1980Guy

I'm interested in everyone's approach to how they build their cars. I got my Vette a week before my 21st birthday. I am 28 now, and she still looks pretty similar to what she looked like when I got her. That's rough around the edges. I've recovered the seats and painted the front end to cover up a bumper repair, but past that most of my efforts have gone into making it go and stop better. I finally finished installing new brake calipers and trailing arm lines last night. I need to bleed the system but I'm happy to have the new o-ring calipers. I have taken her to car shows and I always get flak from guys until it's time to leave. I had the engine rebuilt to road-racing spec (cam is a bit more track than street so I have to two foot drive it in town) and 10:1 compression with a dual plane Weiand intake. It has a built 700R4 with a locking 3000 rpm converter and I run full length headers with an x-pipe and super 40 knockoffs. She rattletraps her way out of the show area and then leaves loud and fast. Externally I did the engine up to look like a stocker with a carb and intake upgrade. She gets some pretty priceless looks from the haters when I light the rears up. I call it the Millennium Falcon Approach - she may not look like much but she's got it where it counts.

I've also seen cars rocking beautiful paint and interiors running wheezy stock engines and old brakes. That's also a perfectly legit way to build your car, so I'm not so much discussing the merits of one vs another. I'm more interested in everybody's approach.

revitup

I keep it OEM stock as much as possible, including the engine. It runs great. My rubber burning days are behind me. Body and paint are good. I make repairs as required, keeping everything in top condition. I enter it in a few shows here and there. Can't compete with the guys with 10K paint jobs. Never won anything, don't care. It makes me happy.

1980Guy

That's why we should all do whatever we do with them!

540 vette

I put a whole new brake system in, brakes, rotors, calipers, lines the whole thing. Then all new vacuum lines and headlight stuff. Most vette I get I always go thru everything and just get new.

69monzacpe

It's your car, do what you want to do with it. If your end goal is to have a street beast, go for it. If it's to have a stocker, that's what you should do. There is also areas in between those two ends. My old man had a saying: opinions are like a..holes, everyone has one and most of them stink and if you ask for an opinion be prepared as you may not get the response you were hoping for. I've run into some "haters" over the years, don't let them bother you as I've found there are many more out there who will enjoy the car as much as you do. Most of the haters are just jealous, trying to get a rise out of you or trying to pump up their own egos at your expense. You can let them bother you or you can just get on with what you enjoy doing with your car and spend time with those who enjoy the same. The haters in general have their heads shoved way too far up where the sun doesn't shine anyway (in my opinion).

To answer your initial question, I do what I want to my car with time and money as it is available or as other life priorities dictate. It will never be an NCRS winner, so my decision is that much easier for me. I've done the majority of the work myself so if someone else likes it that's great, but the persons opinion I'm most interested in is my own and if I'm not happy with it, I can change it until I'm happy with it. It's great when others like what I've done to the car and I appreciate that but it's more about me enjoying the ride. Surround yourself with people who also enjoy what you're into, and you'll enjoy them and your car that much more.

After all, it's just a car.

pigfarmer

Very glad to hear that someone under the age of 50 interested in these cars. I see young guys zooming around in unusual little cars that have obviously taken a lot of time & effort but I just can’t bring myself to get too excited about any of them.

I wanted a driver and bought someone else’s project just after Thanksgiving last year. Wasn’t really worried about matching #s. Wound up with a period correct 1969 CE engine; casting #s on the block, camel hump heads, exhaust all correct for that year. Seemed to run OK but I knew it needed work.

Over the winter I replaced the window motors and regulators, a number of vacuum actuators, got all the dash lights working, replaced the headlight switch. Headlights and wipers/wiper door all good. Fixed backup lights, e-brake, replaced a leaking fuel pump, the lines in the engine bay, clamps, filters. Even put in a pair of repro kickpanel speakers for the stock radio.

Got it all ready for state inspection. Then came time to drive it.

Flooded out badly on about the third trip out and decided that’s all it wanted to do. Very long story short I started with the points, timing, dwell. Replaced a few rotted vacuum hoses. Got the documents for the Holley 4160 it has and started to dial the carb in; had to replace the needle & seat for the secondaries. Now that it runs decently a compression check shows 215 psi per cylinder with little variation. What I am pretty sure I have is a factory replacement engine that got rebuilt in the ‘80s or ‘90s – has an Edelbrock intake, a mild cam and a dual-feed Holley 4160 with vacuum secondaries in it. No idea what the compression ratio is but it’s probably high. Dash panel says 350 HP/ 350 cu.in 11:1 but without the codes on the block I can’t say for sure. What I can say is that peering down into the valve cover I see ‘new clean shiny’ not ‘old grungy build-up dirty’. It looked like the previous owner wanted a hot rod but had jacked up the carb so badly it wouldn’t run worth a damn – and so it sat. A very long time. I bet there weren’t very many miles put on that thing after it’s rebuild.


My approach is just to drive the thing and leave all the fiddly interior stuff for the winter. It runs nice but still needs some adjustment. I’ll even put off a carb rebuild/replacement until later on because I got tired of seeing it just sit in the garage. Nice to know the car’s history and preserve what I can but it isn’t a real collector and it IS still a car!

Sounds like you have it exactly right – do as much work to it yourself as you can and drive it. Beat it like a rented mule! Smoke the tires up & go get some more. I love the ‘Millennium Falcon’ approach; if mine weren’t still suffering the effects of being frozen in Carbonite for a decade or more I’d be out bothering the locals too. You wouldn’t get any crap from me at a show. Perfect cars with mirrors under them aren’t my interest.

929nitro

Safety gear first then running. A poor paint job doesn't keep you from being able to drive it but a poor running engine or bad brakes can ruin your day real fast. Keep it safe and enjoy.

SwampeastMike

My approach is to keep it clean, safe, running, fully functional and exercised. Such takes all the time I'm willing to devote with scarcely enough to exercise it.

cv67

Usually didnt worry about paint or expensive rims too much in those days focused on drivetrain mainly and made sure it drove and stopped well. Many cars were dropped a bit, rallyes and in primer just fine by me.

oldgto

Wife & I have built several cars over the last 33 years.... but this is our 1st Vette. The building is MORE than half the fun. This car will be our "retirement toy". We plan a lot of easy 50 MPH cruising on winding, hilly roads, so gas mileage is more important to us than horsepower. Stock 350 / 270 horse put back to original. Automatic to make it easy to drive with arthritis in shoulders, knees, & ankles. A fun little car to tour the North Carolina mountains with is all we`re after. We`ll let our kids play with the other cars..... but they`ll have to wait until we`re "done" before they get their hands on this one!

mortgageguy

Safety first. Brakes and steering.
Reliability second. Engine, trans., entire drive train.
Make it pretty last. Interior and paint.

My paint is very presentable, car is mechanically sound and safe. I usually pick one big project each winter. If nothing breaks this summer or fall, I'm going to rebuild the a/c system. If the car has other plans, it'll let me know soon.

Another approach I've seen is, if you find yourself apologizing for certain aspects of the car, then that is your priority. Paint is a good example. I can't get into that one because safety and reliability are things you can't see.

The13Bats

My approach? Yikes,
I guess i try to sneak up on it,

This question depends on what a person wants at a given time,
In the late 80s i thought a full tilt wide body was what i wanted but i got bored with that car quickly,
Stock is boring to me, but I know i do not like hack jobs either,

My 69 convertible i have is the culmination of 30 plus years of owning many vettes, trying to make one car just what i desire it to be and do so on a budget,
Doesn't matter how much money a guy has he should build with his brain not his wallet,

I dont care about a 10 point paint job, i do not care about an interior so new and clean i am scared to get in, i dont want a museum piece to look at, i want a car to drive,

I have,a rebuilt chassis with the vpb transverse springs, didnt need them it just happened,

I dropped in a mild 454 with side pipes as to me a vette deserves it, down the road i will flip from auto to 4 speed, not cuz i like hunting for gears but it goes with the feel i desire,

I want the mechanicals to be as good or better than they were in 69 but the rest the cosmetics so to speak to just look like a car that snuck off a track,

Haters? Huh?
No matter what we all dont like everything, dont have to, but when some people up that to being loud mouth dbags thats a them problem not a me problem.

Sunstroked

I built my car to please me. Ive shown it a few times but really, dont like spending much more than a few hrs at a show. Paint has to be shiny and straight. Engine compartment clean and well sorted. Undercarriage, has to be as clean underneath as it is on top. Interior, like new. Performance, run strong. Lets, face it, someone will always have a faster car, with more h.p. Im not out to prove anything.
I built my car to drive, and I really enjoy doing that!

Torqued Off

My approach was costly, but was to rebuild my 77 to the way GM would have built it if they wanted it to last a long time and perform well, rather than for profit. To do that, you use good performance components, and restore every part for long term reliability.

But most importantly for me, was to build the car in a way that respects its design. I have been down the path of extensive modifications, and I found that it took away from the character of the car as I perceived it. So, when you see my car, it respects the general appearance that it had when it was built and sold to the first owner. I like it that way.

The forum often gets into this personal battle of which year is the best, which bumper style is best, etc. Truth is that every model year has changes that make it unique to that year. I like to embrace those individual features by keeping the true to the model year. That is different than matching numbers and strict adherence to originality. But it does mean sticking with features the car was built with. I like tweaking things to perfection, but within limits. So, way I see my 77 is that it looks like a 77, but there is some fine tuning buried underneath the skin!

71 Vert LS1

Build what you want. Can't please everyone.

I'm a dyed in the wool LS guy. I wouldn't build anything else.

LS1-LS3 engine with a 4 speed overdrive or T56 will run better and produce more streetable power than most SBC or BBC engines. Lighter, roller everything internal to the LS engine.

My 71 vert has a LS1/4l60e combo. No cam (yet) with 3:73 gears and it's very quick off the line. We have put about 300 miles on it starting on Saturday and it's getting 23 MPG. It is just a crusier.

I did a LS2 sleeved and stroked to 427 cubes in a 67 Nova. Mild cam with L92 heads with a 4L60E and it did 480 RWHP and did 22 MPG. I don't think the stock C3 rear end with sticky tires would hold up to that much power.

Again build what you want. Don't let people tell what they would do. It's your money.

7T1vette

My approach is to have a SAFE car that operates properly (and reliably) and looks original. I don't throw money at it to add 'Go Faster' parts to my car; my 'speed' days were decades ago and I don't need that anymore. I also have worked to make sure there are no 'bare' metal parts to corrode/rust. Metal-colored or clear paints can allow those pieces to LOOK original...but I don't have to work my a$$ off to keep them looking good. Fix it right once and it lasts well for a long time.

P.S. Leaving a car show by burning rubber and making a lot of noise is 'bad form'. Everyone there can do it; we just choose not to....

81vettski

Have an 81 4 speed I'm putting back together now but reliability is my main goal. Its not a high value car so I don't mind modifying it somewhat for some pep. Bumped up the the rear with 354:1 and got the offset trailing arms to stuff a bigger tire in the wheel well. I'll keep the motor and jazz it up a bit. The cars clean and i want to drive it. Luckily I found a hole in my fuel line before everything was reinstalled. Older vettes. Older problems. Reliability.
Thats my approach.

Metalhead140

For me, driving is king. So I guess my approach isn't too dissimilar to the OP - my paint shines up ok, but up close is pretty ordinary. Interior is pretty nice, buy I haven't done much to it. Mechanicals though... I've spent more than I purchased my (running, driving, registered) car for on rebuilding and improving the mechanicals. When I'm behind the wheel I can't see the paint, but damn it's nice to drive! Still looks good driving past anyway. When I bought it it looked quite good, but it drove like a dog...

I'll paint it, don't get me wrong. I like my stuff to be nice, and I'm doing a bare shell build on one of my other cars (MG Midget) at the moment. But for now the Vette looks nice enough to be passable, is in good condition (i.e. not degrading due to neglect/lack of paint, and no rust), and is too much fun to drive to justify pulling it apart for paint. Driving is my number 1 priority, and where I get the most enjoyment. I've not taken my car to a car show, but I've driven it nearly 10,000miles in the past 6 months, including competing it in 5 motorsport events.

81vettski

Good luck with the MG Metal. I still have haunting memories of my 79. I think i put more money into that car then i will be putting into the vette. In the cars defense, it was my daily driver and its not meant for that. At least not here!

JayRay

I keep it safe first. Make sure all major systems are running correctly and functional. I do all the work myself and dress it up only on areas I have been in. That way when I open the hood and see the chrome I know it is there for a reason and considered my achievement trophies.

Rebuilt Carb - Added Chrome Air Cleaner
Adjusted the Valves - New Valve Covers
Replaced Brake Lines and Calipers - Chrome Mc and Booster
and so on.

I also seem to break it up by system and attack the entire system for repairs, upgrading, paint, dress. If I have a leaking Radiator I will be replacing I will also be looking at repainting or upgrading water pumps, pulleys, hoses, housings, re-painting mounts, bolt heads, and tanks.

An AIM and Chassis Manual are great for planning your next attack. Mine is just a Friday/Saturday Car and not a daily driver.