My little turd
 

My first Vette, bought it cheap. I've restored 24 Novas and 3 69 Camaros so I have an idea of how things work. Nothing compared to this thing.... I'm doing all the work myself, due to my work schedule I'm either at work or on call so not alot of time to plan stuff. Waiting for parts to arrive (sometimes weeks) allows me to find more crap wrong. Anyways, this is my nightmare:willy:

The interior smelled like a swamp, its been sitting in that spot for years. The paint is trash, scratches, and stress cracks everywhere. I bought it cause it was cheap and it was shaped like a Corvette. I had no idea how bad this thing was. The passenger side had 3 inches of standing water with moss and cat piss smell.

turd
 

The engine didn't run, or even walk. Brakes were locked up and tires had flat spots (they were brand new tires too...) I put a battery in it and tried the windows. Drivers side went down and fell into the door:rock: Pass side went down half way, binded, rolled back up. Drivers door wouldn't latch, Pass door wouldn't lock... New Edelbrock carburetor but the linkage was binding on the factory air cleaner. I got the thing running but only 25mph, then it died.

first things first
 

ok, air, fuel, spark. Air and fuel check. Spark, not so much. Step 1 HEI.
ok, now it runs, but it smokes like a chimney and has a bad lifter tick. Valve seals suspected but this motor leaks from everywhere. Time for a new motor:cheers: AND one more cruise around the block to check the trans for shift and rearend for noises..... Runs ok, back into driveway and low and behold RADIATOR leak:thumbs: Well, crap... new radiator then:salute:

Im a loyalist
 

I use forum sponsors, I lurk for hours a day sometimes researching stuff, I tend to buy the best cause pops taught me GOOD AINT CHEAP AND CHEAP AINT GOOD:cheers: So, I got a radiator:woohoo:

HOLY HELL ! It took me hours to remove the dang thing:ack: Fortunately when I remove parts I tend to upgrade and not use stock stuff, my car my rules:salute: So, I busted out the ol saw and cut the radiator shroud to bits and loosened the radiator support and WTF ??

The radiator support was rusted to hell, apparently thats a thing:eek: So I order one of those too

the qjet is still on there or you replaced it with an edelbrock?

so...
 

Waiting for parts, sucks:toetap:
I'm used to Amazon Prime and when a part takes 2 weeks...

I move on to the doors and interior, but I need an awning to keep the elements out whilst I tear this thing up (garage is full of other crap)
I find a 20x10 on CL, perfect:woohoo:

I open up both doors, broken window guides and door handle parts everywhere. Spend hours scouring the forum to see how to attack this problem, I tear this place up :eek:

Wasn't that hard, more parts, installed pretty straightforward, now the windows work and door latches work and doors lock.

Yep! "Cheap" ain't always cheap....

A person has to be REALLY good at making a fast (but accurate) assessment on a "cheap" car if the thing is to have any positive net value when the real work gets done. In most cases (unless the owner does this stuff for a living or is just totally anal), a person should buy the BEST car that he/she can afford. Money saved in the long run.

But, WTH... Look at all the "fun" you're having. :D Not to mention the experience 'growth' your have gained. [Are there any other platitudes I can use to make you feel better?] :hide:

This site is often used for 'therapy sessions', so feel free to vent. :yesnod:

more parts installed

Radiator showed up
 

After 2 and a half weeks my Radiator is here:woohoo:

Went in relatively easy, installed radiator support bottom bolts loosely and left the rest of the bolts off, I pushed the radiator support forward as far as I could and she slid right in. After I installed the upper radiator supports I then installed the side bolts and shimmed and installed the lower bolts. I did the entire process myself and it literally slid in while dipping the right side lower radiator connection under the upper a arm and then drop it in place.

Shame on you for calling her that. Poor baby.
:flag:

plenty of time
 

While waiting for the radiator I started on the interior, I gutted it and learned a valuable lesson, fiberglass SUCKS:eek: I didn't wear gloves and it was warm so short sleeve shirt and shorts. I removed the carpet, had to use a cutting saw to remove half the bolts that hold down the seats. ANNNDDDD I didn't sleep well for 2 days:eek: I was covered in fiberglass. That stuff is a PITA. I used my wet/dry vac to clean the interior and the filter would plug so I held it over the trash and smacked the fiberglass off with my hands.... well, you know the rest.

I wanted clamshells for my Vette, the stock seats were too blah for me. I scoured CL and eBay for weeks looking for the seats and ended up buying them in pieces from 3 states. I upholstered the seats myself and overall they came out pretty good. I cleaned the clamshells with simple green and scotchbrite and painted them interior semi gloss black

The seats were the easiest thing for me to do. I could sit down in a chair, in the house, and watch install videos while I rebuilt them

ok, when you are doing the interior, you start noticing things. Like how in the hell did the rear storage area fill with water, battery box area etc... I washed the car and opened the door and noticed the t tops (which had newer seals) were leaking as was the rear window:eek: Crap....

So, I remove the rear window, buy the extremely expensive stuff to glue it back in (after cleaning it) and seal the rear window

T tops pried apart, re glued the "deglazing" between the glass and the frame, clamped them for about 12 hours, they seem to be fine:cool:

So, I have 12 hours to kill while I wait for glue to dry so I lift the turd up and look under her to see whats next.... she doesn't disappoint:toetap: The exhaust is rusted to hell, thats gotta go. Tires are crap, order new ones, and front and rear sway bar links while I'm down here.

So, currently this is where we are at today. Tires came in and if 245s are good, then 275s are more better They fit well and look MUCH better. My new motor, Vortec 350 with ZZ9 cam and Edelbrock Performer heads (or TrickFlow, haven't decided yet) Pete Jackson NOISY gear drive with FITech fuel injection and Edelbrock Performer manifold is currently being built at L&R Engines. More pics to come

question
 

Well, you certainly know how to work a turd ! Looks like fun to me.

What is that lift/jack stands you are using ? Maybe I live under a rock but I haven't seen those before

I have both, the Qjet was in a box when I bought it. The Edelbrock is currently still on the engine. I still have all the original stuff I've removed, air cleaner, valve covers, fan shroud brace, fan with new clutch... more