Fortunately I found someone selling an upper portion on ebay who didn't want a million dollars for it. So that should be showing up in a week or so and then I can finally start reassembling this car to get it into a drivable state.

Unfortunately, after talking with the licensing office, it'll be a little while before I can fully get the car on the road. Car has to be damn near 100% before they'll issue a title for it, and body panels are going to take some time to save funds for.

 

Operation Droopy-Eye.

 

Saw someone has a batwing oil pan for 550 shipped.
enjoying the thread.
Aloha

 

Glad to see it showed up and you'll be documenting progress, and that it looks like you didn't get a pile. Do you have an LKQ near you? They're a nationwide junkyard chain with their own logistics network. If you wanna cheap out and find some color matching panels, this is a decent avenue to try as they ship coast to coast for free AFAIK.

 

Fortunately, I found someone on ebay selling a brand new one for 250. Lucky me!

The nearest LKQ is about 2 hours away, but if it means I can save on shipping and get a color matching bumper that would be awesome. I have some plans for the fenders, depending on the cost of a factory replacement, I might go an aftermarket route if it's more cost effective.

Oil pan should be showing up on tuesday, then I can FINALLY start putting parts back on this thing!

 

So I don't have any pics to update, but the new oil pan is in! Though I still seem to have a small leak coming somewhere from the rear. I'm not sure what's causing it, as there are brand new gaskets on the oil pan and lower batwing section. It's a pretty small leak (only a couple of drops over a 24 hour period), though we'll see what it does once the engine is actually running. I really hope it doesn't get worse, swapping the subframe out was a PITA this time around.

I'll try to get some pics tonight to update, as there are a bunch of other parts that have been bolted on as well!

 

Alright, So I'm about halfway done. All of the front suspension damage has been repaired, and the only thing left is the passenger floor/seat section, which I just received a good section from another wrecked vette. Need to get the car back on the ground first though, have some other things coming up that are going to have to take precedence for a short while.

But, as promised, here are some pics!


Goodbye, nasty, busted subframe!


Hellooo shiny new one! Well, shiny new to me anyway.


For the first time since she's arrived here, the engine bay is complete! I haven't test fired it yet, but she ran fine when I pulled her into the garage, no reason she wouldn't now.


There's still some finish work/cleanup to do, but if she had wheels she could finally sit on the ground! I did a little bit of upgrading while I was down here. It's hard to see but I added a Z06 power steering cooler, and upgraded the front spring to a Z06 spring. Eventually I'll find a matching rear spring, and hopefully some shocks as well.

 

Awesome progress man! I just went through all this in the last year...sorta lol. I have a 1998 and a build thread on what I've done so far. Keep up the good work and keep posting. I love seeing these cars brought back to life as opposed to being parted out.

 

I see you're missing the plastic piece that holds the top of the radiator and AC in place, gotta find one of those too.

 

Right? Especially this car. The damage really wasn't that severe.

Yeah, I still have the one that was originally on the car. But the mounts are all broken. Considering the cost of a new one (seriously. 200+ for a hunk of plastic) I'm thinking I'll try and fix the one I have.

 

A few bottles of Simple Green or SG Degreaser and that entire underbody can look new. Aluminum brightener on the suspension and k-member will snap it all to brand new as well.

 

Originally that was what I was going to do. But a couple of unexpected surprises came up and I'm now just trying to get the car on the ground before winter hits. That is definitely in the future though.

 

Nothing super huge tonight. I didn't want to spend over 200 bucks on a replacement upper radiator cover, so I set about fixing mine. Fortunately tabs were still in place under the bolts, they had just snapped off the cover.


Made sure that the tabs would align correctly before continuing. Fortunately this type of plastic tends to crack versus bend, so everything fits together pretty tightly

After a quick clean up the tabs were super glued back together, but i dont trust the super glue to hold it on its own.

Had some washers laying around, so i scuffed one side and used some epoxy to adhere the washer to the plastic. Going to do a test tomorrow to see if its strong enough or if i need to add some other form of reinforcement.

 

I sometimes use things for other than what they were intended for.

3M Body Panel Adhesive is some wickedly strong stuff when it cures. That would hold those tightly and then you could spray them black over the dingy white it dries to. Or some other strong epoxy would also work well behind the washers to secure them to the tabs.

 

I had one of those crack the tabs off on my car as well. I sill have it, so maybe Ill do something similar and keep it as a spare. Good trick!

 

I need some of that body panel Adhesive. Just found last night that the rear of the passenger front wheelhouse has separated from the frame. Looks like the smc just tore a bit. Torn between using resin to reattach the smc together or using the body Adhesive gm used.

 

Both might work. I bought it for my 99 initially. There was a loose piece inside one of the fenders which extended to the frame. Not a critical issue except on bumps it sometimes chattered and annoyed me. Its been solid again for years. Now I use the same adhesive when I install riv nutd so they are less likely to come loose and spin in their hole if I remove something later. Haven't had the chance to test that, but im sure it helps.

 

A soldering gun with a spade tip can be effectively used to melt and weld the pieces back together. There are ABS welding sticks available to fill in gaps or for adding reinforcement.

I’ve used this process from making custom engine covers to repairing **** I break on the Vette. Recently, I broke a tab off the dead pedal, and welded it back together in minutes.

Still, I like your ingenuity in bonding the washers to the damaged areas.

 

Thanks! Though now that you mention it, I totally forgot that the soldering iron I have has a special tip designed entirely for plastic welding. Even came with some abs filler lol.

Did some wiggle/flex testing. Part seems to be holding solidly, so back on she goes!

 

So I finally settled on a name: Project Phoenix!

Originally I was planning on doing a full stock restoration on the car. But now the mod bug is biting, and I'm feeling more of a resto-mod situation is what I want.

That being said, its not much of a mod, but a friend of mine had a set of amt control arm studs laying around and donated them to me. So first mod done!



Now back to the repairs. One part of this project ive been dreading is the wheelhouses. They took a beating in the accident. The drivers side faired okay, at least none of it is missing, just super damaged. The passenger side however...




yeeaaahh that's a little worse. So my current plan is to repair the drivers side, then measure the shape. I happen to have a small cnc machine in my garage, so im going to model the shape, mirror it, cut a mold out and make a new piece to replace the missing section on the passenger side. Super involved, but cheaper than the 600+ I've seen for wheelhouses online.

Anyway, onto the drivers side repairs.

Im starting out with the outer part first. Its the most solid and will give me a good starting point. First step was to clean and sand the damaged area, then clamp it in place.



I didn't have any fiberglass, but i did have some carbon fiber scraps from an old project that fit perfectly!



And then it was a simple matter of mixing some epoxy resin, and then layering the CF on.




so now that that section is finished. The flat part that holds the brake duct in place can be fixed!