It's looking good. It will be a lot quieter with the soundproofing and the Reflectix will keep the summertime heat from entering the interior.

 

Yeah im kinda afraid of that, cuz that means now im going to have to chase old plastic squeaks...

Also just found why I kept getting hot air, passenger vent was stuck open, that would prolly do it every time lol.

 

so work finally slowed down for now, have finally gotten back to Flash to finish the carpet... and this being my first time doing carpet, I bought backed carpet with jute... I should NOT have done that... Wilcox, you should not let people buy backed carpet.

Then came the glue... im at 180.00 in just 3M carpet glue, but im glad I used it and not a cheaper one. It works... and added bonus of getting you totally trashed while doing it LOLOL.


Rear Hatch took so much sound deadner… did the floor AND top under the window, had to layer strips in alternating thicknesses to kill standing waves that were booming on those massive open surfaces.




Almost done with the rear hatch now, put in an order for Dr. Rebuild for new seals and misc things, so I gota leave the sides open till the shipment gets here.

Gota say, not a fan of this Corvette America repro halo trim... don't get me wrong, it fits perfectly, but the pattern... LOOKS NOTHING LIKE LEATHER...it looks like tiny gummy worms... it's horrid. So I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some Madrid Pleather, and going to cover it like the factory fiberglass pieces.



After I got done with the seat flaps, I realized the bolts are open underneath...im used to my mustangs which are blind holes due I guess to the unibody, so the 3 hours of checking and rechecking to make sure I was going to cut in the right spot... could have been cut down to 10 mins... sigh...




Both B pillar covers were broken in the same place, I guess the previous owner didn't understand how screws work and interlocking means you take other pieces out first... so he just yanked till it broke... sigh...






Cross your fingers, ima let this epoxy cure for 24 hours before messing with it again, hope it will hold.





Same story with the upper console, only worse, it was split like a overpowered 302... looks like they pulled on the wings to try to spread them to take it out rather than taking out the rear console and radio cover. It was really floppy when I removed it, but I didn't realize how bad the damage actually was, there are several tabs broken, so I may have to look for another NOS or used one, this will do for now.




I think these little POS's gave me more trouble than the whole front drive and passenger carpet sections combined... how does 2sq foot of carpet be that difficult... but it was. Someone care to tell me what glue GM used on these? I need it by the gallon.




Finally cleaned up and ready for carpet tomarrow, but waiting on trim rings sooooo… cant put them in yet -.-'

Was so annoying trying to get the little tufts around the perimeter that got glued down... I think I have over 3 hours in these little bastards.... NO REASON FOR THIS!!!

Cant wait tho, almost to where I can put in these last few pieces and then... THE SEATS!!!! The whole thing is finally coming to a slow conclusion, I cant wait to see how it all looks, the loop carpet looks amazing vs the old cut/pile.

 

so after being peaved off at the quality of w/e the aftermarket brake console, decided to use some of my pleather on it... and I couldn't be happier... but damn what a PITA










Closeup of the "leather" pattern




After vinyl:

 

Been busy posting more in the "What did you do to your corvette today" thread than updating here, and the tech forum, but did some things on the suspension today that warranted an update.

Due to striping down an old auto-x s10, im left with some spare parts that are worth quite a few little pennies, pair of QA1 D/A coilovers with 450lb springs would be one of those items. After cross checking on their website, I found the only diff between the S10 and the corvette shocks, is the mainshaft length, by a total of 1.75"
Im not usually down for needlessly spending money for no reason, so why cant I put my mind to this and recycle these still great shape and great performing shocks?

Well, it did involve some thinking outside the box for sure lol.


As you can see, these are the un-modified shock extensions from Summit and just a smidge to long lol.
I already had one shock modified, so this is a good comparison of what is about to happen.





Shocks have to be cut completely past factory threads and re-threaded, I obviously don't have a lathe, and much to the dismay of the apprentices that have to put up with me at work, I put my "infamous" hands... to buzzing the OD of the lower portion below the threads, it must be shaved down close to the same level as the thread height.
Using a small grinder and a 1/16 cutting-off wheel on it, lightly laying a single "grind" along the face of the shaft, turning the shaft every 3rd pass or so. Took about 20 passes to encompass the whole shaft diameter, but this is the end result, a surface that is close (no I didn't use a caliper don't sue me) to the height of the existing threads. This shouldered part has to be necked down for the Die, because it wont thread it if it's not within a few thousands to 3/8" for it.





I leave the cut until the very last step, utilizing the factory threads allows me to have a perfect continuation of threads vs having to try to start a new thread if I had cut them off.




No it's not the same exact, its off by 9-11 thousands, BUT im maintaining three TIMES the amount of thread engagement as required for a solid engagement... that's enough for me to live with.





Final product, cut evenly to where the base of the extensions butt against the body of the shock shaft and load the threads, and red, high-strength threadlocker is also applied. The fitment is not perfect, I have lost about 1.5" of travel on the extreme compression side, nothing is lost on rebound side, but honestly with 450lb springs... if im needing that last 1.5" of travel, then im obviously trying to duplicate some jump scene from Dukes of Hazard... and im in more trouble than blowing the bottom out my shocks.

 

What a mess..... rebuilt the drag link and tie-rods and got rid of all the grease





cleaned up and painted!






got some before and after pics

 

Vinegar is fantastic once you get over the smell, give it two days and your parts come out like new!