Yeah! Mark it on the Calendar!

Wednesday 17 December was the day!

After many hours in the garage, Bob emerged to drive the car, under its own steam, to the weigh bridge at Wyong.

Then back home to swap cars and head off to the Motor Registry........ and (drum roll please).....



Stay tuned for the fine or should I say, not so fine details of what has happened since last Friday ..........

It's back

Well, on Friday 12 December the 'vette returned from the Long Jetty Muffler Shop ready for the fine tuning before registration......nothing runs smooth and I'll leave it for Bob to fill in the details.

He's worked long and hard and finally the end is in sight!

Rumblings from the Garage

Haven't seen Bob since the corvette came back from the Muffler shop.....I think he is due to emerge about 8:30am tomorrow morning when Baz arrives to take the car up the road for the blue slip.....

That was no earthquake...

Did you hear it???? The sound of the unexhausted.....is that a word....Corvette being driven onto the tow truck was pretty loud...and Bob was in his element!

Finally the red Sting is in the hands of the exhaust shop and that only means one thing! It's getting close to registration.

It has been a huge experience but I must say, and I am biased....Bob has done an amazing job. This 'vette looks fantastic!

The '75 only had to go about 100 yards to Long Jetty Mufflers, since Al, who was booked to do the deed was unexpectedly sent bush with his day job. But Baz from Magic Towing was still enlisted as Bob was convinced he couldn't get away with driving the noisy beast even 100 yards!

The one good thing is however, that now Bob can just pop over and check on the guy that is doing the job......poor bugger!

The Ducks Were Quacking!!!!

Sorry, that really should have read, The Ducts Were Cracking.

This Corvette was originally made with the option of Air Conditioning.
The air, for both heating & cooling is routed around the dashboard via molded plastic ducts….. they look to have been molded in two halves and then joined by some means (probably ultrasonic welding or similar).

Well, the ducts on this old girl were cracked along the joins in quite a few places, particularly where one duct joins up to another. ….spent some time with adhesive and cable ties to repair the joins.

Adding to the problems, some of the ducts were broken in places. It looks like some heavy handed “mechanic” had applied too much force in the wrong place at some time in the car’s life.
Our American friends would probably say that “Bubba done it”
.
To fix the broken ducts, I bought some light gauge aluminum sheeting and fabricated new ends/sides etc. The photos show some of what was needed to be done.

Tanks for the Memories Revisited

Well, I’ve slipped into an old habit again.


As I write this, the Corvette is virtually finished. It’s sitting in the garage, ready to go to Al’s to get the exhaust made up. I’ll now have to back-track a bit to cover off things that have happened in the lead up to this.

You might recall the interesting experience I had removing the fuel tank. When it came time to put it back in, I didn’t have a buddy around, so I needed to devise a safe way to do it alone.


Now, the tank can’t just be lifted vertically, say on a jack, and secured into place. It just ain’t that simple. It has to be lifted with the trailing end up first, then spun around to its “flat” position, then secured by installing the front tank support & straps.


I ended up lifting the tank up as far as I could with a trolley jack, then bolted a chain from the front spare wheel nut on one side, to the central rear spare wheel nut, then to the front spare wheel nut on the other side.


This done, it was pretty easy to lower the tank into the chain, spin it around, push it up into position, and install the front support. Having the chain take the weight allows your hands & arms to look after the other important things, like getting the fuel lines and tank sender wiring in place.


It’s a bit hard taking photos when you’re upside down, the one shown is the best I could do at the time.

A Pair Of Deuces

It’s time for something just a little different.

Some weeks ago, in fact the week that our red ‘Vette came back from the paint shop, we had another ‘Vette in the shed.

Rex, a friend, bought a ’74 in California and brought it into Oz via John Cain, a well known identity in this area.

Rex’s ’74 is a lovely yellow car. It’s previous owner had done quite a bit to it, but when it arrived in Oz, we had to do a few things to keep the inspecting Engineer happy (like seat belts, blinkers etc) plus the usual brake calipers and a few other bits & pieces.

Rex only drives his ‘Vette about every 3rd weekend.


On many occasions, he is met with a battery that won’t turn the engine over. We decided to take it to my place, place an ammeter in series with the main battery lead, and monitor what goes on over a period of time.

It turns out that there was nothing really wrong. The radio draws about 60 milliamp and, in time, this is sufficient to bring the battery voltage down to a point where the car won’t start. Rex bought a “Battery Fighter” from Supercheap. This thing plugs into mains power. You connect it to the battery and it monitors the condition of the battery and applies a trickle charge when required. Problem solved.

I also pulled the instrument cluster out to see why the ammeter didn’t work. The contacts at the back were a bit corroded, so this wasn’t a hard fix either.

It was nice having two ‘Vettes in the shed. The yellow and red complimented each other very nicely. Dayle started thinking a “his and hers” scenario. All I can say is “bring it on”.

But Rex wouldn’t want to part with his ‘Vette anyway.

Some Days Are Diamonds

I’m sure you know the words to the song.......But today was a stone, more like a rock.

I would have achieved more if I had stayed in bed.

The day went a bit like this………..
Prime objective for the day – finish off the wiring, make sure all electricals worked OK, and move on.

1st problem: wipers won’t work. Initial thoughts were that there was no earth to them, so I made a wire with bare ends, touched one end to the chassis and one to the wiper motor and away they went. Found that I had neglected to connect one of the earth wires when I installed the engine & gearbox. Problem solved!

2nd problem: heater blower motor won’t work. After some investigation & testing with a multimeter, I realized that it was just a fuse. Problem solved!

3rd problem: radio only works with Ignition on, should work with Accessories on. At about this time, I found that I couldn’t turn the ignition switch to the “Lock” position. Hmmm, why hadn’t I noticed this before? It has to be either a faulty/incorrect key, faulty lock, or faulty switch at the base of the steering column. Only one way to find out...... pull the steering column back out.
With the column out, the cause was not evident, so I started to pull the column, complete with its tilt & telescopic functions, apart.

With a whole lot of bits lying on the floor, diligently placed in sequence so I knew how to put this thing, back together, I found the cause of the problem, which I’ll get to later.

After about 4 frustrating hours and many attempts to get the column back together, hindered by its strong spring that takes the slack out of the top bearing, disaster struck! The big circlip that holds it all together gave up the ghost..... it snapped in two. Bugger !!!

Only one thing to do now ……. Walk away, have a few beers and watch the footy Grand Final. I’ll get back the steering column tomorrow.....Primary objective aborted.

Oh yeah, what prevented the Ignition Switch from going back to the “Lock” position? Well, the Corvette has this safety feature you see. There is a lockout mechanism that prevents the car from being started unless the gear lever is in the “Park” position. I hadn’t fully connected this yet. Bottom line is, all I had to do was move a lever a bit and the ignition switch would have gone to the “Lock” position, no probs.

So, at the end of the day, I’m further behind than I was at the start of the day.

The picture above show the patented method of reinstalling the column, the jack was used to push the inner shaft up to its correct position.

Here's the broken circlip.

It's RED!!!!!

Ok, I’ll have to own up to it, I’ve slackened off with the blog entries of late. The thing is, the Corvette is now back from the paint shop, and there’s loads of things for me to do now. Actually it's a bit like a jigsaw.....putting the Corvette all back together!

You’ll also notice a change in the blog entries from now ………… they’re going to be more regular, but shorter and snappier. Here goes …………….

The '75 Corvette has gone through a major transformation. It looks splendid in its new red livery. The colour is called Sting Red, most appropriate for a Corvette Stingray.



John & Brad from K & S Keighran Custom Truck Painting did a great job. Truck painters! Why send a Corvette to truck painters ?? Well both Brad & John are Hot Rodders, so they know the significance of a good looking paint job. And trucks are made from fiberglass these days, as is the Corvette, so they are well aware of the intricacies of working with fiberglass.

The re-assembly is now well under way.

Thanks to all those people who took part in our online survey . Congratulations to those who thought the 'Vette should RED.......we agreed!

Heads Up

With the bottom half completed, it was time to decide on the “top half” aka the heads. Now, stock Corvette Heads are made from cast iron, which makes them quite heavy. They also require some special inserts placed in the valve seats to cope with today’s unleaded petrol. (The theory here is that the lead provided a cushioning effect when the valve hit the cast iron valve seat as the valve closes. That lead is now gone, so the cast iron head has to have a special hardened valve seat inserted.)

There are many aftermarket heads available for Chevy’s these days, with many suppliers offering cast aluminum versions as an option. Of course, one of the great advantages here is the reduction of weight over the front suspension.

Again, there are many styles of aluminum heads out there. The first choice is small or large combustion chambers, which affect the compression ratio. Higher compression generally ends up in better performance, but can mean that premium fuel has to be used. A high compression engine fed on normal fuel can result in the fuel being ignited prematurely, commonly called pinging. Another choice is the size of the port or tube that delivers the air / fuel mix to the engine. A head with a large port might get more air / fuel by volume at high revs, but there might be a reduced “pull” of air/fuel through the carburetor at low revs, causing a “flat spot”.
I diligently reviewed all of the viable options out there and had a particular brand/style in mind. I was going for Edelbrocks, with 72 cc chambers and 170 cc Inlet Ports. I figured that these heads, combined with the other engine elements (particularly the camshaft) would give me a good package for doing what I want to do….. Cruizin.

One day I dropped into Eagle Auto Parts at Revesby to pick up a few parts. Out of curiosity I asked Dave what they had in the way of Chevy Aluminum Heads. Dave produced a pair of Patriot Performance Heads. They looked great, there were right there in front of me, no more looking around, no more decisions to be made, go on, just buy them and go home and bolt them on. So I bought them.

Bad move...... I strayed from my criteria after all that due diligence. Now, I must say that the Patriot Heads are probably great heads (I haven’t started the engine yet) but let’s say there are some compatibility issues.

Dave & Tony at Eagles cautioned that my existing Inlet Manifold may not be compatible with these tall port heads. I decided to take my chances. Guess what, my manifold was not suitable so I had to buy another one.

I didn’t realize at the time, the Patriot heads are true performance heads, they don’t incorporate passages that allow the exhaust gases to heat up, and hence turn off, the choke on the carburetor. Guess what, I have to buy another carburetor now, one with an electric choke. I’ll also have to add some wiring to the car so that the electric choke will work.

There were a few other compatibility issues with this choice of heads. We’ll cover those off at a laterstage.

The Reciprocating Mass

It’s time now to have a look at the engine rebuild. Dayle says I shouldn’t get too technical with this, it becomes boring. Well, I’m not writing about a lump of play dough here, so I need to delve into the technicalities just a little. Let’s start by dividing the V8 engine into two pieces, the bit that houses the pistons that go up and down, turning the crankshaft and eventually turning the wheels, which I’ll refer to as the bottom half, and the bit that houses the valves that lets the fuel & exhaust enter and leave the engine, which I’ll refer to as the top half.
When building an engine, you have to determine what your application will be, or what you intend to do with the car. It’s a pretty safe bet that I won’t be racing the Corvette at Daytona. I’ll be content to cruise the suburbs and highways. Most of my driving will be at about two to three thousand RPM. With this in mind I know what limits I need to go to with the engine rebuild.
The first step with the bottom half was to clean all the bits thoroughly by placing them in an acid bath. Then, the essential parts were measured for their tolerance within the manufacturer’s specifications. In this case, the bore of the engine wasn’t too bad. It just had to be honed out to get that nice perfectly round shape that it needs. The crankshaft had to be ground because it had suffered some wear. New pistons, rings, bearings, gaskets etc. were sourced. Then, the bottom half placed onto an engine stand and carefully assembled. (ie the reciprocating mass)
There is an important component in the bottom half called the Camshaft. I like to think of the Camshaft as the conductor of an orchestra.

The Camshaft tells the valves when to open & close, which in turn lets fuel into the cylinder, ignites it under compression, thus forcing the piston back down, and then lets the spent gases flow through to the exhaust. The camshaft design will determine where the power range of the engine is. I.e. is the power required at high revs (like in a race car) or at lower “highway cruising” revs. I chose a camshaft with specifications to suit highway cruising.
To do the job properly, the camshaft can’t be just shoved into the engine. To ensure that it was installed correctly and would work within the manufacturer’s specifications, it was necessary to very accurately measure the point at which the valves would open and close. This is done with a device called a degree wheel, and a dial indicator. A typical instance would be where the inlet valve must just start to open 10 degrees before the piston reaches the top of its stroke.
In my case, I had to advance the position of the camshaft 2degrees, to ensure correct timing.

This being done, the engine was painted, the gearbox bolted up, and the engine/gearbox assembly placed back into the car.
Next step will be to attach the top half of the engine. We’ll cover that off in the next installment.

Tanks for the Memory

Thanks to everyone who voted in our online poll. We will be revealing the new colour of our Corvette as soon as possible.......stay tuned!

Well, this project of restoring our 1975 Corvette Stingray is starting to progress quite well. All the paint has been stripped from the body and what a mammoth task that was!!! There are just a few more things to do before it can go to the paint shop.

It looks like the rubber hoses that connect the fuel tank to the steel lines are close to being the original items. That means they’re about 33 years old! Think I’ll take this opportunity to replace them with new hose. Hmmmm but what’s this? The hoses go to the top of the fuel tank, just underneath the body ……. How the hell do you get at them?

Just two choices here: either remove the body of the Corvette or remove the fuel tank. No prizes for guessing which option I took.

I read somewhere that it’s best to have a buddy help you when removing the tank. But I knew better…. so I tackled it myself.

After removing the main fuel line, I undid the bolts on the steel straps that hold the tank to the Corvette chassis. I was at the point of no return now!! As I was gently prizing the tank from its resting position I noticed that it was a bit heavy. Had to lie on my back with one knee hard up against the tank to support my sagging arms.Next, and to my dismay, I realized that the fuel gauge wire was still connected, as was another rubber hose. This thing was getting heavier by the minute and I was running out of arms & legs.

How do I proceed from here? Well, there was a knife on the floor, just out of reach. I managed to spin around a bit and kick the knife toward myself with the so far unused leg. At this point in time, I thought I was playing Twister, just didn’t have a friend playing with me. Anyway, with some difficulty, I managed to cut the other rubber hose and disconnect the wire. Now all I had to do was lower the tank to the ground.

If you’re looking forward to seeing a photo of this, all I can say is “You’ve got to be joking!!!! I didn’t have enough arms as it was.” However, Dayle has added a good tank link, just to satisfy you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9LLvGgRvQI Thanks Youtube!

Well, I reckon that the Corvette’s fuel tank, which I thought would be just about empty because I certainly haven’t put any fuel in it, must have been about ¾ full. That’s about 40 litres at about 1 kg per litre. Put that together with the weight of the tank….No bloody wonder it was heavy!!!

As the fuel tank was nearing the ground, it was closely followed by a 33 year build up of dirt that was sitting on top of and around the tank. You guessed it….I got the dirt all over me, on my face, in my ears, even up my nose. Gee,that was great fun. Now I know what I’m doing this Spring……… top dressing the lawn with the dirt from under the car.

Another day done, another drama solved in the restoration of the ‘vette.

Think I should have listened to the guy who said …….it should only be done when there is a buddy to help.

PS from Dayle.... He never asked me to help!

Tale of the 10 footer

OK, so for the first day or two of owning our first Corvette, I was wearing my rose coloured glasses. At the forefront of the mind was just the fact that I had a ‘Vette parked in the garage. I spent the first couple of days just getting to know the car...….like..... why didn't the passenger side door open properly? ...broken spring; how do you put the lights on high beam? …. hmmm; Why didn't the windscreen wipers work?......no earth; where is the washer bottle?…. dunno. (Turned out it didn’t have a washer bottle.)

Then I noticed them, those little pimples in the paint on the rear deck. The more I looked, the more of them I found. Then there was the “edge” around the door handles. They hadn’t been removed for the car’s last paint job, just masked around. Then there were the cracks in the front bumper cover, the sagging of the urethane rear cover, the cracks in the bonnet where some clunk head had put a lonnnnnng air cleaner stud in and slammed the bonnet shut etc. etc, etc.

From 10 foot away, the 1975 Corvette looked great. Put it under the Walker microscope and it left a lot to be desired. Only one thing to do…… re-paint it.

Looked at a number of Corvette Forum sites and found lots of good but contradictory advice on how to strip the paint. One suggestion was “use citrus based stripper”. Tried that and could probably have peed on it with a better result! “Don’t use stripper, use a sander” was another suggestion. There are so many nooks & crannies on a Corvette so I discounted that idea. Besides, coarse paper on fiberglass ??? I don’t think so. So, after a discussion with Scott Girard from Corvette Alterations & Conversions, I decided to use proper automotive paint stripper.

Dayle & I set to it one Saturday. We figured we should get it done over the weekend. Wrong again… Just one door took over 4 hours. The stripper generally only takes off one coat of paint. This ‘ol girl had lots of coats ……. would never have been cold in a snow storm!

Tried a bit of stripper on the rear urethane bumper cover. Found out that urethane doesn’t like paint stripper. The bit I did ended up soft & soggy, a bit like a marshmallow. Had to find a fix for that, which will be covered in another installment.

So, weeks and weeks later, with 5 empty 4 litre cans of paint stripper lying around the back yard, the job was done. Now I might start to get rid of those funny scaly things on my hands. And maybe a beer might taste like a beer again.

With the C3 Corvette now completely in the raw, the evidence of the argey bargey (MS Word doesn’t like that one) that she has been in over the years is clearly visible. Guess I’ll just have to teach myself how to fix fiberglass.

By the way, this last photo is the tub of paint (yes, the entire amount)removed from the once turquoise Corvette......soon to be ....???

And if you know Bob...you'll have guessed already!

Again, again and again!

Preparing this 1975 Corvette is a work of art........

Now, after cleaning the firewall, inner fenders etc of this C3 with petrol then Wax & Grease Remover, I gave it a hit with good ol’ Satin Black VHT Engine Enamel. Hmm..... I ended up with more runs than an Aussie Cricket Team. The paint was just running off the fiberglass...... it was like I had just polished it with silicone or something similar!

I waited for it to dry, rubbed it back, washed it down with Wax & Grease Remover once more and tried again......... Same thing happened. So I tried again, this time using Flexi Prime (which is suitable for plastic parts) before applying the Satin Black. The result was a bit better. So, after about four attempts, I reminded myself that I’m not building a show car, so I settled for a slightly less than perfect finish.....mind you (says Dayle) to the uninitiated it's pretty good.

Somewhere along the way to the restoration of this Corvette, I decided to pull the Air Conditioning of this unit apart. Just as well I did, it was clogged up with 33 years worth of leaves that had settled in the vents and had been drawn into the airconditioning unit over time. I changed the “O” rings to suit the new type of gas and put it all together again. Hope it works now.

Here's a little hint!..... replace the Heater Hoses before putting the Air Conditioning unit in place, it is so much easier to get at them.

Next up is stripping the paint from the body. Now that's a labour of love, if ever there was one!

Engine Bay Painting Blues

You know...Dayle would call me a perfectionist....I like to think of it as doing things right the first time..... regardless of what the manual says.....

The 1975 Corvette Assembly Manual describes in detail how much Sealer should be put in each relevant place in the engine bay.

I reckon that the guys who assembled this Corvette must have used about four times the prescribed amount, and very little of it ended up in the right place. There were dribbles of hardened, dry, cracking sealer everywhere.

Now the true restorer would leave these in place, claiming, “that’s how they made ‘em”, but not me. I went about scraping, rubbing, cleaning all that stuff off until I had what looked like a reasonable surface on the firewall & inner fenders, front cross member etc.

But wait, what’s that? a cracked weld. Yep, sure enough, once all the crap was cleaned off the front cross member, some cracked welds were exposed. Not an uncommon problem I’m told. Call in Al Rawson, welder extraordinaire. Al soon had them welded up so well, I reckon the cross member will break before the welds come apart again. Thanks Al!!!

The Corvette's brake lines were grotty (covered with surface rust), so they were removed & cleaned up on a wire wheel, as were some of the other fittings. One trick I learnt was to paint these steel fittings with Clear Engine Enamel after polishing them up. The engine enamel sticks like the proverbial, and prevents the polished steel bits from going rusty again.

Now, I don’t have a spray booth and associated equipment, so I have become “the Pressure Pack Kid”. Yep! lots of bits & pieces have been painted with Pressure Pack can of paint. Funny thing, normally when you go to buy paint in a pressure pack you have to provide Proof of Age. Not me............ Can’t work out why???!!!

Here's looking up your rear end.....

I’ve never seen a Corvette rear end before, let alone work on one. And what’s more, I had absolutely no intentions of going near this one but, as I said in an earlier Vette's Sting Blog, the spacers fell out of the left trailing arm while I was cutting off the exhaust, so I had to take a further look.

First thing I noticed when the Corvette's rear wheels were removed was brake fluid on the rotors. Yep, that Hughsie was right again, the rear calipers were leaking and needed to be sleeved.
The left hand trailing arm had recently been either reconditioned of replaced. It was freshly painted and had a Mid West Corvette sticker on it. Wonder why???? Whoever put it in didn’t set to spacers up and secure them properly…….Am I surprised?

The Corvette's right hand trailing arm was a different story. The front bush was stuffed and half of one of the handbrake springs fell onto the ground when the rotor was removed. No option here but to remove it & have it fixed by a Corvette specialist. A quick check of the Advertisers on the NSW Corvettes Unlimited web site led me to Scott Girard of Corvette Alterations & Conversions (CAC).Within about a week or so, Scott had expertly rebuilt the hub and replaced the front bush. I always enjoy going to his workshop, so many Corvettes in various states of repair to look over.

Unlike the front, the rear rotors required replacing. Ebay to the rescue, but this time a much more informed, intelligent bid……No smart comments... ok! Thanks to Gino Constabile in Adelaide bisonauto@picknowl.com.au I got a good deal on rotors & pads.

While I was at it, I decided to remove the rear half shafts, spring and just about everything else but the diff centre and give then a good clean up & paint job.
Getting the right hand trailing arm back in place was an interesting task. That front pivot bolt is a real doosey, getting it back into place requires a very skinny hand with long fingers and a double jointed wrist. Not even Dayle could help out here!

The park brake cable was seized, which I’m told is typical for the breed- the '75 Corvette. I didn’t replace this, just doused it in WD40 or similar for a couple of days and it soon freed up.
I heard from somewhere (Scott Girard I think) that the park brake shoes should be adjusted before bolting up the half shafts, which I did. The rest of it was a simple matter to re- assemble.

This being done, it was time to clean up & repaint the engine bay. There were a few surprises here too, but you’ll have to wait for the next installment to hear about these. Stay tuned......more coming soon....

And Now for the Front End

Well, that last blog was a real case of techno info overload……but anyone who knows Bob Walker knows that he never does anything by halves! His quick "pull down and re-build" was perhaps wishful thinking…… Let’s just put it this way……… just as well he has a tolerant wife (that’s me!) and a passion for long hours in the garage!

With the motor now out and away for reconditioning, it was time to move on to the front end. Someone, in this chev’s previous life, had recently replaced the upper inner bushes. Problem was, the lower bushes were so worn that they were virtually non- existent. I struggle with the logic here, why fix just the uppers when the suspension is pulled down and not attend to the other problems??? So, we set to with jacks, jack stands, tools etc and started pulling the front end down. A good friend of mine, Peter Hughes, said when I told him that I have bought a Corvette “I bet all the brake calipers are leaking, they all do. Bring ‘em down to me and I’ll sleeve ‘em”. I didn’t really believe Pete, but the first thing I saw when the wheels came off was brake fluid all over the pads and rotors. Bugger, “Hughsie” was right, but I bet he’s not right about the rears. More on that later.

At about this stage of the project, I started preparing a list items that needed to be purchased for my restoration.

Enter Ecklers, a Corvette replacement part specialist company in the good ‘ol US of A. Their on line catalogue, with instructions accompanying some items, was great. I made my list in order of priority and the first of a number of orders were placed. This was really easy, just a matter of picking what I wanted, ticking the right boxes, handing over my credit card details of course and the goods turned up in about a week’s time. Not too painful now as the Aussie dollar and US dollar are just about the same.

Ecklers also offer a discount for Corvette Car Club Members so that helped to offset some of the freight costs.

Oh yes, that’s right….. I joined the NSW Corvettes Car Club – NSW Corvettes Unlimited soon after getting the car as I knew I was going to need some contacts and help from guys who had been through what I was doing.

Hmmm, who’s got a cute rear end then???

What you see isn't always what you get!

Well, the seller’s ad encouraged inspection before bidding on this Corvette. I didn’t do that, so I only have myself to blame. Anyway, I got to own a Corvette, didn’t I?
Having driven the Vette home from the Rego place, and having the benefit of seeing the car up on a hoist, I decided that a quick pull down and re-build was in order. I figured I’d start with the motor, because it smelt like it was burning oil & the box (T400) , because it was leaking badly and then turn the attention to the front suspension.

Had lots of “fun” preparing to pull the engine out. This being my first Corvette, I have to learn everything the hard way. (I usually learn by my mistakes........now I know quite a lot)

It seemed that the best (and possibly only) way to remove the engine was to remove the heads from the engine, undo the front yoke from the rest of the tail shaft, and pull out the short motor & gearbox as one unit.

First problem encountered was the Corvette's exhaust system. The nice new 2 1/2 inch exhaust system was fully welded and passed through the exhaust pipe hole in the cross member. There’s only one way to remove this exhaust system, cut it up with the angle grinder…… Oh well, I didn’t like the support brackets for the exhaust system any way.

Whilst lying on the floor, cutting the exhaust off, my foot kicked something and it fell onto the floor. It turned out to be the last remaining spacer from the left side trailing arm. The rest had fallen out some time before. Oops, looks like the rear end of the Corvette is need of some attention too.

To the uninitiated, the plumbing in the engine compartment looked quite complicated, particularly all the vacuum lines for the lights etc. I took lots of photos so I could look back on them when the time came to put this thing together again.

Having removed the bonnet, radiator, condenser & all the other engine peripherals (trendy word these days) and heads from the Corvette, the short motor and T400 parted company with the rest of the car without much drama. In fact, it was just a one person operation.

It all came out at a pretty steep angle, over the front of the car. I used the rear most head bolt holes for the chain mounting positions, which worked out quite OK. With the engine out, it was a simple operation to separate the engine from the gearbox, then put the engine on an engine stand, ready for disassembly. One could say, the corvette restoration was on its way.

Hmmm. This tired old Corvette engine has a brand new sump gasket. I wonder who’s been doing what in there??

Red Wine, Ebay and Corvettes

Well, let’s just put it this way....red wine and ebay are a dangerous combination.....but haven't you ever done something that you later wonder about???? Notice I didn't say 'regret"........I think you are starting to catch our drift....and to be a little less subtle, our 1st corvette came via Ebay, one Sunday night, when the thrill of the auction and the effects of the red wine took over.

2 mins to go, 30 secs to go....10 secs, refresh and suddenly we were the proud owners of an "immaculate" "unreal" "fantastic' "bargain" "sure to thrill" "ready to register" "drive away"....blah, blah blah!!!

Needless to say, the first viewing, after the deal was done, a point of no return, revealed a less than immaculate, un roadworthy, '75 C3 Corvette Stingray – and what’s more.....turquoise blue with pin striping, can you believe?

A lesser person would have cried, but not Bob. He promptly sold the T-Bucket (one of his babies- thanks Stevo for giving her a new home!)

and set about getting the new toy, the vette, registered.

However, registering this corvette was not quite what the vendor had indicated...another reason why making a decision based on red wine and adrenaline should be avoided at all costs.

The corvette arrived bright and early, Wednesday morning. (We got great feedback for those interested!) The trip to the registration inspection guy revealed a few more problems than we first expected......namely
· A broken engine mount
· Totally stuffed front suspension bushes
· Oil leaks from the gearbox
· Worn shock absorber rubbers
· No spare wheel
· No torque converter cover
· Etc. Etc.

Added to this, the oil in the engine smelt a bit “burnt” when the rocker covers were removed – a good indication that the engine was needing work.

So it became painfully obvious that, before we could take her out in public, a full restoration of this Corvette was necessary!

The fun begins! Stay tuned for the next instalment in the restoration of our 1975 C3 Corvette Stingray.

Meanwhile, enjoy this video, courtesy of youtube www.youtube.com/watch?v=464onj91K0Y
Bye for now!

prince - little red corvette