1963 Corvette Grand Sport Build! LS2/T56-LOTS OF PICS!

Well I finally got to build the one of the cars I have always wanted, a 1963 Corvette Grand Sport. Only 5 Grand Sports ever built..and I don’t have a million +.. I was just about to pull the trigger on Factory Five's Daytona Coupe, when I spotted a company in a magazine I was reading. I ran across Mongoose Motorsports and decided to give them a call. They were a lot pricier than Factory Five and really didn’t sell a "kit" and let me tell you, this thing was no "kit". There were no instructions..nada..just parts..I had to basically find every nut and bolt, essentially just a body(straight out of the molds) and a frame... This isn’t to fault Mongoose, because they mainly build “rollers” minus engine and trans or they build complete cars..I wanted to build this car myself and they were really the only option…Superformance and Duntov..but those two are ridiculously pricey and don’t sell kits..
So I placed my order around the end of March and patiently awaited the delivery of my car…It just so happened that the abomination we like to call the “Fast and the Furious” franchise had also purchased about 11-12 cars, so this pushed my delivery date back a month or two(kinda cool my car was in the pack that was built for the movie, but “not” at the same time haha) While I was waiting I decided to purchase my engine and transmission..I went with a certified used LS2/T56 out of a 2006 GTO with around 18k miles on it… I kicked around and placed some bids on an LS6 and even played with the idea of an LS7 or LS3, but the LS2 was a good price and made good power..The car only weighs 2500 pounds so the LS2 would supply plenty of power..


I bought my suspension which was from a 96 Corvette with the bigger J55 brakes and the DANA 44 rear with 3.45 gears. Drove up to Atlanta to a guy that recycles Vettes..I mean you gotta take a pic of the KIA plant..

Unfortunately for me GM decided to sue Mongoose…So I had to sweat it out and hope they didn’t put chains on the doors at Mongoose(while mongoose was holding MY MONEY!!)… All the while I was staying in contact with Mongoose who reassured me everything was fine…All the while Im still buying parts!!

Seats were out of a 2009 C6 vette..I looked at Pontiac Fiero seats..and some other vintage style seats but really liked the C6 seats..they fit very well in the 63 and look like they could have come with the car


Wheels arrived!! Wait a sec! that’s not the right color! Probably the best customer service out of this whole process!!…CCW had a link on their site showing pics of their wheels..unfortunately many of the pics were mis-labeled…Good looking wheels but not what I had in mind! They changed their website and paid for all the shipping..Super cool guys to work with!




Lucky for me a friend at work had a massive shop that he so graciously allowed me to build my car in..He and his dad have some very bad a$$ cars as well..


That kinda gets everyone up to speed..Im just gonna post pics now with blurbs on the process! ENJOY!

June! The car finally arrives!!








Had to take a seat

My lovely mother..the only time she will ever be behind the steering wheel..haha

Alright now it’s time to get down to business! My friend Brock helped me get the body off right before he moved to Japan..It would basically be the only time during the whole build that I was given any assistance aside from putting the body back on..



Wheels are back!! CCW Classics.. I freakin love these things..



Time to paint the frame! POR15..Its the same stuff I used when I rebuilt my 76 vette(see sig to check out that build thread!) I covered the POR 15 in chassis coat black..had a slight brushed finish and at first I regretted brushing it on..but this car was being built to be driven hard and after the first 20 speed bumps you learn not to care



I rebuilt all the suspension parts with Urethane bushings/ball joints/bearings





Now it’s time for Assembly!!! This part was a breeze..mainly because of the previous work I have done on other cars.

Welded up the roll bars they sent..came in 3 parts basically the main hoop..hoop kickers and kickers off the frame..


Ran into a problem with the headers..Stainless Werks makes a header for a certain C3 with LS motor chassis..i decided to give them a shot..they didn’t fit very well with the Trans Am style mount I used..So I had to do some fabrication and modify the motor mount setup.. 1”7/8 Stainless sidepipe headers

Geared up and ready to tackle the motor mounts!






Headers are on!

Fuel system! Bosch 044 and two magnafuel filters..(initially had the pre and post filters swapped around)


First crank!!

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And now! My pops gave me a hand lowering the body back on the car..We are at about a month a month into the build at this point.



Trans tunnel hitting the shifter housing


A few wires to route…

Quick disconnect fitting for my gauges.. I recommend these!

Seat tracks for the C6 were too heavy and too bulky..I needed to drop the seats down so I opted for some universal slider mounts


First test drive!! Car was road ready after only 2 months!

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And now we are basically ready for paint ..And here is my first mistake! Because I was uncertain of my bodywork skills I decided to take it to a guy kinda referred to me…The place that mixed the paint did a crap job or either picked some shade of cyber gray metallic that I have never seen..it ended up looking slate blue/greenish..Didn’t do any type of block sanding..i basically did all the work and had to push him the whole time..car looked great right after it was sprayed..Some may stand by nason paint..but its cheap..bottom line..cheap primer as well.. Its hard to argue with someone when they supposedly have done this their whole life..but I have come to realize that it doesn’t matter if you do something for a living, doesn’t mean you know how to do it.Car had waves and runs all over..doors had clear runs 1/8”-3/16” thick..not gonna fly.. So I block sanded the whole thing down myself and took it to my cousins bodyshop..He guided me along the 3 week process it took to get this thing ready(again!) for real paint!

Driver side door for whatever reason just fit horribly..had to do a lot of work..essentialy split the door back apart and took up to a ¼” out in places






Sanding, “slicksand primer”, primer photos..ill-fated paintjob

Tape popped up on the stripes so they were screwed..Oh and passenger side fender had a big spot where a moth flew into it..the car wasn’t “flashed” very well..if you looked up from the bottom there was little to no paint on the louvers/around the tail lights..front bumper etc.. live and learn and then do it yourself is my motto


Kind of had a cool idea to do Jake in the trunk lid.



All the while I was making my speaker box..its just an 8” sub..so chill..doesnt weight that much haha

Car finished

NOW FOR THE REAL PAINT!! I went with Carbon Flash Metallic this time.
CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN AND TAPE TAPE TAPE!! Two very important rules when trying to get a good paintjob.

A few issues along the way..
Mongoose normally uses a rope style gasket..which was going to take a whole lot of work for me to put in myself(tried for two days) they make it work but no glass company would install it for me..sooo..I found a gasket that was wide enough and would cover the body side…so I used betaprime and glued the windshield in..The first paint we used on the windshield didn’t stick even after I roughed up the edge of the windshield with a DA sander but the betaprime is where its at when painting a “frit” or blacked out edge on glass.






Trunk hinges Mongoose sent were crap..so I found another set that were much beefier



Built my own spiral tube mufflers to quite things down a bit








Oh did I mention I had to learn how to sew and do interior work? Well I did..want it done right..do it yourself! Every boot, every stitch, every trim piece..all me..Mongoose usually just finishes out and paints the inside but I wanted a little more street car feel..sooo..










Old meets new

One thing I forgot to mention was the first painter recommended an interior guy. After the car sat for a month and a half and only the back carpet had been done(which only required one seam) I told him not to worry about it and I picked up my car.. Well I Forgot to pick up my interior window trim pieces which I had spent hours on fiberglassing..I head over to pick them up and low and behold they have been broken into about 6 pieces..guess someone wasn't happy!

Here is the interior window trim after I RE-FIBERGLASSED! I cut three pieces of leather and top stitched them together and then glued them on










For the doors I hand bent an aluminum trim ring to fit in the grooves of the door. Gives the appearance of a door panel but still keeps the race feel and weighs nothing. Notice the strap operated windows. I freakin love those things! I want every car I get from now own to have those ha!

I decided to make the ram air hood functional so ive been working on the filter box. The hood side is quite easybut making a box out of nothing and into a shape that fits the parameters is aggravating. My first attempt didnt fit well. But my second more cylindrical style fits perfect! I'm using a 7"-4" velocity stack for the intake..it's the silver bellmouth looking thing..it will be located in the airbox.



First airbox


Forming the second airbox. I ended up getting a shorter filter that worked perfect





I'm just making the airbox look good right now. Everything is ready to bolt up. 1/8" aluminum will be bolt to the underside of the hood to make the ram air chamber. Plus I left the underside of the hood unpainted in order to make all the ram air parts, so I will need to paint that as well

All I can say is WOW :thumbs::thumbs: NICE car Dude!
I love those old Grand Sports.
What part of Alabama are you in?

WOW....NICE.....motivates me to get my project on the road!!!

Great job!!!

Richard

I agree with above... WOW..... :twitch::twitch:

I'm impressed... (like others) .......

I hope you're happy, I now have to change my pants.

WOW, now that's one crazy build.

Have now spent 1 hour to read all and everything and it was pure pleasure.
Thanks for sharing.

You built up a wonderfull car.

Greets
Robert

MYBAD79 said:

I agree with above... WOW..... :twitch::twitch:

I'm impressed... (like others) .......

Click to expand...

Ditto! Nice work!

Great job. I am certainly jealous. I would also be curious to know about how much this project cost you.