The_pakettle

Thank you to all of the members who have directly or indirectly given freely of their advice.
When I started this project I had no idea how involved it would be; at first I thought my "barn find" would be easy to revive since it had been sitting for 25 years and couldn't have been that bad when it was parked. (wrong) I thought I would just clean things up a bit, sand it, splash on some paint and go for a drive.
It's been 2+ years, I've removed the body from the frame, sandblasted the frame, had it straightened on a frame machine, welded the cracks, rebuilt the engine, transmission, differential, drive shafts, suspension, brakes, heater and AC boxes, bought a "parts car" that's rusted through but still has a lot of good pieces, and through it all I've had a thoroughly enjoyable time putting things back together.
Advice from this site has been of immeasurable help.
One person mentioned Por15 to coat the frame. That stuff is tough and appears that it will be an excellent decision.
One person showed how "Bubba" repaired the heater blend door with a little epoxy. I did much the same thing and now I don't need a new heater box.
I've purchased parts from Ecklers, Corvette Central and of course E-Bay and Amazon. More than one member recommended Keenparts.com for those hard to find bits and pieces and they had what I couldn't find anywhere else.
Then there's the buying, selling and trading of spare parts and the full spectrum of commercial parts sites.
Thanks to everyone, and just so you know, I'm nowhere near finished so I'll keep looking here for advice.
If anyone wants to drop by and give me a few pointers, I'll gladly listen. I may not be able to afford advice given, but I'll listen. I'll even bring out some chairs and we can all sit around and laugh at my mistakes.

C3 4ME

We're going to need pictures of said project!!

Dirty Dalton

Yup. No pictures; it didn't happen!

The_pakettle

Here are a couple, I've gone a little past this now.
The first picture is when I first rolled it off the trailer.
The second is after frame work and a bunch of stuff.

7T1vette

It appears to me that YOU should be giving the advice!!!

Obviously, you are someone with a good work ethic, pretty good intelligence, knowledgeable in mechanical things, good at working with tools....and you interact well with others.

When you finish (if there is such a thing with these cars), I suspect that you will be having fun sharing what you've learned with others. {when you are not out driving the C3}

If I have offered any advice to you that was worth your while, it makes me happy that I could assist in your bringing that car back to life. Great work so far. Can't wait to see more progress.

[Are you some decendent of Dr. Frankenstein? Because I'm not sure I could pump life back into that 'puppy'.]

The_pakettle

No, I worked in a VW shop when I was in college and I've rebuilt a few engines and performed a fair amount of other automotive work, but my main skill for doing something like this is what I like to refer to as my tendency to be "compulsively frugal". I don't like to waste things.
That, plus the fact that I've wanted a Corvette since I was in HS and I saw the rich kids coming to school in a shiny, new Vette.
One girl at our school was the daughter of the local Chevrolet dealership owner, so she drove all kinds of nice things... I didn't particularly care for her, (rich kid syndrome) but I really liked her cars.

7T1vette

Well, thanks for reviving another C3 for this community of Corvette lovers!

Dirty Dalton

Have to know where you hang your hat.

Very nice work. I love that you're doing it yourself. I'm competent with a wrench, can measure to tenths of a thou, but beyond that...



Here's mine; similar state - but no wrenching by me.

The_pakettle

I "hang my hat" in Salt Lake City, actually a suburb called Taylorsville.
As for measuring down to a tenth of a thou, I too have a set of micrometers, but I also have a friend with a machine shop, and he does a lot of my work, and another friend owns an AAMCO, and he rebuilt the transmission and differential. Not so much "rebuilt", since he said everything looked new, but it had been in a barn for 25 years and I didn't trust any of the rubber parts so the old car has all new seals and a fresh engine.

Yours is a very clean frame. Looks nice. Strange how similar it is to mine.
Here are a couple more photos of mine at various stages.
First, the frame after I took the body off.
Second, the body, after I took it off the frame.
Next, the bare frame after my son sandblasted it for me. That was a lot of work and a very dirty job, for which I'm very grateful. At that photo I had just retrieved it from the frame shop where everything was pushed back to position. It's much better now.

The_pakettle

I need to roll it out of the garage so I can snap another shot of my progress. Not much to see actually, just that ugly body sitting on the frame, but I'm making progress, under the dashboard and along the firewall.

The_pakettle

I'll probably wait for the next batch of photos until I can put some primer on the body, maybe put the doors back on.

Dirty Dalton

I'm lucky in that the frame showed no signs of ever being hit. Progress, however it's made, is good. Keep at it.

The_pakettle

Sometimes it feels as though I'm beating a dead horse; I just can't make progress. I stand back after getting muscle cramps from keeping my nose under the dashboard for hours, I take a look at my "progress", and I can't see a thing.
The good news is, once I'm finished I'll know where every nut, bolt, screw and wire goes, and what they all do, but for now It seems that the progress is either slow or none.
I MAY be able to place the front fenders back on this weekend, that depends on how much other progress I make. Parts are arriving today which should make the frame ready for the nose.
Thanks again for whomever put me in touch with Keen, they were great.

The_pakettle

I'm trying to put the doors back on... speaking of beating a dead horse.
Any hints on the topic? I can get it withing 1/2 inch, but that low looks terrible and I don't even think it will fit over the pin.
I put new bushing on the hinges and they're working well and there isn't any play, but at this point I'm a bit stumped.
The doors are a bit heavy.

The_pakettle

I had to step away for a while, especially since the temperature inside my garage turned cold enough to freeze my fingers to the tools. (then I had some home improvements that took a lot of time)
I THINK I've got the doors figured out. I'm close, within 1/8 inch, but I wouldn't mind a little closer.
I've been sanding on the doors, tops, and rear quarter panels so there is a lot of dust on things.
It doesn't look like much progress, but it's sure taken a lot of time.
I want to finish with the doors and sanding before I post any more photos.

The_pakettle

A little progress. I aligned the door (passenger side) but it's not quite where I want it so I'll probably do it again. I don't want to install the front end until the doors are both where I want them.
I've been sanding on the parts that you can see, but the other side is just as bad as the "before" picture above, but at least the back half of the body is on and any progress is good.
Sanding is slow and tedious, but it's starting to look good, or if not good, at least better.

The_pakettle

The windshield isn't actually installed, that's just a safe place to store it.
AND... evidently the previous owner installed a couple different mirrors, so I'll need to take care of the holes.
I'm looking for a fiberglass rear bumper. I have a '75 urethane bumper that's in good shape for trade if anyone is interested. I'll send photos. I want to go seamless and I already have a fiberglass front bumper.
I can actually work on it a bit at a time now.
Having fun.

SB64

Don't be surprised if you have to go back to the doors once the front clip is on and the car is on the ground on tires. Things change when you do all the other things.
Just saying!
RVZIO

pbigpig

Looks Great!! You're going to have a really special car when you're done.

69Vett

put the wheels on, and sitting on the ground before you align the doors and front clip.