Hey everyone it's been a while since I posted. I bought my new camaro and have been putting my time and money into it.... I do want to still back project my vette in my spare time and at times where I have money to spare. Since this will not be a my daily driver I want some serious horsepower. There are several engine routes to go. My main choices are a 383, a big block I still have to choose one I like, or the engine out of an early 2000s z28 camaro. Next is the tranny. I want a 5 or 6 speed tranny geared pretty low for off the line power. I want to do shark bit suspension. A custom paint job maybe and custom exhaust set up. (I'll explain it if anyone wants to hear my genius set up for that )
I found a c2 back window set up for c3s I think is cool if anyone has any info on that. Im going to put cool led lights on top of back trip area. Lastly a few interior updates such as putting seats like the ones in my camaro in it and custom gauges. Please give your imput!!! I love my corvette. Can't wait to see what it can be. Is this a waist of time right now to start? I have my new camaro I can continue to mod big time too. Or should I get started on this? Imput please !

 

I can not advise you anything what you wrote above. It is your car and you have to decide what you want.

WHEN you know what you want....then you have a direction to go in. The reason I am writing this is because I have customers from time to time that are all over the place and have no specific preference..and that does ME know good. I NEED to know what they want in order for me to give them what they want. These choices are yours and yours alone.

DUB

 

Your post is obviously asking for some help with decisions, but once you get them and process it all, you need to come up with a clear and concise plan rather then deciding along the way. I had a basic plan, but have made a lot of changes costing valuable time and money. It's almost inevitable to a point, but the more detailed plan you have from the beginning and stick to it as tight as possible, better of you'll be in the end.

Make sure you have a budget too. Plan according to the budget and expect 50-100% more! Many of projects die off and never get finished for lack of money and going "too far".

Anyway to answer some of your questions, the 383 would probably be the easiest. An LS1 from the Camaro doesn't qualify to many as "Serious Horsepower", but can obviously be built. Big block will require some modifications if coming from a SBC. A mild 383 crate can be done for around $4000, otherwise expect anywhere from $5-10k+ depending what you decide.

A 5 or 6 speed swap is gonna be $3500 minimum.

Rear sharkbite kit is around $1600..

With "serious horsepower" you will need plenty of rear end upgrades, call it $4000+..

Custom paint job will put you around $15,000..

Headers and custom exhaust probably $1000-$1500

All of those prices are doing it yourself. If you expect to take it to a shop, plan on several thousands more!

So your pushing close to $30,000 minus your interior, etc. Do you LOVE your corvette this much? Not trying to discourage you, just being realistic. The answer for me was/is yes.

 

all depends on what you want and CAN do within your budget. I am in the process of rebuilding my 2nd 79 vete. my first one was 468bb and i completed it for around 16k. this one is a complete frame off and I'm roughly at 7k with the purchase of the car. build the car for what you plan do do with it. my 468 was overkill for a summer cruise car, I was happy to sell it. my 383/700r4 will be plenty for street driving. I let my bikes fulfill my need for speed.

 

If you do most of the work yourself there is no way a paint job is 15k. You're getting raped if your paying someone that much to spray some base and clear, even if you have graphics/stripes.
If you can block sand your car and prep it properly a painter can lay the base and clear in a day. It shouldn't be more than a few grand including product.
15k would be having someone strip it bare and primer, block, prep and paint it. I've done that and it's a lot of work.

Also, I have to ask, why do people call it color sanding when you're actually just wet sanding clear coat? There is no color being sanded at all.

 

You're right. That is a price to have a shop do it. But, compared to most C3 tasks, I would say paint/body is one area a lot still farm out. Although, there has been a fair amount of do-it-yourself paint threads popping up lately.

..I believe the term started before base/clear. So "color sanding" would have made sense for single stage paints back in the day.

 

Good timing by the way... Just sat down at the computer after doing some laminating out in the garage and showering (which doesn't help)because I'm too dumb to learn not to play & sand 'glass in a T-shirt.

 

Ill Probably push the paint back til the end because it looks pretty good now. Yes I love this car that much

 

Body work isn't really that hard it just takes a lot of patients and time.
Its easy to get into the project and think, "what have I gotten myself into."
From there it goes to , "good enough." Then its all down hill from there.
Someone already stripped mine and did a base clear job on it so it really just needs a respray. I figure i have a couple more seasons on it then Ill sand it flat with 600 and respray it. It'll be good as new:-)

 

I'll never play with glass again. Stripped the entire car with a heat gun and razor blades. Hung CIC 2 inch front and 4 inch back flared fenders. Glassed the bonding strips in and got to the back of the car to find a lot of bondo. Ground out the bondo and had to build the rear deck to taillight panel bonding strip with fiberglass (Bubba got a hold of this one). Many times I wanted to give up and bring it somewhere to have the remaining glass work done. I have a few minor areas to glass in. Hopefully will finish priming the next week or so and start block sanding. Don't know how many 100's hours I have in it at this point (Doors were taken off and metal door portions were sand blasted). Also ground out the front header bar because the rivets were causing bumps in the glass. Its not bad till you find all the little hidden issues. To do it again, I would just have it soda or walnut shell blasted. I'm still itching some days... LOL

 

BUT...that depends on how READY the body really is for paint. I get Corvettes trailered into my shop and I look and feel them and they are often times...NO WHERE near ready for me to allow it into my paint booth...ready to paint.

YES...I agree....if the car is READY and spot on...and I am looking at it with an EAGLE EYE....then the above statement is correct.

I get people that say: "All I want you to do is to tape it up and paint it. It will be ready for you...you won't have to do anything to it". I laugh....and when the car gets into the main shop and I wipe it and check the surface....I show them how FAR OFF the car is to actually being able to paint. A total REALITY CHECK. BUT...to come to their defense...they take the car home and get it prepped correctly and when it passes my inspection....then I will do as they say.

An industry term from the days before basecoat/clearcoat became a common practice. Many other terms and words are sued in other areas that are actually not correct also....but they are implied and 'understood' and accepted....like 'rag top' can be used to describe a convertible top to some people. "Rag joint' to describe the steering coupling....the list goes on. And actually....I have never found a clear that was truly clear...YES..I have used some that were REALLY, REALLY CLOSE...BUT....they all have some slight tint to them...even as slight as they may be....but when applied ...they are clear....BUT if the tint in the clear is enough....it can throw off some colors and change them where they butt match up against a panel that WAS NOT cleared and left alone. That is where knowing how to paint and apply the Clare can make the job great or a flop.

[QUOTE=Ibanez540r;1591902541]Good timing by the way... Just sat down at the computer after doing some laminating out in the garage and showering (which doesn't help)because I'm too dumb to learn not to play & sand 'glass in a T-shirt.[/QUOTE]

YEP...you will do that only one time.

100%. Perfectly written! A person can start with 'Rolex' in mind and end up with 'Timex'.

IF a person WANTS to do this...then they can...but it is not as easy as some people may say it is...because of the 'learning curve'....especially if you are REALLY wanting to do it correctly. it will depend on the level of perfection a person is wanting to achieve...and that level can be HIGH...but it will take time.

DUB

 

NOPE. I said, too dumb. Done it plenty of times. Usually several weeks or months apart so the memory had faded.

I'll be back out there Monday night. We'll see if I smarten up..

 

[QUOTE=DUB;1591907681]BUT...that depends on how READY the body really is for paint. I get Corvettes trailered into my shop and I look and feel them and they are often times...NO WHERE near ready for me to allow it into my paint booth...ready to paint.



YES...I agree....if the car is READY and spot on...and I am looking at it with an EAGLE EYE....then the above statement is correct.

I get people that say: "All I want you to do is to tape it up and paint it. It will be ready for you...you won't have to do anything to it". I laugh....and when the car gets into the main shop and I wipe it and check the surface....I show them how FAR OFF the car is to actually being able to paint. A total REALITY CHECK. BUT...to come to their defense...they take the car home and get it prepped correctly and when it passes my inspection....then I will do as they say.


An industry term from the days before basecoat/clearcoat became a common practice. Many other terms and words are sued in other areas that are actually not correct also....but they are implied and 'understood' and accepted....like 'rag top' can be used to describe a convertible top to some people. "Rag joint' to describe the steering coupling....the list goes on. And actually....I have never found a clear that was truly clear...YES..I have used some that were REALLY, REALLY CLOSE...BUT....they all have some slight tint to them...even as slight as they may be....but when applied ...they are clear....BUT if the tint in the clear is enough....it can throw off some colors and change them where they butt match up against a panel that WAS NOT cleared and left alone. That is where knowing how to paint and apply the Clare can make the job great or a flop.

I hear you. I build guitars for a living and it take patients. I use a lot of lacquer and its impossible to find lacquer that is water clear. Urethane is not nearly as bad but there is still a slight tint to it.
After Ive sanded a guitar ten different times to get it ready for finish, then sand the finish another 5 times then final wet sand and buff Ive had just about enough of it!....lol I understand what it takes to finish a car and 15K for a total strip and repaint doesn't sound that bad.
Thankfully I don't think my car will need to be stripped, it just needs to be blocked out and re sprayed. Ill probably do it myself and have someone spray it, or I might even spray it myself. I know a lot of guys just spray the clear and never wet sand and polish it but I can't stand the look of orange peel. Ive never seen one right off the gun that looked perfectly flat and polished. I figure even if I do get a bit of peel Ill just sand and buff it. Id probably do it anyway if I had someone else spray it. The shops around here don't "color" sand and buff. You get what comes right off the gun. With a black car you can really see the peel.