Restoring/restomod-ing the 1970 coupe I bought in late August of last year was always the plan. The COVID-19 shutdown just accelerated it. Any accelaration with a corvette is a good thing, right? I was looking for silver linings, I guess, and the additional time I got to work on my dream car certainly qualified. Truth be told, I used it as therapy to keep from losing my mind being all shut up in crappy Michigan spring weather.

I'm certainly no pro, but I learned a lot years ago doing my first C3, a 1975 silver coupe, and am determined to "do it right" this time around. I must admit, my "right" miht not qualify as your right, and definitely not NCRS right, but I always wanted a tastefully customized chrome bumper 'vette. So here goes: my journey, complete with mistakes and what I learned from them.
Here's the link to "Got My '70" when I first picked her up. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...t-my-70-a.html
Here's the link to the first little project I wanted to tackle: my wiper bay. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...bay-resto.html

Special thanks to Forum Member "Hooah." Terry has been a great mentor and friend since 2012 and the days of the 1975 rebuild. No way I could have done most of this without his help.

Here are some before pictures. She was a 10 footer when I bought her. Paint looks way better in pictures than up close, but that will be fixed in early July. (Yep, moving fast.)






My wife has loved every 'vette we've had so far, but this is definitely her favorite. We only got a few drives in last fall before the weather and a master bathroom renovation got in the way.

The car had a mid 70's hood ornament on the nose when I got it. Thanks, Bubba. (More Bubba to come.) That's gone now.

The seats look to have been redone recently enough, so I'll leave those alone for a while at least.

The passenger door was decent on the inside but I got new Corvette America replacements anyway. Gutting the interior was the first thing I did this past winter.

The plan was to just do an interior swap/improvement this year and tackle the rest later, but Project Creep went to work on me and all the "While I'm at it..." got to me. (We couldn't go anywhere anyway.) And recently, after a couple painters said "We'll start at $10,000, and work up from there." in their estimates, I met a guy through a friend who paints only what he likes and for who he likes who not only offered to do it much more affordably, but also agreed to take me to school so I could learn all the tricks of the trade. (He doesn't mind the free labor even from this novice.) So, I stripped all the parts and at Hooah's constant joking recommendation pulled the body up off the frame.

Here are closeups of some of the paint problems.




These are indicative of the whole car, really. And there is a waviness down the doors and across the halo that reveal a bad previous stripping.

The original color was Marlboro Maroon,

And since she doesn't have her original heart / engine, I have no hesitation about changing colors again.

Ever since my c5 days (even before), my favorite Corvette color was always Electron Blue from the 2002-2003 years. So that's what she'll wear next.

I bought a paint bomb of that color and sprayed an extra gas cap cover I had lying around for the wall of my garagemahal. It's only a bit darker than the dress she's wearing already, but it works for me. I also sprayed the dust shields for ***** and giggles.





The Harpy Motors bomb is the actual color. I mistakenly got excited about finding the Electron Blue Color Match at O'Reilly, missing that its a Honda Electron Blue and not at all the same. Wasted ten bucks.

The next few mornings, over coffee, I'll add the nuts and bolts of the project for those that would like to see. I hope to include some of the little things I've learned along the way that weren't obvious to me, but might help other on their restoration journeys like so many posts here have helped me.

Now it's back to the garage.

 

I kind of like the 73 nose and fuel emblem on your car. It looks good against the Bridgehampton Blue paint.

 

Beautiful vehicle, enjoy.

 

Enjoy your build!

 

Oh if it only were Bridgehampton Blue. This mystery spray blue is a bit lighter than BB... And I like the 73 emblem, too. Just like it better on a 73.

 

Thanks RedsoxNation and 7t2vette. It's been a lotta fun already. Here's bit on wheel choice, though not yet on the vehicle. Building my dream 'vette has had some challenges and will likely have many more. But I'm stoked to be doing it my way. Cue Sinatra.

The Firestone Firehawks that came with it are actually in excellent shape. No rot or cracks. They actually still have the nubs and white white letters, but I had to have the Torque Thrust 2's and got a deal on Nittos. Polished Aluminum -- 17's on the front and 18's on the back.



And my 3 year old really likes to help, complete with work gloves and all. (Best Father's Day fun ever.)



He even throws down the foam like the old man does. So funny!

 

You have a great thread going here....your son appears to have inherited Type C3 blood

 

C3 blood type... Yessir, Doorgunner.

Incidentally, I thought I'd add this note for those of you looking for new wheels for your ride.

Wheels for Less was my source. For little more than $1500, I got my TT2's with the Nittos mounted and balanced and delivered in flawless condition. That's about a grand less than I budgeted and found in other sources. I was extremely happy to find that source, again with Hooah's help.

 

So I pulled the interior this past winter and was delighted to find most of the interior parts in very good condition. Most will get a good cleaning and maybe a redye and the few of those parts beyond help were ordered mainly through Corvette Mod's -- yeah, yeah, I know not the best reputation. I gotta say this, when I dealt with them by phone they helped me max the benefit of their gift card points earned with several orders and I ended up getting about $300 in free parts and saved over $600 from the same cart on different sites. I've used Zip, Paragon, and Willcox for other smaller orders... with Willcox being far and away the best customer service... But stretching my budget as far as I could I've had to shop around.


The fiberglass floors were surprisingly perfect. My 75 had three holes I had to repair -- under the seat rails on the driver side and two in the rear storage areas, but this old girl was in really good shape. The carpet was original, complete with the Stevens paper tags beneath.




The center gauge cluster had a break and was altered to accommodate the aftermarket 90's stereo, so I sourced a replacement from Craig's List for $100 that is in perfect condition. More on that when I reinstall the interior after paint.

There were no cracks in the dash, even after I pulled it out which is always nerve-racking. The lower dash pads were very good, as well.


There were definitely some Bubba'd pieces, including a dome light put into the inner T-top molding and some sketchy wiring-- all subject to a later fix.

 

After the stripping of the interior, I discovered some dreaded birdcage rust damage. One of only two areas in the whole car that had a problem. The upper passenger corner of the windshield frame was toast.



The driver's side and t-top crossmember weren't bad at all, though with my inexperience I thought Bubba went calk-crazy. I later discovered this was a factory thing. I had no idea.





I purchased two new birdcage corners and the windshield top crossmember, so that should correct the problem. Of course, this correction caused a couple new ones.

In trying to remove a reasonably good windshield with only one small crack I managed to turn it into an unreasonably bad windshield with lots of cracks and had to order a new one. That replacement should be fun. More on that later.




I decided to leave the birdcage in tact until after I get the car back down, body back on frame to maintain as much structural integrity as possible. Turns out I needed it.

 

Lifting the body was a big undertaking and the #3 and #4 body mounts were a real bugger. Both number 3's needed to be decapitated and both number fours had to be cut off as well.

With the 3's, the captured nut spun and left no alternative. For those who have done the job, you know that little window in front of the rear wheel well is tricky enough to work in. You might also know that if you finally get that bolt to break lose and it starts working its way out, the minute it tightens again (presumably when corrosion on the rusted bolt that was below the nut thickens) it's probably best too stop and hit it with an overnight bath of PB Blaster. I tried to caveman it and broke the captured nut lose; then spin spin spin-- cut it off, swear, etc Of course I had to lift the body before I could deal with the headless bolt and then it was a combination of sawzall and skillsaw where the sawzall wouldn't fit. Many blades and many minutes later that bugger was out, but a replacement captured nut was still needed and some welding at that point.

As you can see, the number 3 mounts looked innocent enough.



It was the number 4's that really prompted the body lift. They were completely shot.



So off they had to come.

 

Even with an extractor set (which I consider a must in this kind of a project), the bolts had to be cut. What A PITA.

I had to cave in and cut the outer wall of the captured nut and then sawzall-skillsaw it outa there. Took forever.




The ugly results of the remnants of the number 3 mount.


A bit better after POR-15:

 

I actually feared the #2 Body Mounts, but they were far and away the easiest to remove, despite not looking so good..


The passenger side looked far better... But much to my surprise both came out cleanly. (Extractors needed again, in my case.)


I also had completely deteriorated shoulder belt mounts and ordered replacements.

Oh well, rust never sleeps as they say, so I felt I had to address these issues.

 

Once the body mounts were out, (again with Hooah's help) it was time to pick that body up. Aside from breaking down the rag joint and the radiator mount bolts and all the bumper supports, it honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be.

We used a simple engine hoist to pull up one side at a time and placed short four by fours in the birdcage channel. The goal was to initially give enough access to strip and paint the entire frame, minus where the 4x4's and jack stands were, and later to be able to run new stainless fuel and brake lines.


I took my time and put the wire wheel, sanding bar, and tons of sand paper and got the frame down to very little remaining rust, and spent a couple days on my back and sides using the POR-15. Nasty stuff. It doesn't come off anything. Including skin, unless you use enough rubbing alcohol to strip your skin. My garage floor unfortunately has some scars, too. Anyhow the product adhere's to rust, so some remaining surface rust is a good thing.

I'm pretty happy with the results. It's not perfect or anything but its a frame, so a little texture --to me-- is no big deal.



I also sprayed the entire undercarriage with Duplicolor truck bed liner and in some less exposed spots Duplicolor undercoating. Both should really help with reducing road noise and various rattles. My experience with C3's tells me the more the better with insulating against noise and heat. More on heat barriers later.

The undercarriage was actually pretty clean, but project creep caught me again and I figured while I was there...



I also cleaned up and sprayed the wheel wells with the same product. Nice and clean, the way I would have liked it to come in the first place.






I had one lower frame issue with rust, the kick up and cap in front of the passenger rear wheel. So I ground out the rust and patched witha replacement cap and some scrap metal. My uncle gave me a crash course in welding and after a ton of grinding and a touch up with POR-15 Seam and Filler it looked much better and is undoubtedly stronger.


I think it came out pretty good.

Tomorrow I'll show some more results shots and the brake and fuel line progress. Be well all.

 

That looks great considering you haven't had much experience welding!

Also I did the same with my chassis, wire wheel and KBS coating (Same as POR basically) yours and mine look very similar!

 

Thanks Lachymac1.... I was interested in the cosmetic and structural improvement and I think I achieved both. Not to professional standards, but my uncle did a lot of the fill and seam work, so he should get most of the credit. And that POR15 seam sealer filler is great stuff. I mean great.

 

Lookin Good my brother! Lookin Good!

Terry

 

I picked up on the first recommendation here from PSlow's restoration thread. He said he got onto it while working on his motorcycles. He mentioned it was best as a powdercoat or paint prep after a spray bath. Eastwood's Afterblast is a Zinc coater, among other things that prevents the metal from flash rusting or rusting at all, with just a spray. I used it a little differently: after I soaked bolts or smaller pieces in Evaporust --which I think works pretty well (though a wire wheel works a lot better and doesn't take an overnight soak) -- I'd put the newly cleaned pieces in a covered container of Afterblast and let it soak for at least 24 hours while I worked on some other parts of the car. The results were phenomenal -- a dark gray coating, rust free and coated to stay that way. They came out looking like this.


Sure beats paying a ton for each replacement bolt or buying kits through the vendors -- which I admit I had to do for a couple areas. That Afterblast is particularly good stuff. Stinks pretty good, but it works.

The other stuff I've been really pleased with is Duplicolor'sTruck Armor. THat stuff has taken a dropped wrench or two without a scuff. So if you're doing a wiper bay or firewall or rear storage compartment, you might want to think about that stuff. (I top coat with High Heat paint for the firewall. Not sure if that's necessary, but what's it hurt?)





Thought I'd throw that out there before I get too far into the build thread. Happy Vetting, all.

 

Looks pretty close to Bridgehampton Blue to me....

 

I thought so, too.... until I parked next to Bridgehampton Blue 70 convertible last fall at BigBoy's Tuesday night cruise in.

This mystery spray blue will soon be Electron Blue as I said. Went to Englehart's in Richmond, MI and picked up nearly $1400 in painting supplies this week. A gallon of that paint was $650.

I knew it'd be expensive, but sheesh! I didn't know it'd cost that much. I bought enough clear to make it deep enough to swim in. Thinking 4 coats of clear, wet sand, and four more coats.

Luckily for me, paint has been delayed by a couple weeks. I wasn't quite ready yet, anyway.