Very nice!
Did you lift it from each side or front then rear?
Were you able to do one lift or did you go a little bit at a time?
Who makes the jack?

 

Interesting and well constructed jack stands. Your car has a stunning look and is getting the attention you and the car deserve. I hope you post a short video of the car after completion.

 

A Belgo-Dutch company called AirPress. They mainly manufacture air compressors and related tools.

Impressively, I was able to lift the rear all the way up and on the cribs in one shot. The front followed as well in one shot. There was room to go significantly higher. Vaguely considering adding another layer.

 

Thanks ! Will do !!

 

Hi DorianC3, Nice to see all the work you have put into the C3! As a fellow Belgian I was wondering where you order your parts. I bought a 79 C3 myself last year and started with rear suspension rebuild but now need to order a lot of parts and was wondering what the best option was, thinking about ordering with Corvette Central. Just wondering how expensive shipping and especially customs would be. Any advice from an expert would be appreciated 😉

 

Aangenaam !!!

I typically order from Corvette Central and Zip Corvette. Anecdotally, it seems that Central has a wider selection and maybe slightly lower prices, whereas Zip seems to ship faster. The problem is, once you add shipping it’s a wash.

Now, I just ordered some brackets and clamps. This falls under EU embargo on Russian sourced steel. Zip Corvette has always been very good at sending me Mill Test Certificates or supplier’s declarations springing them from customs. I highly appreciate that and necessary!

With shipping and taxes and etc. You seem to be looking at a solid 30%. I have found no way around this other than consolidation with a company calmly MyUS.com to save on shipping from multiple sources.

Happy to lend a helping hand whenever you need.

 

Insgelijks!!

Thanks for the quick answer. I'll go ahead and order with Corvette Central, they seem to have all the parts I'm looking for on stock. Got the confidence I was looking for and a surplus of about 30% shipping/taxes was inline with my expectations. I wish you lots of fun wrenching and even more importantly driving the C3! I will be following along your thread here!

 

For speed parts I go with Summit Racing...

 

Good luck with getting it on the road again.

 

In my quest to control vibrations I decided to replace my 60s body mounts with body mounts from a late C3.













Will drive it a bit (in a few weeks) and see if suspension settles a bit.

 

So you have gone from the solid aluminium mount to rubber mounts. Should remove some of the road harshness but raise the body a bit. Will be interested in your driving comparisons.

 

Deleted cuz repeated

 

I did drive it a few feet into my garage. It does feel like a detectable difference. A road test will tell tale. But that’s three weeks away at least.

 

Amazing difference!

 

So, I could not test the car because last week was was in Austria:



Last night I drove 650 miles home on a severely bruised butt. It was super icy the last day and I crashed three time on the exact same spot on my derrière. And… it was also the only day I forgot my crash pants

Reattaching the bumpers with a busted butt was challenging!! I managed. Then I recharged my phone to 70%. NEVER a good idea to drive these cars on a low battery smartphone.



The difference was… transformational. At least for me. No exaggeration. Now the vibration is only transmitting through the steering wheel (my rag joint was replaced by a solid universal joint) and the shift lever. I am super pleased I did this change. I had the car up to 150 and it felt good.

The only weird bit? A leaking muffler.



Now I’m slowly thing about getting in a paint job done. I scratched and scuffed the car so many times… it’s bad !!!

Lots of smaller jobs to do. But it is now time to enjoy the ride for the season…. Sunny today !

 

Soooo, I took it out for another ride. I stretched the “all-in” from 34 to 36 degrees. It now sounds positively angry !!!!

Torque is king !!! Makes a car fun to drive. I can’t seem to hit WOT in first or second on the street tires. I also think I hit the rev-limiter once. I have a feeling that I might need a large shift light.

 

Good to hear everything you did made the improvement you were hoping for.
Now, go out and enjoy it.
Be careful as well!

 

Oh gawd I missed the torque

 

I am so glad you are happy with your combo. I feel it is almost ideal. 400 cu in, aluminum heads, 218/224* cam, TKX 5 speed! Wow it must scoot! You should be in the 12s at near 110mph in the qtr mile with that combo.

A friend built a 400 with a similar combo. If you do not know the HP I will make a guess. 425-450HP and 475-500TQ, coming on strong down low, like 3500, and pretty flat below that. Great driver. With all the 1st gear ratio of the 5 speed no wonder you have traction problems in 1st and 2nd! Old school traction control = right ankle LOL. It should cruise nice and relaxed in OD at 2000rpm too at 70ish.

Shift light:
Your 400 has 12 point connecting rod bolts right? So I think you have good rods. And a 6500 rpm electronic rev limiter. Those rods are likely good for way more rpm than that. Plenty of safety zone. No need for a shift light in my opinion.

Great build job!

Now I do have a question.
I remember you fighting vibrations for a long time. Did you ever find it?
I know the removeable crossmember flange touching the body must have been an issue.
I thought you had used old C2 rubber body mounts right? And then you still changed them to the thicker 73+ style? And that also helped the vibrations?

I am planning to use the 64 rubber mounts in my 72 454 BB, but your advice could help sway me one way or the other.

 

I have no clue where I set the rev limiter. Probably 5500.











I also haven’t the foggiest clue about power. The cam is 218/224 @ .050. And of course 1.6 rockers. I always though I was clocking in at 370HP and maybe 450TQ. The power seems to come on after 3000.

Cruises 70 & 2000.

As for the vibration. The jury is still out but leaning very seriously toward acquittal.

I went from the aluminum pucks to the C2 rubber. The idea was to preserve the body to frame clearance (and avoid problems with steering column geometry). Upon closer inspection I found that the brackets were touching, but also the entire crossmember was contacting the fiberglass bottom. The later C3 body mounts are much taller and made a dramatic difference. As I say, I had the car up to 90 (as high as I dared go on a backroad) and I was struggling to detect anomalous vibrations. I could feel no vibrations other than in the steering wheel and the shift lever. My drives were only a few minutes. More tests to come, but with three outings today… nothing that seemed off.