Frankenstein 69
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2022
Posts: 338
Likes: 67
From: Escondido, CA
Frankenstein 69
I'm starting a new thread to document my journey into building my 69. I'm going to pair this with a YouTube channel, appropriately named "Frankenstein 69" and treat the two (thread and videos) as a continuing set.
Background
I'll try to make the story brief. About a year ago I decided to get back into playing with cars. I hadn't worked on a car for fun for well over 20 years and I missed it. So I decided that this time I'm going to start with the kind of car I wanted; a red convertible. Found an '88 with a horrible knock and then promptly joined CorvetteForum. Got tons of help along the way and recently finished the 88 and sold it. Along the way I got my hands on a second L98 engine and a ton of 88 parts. That led me to find a home for the leftover engine, which led me to finding this 69.
The 69 is... unique. Remember that Johnny Cash song "One Piece At A Time"? Well, the guy I bought it from did exactly that. He worked at a Vette shop in San Diego and started from a frame and literally built it one piece at a time. Thus the Frankenstein reference. When I found it, he'd sold the car to a friend who only wanted it for the 427 and tranny, so it was a roller. So now it's up to me to resurrect it and make it my own. This is NOT going to be easy; still doubting my own sanity, to be honest. This is truly somebody else's "I've lost interest in this impossible project" and just happens to match my (perhaps a bit masochistic) desire to hack. And it's a doosey.
Technically, it's probably about 70% 69. A large part of that non-69 is the 1980 Dana 44 rear (3.08). Another large part is the entirely fricken custom-fabb'ed interior. And then there's the headlights. Oy. Not to be outdone, I'm building an L98 up to a 383 stroker with 6" rods, 3.75 stroke, AFR 190 heads, Hooker LT headers, and a Muncie M20 with Hurst shifter (with the old-school thumb button to hold the front breaks... yeah baby!!!j).
Lots to do just so I can shout "It's alive!"
Why the YouTube channel?
This is going to be a long journey and I wanted to have an ongoing discussion in a single thread. However, I've found threads that are years old and have pics and vids that no longer exist. So I created a dedicated YouTube channel where these will live. Additionally, I personally get so much more out of a video than written words. I'm going to carry on discussions here, in this thread (along with pictures), but I think it'll be easier to simply drop an episode on YT for something that has a lot of content or is complicated. And finally, I just enjoy watching the YT vids a lot of you post and I'd like to try the same.
The Invitation
So i'd like to invite you to watch the channel but comment here. You guys are the ones I care to hear from mostly, TBH. I'm going to give more details here, along with pics, and hope to incorporate your input and feedback into my project. So, here goes.
Background
I'll try to make the story brief. About a year ago I decided to get back into playing with cars. I hadn't worked on a car for fun for well over 20 years and I missed it. So I decided that this time I'm going to start with the kind of car I wanted; a red convertible. Found an '88 with a horrible knock and then promptly joined CorvetteForum. Got tons of help along the way and recently finished the 88 and sold it. Along the way I got my hands on a second L98 engine and a ton of 88 parts. That led me to find a home for the leftover engine, which led me to finding this 69.
The 69 is... unique. Remember that Johnny Cash song "One Piece At A Time"? Well, the guy I bought it from did exactly that. He worked at a Vette shop in San Diego and started from a frame and literally built it one piece at a time. Thus the Frankenstein reference. When I found it, he'd sold the car to a friend who only wanted it for the 427 and tranny, so it was a roller. So now it's up to me to resurrect it and make it my own. This is NOT going to be easy; still doubting my own sanity, to be honest. This is truly somebody else's "I've lost interest in this impossible project" and just happens to match my (perhaps a bit masochistic) desire to hack. And it's a doosey.
Technically, it's probably about 70% 69. A large part of that non-69 is the 1980 Dana 44 rear (3.08). Another large part is the entirely fricken custom-fabb'ed interior. And then there's the headlights. Oy. Not to be outdone, I'm building an L98 up to a 383 stroker with 6" rods, 3.75 stroke, AFR 190 heads, Hooker LT headers, and a Muncie M20 with Hurst shifter (with the old-school thumb button to hold the front breaks... yeah baby!!!j).
Lots to do just so I can shout "It's alive!"
Why the YouTube channel?
This is going to be a long journey and I wanted to have an ongoing discussion in a single thread. However, I've found threads that are years old and have pics and vids that no longer exist. So I created a dedicated YouTube channel where these will live. Additionally, I personally get so much more out of a video than written words. I'm going to carry on discussions here, in this thread (along with pictures), but I think it'll be easier to simply drop an episode on YT for something that has a lot of content or is complicated. And finally, I just enjoy watching the YT vids a lot of you post and I'd like to try the same.
The Invitation
So i'd like to invite you to watch the channel but comment here. You guys are the ones I care to hear from mostly, TBH. I'm going to give more details here, along with pics, and hope to incorporate your input and feedback into my project. So, here goes.
Last edited by Shunyun; Sep 4, 2023 at 10:19 AM.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2022
Posts: 338
Likes: 67
From: Escondido, CA
Cross posted to tech section, looking for cam help.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1607031888
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1607031888
