Agreed. I don't see anything there that would scare me off.
Keep us posted on your progress.

 

I'd like to see/hear about your Camaro. Whats it's story?

 

Where did the PO get the Bluetooth ignition wires?

 

Which assembly instruction manual do you recommend? I've seen several online.
Thank you.

 

I believe the one I have is from Lectric Limited.

 

Well maybe its not Lectric Limited. My manual is in ther shop. I'll look for it tomorrow.

 

Go to Corvette Central and designate model year 1979 and search for "assembly instruction manual." You can select from loose leaf or perfect bound as well as on CD. They even sell a nice binder for your hard copy manual. You will also see the very helpful shop service manual pop up. You will find that also enormously helpful.

These items can be purchased through other merchants and also on eBay. In any case, based on the exciting project you have taken on, these items will be indispensable.

 

The Camaro has basically been in the family since new. The original owner bought it in 1968 trading in a VW Bug for it. We have the original, handwritten sales slip. My "aunt in-law" received the car in her divorce from the original owner. My wife remembers riding in it when she was younger. It went to my father in-law when she passed away. It sat under a cover at first in the in-laws garage then their new shop sleeping for nearly 30 years. My father in-law gave it to my son 4 or 5 years ago. We think he did that knowing I'd probably start tinkering with it and he wanted to see it back on the road. I've replaced all brake parts, rebuilt/replaced suspension, had the carb and steering rebuilt, etc.

I am not a professional restorer or anything. I would just fix/replace/'restore' whatever I thought would make the car look nice or drive better. This is my plan for the Corvette as well.

Its current state.

 

Speaking of brakes, there reman calipers with stainless sleeves on Rockauto for (I think) a reasonable price, or I could rebuild them with the kits I've seen.

What do you think? What would be the better route?

 

I'm not a fan of RA - they're terrible for returns (IME) - but I don't know about warranty claims. A lot of folks here buy the rebuilt calipers from Autozone, O'Reilly's, and the like, because of the guarantee & exchange policies and being local there's very little down time.

Your idea to rebuild is good and it's a simple job. Do you know if the current calipers are sleeved? Many have been changed out since the '80s when sleeving became the norm.

 

How do you tell if a caliper has been sleeved? I've read on the forum of people rebuilding their calipers and they have leaks. Maybe they missed something, or the caliper was beyond simply repair? There seems to be numerous vids on the rebuild process and it looks simple enough. Messy maybe.

 

I rebuilt my calipers 4 years ago with the standard lip seals (that many people say don't last) and they are still leak free now. If they have the stainless sleeves it's easy enough to see as per this photo.


My calipers looked pretty much like yours when I got the car, but a good cleanup and a coat of paint made a big improvement. It is a pretty easy job.

 

So you're committed to getting your brakes fixed? Here's what I'd do:

With the car on jackstands, take off the wheels. With golf tees, or clamps, ready, cut the flexible brake lines. Remove the steel line in the rear calipers and throw them away. Then remove all 4 calipers. Place them somewhere that the brake fluid won't damage paint, to include not on a painted garage floor, or on your nice workbench.

Pull the pins, and toss the brake pads. Then pry off one over one of the 4 pistons on each caliper. Then decide what to do.

If you have 4 calpers with stainless sleeves in good condition (including the bleeder valve), buy a high-heat O-ring rebuild kit from CSSB Inc, and do it yourself.
Otherwise, decide if you want Lonestar rebuilt calipers, or if you want to save a bunch of unsprung weight and (laterally) upgrade to Wilwood direct-replacement calipers. If you are going to track the car, you'll likely want bigger front brakes eventually, so don't buy the wrong expensive thing as a stopgap.

Buy new plain-steel short brake lines for the trailing arms (and anywhere else you need), and buy teflon-lined flexible stainless hoses for the 4 corners. Some vendor kits come this way.

I buy a lot of stuff from RockAuto, and have only been burned on returns once or twice, when I waited to long to return something (NOT RockAuto's fault, my mistaken order). I don't know if they sell Lonestar rebuilds, though. Zip does, and that's what's on my 79. On my 80 are DIY rebuilds with CSSB Inc. high-heat kits, and G3 epoxy (pictured wet below, it dries smooth).

 

The only thing I'd add is to break loose the two large bolts securing the halves together while the caliper is still on the car. Unless you have a big, honkin' vise, it's much easier to do it while still mounted than to do it off the car. Those front caliper bolts are torqued to something like 130 ft.lbs.

 

Good point! I had a big honkin' vise, but the car might be easier. Mind the brake fluid.

 

So the sleeve would be a thin line after the piston is removed. What if they aren't sleeved?

I do like that painted or epoxied look.

 

If they aren't sleeved already (and you won't know until you get the calipers mostly apart), buy Lonestar rebuilds and send what you have back as cores.

Or buy new Wilwood, Brembo or AP Racing calipers, depending on your car's expected use.

 

The stainless sleeves are not super thin - probably about 1/16" wall thickness. The bore of a sleeve is bright silver, smooth, and polished looking (surface staining is OK). An unsleeved bore will appear a medium gray (cast iron) coloration and not be as smooth or have much of a polish.

The problem with the cast iron bores, as they came from GM, is that any moisture will rust the bore which compromises the sealing so that the calipers begin leaking brake fluid. The problem starts in the section of the bore between the outer bore seal and the inner piston seal. This area does not have any protection of brake fluid (as minimal as DOT 3 & 4 offers) so any moisture that gets past the outer bore seal quickly corrodes that section of the bore, causing an extremely poor surface for the piston's seal to ride against as the pads wear. Any moisture in this area is transported inward by the back and forth movement of the piston during regular use which introduces an easy route for moisture to get into the fluid where it rusts the deepest part of the bore. It's a nasty self-deteriorating situation that stainless sleeves all but eliminated.

 

I found this today. Is this why it appears that the orange paint has been painted over with blue? And are there any suggestions for cleaning the oil/dirt build-up under the engine?

Found under the crud.

 

Does this additional hole mean I can install a true dual exhaust?

Possible dual exhaust?