I'm sure that I'm not alone in my sentiment that I frequently work on my car and kick myself for not doing something differently the 1st time.

I'm not talking about situations where you acquire "knowledge" and then look back - that's part of the game I think we all should expect to go through - like getting intakes properly installed so that they don't suck oil :jester

When I had my engine and front suspension out/apart a while back, I got so obsessive about NOT removing anything else that I refused to pull the power brake booster out to blast and paint it, and I refused to pull the steering gearbox out to either freshen it up or replace it.

Now I have the distinct pleasure of looking at an ugly brake booster and have about 1" of play in my steering wheel inspite of having an entirely rebuilt suspension system.

 

If I had it to do all over again, I'd have gone for a 68-71 big block. Preferably a 69. Nothing sounds like a big block through headers. Also, no emissions worries with the earlier cars. I do love my 76 though. Not as fast, but it'll still get you in trouble with the local police department.

Jeff

 

Your gonna love this one it will make you feel ALOT better about your minor oversight. Bought my 69 Roadster. It was running poorly but all there. I decided to just replace the worn out carb with an Edelbrock, heck while doing that why not replace the intake for an RPM, if Im gonna go that far why not just drop in a cam, while the cam is out now is the time to replace the heads with some aluminum RPM jobbers, Oh and she has to breath so lets go with the Hooker Headers and side pipes, spark, gotta have spark so lets do the MSD tach drive and 6AL. water pump looks crappy and rusted better make it flow better with a Victor Jr, chrome logo valve covers cant put that old stuff on my new shiny heads. Okay now lets fire her up. Seller swore to me the engine had been rebuilt to surely my bottom end was okay with all these new goodies RIGHT !!!!. After only needing a carb tunning and ending up spending thousands of dollars finally I am going for a drive. First weekend out I am tunning in the carb making runs and working out the kinks. I literally had less than 100 miles on her. BANG piston explodes at about 5,000 RPM and the rod windows the block and blows a hole out the oil pan. Hmmmmmm thats when I decided to get serious about this. Took her to the paint and body man stripped it down to the frame and then engine is now a truely well built 383. Not to mention the tranny beefed up and the suspension is now the max performance Vette Brakes systems.

Damn all I needed was the carb tuned. I feel your pain. Feel good about your self control at least you have some LOL

 

Greg-

It's really not hard to mask off everything around the booster and shoot some fresh paint on it. I did this a while back. You can't really get to the bottom side, but that's only visible if you're lying under the car. Give it a try!

 

I did the same thing with my brake booster and my steering box. There were only a couple things on my entire car I did not do. The booster was much, much harder to remove with the dash in and the engine in. Should have.

The steering box (I assume this is the problem) has a lot of play also. Now I have to take that out too. Tightening the screw in the top of the steering box did not help.

 

If I had it to do over again...........

I wouldn't have gotten married the first two times....then I would have had my Corvette much earlier!!!!! :cry

(BTW....VERY happily married now to a Corvette loving wife) :D


[Modified by rmadlem, 9:07 AM 8/6/2001]

 

If I only knew then what I know now..... I'd a yanked the whole d@mn body off the frame and fixed everything at one time during a frame-off restoration. It seems like since I broke up the restoration into smaller projects I ended up repeating many things over and over again. Dropped the dash at least 5 times so far for various projects, dropped the gas tank 3 times, shifter and tranny mount twice, not to mention the multitude of brake related issues.

On the other hand, I probably would have lost motivation and never finished it once I got in so deep. At least I've been able to drive it and enjoy it between projects.

Shannon

 

That's why y'all need 2 Corvettes...
One to work on and one to drive.

I'm using my 66 to store parts for my Mustang right now.
Greg pointed out that it borders on sacrilege.

I agree with you Shannon... most likely, if you pull the body
off the frame, money & time being major issues, it's easy to lose
the motivation to finish the job. It becomes a "chore" instead of
a passion. Of course, having a well equipped shop helps.

In Gregs case, however, he has to get those bicycles hung up
first.
:blueangel:

 

"Do Over's" don't count......

 

Tom!!! :eek: You are going to have to get a Rabbi to come over and cleanse your 66 after it was touched by F0rd parts. It might take a Priest and a Rabbi to get the funk out of there. :rolleyes:
It is tainted!! :U

 

Speaking of intake manifolds not properly aligned I had my whole motor
rebuilt because the gasket was not aligned properly. No one could figure
out why one spark plug was fouling, I know now.:bb

Still I am happy I got the rebiuld

 

Tom's '66 is so cool it's amazing for us mere mortals to contemplate.

All Corvette Enthusiasts think about this:

A Convertible, Mid-year, factory sidepipes, 4-spd, Corvette!!!!

NEED I SAY MORE????????


We need to pray that brother Tom gets "right" and gets his '66 vette on the road!