets and seals fix this?








This needs attention ASAP.


This brake looks (i) original and (ii) like it was pulled out of the river. I guess not all were replaced. Others look new (or newer).


Is this normal? Seems like a misfit hunk of metal.


What the heck is this? Left, rear corner looking straight up. Power antenna? Why a hose / drain?




Not sure if this oil is from the rear end or the leaking tranny??? I was thinking tranny but now looking at this pic, I'm not so sure.








The tranny get "wetter" as you go further back? Does this indicate a rear seal or the wind pushing it rearward while on the road?



Thanks. My FIRST package from ZIP arrived earlier this week. Looking forward to getting my hands dirty.

LarMan

 

I see the same monkey that installed the DIN radio in my car, did yours as well.

I swear, it looks like some kid was working on my gauge console with a dull chainsaw and a sledge hammer.

I've located the correct installation kit/bezels (at JC Whitney no less) for only $17.00 to try and clean up my disaster area...

btw... I'm quite jealous of that 4 spd. I finally gave up and settled for an automatic (400T)

Keep those pics coming.

mardyn

 

Welcome to the "73 Club. I remember many of those same issues only too well. Have fun with it.

 

Yup.

Looks alot like mine too.

 

looks good! tranny probably has a bad rear seal. dunno bout the rear. yea id loose that air cleaner, those things are known to catch fire

i did the brakes/suspension/steering the first year, interior and tranny the 2nd, just did my engine and bay this winter. i pull mine down every winter for something, and drive it all summer

 

Welcome fellow 73 owner...

 

Keep those 73's rolling.

 

Excellent project!

Great job of taking pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I recognize the "red powder" on those half-shaft u-joints......rusty needle bearings about ready to seize up

 

Congrates and welcome to the "Project Creep Club" is what I think they call it...I can say you are just getting started. After replacing damn near everything under me 73 now a Trans Line has a leak as it was rubbing on something......

Check your bushings, bearings, hoses, cables as a 40 year old car nay need some TLC from neglect from the previous owners.

Check out my restro post on my 73 Coupe.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...ve-i-done.html

Karsten

 

Loved the original post ...especially the part about your kids and the power windows or lack their of.

Old C3 will be a little kin to falling in love with a old Harley bike. It's usually a all in deal or nothin .

Yup....you got a lot of work ahead ..or somebody does.

I don't blame the cars though. It's the six previous owners who bubba 'd the car, refused to do proper maintenance , never bought a decent part , drove the b jesus out of it , used wrong and inferior parts ....etc. ....the C3 were driven to death by morons., sold because the owners were to stupid or too poor to fix them correctly.

Start with getting all the shop books . Start with brakes, suspension , steering, tired, bearings, springs ...etc......stuff that keeps you from dying.

When you pull the trailing arms , diff , and all that check fuel lines , hoses , rusted frame rott in pockets.

You picked a nice year and good color.

Congratulations .

Post your restoration progress....a lot of smart guys on here to help.

 

welcome to the forum. This place is great. I recently acquired a handbrake for the rest of my life (read 73 vette) and although my betrothed thinks I am in the yard I am actually in my office with a quadrajet that was going to be binned. I didn't think I could solve my problems being new to this stuff, but as you will no doubt find out, this forum has the answer to every 'challenge' you will come across. I honestly thought I was going to grab my ankles and walk backwards into the auto parts store on a weekly basis before I found this forum.
For carbs, read 'Lars' threads. Just saved me 2-3k on holley efi as I thought there was no use keeping carby.
BTW
Your list of 'future works' reads spookily close to mine.
Good luck!

 

Great write up. Welcome to the 73 Club.... Yours is in much better shape then what I started off with. I'm doing a frame off on mine, started over a year ago..http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...estration.html

This is a great place.. Lots of knowledge here... Good luck and I'll be following your thread.

Tim