I have been out of the C3 section for a while now. I sold my 72 2 years ago and picked up an 07 Z06 at the time. Also just recently sold my Cobra and moved July 1st so not much time for cars. Along comes a forum member and asks if I would be interested in doing some work. Not really interested but I'll take a look. So I took the Z for a ride and looked this 77 over. At first glance the car looks very good. Paint good interior good and the motor looks shiny. Well now I get under the car and start looking. Uh Oh we have some high mileage issue. Car show 90+K on the clock. Paul the owner did tell me the car pulls a little while braking. Well the right front caliper is leaking like a strainer. The power steering system is also leaking badly. The dry rot on the bushings is real bad. Bushing material all squeezed out. Needs an overhaul. Long story short I tell Paul everything and he agrees, Lets get it done correctly.

The car arrives today on a flat bed, as I would not drive it more than 10 feet with this leaking caliper. 4 hours later I cut the rusty exhaust system off, removed manifolds as we are going with headers. Pulled off all the brakes and master cylinder, all in bad shape. Pulled off all the steering and tie rods. Shocks off,sway bar off. I now have a pile of scrap metal and a small pile of core returns. Tomorrow the suspension will all be dropped. Everything going for a rebuild including trailing arms. Paul decided on a Borgeson conversion, suspension upgrade and all new brakes. He is currently looking for new 18 inch wheels and tires also. In the wings he is mulling over a 383 with a TKX 5 speed and a new rear. I'll post up some pictures of this when I get them off my phone.

 

Wow, that's a handful alright! Looking forward to the pics!

 

Here is the car in my driveway. Looks very good from this angle.

Up on my lift ready to get to work. First car on my lift in the new house. Everything clears.

 

This did not take long to figure out the problem. It was leaking from the time it got on the lift. Gee I wonder why it was pulling left.


Left front caliper. Why take the time to find the correct cotter pin when any old thing will hold the pin in place. It was rubbing the inside of the wheel. This would have been gone in another couple of miles. Why do people think this is OK.



Seriously the E brake is not working? I can’t imagine why it would not hold the car. I think these are original! This will be replaced.

 

Bad picture but you can see after 44 years the rubber brake hose has swelled a lot. The hole is very small so brake fluid travel is limited. All the brake lines are going to be replaced. Just cut them all off. New ones on the way.

 

Tough to stay away from the C3's when they get in your blood- I figured you'd be back!

Richard

 

Either this car was hitting curbs or the alignment guy said screw I’ll bend them instaed of threading them in or out. These don’t look straight to me.

Cores. Someone wanted red calipers so just slap some red paint on them.

Pile of scrap metal other than my approach ramps.

All cleaned up and put away for the night.

 

good to see you back. you moved and stayed in jersey? i am in the middle of a SW florida move. when you jump back in, you do so with both feet. 8 more bolts and you can take David the frame...

 

Yes I moved to Forked River on the water. We bought a condo in Destin Fl that we visit and rent out so I get the Florida thing.

David was asking about the frame. I will see him on Monday to discuss all of our projects.

 

That's a project alright.
Can those Brake Drums be turned, or are you going to just replace them?

Steve

 

just going to get complete rebuilt trailing arms with rotors attached. So it will all get replaced with new rotors. Fronts maybe salvageable but the owner wants it all new. So we are going with all new or rebuilt parts.

 

Glad you are back. What do you think about that rear spoiler? I can't decide if I like it or not.....I would consider putting it on my 77, ???

 

sometimes it is best to take the front rotors with hubs attached and matchmarked and have them turned. easier to hit 00 runout.

 

To me, that spoiler makes the rear end look 100% better.

Steve

 

These strut rod bushing have about had it.

All that’s left is to remove the trailing arm. I’m sure the sawzal will have to be used.

Here are the parts that came off today.
The ujoints are the strap type and were so rusted in there I had to cut the straps and remove the half shaft. I did not even try to remove the shock mount. Going to replace the strut rods so I just cut them off. I’’ let the rebuilder remove the shock mount. Forgot how heavy those steel springs are. I need to make a run to the scrap metal guy soon to get rid of this garbage. t

 

Amazing what we find in these cars.
What else do you use as a cutter? Anything more than a Saws-All?
No visible cracks in the Battery Box anyway.

Steve

 

I use these in my die grinder and angle grinder. These are diamond grit cut off wheels. I work for Lenox so have a pretty good supply of these

 

I talked with Paul, the owner of the car on my way home today. Looks like besides all this going on a new Blue print 383 motor and Tremec TKX and rebuilt 3.70 gears will be going into the car also. he is jumping right in with everything. Figures to do it all at once. Hey while it s apart why not put in a new heart and shift gears while doing it. BIG project here.

 

I may need some of these in my fab shop... I haven't tried them out...

 

These are basically cutoff wheels. Like the fiber wheels but they don't wear down or break apart. way more pricey than the fiber wheels but they seem to last forever. Little more noise than fiber wheels but I can hardly notice the noise difference. They are both noisy.