Checked the clutch pack to make sure the posi track was good. Also you’ll notice one side yoke was missing the retaining clip. It wasn’t seated properly by someone and sitting nicely in the bottom of the diff (wasn’t chewed up by the gears).








3 new seals

 

Positive update! Seems like the PS is working. I put the wheels on and sat it back on the ground, started it up and could move the steering wheel lock to lock with 1 hand; the car just sitting there. It took two hands tugging on the wheel before this newest PS teardown in order to move it. There is a very small amount of effort made on my part with the one hand to turn it, but I'm thinking that just may be 1974 technology in the steering as compared to newer vehicles with a steering rack plus other improvements. We'll see how long it lasts but hopefully those pics posted will help someone else in the future with the PS teardown!

 

Good to hear.
Let us know how it is going down the road in a straight line and through the curves.

 

@OldCarBum Will do! Last thing to fix for the 3+ time are the brakes. Once I get the new MC in, bled, and installed....and lines bled, if I have good pressure I'll take it for a drive and see how its all come together.

 

Got it out and driving. Brakes seemed to work during the bleeding as they would bite after roughly 1/2 - 1" of pedal depression. I have something else going on as there was a weird "thump" on the passenger rear caliper/rotor/wheel hub area. After two laps around the block the right rear smelled enough to notice it and the rim, caliper, and rotor was hot to the touch (compared to all the other which I could touch no problem.

I took the wheel off, put the lug nuts back on to see if I could tell what was going on. I watched while my wife put it in drive (while on jacks) and I could see a noticeable "lump" as the rotor turned. Not sure where its coming from. Even my wife felt the thud as it came around (from the driver seat). I was thinking maybe stuck piston but when we depressed the brakes it was the only one that would still attempt to spin a little which tells me its not biting...but there were also no leaks! This is gonna take some investigating; any thoughts are welcome! (not sure if I can load the video I took of it or not)

 

Realized the car does not like being put in drive while rear suspension is at full droop. The rhythmic "thud" that was going on was the ever so slight "kissing" of the side diff yoke and the half shaft as it rotated. Got that fixed and also realized when I installed the rotor back on the freshly rebuilt trailing arm, I couldn't figure out why it didn't slide right on like the driver side did. Learn from my mistake: make sure you "reset" the adjustment cable for the parking brake under the center of the car. With new parking brake pads installed, even with the star adjustment pin (for the P brake) bottomed out, you still need to relax the adjustment under the car back to near zero so the cable can fully reset and not be partially activated even with the P brake handle down. Kind of a dummy move but I know now! haha

 

Thought I was going to FINALLY get the brakes all squared away with replacing all the calipers. This has been a process as I would find a leak at a caliper, swap it, bleed them, and 24-48 hours another one would decide to leak.

I figured once I fixed one, there was a new point of least resistance that the fluid would find, signal to me via small puddle, and I rinse and repeat.

Today, I was replacing the last 2 at the same time bc I’m sick of chasing these leaks. Now I know a lot of ppl seem to complain about quality of the remans and I’m no different…quality control has gone down the *******. As bummed as I am about this, looking for the silver lining, I am so glad I found this literally as I was walking it over to the car for install:



I wasted my time, brake cleaner, and caliper paint on this one but it was about 5 min away from this being an even more infuriating event.

ALWAYS check the parts ya get from auto stores thoroughly as I’m a firm believer you will save yourself much more time in the long run by doing so. On a different caliper, I ID’d an unevenly seated lip seal/skirt piece (the metal circle wasn’t flush with the inside of the caliper). That for sure would have leaked immediately. I tapped it back flush and all was good.

I say all that to say: we all know QC is no good anymore. Save yourself more frustration and double/triple check stuff before ya install it.

 

Where are you getting your remans?

Knock on wood, I've had no issues (yet!) with Lonestar remans via Zip, or the ones I've done myself with CSSB Inc. kits. I do understand your frustration, and I'll go to Wilwoods if either of my current sets fail.

I use O-rings, though, not lip seals. YMMV.

 

@Bikespace I don't disagree with you; remans or new from Lonestar would be a much better option (I did not realize zip sold remans from Lonestar). This started out as me thinking I just needed 1 caliper. A quick pick up at the local O Reillys was better than paying $50 more and wait 4+ days to get it in the mail...fast forward 3 additional calipers later. . .

(fingers crossed) I haven't had issues with any of the calipers I've installed....but I've caught 2 now that had issues before installation (which I'm thankful for). Down the road, I will go with Lonestar...on a nicer car than this, maybe Wilwoods. I am growing impatient and over budget so I was wiling to save a little money to put elsewhere and get them immediately at the risk of an increase in frustration. I tried to prep myself mentally for this haha.

The one thing I thought was strange was 1 caliper I changed the old seals out with an O-ring kit and it held for a little bit...but then leaked so I'm scratching my head on that one. I did take that caliper apart and pull out the O-ring kit I installed, inspected them, and cleaned them, re-bagged for MAYBE future use (they were in the car maybe 4 months and driven only 3 times around the block during that period). . .??? I'm thinking maybe the little seal between the 2 halves may have been the issue (the lower one?? but idk).

I fully anticipate these going out on me, I'm just hoping I get a few seasons out of them first.

 

Adding this here for more visibility:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...onstantly.html

Thanks!

 

Tried talking to the manager at Seatbelt Solutions (at the recommendation of the customer service lady) and he never returned a call or email after I reached out Mon/Tues/Wed so no update on that yet.

On a better note, my new passenger PW motor came in and I got it installed. I was able to only swap out motors and not have to remove window tracks or anything…so it CAN be done. I used some grips to hold the window in the UP position as that’s where mine was currently at.






(Make sure the window is secure if you do this method or the window will FALL when you remove the motor from the pie shaped metal plate that moves on the sprocket in the motor!)



Window goes up and down strong and quick. I tested everything between the switch and the motor to first determine everything was getting power and the motor was dead. Job took no more than 30 min.

 

I'm still working through the seatbelt issue with Seatbelt Solutions. For the time being, I will just post what I have sent them (amongst phone calls) in my effort to try and HELP the company do the right thing. Once everything is complete I will go through the experience.

Video is also attached. I don't know what else more I can do.

 

So basically what I see and read is I do NOT want to purchase any seatbelts from Seatbelt Solutions or from any vendor who sells their seatbelts.
This should have been a quick return and replacement and you should not need to be going through the hassle you are.

 

Did you purchase the belts directly from Seatbelt Solutions?
If not, which vendor did you go through?

 

So...I'll reserve my final opinion until this is done (I have sent mine back to them though).
These were purchased from Top Flight Automotive but I think Seat Belt Solutions is one of the few large distributors in the US and someone here can correct me, but between, Top Flight, Ecklers, Corvette America and Corvette Central, they may all come from SBS.

 

Been doing a lot of stuff in the last six months...just never updated this. I've moved on to cleaning/re dying the interior and FINALLY got the car driving to work on nice days. Got a fuel leak the other day...found out it was coming from the fuel vent that leads to the charcoal cannister on the driver side. The bottom of that vent cracked and was just spilling fuel out after filling up the tank.

Dropped the tank, replaced the vent (today) and as I was reinstalling the tank and connecting the lines, I discovered a trail of water coming from under the car. Thought "great, I have yet ANOTHER heater hose leak." I wish it were that.

I identified the fluid coming from the cracks on both sides of the engine block................................... .....my build is now dead in the water. I now have to figure out what direction to go in as this is my first restoration. Merry Christmas to me I guess. Thanks to this crazy cold wave through the south.

If anyone wants to put a 350 SBC block on the "Pay it Forward" thread...I know a guy who could use one......numbers matching '74 is out the window.

 

Are you sure the block is cracked?
Could it just be the head gaskets or freeze plugs?
Even if it is the block, 350 sbc blocks can be found at almost any speed/machine/engine shop for under $500.00 that have been cleaned, checked and ready for a build.
If you reuse most of your oem internal components, heads etc, you can usually get everything done for around $2,500.00.
Better to find it now than later.

 

Unfortunately there was a dead giveaway:



Passenger side



Driver side

Once I get over this huge set back, I plan on gutting this engine and putting everything from it into another block, once bored 30 over. I don’t know how much the block will cost but I better be in it under 2500 if I’m rebuilding my own engine!!!

 

If you do the assembly yourself, the only labor would be any machine work to the replacement block.
You can probably get the heads checked and redone at the same time and still stay under the $2,500.00 budget.

 

My friend from the machine shop found a 4 bolt main 350 std block thats cleaned up. I'll be doing the disassembly and reassembly. Should skim through this disaster with only a $500-700 learners fee, assuming neither head is cracked!