slapjack9

Hello All!

I made a post a week ago or so about needing some advice on replacing the fiberglass on my '75. I had a lot of responses about doing the work myself, but I decided to go with a body shop owned by a family friend. Anyway, I figured I might as well go ahead and start a build thread for my car both for my reference in the future and for others as well.

Some background on me:
I'm a college student, and I live about an hour and a half from home, but I drive home on the weekends to work. I bought the car because I wanted to restore a car with my Dad while we're both young! That being said I don't have much time to work on my car, but anytime I get in the garage is valuable to me and I'll be sure to document it!

Some background on the car:
I bought the '75 about a year ago now, I feel that I got a good deal on it, and my Dad agrees. From the door jams back, the car is perfect (aside from an incorrect rear bumper). She drives like a dream, my Dad, who worked in his Dad's Chevy dealership as a kid, says it drives like it's new. The frame is in perfect shape, no rust, no corrosion. Everything we were able to see on the birdcage is in great shape as well. She has a salvage title, which typically would turn me away from the car, but this car is, and always will be priceless to me, so I'm also not worried about the "true value" of the car. The front clip and the front bumper need to be replaced badly, and I would like to put the correct rear bumper on it. The hood has some damage, but the fiberglass guy says he can fix it no problem. As I said I'm away at school during the week but I'll get some pictures of it this weekend and upload them!

So far, my work on the car includes:
-New power steering control valve
-New master cylinder
-New brake booster
-New right rear caliper
-New rear rotors
-New brake pads all around
-Removed, removed paint, and repainted the front license plate bracket. (Not sure if this is the official name of the part, but it's the piece the front license plate screws to. It isn't much, but I got bored Saturday night!)
-New BFG Radial TA tires
-Original Rally wheels with trim rings/caps off a show car!

This brings me to a question. As you can see, almost everything in the brake system has been replaced. Minus 3 calipers, the front rotors, and the brake lines. The brakes are still VERY soft, does anyone know what I can do to amend this? The brake lines were bled by hand, but the only thing I can think of doing is having them power bled, and seeing if that makes a difference. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Also! I am in the process of trying to find a USED front clip, front bumper, and rear bumper, again for a '75. If you have any of those parts and are willing to sell them please send me a PM.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to bouncing ideas off all of you!

929nitro

Look forward to seeing pictures as you progress. Where you located, it might help to get responses on parts.

Soft pedal sounds like air in the lines. Just making sure you saw the dual bleeders on the rear calipers?

slapjack9

That's a great question, I can double check this weekend but I believe I bled both of the bleeders, but that's been months ago now!

slapjack9

I've had some people mention I should say where I am. I am located just north east of Indianapolis, Indiana in a town called Fishers!

Also, last night I stumbled on a hood/front clip/front bumper cover/headlight assembly/front grilles/bumper support that looks perfect in Ohio, I'm supposed to be picking that up in two weeks! Now all I need is the correct rear bumper.

Here are the pictures of the front end fiberglass:

stingraymaniac

What's wrong with the front clip?
Looks to be in good condition on the pics

dochorsepower

Your brake soft pedal may be the rubber front wheel flex hoses.

Aerovette

I had a soft pedal I could not track down and it turned out to be a bad master cylinder. It was new...still bad. Right out of the box.

slapjack9

The car pictured is not mine, it's the car I'm buying the clip off of since the owner of that one is making his into a restomod.

slapjack9

Is there a certain way you figured this out?

slapjack9

I will check into that, thank you!

slapjack9

I've been busy and haven't had time to take pictures of my car. (Parents are divorced, car is at moms, I've been at dads recently). But I did get to go and pick up the front clip I submitted some pictures of earlier. Here it is home in Dad's garage! Now I need to finish disassembling my car hopefully this weekend.

I also picked up an intake off a 1980 (I believe?) L-82. These intakes were aluminum and were ported a bit better, although they were the same size and accept the stock carb. This will replace the one on my car. I'm also planning on having my stock carb rebuilt and then putting it back on.

Here are more detailed pictures of the front end:






















Also, if anyone has any ideas/tips/tricks for removing the clips I'd love to hear them as this is a bit of a daunting task for me. Especially since I have to do two now! More to come this weekend.

slapjack9

Brought the car to my Dad's this weekend and was able to get some work done on it. The first pictures are of the car itself, and what I accomplished yesterday follows.




As you can see I removed the lenses and trim rings from the headlights at my moms.



I also removed the front bumper cover and the parts of the front bumper, along with a front emblem.



You can really see the damage to my clip here, but there are more detailed photos further down.



You can really see the damage to my clip here, but there are more detailed photos further down.



Rear end with incorrect rear bumper.





Interior is in amazing shape, I love the Oxblood Red/White combo. The biggest eyesore for the interior is the carpet, and I have a new set.



I have an entirely new bezel and headlight vent panel to install here, but I imagine I'll do the interior last.



Engine bay is fairly clean, you can see the new master cylinder and booster I put in awhile ago.









Here is a detailed image of the damage on the passenger fender. It runs from the top to the bottom of the image.



Here is a detailed image of the damage on the driver fender. It runs from the top to the bottom of the image.



First order of business was to remove the hood. Then I bagged and tagged the bolts and hinges.



Next I removed the actuators.



The headlight assemblies were next, the passenger only had one bolt in it...



The A/C condenser was next. The fins are pretty badly torn up, and I had to cut a pipe to get it out...new one in my future.

I expect to do more work today and will post about it either tonight or tomorrow. I do need a new A/C condenser so if anyone has one that WORKS and wants to part with it please PM me. If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to ask and I'll add some more detail of a specific area! Comments and suggestions are welcomed, you're all far more experienced than me!

Until next time

Riley

Aerovette

No. I just replaced it after bleeding everything 3 or 4 times and still not getting good pedal. It was a new part, but that doesn't guarantee it's a good part. I exchanged it and all was well.

slapjack9

Mod...could I ask you to rename this thread to "1975 Restoration" instead of its current title? Please and thank you!

derekderek

What is wrong with the rear bumper? It looks like typical 75-79 Bumper To Me.

slapjack9

Derek:
The bumper I believe is for a 76. The 74 was the two-piece urethane with the individual CORVETTE letters, the 75 was a one-piece urethane with the individual CORVETTE letters (the reason mine is incorrect is because it doesn't have the indentations which the letters sit in), and the 76 (the one on my car) is a one-piece urethane with a one-piece emblem, all the letters flowed into each other. I'm not positive on the 77-79 bumpers though. I hope this clears any confusion up!

slapjack9

Hello All! I've been AWOL for awhile, my apologies.

I had my phone go out and college started getting busy for the end of the year. I have gotten a lot done on the Vette but no pictures to show off the progress unfortunately as I said my phone went out. To get you all up to speed I have removed everything from the front end I needed to in order to remove the front clip. My busted front clip came off without a problem, and it was surprisingly easier than I had expected. Next, I disconnected all the vacuum lines and wires from the engine and its components. I bought an engine stand, and rented a hoist from a friend of my Dad's and pulled the 165 HP monster. Currently, it's on the stand and I'm in the process of disassembling it.

I will take pictures of all of this once I'm home today, and I'll update you as I work over the next few days.

My plans for the engine: 383 Stroker
-Bored 30 over
-Cam: .488"/.510" Lift, 308/318 Duration
-Torque Converter: 2000-2300RPM
-Rotating Assembly: Eagle Engine Chevy Street Performance 10.7:1 Compression with a 64cc Combustion chamber.
-Heads: Edelbrock E-Street Aluminum Heads with 185cc Intake, 60cc Exhaust, and 64cc Combustion chambers.
-Rockers: Crane Cams Energizer Rocker Arms
Obviously, this can't be determined until it's been Dyno'd, but Jegs estimates we should end up between 425-450. I was shooting for 350-400, so I'm very happy with that!

I'm very much looking forward to this build. I'll keep you all posted!

FB#1

Great project to do with your Dad. Best of luck with it. Keep updating.