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I've got my console fitted in and everything test fitted. Had to remove some old brackets the PO installed to bolt in the '80 console, but fortunately all the original '71 brackets were still in place. Parts are fitting in nicely:
Last week I attempted to recover the '68 top dash pad with vinyl, and I got really close.. but no cigar I had three issues:
the 3M canned glue I was using was crap - the professional glue that you spray in a paint gun is light years better
the corners - I couldn't figure out for my life to get those corners right, and they're visible in the car so you need them decent.
I had some small cracks in the pad and they showed through
This was a diligent attempt, but I couldn't get it right , nor did this dash pad have speaker cutouts, so I gave in and ordered some from Corvette America.
I got the crown jewel in Monday night (new dash pad) and was ready after work Tuesday to start buttoning this interior project up! The dash pad went in easily, and the gauge cluster wasn't bad at all. I had my step dad helping out, and having him hold the dash up a little when I had the steering column unbolted, made it a quick process to get it in. I had new screws ready to go and the dash pads on both sides went together well. The reproduction shift console all lined up and things were finally coming together quite well! I did find out a couple of things: 1) I need speaker supports to mount speakers in my new dash, and 2) the radio I have won't fit correctly It can never all go smoothly! So I'm going to have to source another radio and speaker supports, and put them back in. Oh well, I'm ready to get my car back on the road! I got these pieces in and fitted my center gauge cluster - kept it out so I can test fit another radio my stepdad has from a Bandit Trans Am he owned, might get lucky there!
Been tired of seeing my dash in disorder like this:
I picked up the little screws and hardware needed from my local hardware store, that has three isles of every fastener known to man, it's a gear heads dream! I excitedly finished putting my gauges back in, connecting the wires, and getting it all buttoned up. The end result looks fantastic, and I was quite excited to finally see all the gauges working and lit up! Wife and I took the vette out with the tops off this evening, racing down river road as it snaked along the Mississippi river: nice to have my vette back!
Small things still needed:
Tach drive distributor to power Tach
radio side access panels on console
Radio
Speaker support brackets for dash
finish cleaning/hiding wiring under dash. They ran the harness under the column instead of above it!
Still don't have a radio, and it sticks out like a sore thumb!
I really like the gauges organized like this for carb tuning: AFR and Vacuum up top
The LED's came out to the perfect brightness on the gauges
I put the car on Jack Stands tonight and pulled the wheels off to start doing inspections of the mechanicals. To my pleasant surprise, the PO completely overhauled the brakes before the car was parked! (including the rubber lines) no leaks and they work great, hopefully they stay that way! Then when I got to the back: Has freshly rebuilt trailing arms, with fresh black powder coating!!!! Car just keeps getting better!!!
No rust on the frame, body mounts, bird cage, floors, etc: car is solid!
Control arms look original, but ball joints have been changed at some point, because they're bolted in. Control arms will be easy to overhaul when I need to!
Has power assist steering and the ram is leaking fluid, will have to overhaul this.
look at the front sway bar mounting brackets and bushings where it bolt to the frame and check the welds.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
Originally Posted by Arg0413
I picked up the little screws and hardware needed from my local hardware store, that has three isles of every fastener known to man, it's a gear heads dream! I excitedly finished putting my gauges back in, connecting the wires, and getting it all buttoned up. The end result looks fantastic, and I was quite excited to finally see all the gauges working and lit up! Wife and I took the vette out with the tops off this evening, racing down river road as it snaked along the Mississippi river: nice to have my vette back!
Small things still needed:
Tach drive distributor to power Tach
radio side access panels on console
Radio
Speaker support brackets for dash
finish cleaning/hiding wiring under dash. They ran the harness under the column instead of above it!
Still don't have a radio, and it sticks out like a sore thumb!
I really like the gauges organized like this for carb tuning: AFR and Vacuum up top
The LED's came out to the perfect brightness on the gauges
Now I had the C3 back together, and waiting for some small odds & ends to finish the details, it was time for her to trade stalls with my ZR-1 so I could get her prepared for the journey to Cruising the Coast. The car developed a slight high RPM miss that would give an intermittent CEL, and also left me stranded with a no-start issue last time I took her out in July. I suspected the miss was a dirty injector, and after I pulled the CEL codes I confirmed my suspicions so started to tear the top end down to get all 16 injectors out and test/clean them on my buddy's flow bench. The flow benches are a really cool toy, that i'll post a video of it in action. The no-start is a common issue on these cars, and I'm going to bypass everything with a push button to a relay that goes straight to the starter relay.
I got my buddies Flow Bench picked up Saturday, and was able to get diagnostics work done. I didn't find a smoking gun on my injectors: they all worked great and had even patterns/flow. But I did find some cracked vacuum lines, and further narrowed down my issue to those lines and old 02 sensors (hopefully). Car will be getting buttoned up once the new lines and sensors come in and she'll be ready to do some cruising. Below is a video of the flow bench in action:
I was a little confused, I didn't remember there being injectors on the LT-1.
I forgot you were working on your ZR-1.
Yeah I had to take a detour from the C3 to tune up my ZR-1 - getting back on the C3 ASAP, now I just scored a good deal on a radio in the classifieds section, so that's going in next!
I've been busy with my ZR-1 and went on vacation for Labor Day weekend, but back on my C3 this week! The ZR-1 took a while to diagnose and solve the issue I was having, but she's back at 100% doing burn outs and bouncing the rev limiter at 7k I had some loose ends to tie up on my C3 for the interior: obtain and install radio, extend PW switch wiring, install dash speakers, and tidy up my console cluster.
I realized that my PW switch harness was too short (once again 1980 harness, and switches are further forward on them) so i had to solder in extensions for the switches. This is a big deal, because I haven't been able to put my windows up to wash my car lol
When I ordered this dash, I didn't realize that I needed the metal brackets to hold the speakers in. Had to order those, so pulled the dash back out and put speakers in:
ZR-1 trading spaces with the C3 , so C3 can be back in the wrenching bay to put the finishing touches on the interior
Before you button everything up for the pw switches, make sure you have them wired correctly.
The prior owner of my 73 had the drivers pw switch wired incorrectly.
Both windows worked but on the drivers side when you pushed the switch to lower the window it raised the window while the passenger side functioned normally.
Before you button everything up for the pw switches, make sure you have them wired correctly.
The prior owner of my 73 had the drivers pw switch wired incorrectly.
Both windows worked but on the drivers side when you pushed the switch to lower the window it raised the window while the passenger side functioned normally.
Funny you say that: I tested them and had exactly that! Was wired correctly, but just had to switch one of the switches 180.
I wrapped up work by lunchtime today and rushed to my garage to button up the vette so I could do some cruising in this nice weather! I got the new stereo finished up, and the console and gauges put back in and buttoned up:
Now it was Friday afternoon, and time to cruise down Manchac Road to Alligator Bayou: This is winding back road full of hair pin turns following Bayou Manchac snake through the Spanish Lake swamp basin. It's a beautiful ride, and a lot of fun!
It took me one time to drive the car to be annoyed I didn't have Bluetooth on this stereo... I didn't want to buy the CAS bluetooth adapter for my stereo for $115, so I ordered a DS-18 Bluetooth receiver and put it in this week. The audio quality was HORRIBLE! I called the manufacturer and it turns out this is designed to be connected directly to an amplifier, not into the RCA aux input of a stereo, so it was being double amplified! Well that was a wasted of time, so now I ordered the CAS bluetooth kit lol
There was a car meet this sunday, so I went with one of my buddies to check out the seen. I turned out of my neighborhood and floored it: throttle cable breaks! I'm not gong anywhere! Rigged up the carb with a hand cable to drive here a mile back to the house and jumped in my buddies '65 Dodge to check out the car meet. Not one damn classic car there, and not one Corvette! But did see a Lamborghini, McClaren, and a lot of modern boosted LS cars and Coyote Mustangs. Not my scene, but was worth checking out!
I had three issues: 
It can never all go smoothly! So I'm going to have to source another radio and speaker supports, and put them back in. Oh well, I'm ready to get my car back on the road! I got these pieces in and fitted my center gauge cluster - kept it out so I can test fit another radio my stepdad has from a Bandit Trans Am he owned, might get lucky there! 
I had some loose ends to tie up on my C3 for the interior: obtain and install radio, extend PW switch wiring, install dash speakers, and tidy up my console cluster.
