Figured I would start a new thread specifically for the major modifications I am working on right now. I had another one going but I feel like most of the content is just irrelevant at this point.

Brief on the car, 1978, L88 flares, 17x14 rear wheels, 17x11 front, LS1, T-56, and single turbo. Custom all aluminum interior that may or may not be getting changed with this round of major updates. Full VBP suspension that will also be getting modified.

few pics of the setup.

 

For a long time the side profile of the slanted back glass bothered me and is my least favorite of the c3's. I tossed around a lot of ideas on how to change it but finally found some good deals on the parts I would need to convert over to convertible with hardtop. I have also been wanting to do a full cage for a long time, I do a lot of track days and at this point its just not smart to do anymore without one. Going this rout will help me drastically with building the cage as well with having everything open and accessible. I plan on eventually having all body parts removable so I can take pieces off all individually. Rear fenders, complete rear deck lid, roof, front clip, etc to have a bare chassis when need be for working on it and if there is ever damage I can just replace the needed panels without major body work. My car has always been pretty rough around the edges and I love that about it. I set my tools all over it and ultimately never worry about damaging it. So I will continue with that idea and do a bit of a bolt together type execution. Will be a bit different than most builds but that's my goal.
I found a wrecked convertible chassis that gave me the rear deck lid pieces I wanted. Bought that and resold it for a few hundred less than I bought it for with keeping the pieces I needed. I also bought and resold a really nice convertible hardtop, I made a few hundred on that one, and then found just a hardtop skin in rough shape. Ended up with every I needed for no cost, just time. Just how I like it



Started cutting up the car. I cant even express how excited I was to start chopping this thing up. I have been wanting to do this for years. I am also cutting out the entire floor to lower it to the bottom of the frame for headroom and clearance for my Halo style race seats I've had for a while. I'm 6'2 so fitting in this car with a helmet has always been tight.




This is just the first go at cutting out the floor. Thought maybe I could just lower under the seats, but it will be much easier and cleaner to just start new. I will also be picking up the trans mount and seat mounting all incorporated in the floor framing. I am also leaving the inner fenders of the rear to maintain the body mounts and to keep splash to a min while I do and will still occasionally street drive this beast.

 

I've always been intrigued by the cheap Nascar parts online and wanted to incorporate some when I can. I've purchased AN lines before but that was about it. I scored a complete Fuel safe 18 gallon Nascar spec fuel cell setup by piecing the parts together from various online sources and only have about $250 into it. Really excited to have the safest cell I could possibly put in this thing. I'm also going to be making a custom intake surge tank setup utilizing some improved racing trap doors and moving my Aeromotive fuel pump to in tank.

 

I needed a new catch can for the crank case breather setup. I hate how expensive the good ones are online and how shitty the cheap ones are. I had everything I needed laying around to make one so that I did.




It worked so well the first track day it made me nervous I need to do a leakdown test and make sure I dont have a ringland issue. The last time I had the heads off I saw no signs of issue though.

 

I am working on the finish cuts for the deck lid and rear fenders so I can get everything mounted before I start the cage. I did a mockup to get a look at how its all coming together.



In this view you can see the material I left on the rear fenders on the inboard side of the body crease line. I'm making aluminum strips right now to mount the two pieces together and there will be a row of small stainless button head allen bolts holding the pieces together. At this point everything above the rear fenders is just a single skin surface, all the other underside bracing and support structure is or already has been removed.



And because I couldn't help myself I did a little cleanup of the image to get a better idea of final look. In this pic I also moved the rear fascia forward a few inches to see what a little less rear overhang would do for the overall proportions. That would be a lot more work but it may be worth it.

 

This is going to be awesome. Removable hardtop, plenty of head room! They race convertibles back in the 70's because the car was so much easier to work on by removing the hardtop. I wish I had big brass ones like you.

 

I'm liking it! Yes, a different direction but in a good way. I'm 6'2" also and i never out the ttop liners back in.

Keep updating this thread.

 

i assume you have found and studied lowbuck72's build thread? https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-back-now.html pretty sure he will weigh in soon and will have MANY tips on some of the really difficult parts. i recall him having issues with attaching the deck lid to places that just do not exist in a coupe...

 

Thanks guys.
I did see his convertible conversion,he did a very nice job. Mine will not be quite as cleanly executed, or should say as high of finish quality, but a good read for info for sure.

 

Oh this looks like it's going to be an interesting thread

So anybody else notice what looks to be a Ferrari on the lift in the garage in the background? Is that real?

I'm not a Ferrari guy, but maybe a 90s vintage 355?

 

Probably just his winter beater... So, looks like parts vette was 74 or 75. Too bad. Only a bit more work at this point to do 68-73 tail panel and chrome bumpers.

 

It's a 348, yes real Ferrari. Never thought I would own one but had a porsche 911 project for years that I collected all the parts for and just never worked on it. When they were going crazy in price I sold everything off and had a pile of money burning a hole in my pocket. Found this one real cheap needing a lot of love in California and everything was there, running and driving. Thought it was a pretty good trade off to go from a pile of parts to a runner.

The parts car was a 75 yes. I would of loved to go to metal bumper all around but my main objective with most of what I do on cars and motorcycle is to break even or try and make a little money in the process while having fun getting to build something I want. I dont think I would of ended up with the metal bumper convertible parts at a break even like I did.
Saying that lets be honest, this game is still expensive, especially once the race tracks start coming into play. But if I can change things up and sell something in the process it makes it a lot easier to justify.

For an example when I did the LS swap initially I bought a crashed trans am ws6. Pulled everything I needed off it, parted the rest out and made about 2k. Then still had the 350 and 4 speed I sold for another $3500.

 

I got the fuel cell mounting cage finished and welded in. I'm pretty happy with it, I like how it puts all the weight at the bottom of the frame rails and below compared to the factory tank.

 

Any updates? I want to cut the roof off a 1980 and use a light racing top like a greenwood. Does anyone make a light top currently?