Other than tires my main concern is a spongy brake pedal. I'm hoping new hoses and a fluid flush fix it.
For all I know it just needs bled, but hoses and flush won't hurt.

 

This weekend I had the opportunity to meet 20Mercury and his wife, tour his projects and collection, and make new friends as we talked Corvettes! His hospitality didn't end there, and he shared some very generous pay it forward parts to help return my interior to original '71 Black parts! Looking forward to learning as much as I can from him, this forum is wonderful with the passionate and generous people that i've met! Thanks again Pat for your kindness!

 

Got the car back on jack stands tonight to do more inspections and get it ready for weekend maintenance. Took a look at my trans and noticed it's not the correct Muncie trans, but a Richmond T-10 I believe! Below is the serial number if anyone can help me identify:

 

Here's a look at the new rear trailing arms, brakes, and brake lines I found in the rear end! Got lucky here!!!

 

Here's a view of my rear end and half shafts (which do have the proper LT-1 retaining caps). It has minor surface rust that I can make quick work with a wire wheel and chassis black paint! Anyone have any advise on identifying the serial numbers on the differential? I see one on the top and passenger side:

 

20Mercury Generously donated me some AZ Rally wheels for my project. With some elbow grease, and VHT Argent Silver wheel paint, I was able to refresh them in preparation for the new tires I ordered. I have Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 in 255/60R15 fronts and 275/60R15 for the rears. Eager to get those rusty old cragers off with the dry rotted tires!

 

Hello from another fellow Louisiana owner! Regarding your differential, here's the numbers on my '72 LT-1 and what they mean:

AB W168 E1 3.70 Ratio / Warren Motive Axles / July Build Date / Posi


The ID numbers are on the BOTTOM of the diff. Here's a pic:

 

Here's the numbers from my differential, I think it's a 3.08 from 1976? Please step in and confirm. I am certain that this isn't the original differential for my LT-1!

 

It's the weekend, so it's time to drink beer and turn wrenches! First order of business was to replace the power steering ram and lines to fix the awful leak that was spraying fluid on the undercarriage of the car. This was an easy and straight forward job. I wish I would of degreased the underside and pressure washed before I removed that greasy ram, but I followed up the next morning with a heavy pressure washing and degreasing of the underside!




I saved the best for last: mount the new wheels and tires! I ordered a set of 255/60R15 & 275/60R15 Firehawk Indy 500 tires to mount on the AZ Rally wheels I just refurbished. the 255 on the front goes straight to the edge and looks perfect on the wheel well. I knew the rear was going to need spacers to get it where it needed to be with the flares, so my buddy came over with a box of spacers for us to play with it until we found the perfect stance, which ended up being 2" spacers on those factory wheels. I love the look of the rally wheels, and this drastically cleaned up the look of the car! Looks a thousand times better without those rusty old wheels:




And this morning I was able to give the car her first bath and get her outside to go for a drive, man she's starting to clean up nicely! (currently has 1.25" spacer on it, but the 2" spacers are ordered and it'll push the wheels out to the flare and look MEAN!)

 

Next up this weekend was to do something about those god awful valve covers that were powder coated purple in the 80's! Fortunately my neighbor is a professional car restorer and has everything in his shop, so I got to utilize his blast cabinet this weekend: I gotta buy one now! The valve covers cleaned up nicely, what a huge improvement!

 

OMG, way too ambitious!

 

First thing I did this morning was thoroughly clean and degrease the valve cover, so I could get them painted with VHT High Heat engine paint in aluminum color. The paint laid down nicely, and I'm very happy with the results!

 

I wasn't able to drive my car for long this weekend because between the roach/mouse poop, dust, mold, and seat foam flying all over me that set my allergies on fire! I can't have a car that I cannot enjoy, so the interior is my next target! Carpet and seat covers were trashed, and the seats were the incorrect 80 seats. I got the '71 seat frames from 20Mercury, so I took advantage of the President's Day sales: ordered new seat covers, foams, install kit, and little pieces I need to install them. Also got a black carpet kit to match my fresh new '71 seats going in! My current strategy is to install the correct black carpet and '71 seats while I gather all the parts I need to complete the '71 interior. It still has the original trim pieces in it, so i'm going to paint them back black to match everything, and dye the '80 door panels that are currently on it. This will give me a very presentable [and clean] interior as I slowly collect parts.

Look at this poor interior!



Since I have the correct steering wheel, I had to swap that in first




And while wearing a face mask I started to rip this nasty carpet out





This was a quick and easy job to get the carpet out, which is a relief that putting the new carpet in hopefully won't be too bad.

 

Next on my list was to start refurbishing my '71 seat frames in anticipation for my seat cover kits. They weren't in bad shape, just some surface rust to be wire wheeled and some paint needed to clean them up:

 

Tonight I finished the other seat bottom my hitting it with a stripping disk and wire wheel on my grinders, which made quick work of all the rust. Some paint on top, and I have a nice looking seat frame:




Next up while the seat frame was drying, I was eager to dry the vinyl dye on the door panel to make it match. I've never used this before, and I was pleasantly surprised with the results! First I clean off the door panel with simple green and a micro fiber cloth, then wiped it down to dry it, then wiped it with grease/way remover. I did about 4 coats on the door panel, and I think it came out great!






Mocked in the door panel to see how it looks: Looks good, and will help make the interior very presentable until I get the proper 71 door panels!

 

You are trashing my already dubious reputation for accomplishing anything!!!

 

Results from a quick search indicate you have a 3.08 ratio and a '76-'77 year differential. (assuming I read the numbers in the photo correctly)
OA W246 E1
OA= 3.08:1 1976-1977
W246= Julian day of the year
E1= Eaton, first shift

 

HAHA yeah when I get into a project, I'm full steam ahead!!! Eager to make her ready to cruise in the spring, and I'll have her ready in a few more weeks at this rate!

 

Thanks for confirming this! I'm assuming that they swapped in the 3.08 rear end so this car could cruise on the highway, sure does take the burn out fun away o the 4.11's! lol I'll have to confirm the gear ratio. Well Engine matches, but trans & rear end don't - I can live with this! After ripping the car apart for the past few weeks, i've confirmed everything else is original (besides interior).

 

Went straight to my shop after work this afternoon, and started working on the second seat frame. This one wasn't as bad as the other, but I still wire wheeled is down and gave it a fresh coat of paint. Next I started on the seat back straps, and the seat mounts.



While paint would be drying between coats, and finished pulling all the trim off the interior. I then lighlty sanded it to scuff for the paint, knock off loose/cracked areas and feather it all back in. After that I washed them all with simple green and wiped them really well! Tomorrow They'll all be getting painted.