John's Winter Rebuild Thread
 

OK, so I thought I would document my first winter rebuild of my 74 "nothing matching" coupe. It is a black 350 auto with A/C and a saddle deluxe interior that is in really good original shape.

I started working on the car on Monday, 2 Dec, and had some friends come over and help me take the hood off. I also removed the fan at this point. Some of the nuts came out with the stud, and others unscrewed from the stud...I will get all the studs out of the fan pulley before I risk damaging the radiator. Project #1 is to repair or replace the leaking radiator, and most likely replace the core support that looks pretty rusty from what I can see of it.

So last night, 3 Dec, I started to tear into it. Bagging and tagging everything as it comes off the car. I had read many threads regarding the radiator and core support, so I know what I am in for but am going to take my time and do it right. I had planned on keeping the car off the road until March, so I am in no particular rush.

I started by removing the shroud extension...some small bolts with nuts some screwed in without nuts on the other side. I can see how this is going to go already:toetap:. After that started working on the shroud itself. Top supports off and it is loose, but nowhere near ready to come out. I pumped the old antifreeze out of the radiator with a transfer pump and took off the top radiator hose, then started on the core support.

The three bolts on each side came out relatively easily, but the bottom two are a bear! Access is not ideal. The spoiler has small access holes that do not allow the use of a socket and breaker bar, so I used the old trick of linking two combination wrenches together to give me more leverage as well as a healthy squirt of penetrating oil. I did start to take the spoiler off, but turned the first screw and the blind nut started to spin and remove itself forcibly from the surrounding fiberglass. It may have to come off at some point, but I will start spraying them now so they will be ready then. I did manage to get one of the bottom bolts out last night before quitting for the night, and gave the other one a good dose of oil as I was leaving the garage.

So that is where I currently stand. During my next session, I will get the last bolt out of the bottom of the core support, disconnect the lower radiator hose and trans cooler lines, and unbolt the A/C condenser (which I do not intend on disconnecting from the system). I may try to pull the radiator and core support out as a unit, as some have had luck with that. By the way, the trans cooler lines are very tight, tried to loosen the top one last night. Sprayed some oil on it hoping it would loosen up over night.

I have several other major and minor projects I am contemplating for this winter's session. The biggest of which is a rebuild of the front suspension...I figure this is the ideal time with the radiator and shroud out of the car. I am definitely installing new Bilstein shocks all the way around though, the old shocks have had it. Several other small projects as well, but I will keep those as a surprise.

I took some pictures and will post them once I get my photobucket account set up and figure out how to use it.

Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated as I head off on this adventure...definitely learning, and acquiring tools as I go.

John

My advice would be not to remove the radiator support if not a complete necessity. It is a major structural support for the front clip. Does it positively, absolutely have to come out?
:thumbs:

Being a rookie.....is there a good way to support the clip while the radiator support is being cleaned/repainted?

The core support looks pretty bad from what I can see of it. The car is on the ground right now, so the front clip is not hanging off jack stands. If I decide to rebuild the front suspension, I will install the new core support before taking the car up in the air.

John

I'm glad I read this. My rad support is not in the car but on the pile of parts that came with my 73. It came to me on a flat bed without it, I wonder if any damage was done with the car bouncing around on the hauler.
Looking forward to following this thread.

does your radiator have a drain to open up???? Most do, on the passenger side on the bottom. Are you going aluminum or back original ? I had no problem getting my support out on my car. Make sure you go back with all the foam seals, or else what you are doing will be of no use as far as correct cooling. Go Dewitts like I did, no problems with fit etc.

Paint everything to help protect any metal, and of course to look goooood! Wait until you start spending money for parts, wow how fast it goes. Check with Willcox for parts, they give forum members a 10% discount and sometimes free shipping.

"Good way" would be a matter of interpretation. Regardless, you should not be any undue weight on the clip with a radiator support out of the car.
:thumbs:

It may have had a drain, but I heard horror stories about it twisting off, etc. I had an electric transfer pump and a hose...drained the radiator in under a minute.

Once I get the radiator out, I am going to take it to a shop and have them check it out and repair if it is reasonable. If I end up buying new, I would really like to get the electric fans and do away with the shroud and engine fan entirely. You are looking at some big money at that point though, but I'd probably only need to do it once. I am planning on replacing all the foam seals with new...a bit scared of fresh new seals that aren't crushed...it is a tight enough fit as it is.

I am planning to paint as much as I can reach while I am in there. I am also contemplating replacing the seals in the headlight actuators and replacing the springs that are rusted and broken. The headlights go up and down...slowly and not in synch...but maybe the seals and new springs will solve that problem.

I will definitely check out Willcox for my parts needs. Zips is within driving distance too, so may work with them on parts that would be expensive to ship.

John

LudemJo: mark and index the shim stacks you find on the radiator support. They have to go back in at the same locations.
:thumbs:

I have not found any at this point, but I will look closely tonight when I get home. I assume they would be between the cose support and the fenders, or are they only on the bottom bolts? I will let you know what I find.

John

As promised here are some pictures so far:

Hood Off
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps6bf64c2e.jpg

After shroud extension and top bracket removal
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...psd3402997.jpg

Note that the bottom of the shroud butts up to the edge of the frame rail almost perfectly
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps09647b3a.jpg
Note also the studs that remained in the fan pulley. Those will be coming out today. With any luck I will get the radiator and shroud out today after work.

Thanks for watching!

John

Yay!!! Success!

The shroud, radiator, and core support are out of the car. Everyone that said this job was a PITA was correct. Yeah, I know...getting it back in is even worse. Several smaller bolts snapped when I was trying to remove them, to include the center support that bolts to the lower center portion of the core support.

Here is how it looks in the engine compartment now
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps355cd3e5.jpg

Here is the core support
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps61d877ed.jpg

Here are some detail shots of the damage to the core support from the rust
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps4214105f.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...psaba81d03.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...psc7a1deff.jpg

Time to order a new core support and get the old radiator checked out and possibly repaired if the cost is reasonable. Would really rather have a dual electric fan so I could avoid the whole shroud deal, but we will see how it all plays out.

I am pleased with the progress so far, and really need to make a decision regarding rebuilding the front suspension while I have it all tore open. Thoughts?

John

I highly recommend Coffman corvettes as your part supplier. High quality, powder coated, good price.

http://www.coffmancorvette.com

That's a vendor that I haven't seen before. The prices look pretty fair, especially if the parts are of decent quality.

To the OP, I'm looking forward to following along with your winter rebuild!

:lurk:

CWerner, thanks for the vendor info, they do look promising and I will definitely keep them in mind.

CA-Legal_Vette, thanks for watching. It will likely be an interesting (and expensive) winter. My goal is to do most of this work only once, so I am trying to buy the best parts that I can afford. I can see plenty of potential for the "While I am at it" thing, so I need to develop a plan and stick to it.

I will let everyone know as my plans and strategy develop. Hopefully something I post here will help someone else out at some point.

John

Having a plan and sticking to it is difficult especially when you have a passion to do things right. I found that out about $5,000 ago. Seems like every time you open up a panel to do some little thing you really open a whole new can of worms.

You are in the same boat as me.. hopefully we can keep it afloat. You are a couple days ahead of me as my hood comes off tomorrow. I already have a new aluminum radiator and core support. It is hard to fathom looking at the core support that it is an integral part of the front clip, but I guess I will find out. I will be following your post closely. Thanks..

GreenDream, a couple pointers. I am not sure what year you are working on, but on my core support, there are two attaching points for the bottom of the support. Each of those attaching points is basically an "L" shaped bracket with two bolts. Initially I was trying to remove the bolt that is threaded vertically up, which is very difficult to get to with anything other than a box end wrench. I did, in fact,remove that bolt for one of the support bolts but was having much difficulty with the other. Once I realized that there was also a bolt that attaches horizontally toward the front of the car, that bolt came out easily from the same access holein the plastic spoiler cover. I have not removed the other bolt from the core support, so you can see the bracket still attached in the pictures of the core support.

Disconnect the rod that supports the center of the core support and bolts to the bracket near the horn early. I think I weakened mine by moving everything around trying to get the shroud and radiator out before they were really ready.

Also note that there may be a ground wire attached to the bottom, drivers side, corner of the core support. This was another bolt that broke off.

If you have A/C, I left the system connected and used a tie-wrap to connect the evaporator(?) to the hood hinges that I flipped over to the front of the car. I have cardboard on the front of it to protect the fins.

Good luck, let me know how it goes.

John

I finally got around to decoding the engine codes on my 350 automatic that I knew was not numbers matching. The numbers are V0829CHS and 18N506416. So, what I discovered is that the motor, and transmission most likely, are out of a 1978 Camaro with an automatic transmission. It was manufactured in Flint, MI on 08/29/78, and is a 170 hp, 4bbl (I am going to have to do something about that someday...). It is coded as an LM1, which I'm sure means bottom of the line grocery getter.

Learning more about my car every day.

John

another used corvette parts salvage yard is Doc's corvettes in Tulsa, always treated me right. Do not use the one in St. Charles, Mo!!!!!!!!! Also J&D corvettes in California took good care of me.