65 FI coupe update
 

Put the 65 FI coupe on the road for the first time last July 4th. In fact, first time driving it anywhere we went to the McKinney, TX Red, White and Boom 4th of July car show and brought a nice trophy home. Drove it a few more times sorting stuff out and quickly discovered the car had a very bad vibration. Looked all the usual places like wheels, tires, drive shaft balance etc. Vibration got worse so suspected maybe a flywheel problem so pulled transmission out and found the bearings in it were shot (it had been rebuilt) so problem somewhere upstream. Pulled engine and the shop found the previous rebuilder used mis-matched pistons, never really balanced the crank, poor torque on most bolts etc. so basically a cheap piss poor overhaul so had the engine redone with better parts at a much better shop. While that was going on and having never pulled the body off the frame, primarily because where we lived at the time had no space for such things but since we moved I now have a nice big shop/hangar and a hefty beam mounted chain hoist so decided to pull the body. Glad I did, as the original brake lines were in pretty poor shape as was the fuel line. So power washed frame and redid that, replaced all brake and fuel lines, fuel tank was good so flushed it again, painted it and put it back with a new sender, filler neck, etc. While doing all that decided that with the car out of service for a while I also pulled the gauge cluster and glove box and sent them out for restoration. As soon as I replace the transmission tunnel insulation (there was none there) and repair a small poorly repaired right inner fender (last owner piled on a bunch of fiberglass on the tire side to fix some damage, apparently from a flat tire or something, and when turning at the stops the tire rubbed so need to grind it all off and repair on the back side. Hope to have it all back together this year by the 4th of July to try again! Some pics attached showing it before this most recent episode of project creep!

Outstanding. Not only am I green with envy over your cars, I'm just as envious of your garage. Please post more pic's as you move closer to completion.

Thanks George, I am very VERY lucky to have an understanding spouse and the opportunity to have such an interesting property at the moment. Pics of the body patiently awaiting a few tweaks before going back on the chassis! I'm ready to get this project finished for now, but like most of them, there is always more stuff to do next time around but want to get it out on the road and enjoy it some this summer!

:thumbs::cool:

I have no comment, other than EXCELLENT!

:cool: VERY NICE.................................... ...love those fuel cars

Shweeeet LITTLE garage....:cool:

Thanks Rex - that nice rear differential you sold me is properly in place and properly lubed and ready! Anxious to try driving it this year with 3:08 gears, hopefully that will reduce the highway revs and the noise that generated just a bit for the wife. She didn't care for the screaming loud version, but I'm hoping she will tolerate a toned down version rumbling down the highway in cruise! Jeff

Thank you sir! I still need to stop by and check out that warbird project!

Yes, finally, I got a decent sized garage. Every time we moved in the past a larger garage was on my wish list, but it never happened for various reasons. This time, I got a nice one!

and I thought I had toys....YOU have toys:thumbs:

Jeff - I saw you mention you were switching to 3:08's, do you still have a close ratio Muncie Trans?
Mike T.

Yep - Just had it rebuilt also for the second time. The bad engine vibration took out the bearings in it so had it gone through as well. That's why the earlier 3:70 gears, while nice, gave a higher highway RPM (and a lot of noise via the side pipes) than desired so dropped to 3:08's while I had the car all apart. The car, at the higher highway RPM's combined with the engine vibration issue I was having, really wasn't fun to drive very far. I bought a complete rear differential from another forum member here, and kept my existing unit should I decide I need (or want) to go back to 3:70's after driving it a bit. Our driving is generally highway / freeway with a little city driving, no racing, no red light burn outs as tempting as they are most of the time, so the 3:08's should work pretty well for us. We'll see how it does once I get it all back together.

Since we moved to a residential airpark in the country with acreage, seems the "toy" getting the most use is the John Deere X320 mower!
The L-19 in the first photo isn't mine, was just storing it for someone (it was pretty neat) and the blue 67 Coupe belongs to my neighbor and I do a little work on it for him from time to time. Sorted out his headlights recently, he had them all messed up! The V35A Bonanza is mine and its a very sweet thing! All on my "bucket list" to do at some point in life, so figured it was now or never, since we ain't getting any younger and daughter finally finished grad school!

Nice hanger set up with all the toys... The Bird Dog is on my bucket list. I had a 1948 Globe Swift with a HIO-360... sold that to buy a K Model Bonanza V-35. Now the Vette.

The Bird Dog isn't mine, though I have flown a few but they just don't suit my mission needs like the V35A does with its turbo normalizer and updated avionics. Comfortable fast cross country versus low, slow and short hops with something like the L-19. The Swift must have a been a fast machine with that 360 in it. Had a Glassair I-TD once with an IO-360 and constant speed prop and that was a little glass rocket ship! K35 is a nice plane as well. Something about neat planes and nice Corvettes together is always a good thing. Sometimes I have to open the hangar door and have my morning coffee admiring and reflecting on how lucky I am to be where I am at the moment and have those neat things but as we all know, it's only temporary and needs to be enjoyed while we are able to do so since we are just the current custodian of such things.

Really like the pulley system and alternator on the engine - where did you get them?

Forty years ago we were looking for 4.11's and junking 3.08's. Could not give away the removed differentials. Now I save almost every removed/updated part. I draw the line at broken bolts, do not have enough storage. Good luck with the wife, we waited till our hearing had gone south "what did you say"-"huh".

We used a setup from Street Drive and modified it since I didn't want to give up the original FI air cleaner but wanted to add AC. No fun in a coupe during the summer in Texas and to add AC meant moving alternator to the left side to have the AC compressor on right side. Quickly learned there was a reason no FI cars came with AC from the factory. If I just went with a stack air filter on the FI unit and put the original FI air cleaner on the shelf it would have been a whole lot easier (and less expensive). If you don't have FI with the big canister air filter on the left side just about any street rod shop or race place like Summit has bracket assemblies to mount AC, Alternator, PS, etc. in a nice neat package right out of the box in different configurations on SBC.

Yes, I remember (at least I think I do). I save some stuff, but not everything, but can't always find what I saved (forget where I put stuff). My hearing is pretty much gone from being around high pitched propellers and jet engines in the military (and guns), but the wife still hears pretty well (she doesn't see too good, but hears everything). She thinks I just ignore her (maybe I do) but always blame that on not hearing so good. what were once just ordinary everyday cars now roll across the big fancy auction block as "gems" and "jewels" and "rare" etc.. If I had just parked those cars instead of selling them to buy the next one I'd be able to sell them all at once and retire very wealthy! I have fond memories of GTO's, Super Sports, Road Runners, Hemi's, Cobras...those were the days... now where did I set my beer down....