75 Corvette Resto Mod

gabbett1

Well-known member
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Nov 8, 2012
Messages
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Well, I just wanted to come here and post about my project. It has been in the making for over two years now. I don't have a cool project name for it like Menace (Wish I would have thought of something like that), however I have always called the car "Fast Orange" (like the hand cleaner and because the car is orange and fast, lol).

Well just to give some highlights of the build so far, the car is being nearly stripped of all of it's badges. It will sport a Lingenfelter built LS7 with a dry sump system, backed by a T-56 Magnum 6 speed. The chassis is a tube chassis built by SRIII Motorsports (in fact SRIII is doing the bulk of the work on the car, www.sriiimotorsports.com). They do fantastic work. I will be running all C6 corvette suspension with Z06 brakes, HRE wheels for a Z06 (many of the used parts as you will see are from the C6 Z06). I have subtle body changes that might make it difficult to recognize the car as a '75. I will be adding quite a bit of modern amenities such as power adjustable and heated seats (Z06 seats) auto headlights, cruise control, A/C (car never had it), adjustable speed wipers, aftermarket hood with struts to aid in opening and closing, fully adjustable traction control w/launch control, and much more. We are trying to not leave any detail from being looked at.

The car once put together will then to go The Recovery Room for it's interior (whom have done interiors for several Riddler award winners, http://www.recoveryroomrodinteriors.com/main.html).

I have owned the car since I was 16. I re-did the car once and the overall look was really nice, however there were a few things that I wasn't happy with as far as how the car drove.

Attached is a photo of how the car looked after it was redone the first time. There is also a picture of the frame that was built for my car for the current build.

This is a video of how the hood raises and closes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aYV9oPC1Ic&feature=youtu.be.
 

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Looking for a name?
Orange and Fast? easy : Tropicannon :amused:

Do you mind sharing the hood struts rating?
Looks like it's gonna be one hell of a restomod :clap:
 
Looking for a name?
Orange and Fast? easy : Tropicannon :amused:

Do you mind sharing the hood struts rating?
Looks like it's gonna be one hell of a restomod :clap:

LOL that is a pretty good name. I am not sure what the rating is on the struts. The shop building the car picked them up for me. I could ask.
 
Ok OK OK
with names like Lingenfelter, frame from SRIII and Recovery room interior...
You got my full attention.

This is going to be another great build

I do want to see more of it.
 
I suppose I can share some other pics for now. Question, how do you post images so they show up one over the other in the post instead of small thumbnails at the bottom the way it was on my first post?
 
Cool project. More details please on the hood opening modification. Pics, part numbers, etc.

DC
 
Here is how the rear was modified. The bumpers were removed, license plate holder narrowed and notched out for dual dual exhaust (exhaust is Akrapovic for Z06).

thum_262851adf53696c88.jpg

Here are the side markers I used to replace the stock ones with.

thum_262851adf5ea57c10.jpg

This shows what a stock 75 front bumper looks like.

thum_262851adf5f5a0d37.jpg

This is a 74 bumper as you can see it mounts a little different.

thum_262851adf5fe69bba.jpg

Here they took the stock 75 bumper and laid out where they were going to cut it in half.

thum_262851adf606db5cd.jpg

Here shows how the stock 75 bumper was cut.

thum_262851adf61067f86.jpg

Here is how the top 75 and lower 74 bumpers were mated, eliminating the "bumpers" the 75 version had.

thum_262851adf61b5c8f3.jpg

Here is the finished product.

thum_262851adf6249838b.jpg
 
If you go with the auto headlights, disable the DRL, it is brutal on light bulb sockets. Not sure if GM made changes for the problem but my 97 camaro would turn it's front turn signal sockets to charred brittle plastic and warp the lenses.

If it has a DRL module like what mine had you can disable the DRL and maintain the auto headlights by splicing the turn signal input wires to the drl output wires, real simple to do.
 
Cool project. More details please on the hood opening modification. Pics, part numbers, etc.

DC

I don't think there is much for part numbers for the hood opening mod. They custom made most of the parts. I know they had to lower the radiator and made a notch out for the intake to go over the front of the radiator to get cool air. They then made the mechanisms that the hood hinges on. The only parts bought, I believe, would be the struts the hood utilizes.
 
If you go with the auto headlights, disable the DRL, it is brutal on light bulb sockets. Not sure if GM made changes for the problem but my 97 camaro would turn it's front turn signal sockets to charred brittle plastic and warp the lenses.

If it has a DRL module like what mine had you can disable the DRL and maintain the auto headlights by splicing the turn signal input wires to the drl output wires, real simple to do.

Sorry, what is DRL?
 
Yes daytime running lights

You pull the DRL module, cut the dark blue wire and dark blue with white stripe wire and splice them together. Then cut light blue wire and light blue wire with white stripe and splice them together.

This will disable the daytime running lights and keep the auto headlight working.

drl2002.jpg
 
Cool project. More details please on the hood opening modification. Pics, part numbers, etc.

DC

I don't think there is much for part numbers for the hood opening mod. They custom made most of the parts. I know they had to lower the radiator and made a notch out for the intake to go over the front of the radiator to get cool air. They then made the mechanisms that the hood hinges on. The only parts bought, I believe, would be the struts the hood utilizes.
From a CF thread I've learned that for a single strut mechanism you need such strut :
closed lenght 10", extended length 17", rating 65lbs.
Personally all I looking for is the lbs rating in this double strut setting. I guess it's half that, but better be sure than sorry.
 
Yes daytime running lights

You pull the DRL module, cut the dark blue wire and dark blue with white stripe wire and splice them together. Then cut light blue wire and light blue wire with white stripe and splice them together.

This will disable the daytime running lights and keep the auto headlight working.

drl2002.jpg

Ah, well I know my car doesn't have DRL so I don't think that will be an issue.
 
Cool project. More details please on the hood opening modification. Pics, part numbers, etc.

DC

I don't think there is much for part numbers for the hood opening mod. They custom made most of the parts. I know they had to lower the radiator and made a notch out for the intake to go over the front of the radiator to get cool air. They then made the mechanisms that the hood hinges on. The only parts bought, I believe, would be the struts the hood utilizes.
From a CF thread I've learned that for a single strut mechanism you need such strut :
closed lenght 10", extended length 17", rating 65lbs.
Personally all I looking for is the lbs rating in this double strut setting. I guess it's half that, but better be sure than sorry.

I asked them what info they could tell me about the struts and he didn't have any specifics. Said they just made several trips to the parts store till they found the right ones.
 
I asked them what info they could tell me about the struts and he didn't have any specifics. Said they just made several trips to the parts store till they found the right ones.
Just take the serial number on the struts when you get the chance, I'll look it up on the web.
 
I asked them what info they could tell me about the struts and he didn't have any specifics. Said they just made several trips to the parts store till they found the right ones.
Just take the serial number on the struts when you get the chance, I'll look it up on the web.

If I'm not mistaken I think he said the number on the strut was 24622. I tried searching for them myself but had no luck.
 
I asked them what info they could tell me about the struts and he didn't have any specifics. Said they just made several trips to the parts store till they found the right ones.
Just take the serial number on the struts when you get the chance, I'll look it up on the web.

Hey denpo - I stumbled across this post in a thread over at CF. It was posted by [email protected]. Unfortunately the pics are no longer showing up. Here is his post:

"A note on hood props. In your pictures I noticed your old style hood prop.I converted my 79's hood prop to a Gas Spring, just like all modern cars use. It is a a very quick and easy swap, using the existing corvette strut mounting brackets on the hood and fender. I did it because I had trouble lifting my hood(it's quite heavy) and got tired of having to use two hands to make sure the prop locked back into place. Here is a picture of the installed gas spring in my car:


Here are views of the ends to show mounting points:

Hood mount-uses existing prop bracket-with a SS ball bolted to it:



Fender mount- uses existing prop bracket-just bolt on a SS ball:



All parts come from SPD Gas Springs Co., online catalog. Here are the part numbers:
Gas spring, qty.1, GSNI-5200-60(60 pounds of force, or you can use a 75 pound, -75), $15.84
Stainless steel nuts (mount to car), qty.2, BS-1009-SS, $3.66/ea
Stainless lock nuts (screw on nuts), qty.2, NU-1200-SS, $0.25/ea
You can use SS rod ends too (EF-PS90-SS@$8.18/ea.), if you want (I did), but the gas springs come with plastic ends that will work. I just thought the steel would be stronger.
I have been using this on my car for the last two years without any trouble. Everyone who sees it that knows Corvettes comments on how great of an idea this is. So I thought I would throw it out there for anybody interested to use. Total cost about 25 bucks, and took less than one hour to convert. Now my hood almost lifts itself. I can open it with one finger. And once fully up, it stays up even in medium wind. If you are concerned about accidental closure in high winds, SPD offers a gas spring with a lock.
Give it a try. You will wonder why you ever used anything else! "


Here's the link to the thread (his post was #30): http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-...air-induction-hood-mod-for-stock-80-hood.html

DC
 
I asked them what info they could tell me about the struts and he didn't have any specifics. Said they just made several trips to the parts store till they found the right ones.
Just take the serial number on the struts when you get the chance, I'll look it up on the web.

Hey denpo - I stumbled across this post in a thread over at CF. It was posted by [email protected]. Unfortunately the pics are no longer showing up. Here is his post:

"A note on hood props. In your pictures I noticed your old style hood prop.I converted my 79's hood prop to a Gas Spring, just like all modern cars use. It is a a very quick and easy swap, using the existing corvette strut mounting brackets on the hood and fender. I did it because I had trouble lifting my hood(it's quite heavy) and got tired of having to use two hands to make sure the prop locked back into place. Here is a picture of the installed gas spring in my car:


Here are views of the ends to show mounting points:

Hood mount-uses existing prop bracket-with a SS ball bolted to it:



Fender mount- uses existing prop bracket-just bolt on a SS ball:



All parts come from SPD Gas Springs Co., online catalog. Here are the part numbers:
Gas spring, qty.1, GSNI-5200-60(60 pounds of force, or you can use a 75 pound, -75), $15.84
Stainless steel nuts (mount to car), qty.2, BS-1009-SS, $3.66/ea
Stainless lock nuts (screw on nuts), qty.2, NU-1200-SS, $0.25/ea
You can use SS rod ends too (EF-PS90-SS@$8.18/ea.), if you want (I did), but the gas springs come with plastic ends that will work. I just thought the steel would be stronger.
I have been using this on my car for the last two years without any trouble. Everyone who sees it that knows Corvettes comments on how great of an idea this is. So I thought I would throw it out there for anybody interested to use. Total cost about 25 bucks, and took less than one hour to convert. Now my hood almost lifts itself. I can open it with one finger. And once fully up, it stays up even in medium wind. If you are concerned about accidental closure in high winds, SPD offers a gas spring with a lock.
Give it a try. You will wonder why you ever used anything else! "

Here's the link to the thread (his post was #30): http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-...air-induction-hood-mod-for-stock-80-hood.html

DC
Yeah, it's in my subcrided thread list. However I'd prefer a double spring setup.
 
Headlights

Has anyone found anything like this for C3 corvettes???

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCJQdXGrdw8[/ame]
 
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