CorvetteForum - Chevrolet Corvette Forum Discussion - My 71' Big block "Restoration"..(lots of pics)

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My 71' Big block "Restoration"..(lots of pics)

I'm going to document my project here on CF as I usually do, and as many others have been doing lately. I've been waiting to start the thread until I was far enough along in the project to not drag the thread on for months and months.

I'm going to preface this by saying that I use the term "Restoration" loosely here, as I am not pulling the body off the frame or even restoring the chassis as it mostly all has been done before. Also this is obviously not a "correct" or "NCRS type" restoration. I just wanted a NICE, FAST street car that is fun and we can do a lot with it. This will never be an Autorama type car. We are replacing every single nut, screw, clip and every other part that attaches to the body. EVERYTHING on the body will be new....Even the window glass.

So here we go.... many of you have known the car on the forum for the last 12 years as I have done a lot of stuff with the car and documented most of it here...Racing, road trips, dyno experiments etc...its been a test bed for sure.

Lots of pics coming.

Finally some color.... base coat pics mainly, I'll get some BETTER cleared pics next week. The lighting in the booth was half off when they took the cleared pics, it did not pick up the color well. The color is 1969 Lemans blue. (Yes, I know this is not a 71' color. Thank you.)

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...2c3554f8a6.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...d157a80c05.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...f81f535467.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...13fe1ac435.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...74063b1198.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...c7192762e7.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...922b6de9ab.jpg
The paint job will be the best part about this car, I will try my best to get everything else up to snuff but, this paint will take the cake for sure. Unbelievable quality from these guys. These cleared shots were in between coats. It ended up with 4 coats of base and 5 coats of clear, about one of which will get sanded off before buffing.

So this is where we are at with the body as of today. Cutting and buffing begins next week and then reassembly.
I'm about 3 weeks out on all of the chrome and stainless coming back, as well as about 3 weeks on the powder coating stuff.

Lastly, the engine is up in Colorado at VortecPro Performance getting refreshened, some updates and more dyno time. I'm hoping for 700 hp but....Realistically, it'll probably make 680 ish... We'll see.

I'm about 4 months into the "resto" at this point.

Did you redo the seams?

Quote:

Originally Posted by zwede (Post 1597989287)

Did you redo the seams?

What seams? The bonding strips on the body? They did not re-do them but they did have to do a little work on them and fill them in better. I told them I did NOT want to see them through the paint.

I've skipped a LOT of the body pics and stories of the work here, I was just trying to get the main point across without boring everyone to death.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajrothm (Post 1597989313)

Yeah, body seams. Factory seam filler must be completely removed and replaced with new stuff or it will show through the paint.

So, ALL MOTOR is no longer green? Mebbe do a floating avatar pic. Body in tape 1 day or week. Engine and trans the next. Sort of progress reports.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zwede (Post 1597989943)

Yeah, body seams. Factory seam filler must be completely removed and replaced with new stuff or it will show through the paint.

yeah im not sure what all they did with the bonding strips, they definitely know what they are doing.....they paint a lot of vettes and win lots of awards. Plus I have lifetime warranty on the paint job. These are $25k+ paint jobs...

Beautiful color! Its gonna look KILLAH!

Nice work, dig the new color.

WOW- I saw it on the Hotrod Power Tour and I didn't think the car looked like a 10 footer!!!

Now..... I do like the Blue!!! Nice work!!!

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...106f9c62b0.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...464b81e2d1.jpg