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Finally got around to working on the rear suspension. Again, I have to give props to the fit and finish of the Ridetech kit. It all bolted on easily with no drama. After bolting on the rear brakes, I cut the studs down on the rear and mounted all 4 wheels for the first time. I still have to set the front ride height but I must say, I am quite happy with the way it looks. I still have a lot to do but I am making progress..... now if I can only find that rich uncle that agrees the Corvette MUST have a 5 speed...
Well, it has been a few months since my last post. I have actually been working on the Corvette, just haven't posted any progress lately. Since my last post, I have finished mocking up the hydraboost and had the power steering hoses made. I also mounted the master cylinder and finished all the brake lines. There isn't a lot of room to work in and adding the hydra boost makes things even more crowded. Anyway, after getting all that done, I pulled the engine so I could do the inspection and swap the heads intake and cam. While I had the block bolted to the engine stand I figured I might as well pull the oil pan and just do a quick inspection. This was SUPPOSED to be a freshly built 500+ HP BB with ported heads. What I found inside the oil pan however was something slightly different. The outside of the block looked great, very nicely painted. The inside turned out to be what looked like a 100k+ mile junkyard spray paint special. It has factory cast flat top pistons, EVERY bearing was wiped out, the crank journals felt like they were polished with a cheese grater.....and the icing on the cake, the cam gear had worn a groove in the block around the front cam bearing about 1/16 of an inch deep. Sooooo..... if you include the 30-40 seconds I heard the engine run, it might have lasted 30 minutes.....maybe. My friend that I bought the car from bought the car with the engine already in it, so he had no clue.
Spring forward to today, I have purchased another block and sent it to be magnafluxed, and have the bores, deck, and main bearing bores inspected to make sure it is usable. They gave it a green light and I ordered a stroker kit from Skip White. I already had all the top end parts. I have finished prepping the block and will be taking it and the pistons to the machine shop for final machining. Once they are done I will assemble the engine and drop it back in the car.
Thanks again for the compliments. I am being reminded just how frustrating this hobby can be, and at the same time reminded just how much I enjoy bringing something back to life. A lot can be said for the satisfaction felt when you back it out for the first time under its own power. I made a little more progress. This time I took advantage of the engine being out and welded in the frame bracket for the "z" bar. I unbolted the hydraboost/master cylinder and the Bourgenson steering box to give enough working room. I had previously taken measurements from a 4-speed frame and had purchased what appears to be a factory stamping . Cleaned the area, fired up the mig and commenced to making sparks. Some primer and paint and now I have almost everything except the 5 speed and clutch kit for the swap.
Next was getting the spreader bar brackets painted so I could mount them and test fit the bar. Pretty easy to mount.... no issues.
Next I made a safety strap for the driver side engine mount. Just a little extra protection for the mount, and I already had the strap steel. 20 minutes and it was hanging outside in the sun waiting for the paint to dry.
While I am in limbo on the engine, I began the reassembly of the TT column I purchased. I finally finished painting everything and started putting it back together with the parts needed to replace what was broken/worn out. Once that is done and reinstalled, I can roll the chassis out and clean the years of dust/dirt accumulation with the pressure washer and do any touch up needed in the engine bay before dropping the big block back in.
Hello all. I am typing this update just before going to bed and drifting off to dream land. The engine is coming along nicely. After getting the block back and measuring everything, I have assembled most of the engine. I am waiting on the correct length pushrods to be delivered and that will complete the engine assembly after setting the initial lash and bolting on the intake and valve covers. I also have taken delivery on the FIA headlight assemblies. I have never been a fan of pop-up headlights and I really like the way these look when finished and installed. I am going to have the housings hi-temp powder coated black before permanently installing them. I also finished the tilt/telescopic column and installed it. That is going to be a much appreciated add-on. When attempting to bleed the brakes, I found the master cylinder had gone bad after sitting for so many years. I will see if a rebuild kit will fix it, otherwise, I will be buying a new master. A few new discoveries while working on the car. I started going through the paperwork that came with the car and found a record of all previous owners all the way back to original purchase including copies of registration and titles! I also found the saved remains of the tank build sheet but it is in rotted pieces and almost totally un readable. There are also photos of the beginning of the restoration. They saved some of the original underhood decals including the emissions sticker showing it was born with a 454. At some point, someone pulled the big block out and installed a small block, then it was switched back to a big block. There is also a complete assembly manual. That's about it for now. Thanks. Happy Holidays everyone.
Happy Holidays everyone. With a little effort, a couple of "refresher" questions to the machine shop and correcting a bone head decision by not following correct procedure and ordering valvetrain components BEFORE getting proper measurements, I have completed the engine assembly and am working on finishing the details/modifications in the engine compartment before dropping the lump back in. The car had no heater hoses so those were next on the list. When I removed the expansion tank so I could remove the loop of hose, I found the band/clamp for the rear mount was missing. I looked through the boxes that came with the car and it was not to be found. So, again, car no longer being numbers matching and having materials to make what I need, I cut shaped, and drilled a working replacement out of some inch wide steel strap using the tank as a guide to get the radius right. Once reinstalled, I connected the heater hoses to the core and the tank. Next was rebuilding the carb, which thankfully presented no surprises and included an electric choke conversion. Next step will be to do the electrical system wiring mods in preparation for the new 140amp alternator, electric wiper door motor, finishing the electric fans, MSD ignition system, and FIA headlight install with upgraded lights and driving lights. Thanks for looking.
Continued progress , taking advantage of the holidays. I installed the heater control valve.... a task made much easier by removing the side vent. I was stressing a little trying to figure out how i was going to get my meat-hooks into that tiny space. Removing three fasteners later
and wha-la... plenty of room. I also trial fit the ac condenser I got from Ben Friend in Allen. A little bit of time to straighten the fins dramatically improved the overall appearance. I will clean and paint it before final install. I also fabed up a simple power steering cooler. Adding the Borgenson box and hydraboost can add more heat to the fluid so this should help keep temps in check. This is just a mock up of how the cooler will be routed. I will have better mounts/clamps with final install.
Last edited by txfatboy1; Dec 30, 2018 at 12:51 AM.
That looks killer.... and removes any second thoughts of installing the FIA kit. I also bought the conversion lenses so you can replace just the bulb. I will have HID bi- xenon bulbs for the low beam (and hi beam) on outer lights and hi power halogens for the inner high beams. I am currently working on the custom harness with ceramic bulb sockets and high amp relays. Thanks again for sharing your beautiful Corvette.
I have been collecting parts for the last month getting ready to put in a tilt column 14" steering wheel and 2002 Miata black leather seats that I recovered and fabed up adapters to mount them to the 69 rails.
I am thinking of doing coil overs for the rear of my 72. Did you have to change the rear control arms or can you use the ones on the car. And if you have to use their control arm how hard is it to move the spindle from one set to the other. My rear control arms and spindles are new. So I would like to use them .
Going to be car. T
