So I thought I would start my own thread for my car. I always like reading threads that you guys make about building your cars and I know for sure it inspires me, so I figure ill share what I'm working on from time to time.

Some backstory is an order. As I said before, I'm currently a senior in college. I don't have all the money or time in the world, but I won't let that stop me from fixing this car up. I've owned it for eight years.

A little background on the car. It's a 1976L red corvette with its numbers matching 350 l48 engine and numbers matching th350 trans. The car has the two tone deluxe interior option with firethorn and white leather. It has power steering, power brakes, air conditioning, am fm radio, heated rear window, map light, and it came equipped from the factory with15x8 rally wheels with trim rings and caps wearing white letter tires. My dad bought her in 1996 and in 1997 he restored it to the fullest. The car won several awards at Chicago Chevy VetteFest, including Gold and Top Gun. As the years went by my dad got preoccupied with other things and the vette didn't get as much exercise as some of his other vehicles.

When I got it, it was still nice, but it just had a lot of little issues, or so I thought. It has really evolved into a can of worms situation.

What are my goals? Well, I really like cars that appear bone stock but maybe have a few more comforts than they did from the factory. My big rule with any mods is that it must be able to be reverted to factory at any time.

My biggest goals are as follows;
Hot Rod Power Tour ~2025?
Visit the Bowling Green Assembly Plant
Visit the site of the St. Louis Assembly Plant on July 14, 2026 (my car’s 50th birthday)
Travel Route 66
Finish what I set out to accomplish.

Above all else; have fun

My current mod list;
Relay headlights - done
self 3D designed and printed headlight adjusters - done
CS144 Alternator - done
3 Row Aluminum Radiator - done
SPAL Dual Fan Setup -done
Holley 4150 650CFM Carburetor - Done
200-4R Stage 2 Transmission
454/350 Factory Mini-Starter - done
All NiCopp fuel line - done
All NiCopp Brake line
“HD” Brakes - done
”HD” Suspension - done
R134A Air Conditioning - done
Radar Detector - done
Power Locks - done
Keyless Entry - done
77’ Voltmeter - done
L-82 Valve Covers With Correct Hardware - done
HD Battery - done
Lookalike radio - done
Rear speakers - done
Bluetooth - done
Cup Holders - done
Center Console Armrest - done
Chevrolet 90s Door Chime Module - done
Mirror Glass T-Tops - done
Built In Phone Charger - done
GNTX Auto Dimming Compass Mirror w/ HomeLink - done
77 Overhead dome light - done
2.5" Stainless Exhaust - done
Gymkhana suspension - done
MSD 6AL Pro Billet Blaster Ignition - done
Borgeson-Delphi 600 steering box - done
Aluminum wheels

Coming eventually:

383 Stroker engine swap:

95-00 Vortec 4bt main block
1 piece rear main seal
56 CC aluminum heads
3.75" stroke
9-5:1 - 10:1 compression
Cast crank
Forged pistons
Forged rods
Xtreme energy roller cam
Comp valve train
roller rockers
Arp studs


*maintain as close to factory look as possible*

P.S. this whole project was started when I decided to try and fix my center console from sagging. Talk about the “While I'm at it” mentality

P.S.S After reading the mod list you will have probably noticed a whole bunch of parts are just repurposed 90s GM parts. I designed a lot of stuff this way because it not only helps keep costs down, but it means that if I break something during one of my road trips, there's a replacement at almost any auto parts store. My car already has parts from; a 1996 Lumina, 1996 Impala SS, 1996 Fleetwood, 1996 Silverado and many more.

Thanks for Reading!

 

Here are some shots of the interior before. note the lower shift console being all sorts of broken.

broken and out of shape

notice the dash is sagging a bit

 

Here are some pictures after disassembly

almost all the way disassembled

the most broken piece of them all.

 

Here is my new dash in. its a sort of 50/50 mix of original and new parts but it all holds together good, and I think it looks much better

 

18 years old!!! I an SOOOOO jealous!!!! I lusted after Corvettes since high scool. graduated in 66!!!! 1966!!! Yes - I am an old fart. I too have a 76 that I will have 23 years this coming Saturday. You are doing a terrific job and I am sure your father is there if you need guidance and support. Fantastic job young man!!

Here is my 76 which I got from my best friend from high school!




Best of luck with your 76! I love red!! LOL

 

Thank you! sharp car! nice color

 

After that it was on to more mechanical things...

Period correct CB

old alternator was shot, replaced that. (kept the old one)

Lots of uneven wear

changed the rear pads and bled the rear brakes, the rotors were OK.

 

Since the dash was all fixed, and I was a little tired of doing brakes, I decided to fix all the hinges for the storage doors and clean all the carpet.

left is after

top is after. I replaced one piece of carpet.

 

Another weekend or two, more little stuff. I replaced all the tranny cooler lines and rebuilt the power steering control valve. I greased the front suspension, and since it was beautiful up here I even washed it and drove it for a bit.

Freshly rebuilt

Installed and calibrated

New MSD wires and ACDelco spark plugs

Quartz clock movement with a custom 3D printed seconds hand that I made. (could've been glued on better)

49F. No jacket just a T shirt.

 

Valve body with new filter. Glad I changed 1/2 the fluid.
While I was backing into my garage after a test drive the shifter felt really loose. I could only feel the park detent and couldn't find any gears. I was able to find reverse and get it into the garage. after a quick google search I learned that the shift shaft nut can back off. the next day on my way home from school I located some ATF, a pan gasket and a filter. I was able to effect the repair and now the shifter is much tighter than before, even before it had backed off.

 

Also to anyone reading if you have any tips on how to set the choke on a Q-Jet i'm all ears. Carb was rebuilt 2 years ago, ran good until I messed with the choke pull off. Now the fast idle cam seems sticky, the choke opens too much when the engine starts and sometimes it will idle at 1000RPM even when the motors hot. Ive messed with all the adjustments I can but nothing seems to have a meaningful effect.

 

Mechanical or electric? Either one you should be able to turn the choke, ccw I believe, so it won't set at all.

 

It's great to read about a young guy interested in cars in general, and American cars in particular. It sounds like you've got the mechanical aptitude of an engineer.
I'm doing up a '76 here in France and have a good idea of what you're up against, only I have to wait longer and pay more to get parts!
Carry on and keep us posted.

 

mechanical - vacuum , with the choke coil on the carb and the heat pipes that rise off the intake manifold. Im cool with no choke in the summer but I do drive this car whenever the roads permit and it gets a little cold where I'm at so id like to have it

 

Thank you sir! I just do what I can. I really enjoy working on cars like these. They are a whole world more simple than something like my truck (chevy avalanche). American muscle all the way! Good luck with your car!

 

Ah yes... been a bit hasn't it? As I mentioned I was a senior in high school and when the virus hit I had to spend a lot more time on my studies rather than keeping this updated. Oh well. I graduated in the meantime. Where did we leave off?
looks like I was still struggling with my choke. Turns out I installed the spring backwards . Anywho, after that if I remember correctly soon after that I put a new set of valve cover gaskets on it, then changed the trans mount and both motor mounts. the drivers side one was in two pieces. This was an issue for a long time. Previously, when i'd give it a bunch of gas under load there would be a bad clicky noise. Turns out the motor would rock 4-1/2 inches to the passenger side and the fan was getting into a fight with the shroud. The replacement of both mounts took 50% of the vibration out of the cabin. soon after that school 'ended' until further notice and I had some time on my hands. I decided to tackle a huge issue, the exhaust. My car had OEM mufflers on it, which I removed, and all the OEM piping including the pancake cat. I wanted to replace the cat and mufflers so I went about it. I put thrush turbo mufflers on it which got rid of the drone of just using the cat as the muffler (don't know who would've done that ), I used all the stock piping that I could and added a few mandrel bends to delete the cat. the result is a nice quiet car on the highway and cruising but one that has a nice sound to it at idle, perfect!

 

Here's the only picture of my car having its exhaust done, on a family members lift.

 

I decided to keep it as a 2-1-2 for simplicity although I am considering a set of duals in the future. Just not a right now problem.

 

After that the car left me stranded when the starter literally fell apart. I put a new starter on it. With the weather getting nice at this point, (Mid April), I began to drive it as much as I could and I ran into some issues. under heavy load if you gave the engine gas, say when you were passing someone, the engine would starve for fuel bad. I pulled all eight plugs and they were white, despite this the symptoms pointed to an electrical issue as I couldn't reproduce the issue when the car was cold or even sometimes when it was hot. I went with my gut and found the fuel lines on the fuel pump were loose. I assume air was getting in. Tighten those up, throw a fuel filter at it during the trouble shooting and the issue is gone. I still need to put all new fuel lines on it. During all this driving, I realized the radiator just was not doing its job anymore, I had cleaned it out once before and it did ok but it started to get back to how it was. I put a 160F thermostat in it and kept driving it.

 

Then it was all driving.... driving..... driving... drive in movie, drive-thru graduation, drive-thru food I did it all. We had several senior events where you had to stay in your car and I took my vette to all of em'. It was an awesome time.