I hadn’t really considered power steering. I have gotten used to not having it, so I was going to leave it “powerless”. Now would definitely be the time to add it, but I don’t know if that’s in the already bloated budget. There is definitely some play in the original steering box that should get resolved with a rebuild (by a professional, not by me) and I’m also replacing the relay rod ball stud and seats. So that should tighten things up as well. For me, the only real pain with no power steering is parking lots. You have to muscle the steering wheel at low speeds. But I have not found things to be much different at regular road speeds. I kind of like bragging about no AC, no power steering and no power brakes. Gives the car some personality to me and scares people from asking if they can drive it!

 

Well, just got the differential back from the builder. Same place that did my trailing arms. And the same place that is now doing the steering box. When done, this car should almost be mechanically better then when it came from the factory! All new seals, new bearings and even repaired a crack in the differential housing that I didn’t even know was there. So I’m happy to get it one more step closer. I should have most of the rear end done by this weekend. But I may order some new u bolts for the universal joints. So those will probably take time to deliver. I had it powder coated silver. Shouldn’t ever rust again! Builder said he got .007” backlash.

 

Just got a new box of parts back from the powder coater today. They again did a great job. The lower A arms are more pitted than I was expecting, but I don’t know what I was expecting after almost 54 years. They will most certainly not get any more pitted now. The powder coater even taped off the bushing surfaces for me. Let the reassembly continue. Yes I did not press out the bushing sleeves and they also didn’t powder coat the inside of the sleeves. And even coated the lowers with the pivot shaft still in the sleeves.

 

Good day today. First issue was getting the ne bushings into the control arms. Like I said earlier. I left the bushing sleeves in the control arms while getting powder coated. Problem is, you used to be able to get just the urethane bushings that push into the existing sleeves, but that is not the case anymore. You apparently can only get the sleeved bushings. Well, getting the old bushing sleeves out was not fun. Basically I had to collapse those with a chisel to get those sleeves out. One by one. A lot of hammering. But they all came out. So I was able to then use a press to get the new sleeved bushings in. So the bushings are in and the A arms are back in the frame. I guessed at the alignment shims and just stuffed random shims in.



I was also able to get the rear differential installed. I am ordering new bolts for the half shafts so they are not installed yet, but at least the diff is back in.

 

More good progress. Half shafts and strut rods are in. As well as the sway bar. Yeah, I know the small blocks didn’t come from the factory with a rear sway bar, but this is a freakin Corvette and I want it to handle like one! Which is why I am also going polyurethane everywhere I can. Oh and whoever advised me to not bother buying new bolts for everything. So you know, I’m not a good listener. I have replaced just about every bolt on this frame. New U bolts on the universal joints, and new half shaft spindle bolts. The French locks are on back order, so the spindle bolts are just finger tight for now.

I gotta slow down. I’m going to be bored AF when this project is done. I gotta make it last longer!

 

A Work of art!

 

There is something nice about having all new fasteners.

 

Thanks. I’m pretty happy with how things are turning out.

I agree. I’ve gone this far, what’s a few hundred dollars extra on new bolts? I want this to essentially be a new frame when it’s all said and done. Do it once and do it right.

 

Looks excellent! I too amusing almost all new bolts. Metal fatigue on 50 years old nuts and bolts is good enough for me. Don;t want something flying apart and ruining hard work all for the want of some new bolts. I am only doing this ONCE!!!

 

Doing it once is my plan as well.
Let's all keep our fingers crossed!

 

Well there it is. I have a fully functioning rear suspension. I mistakenly thought I could wrestle a 40 pound transverse leaf spring into place by myself. I have the 7 leaf heavy duty spring, 2-1/4” wide In a 2-1/2” differential cover. So getting those 1/8” spacer plates in was a chore. I needed a buddy and even a come along to get everything in place. Was way more difficult than I remember it being when I installed it initially. But it’s all done. Leaf spring, shocks, strut rods, sway bar, brake lines. I even re-indexed the rotor so it lines up with the parking brake port (friendly reminder to not forget to do that if you are replacing the rear rotors). I’m starting to run out of things to do on the frame. I’ll be ready to move the motor and trans soon. Moving right along.



I also got the front spindles in yesterday. Rented a spring compressor from Auto Zone to get that done. It was a chore too. But got as much of the steering linkage in that I could. New steering damper, idler arm, ball joints, tie rod ends…. Of course, my tie rod end alignments are not even close to a guess at this point. We will see if I can give them a visual alignment when I get the tires on, so I can at least get it to an alignment shop without chewing up the tires completely!

 

I know it doesn’t seem like a huge step, but psychologically it is to me. I now have a rolling chassis. The frame is no longer on jack stands. But I had to push the body to the side to give me enough room to put one of the rear tires on. And when it was rolling sideways on the body dolly, one of the castors fell into the drain pipe. Scared the **** out of me. I thought the whole body was about to fall over! Fortunately it didn’t fall far and it was light enough that I could lift it out of the drain and back into solid ground. So this is just a small win, but feels like a big deal. Yeah my garage is a mess, but it’s an organized mess.

 

I hope nobody was waiting to offer me stupid money for my old shitty frame. Too late now. Because the fun has begun. Old frame plus plasma cutter equals lots of sparks. Yes it is as fun as it looks! So the old frame is not coming out in one piece. It is coming out in multiple pieces. I needed to make some room to walk around the new frame so off with the back end of the old frame.



What you can’t see well is the almost 2 inch pile of rust crumbs in the old frame right where I cut this apart. And I’m sure most of the rest of the old frame is equally as corroded.



Anyhow, destruction is therapeutic and fun so I had to share.

 

As I see you cutting up the old frame I have to ask a question. Would there be any issues reselling, registering, retitling the car in the future whether it be by you, your wife, or kids?

Not trying to scare you but I read an interesting story not too long ago about where a gentleman’s car was confiscated by the state of Kansas and they were attempting to destroy it based off an errant VIN number. Story.

While I do not know the particulars in question of what the state of Kansas was so upset about but given how the article was written apparently there is a part of the car they inspected that has lead the state to believe the car had been stolen or certified as destroyed or something along those lines and those found evidence to support not so much.

I am certainly not an expert on this kinda thing and nor am I trying to be a Debbie Downer. I’m just throwing this out there so that you make sure you, your family, and your asset are protected in the event something is found to be “off” when the car is someday retitled for whatever reason.

Maybe it’s no big deal, but what if it were for whatever reason. If you already checked this all out please forgive me, I either missed the post or it wasn’t posted.

 

No. Fine to ask. The guy that sold me the “new” frame was up front with me about there being no VIN on it. In Ohio, there are no car inspections. So perhaps If someone looks closely enough, they would find no numbers. But as rusted as my current frame is, you can’t see the stamps anyway. So prove my new frame is not original and it wasn’t just sand blasted off. My engine and trans match the VIN stamp, so I’m still partially “numbers matching”. But if I ever sell the car, I’m not going to hide anything. The car is what I made it to be because that’s how I want it. This is not an NCRS restoration. I don’t want it to be that. I am using the correct bolts and such because the restoration shops make it easy to buy nicely packaged bolt kits that include what you need. So instead of spending hours in the hardware store trying to match thread pitch and length, I’m hitting the easy button and buying the bolt kits, that just happen to be stamped correct. I’m not trying to fool anyone. I want a driver that is more solid then what I currently have; which is a rolling rusted out death trap. I have tried looking and can find no evidence of any frame stamps on my old frame. Including spending time with a wire wheel to no avail. Which I imagine is pretty typical of a car this age. I also removed the tank about 15 years ago and only managed to find some glue and about a 1 inch pieces of brown paper where the tank build sheet uses to be. I have no documentation for this car. But I do know it is an original L79 M21 3.70 car with no PS no PB and no AC, which was typical for an L79 car. I’ve already scared 2/3 of potential buyers away with those stats alone. This is not a desirable model. I half tried to sell it a while ago and said “no AC” in my ad. A dude called and his first question was “how does the air blow”. To which I responded “hot”. He didn’t like that answer. I then laughed at him for not reading my ad, which ended that conversation. I wouldn’t have sold it to him anyway. Can’t trust someone that fails basic reading comprehension.

Anyway, my Ohio historical plates do not expire. So I have no reason to step foot in a BMV for this car ever again. Maybe my son will have an issue with that when I die, but that sounds like his problem, not mine! Anyhow, I do appreciate you bringing that up. Always good to make sure things are considered.

 

Another good day. I essentially went from 3 cars in my garage down to 2. I got the engine pulled from the old frame



Then it was time for destruction. The old frame was a rotted piece of ****. There was no saving it. The rust holes were too huge and it was structurally gone. So a buddy and I got some quality time with the plasma cutter.



So all hacked up and set outside next to my shed. Hope it doesn’t rust in the rain!



So after the old frame got removed, the new frame was put in its place. Had to shimmy it around with a jack, but I got it moved and in place. And the engine is hanging over the new frame. I am cleaning the engine and replacing the engine mounts before putting it on the new frame. Gotta get the oil and dirt off the engine so it looks like it belongs on the new frame.



That was enough fun for one day. Now I won’t be tripping over what was essentially 3 cars in my garage before. It’s nice having just 2 now. Well, a frame and a body.

 

Well happy New Years. My impatience got the better of me today and I dropped the engine on the new frame. It’s infinitely easier to do this alone when you don’t have to maneuver around a body.



I did have to drill the back bolts for the shifter support into the crossmember. This was originally an automatic frame, and I’m “converting” it to a manual trans. The guy I bought the frame from already welded the Z bar in place, but I had to drill the back shifter support bolts. No big deal. The original nuts were welded to the frame, so I substituted for some nyloc nuts so they shouldn’t come off. And since they are inside the crossmember. Nobody will be able to see them.

 

The differential and engine are now coupled. Not huge gains this week, but still gains. I got the new universal joints and U bolts on. I also spent some quality time with a wire wheel and a can of silver spray paint to get the driveshaft to look at least presentable next to the powder coated differential. I also got the stainless fuel return line installed. So steps forward are getting smaller, but still moving forward.

 

Starting to get some work done on the body. The number 4 body mounts were not pretty. This is what happened when I pulled on it by hand. Not much left of the rivets holding it to the body.


Here is what was left of the passenger side body mount, next to the new one. The old one was rusted all the way through. Held together by gravity.


I painted the new one black. And in order to make sure this never happens again, I bought stainless screws and stainless nyloc nuts to hold these in place, instead of using the aluminum rivets. These shouldn’t go anywhere now.


if you are ever looking to buy a C3, look at the number 4 body mounts. If they look anything like mine, walk away. Unless you want to do a frame off restoration.

 

So it’s been a while, but the body finally got put back on the frame today. It went together fairly easily. Took some finessing to get the body mount holes to line up, but all in all, not too bad. Been a long time coming, but I’m glad it’s done. Now to get the rest of the bumper mounts and wiring done. Still more to go, but definitely good progress.