Mako Shark freak from Switzerland

[Sharkey1807]

Hi Together,

lately all went a bit slower.
Some good reasons and some not so good.

So this update is not pretty new.

The electric fans came in and Steve assembled them at the end of july.
All went pretty smooth and easy in case of the assembly.
But before the radiator needed some care.




Easy installation with some kind of straps:





The inspection of the front brakes and rotors let make only one decission...
But see yourself.
Worn out Rotor:


Damaged bearings from burned grease:


Root cause was a incorrect thightening:


So a order by Muskegon Brakes was done:


Stainless calipers with o-rings:






And while the pencil was sharp i ordered also a complet stainless Parking brake kit:


And to behold all sweet and nice:



Also for the outside cosmetics i found a source.
A heater profil out of black anodized aluminum.
Ordered today 2 pieces and a colleague will cut them to size.
Then they get machined on top, front and rear and afterwards polished.
Finally a good coat of clear.
The ordered size is 200mm wide, 15mm high (machined down to 10mm) and 620mm long.
They will come on top of the hood slats.

The price is with 29 Euro per piece pretty convenient.

Greetings
Robert

 

[Sharkey1807]

Hi together,

Some news about the project.
As it evolves also new impressions and ideas pop up.
So this happened to me and Steven too.

I allready ordered for the gauges a whole set of gauge inlays in brushed gold. For me this looks still classic and will fit well with the exterior gold color and also the black carbon-like interior.
Of course the speedo inlay with MPH and Km/h will be used. For the tach the one with 6500RPM will be used as it is my final target to get reach the posibility to wind the engine up till there. Not no, but for the future.

Here a sample how brushed gold looks like:


For the illumination of all the instruments i ordered 11 red BA9 LED's. Guess will look cool and the hold longer then standard bulbs.


We decided to leave the original plan to cover the interior with carbon-like fiberglass.
Only the seats will be done in real black carbon-like fiberglass (about strenght and stiffness) and grey seat pads in leather.
For the rest we will instead use carbon-like Vinyl.
Much easier to apply, as the back is layed in a industrial adhesive which reacts with heat and time.
Allready several projects are done this way and it looks pretty cool.
Means the following parts get covered into:
- upper dashboard; black carbon-like Vinyl
- driver side dashboard; black carbon-like Vinyl
- passenger side dashboard; black carbon-like Vinyl
- shifter console; black carbon-like Vinyl
- brake console; black carbon-like Vinyl
- doorpanels; black carbon-like Vinyl
- wooden inserts in doorpanels; silver carbon-like Vinyl
The whole carpet will be in gray as a contrast to the rest.
How looks the black carbon-like Vinyl:



And the silver carbon-like Vinyl which go over the wooden door inserts:




Hope you like it and the idea.

Greetings
Robert

 

[mrvette]

Two comments, I think fastening the fans to the rad core is bad practice, because the extra weight FAR exceeds that of a tranny cooler/etc.....

you hit rough roads. or even a minor bump on front, and tear that radiator apart.....

the white/yellow/gold faced gauge overlays did not work well for ME, the electronic tach face plate screws are on a different centering than the older mechanical tachs so the face looks like trash.....then if you have a older vette like my '72 here the speedo had raised numbers on it, so the overlay did not lay flat...and it looks sucky also......BUT, I got what I got, and to correct that would cost mucho bux that I don't have.....

I would not use the SS brake SHOES, the rest of the kit is fine, years ago I ran across this problem, the shoes would flex enough that they hung up (as I recall) and would not release.....never held worth a crap either....so we changed over to the OEM style iron liners, everything fine, for a stock setup that is....they notoriously don't hold worth shit anyway.....



:hissyfit::smash::crylol::surrender:

 

[Sharkey1807]

Hi Gene,

thanks for your input about the fan mounts.
Will discuse that with Steve, as anyway the whole radiator frame will be covered with a carbon cover there would be ideal solution to mount the fans on that.

For the brakes it's allready to late as the parts arrived.

Thanks also for the input with the gauges.
Now as it's known it can be prevented simply putting a ring over the raised area with letters or grind them down. I think grinding down is easier.

Thanks again
Robert

 

[Sharkey1807]

Hi Together,

Quite some time since the last update.
This time only small steps about some parts which came in.

We was quite astonished how many faces were in the set delivered from Whitegauges.Net.
Was almost faces to do the gauges for 2 Vettes. Additional single gauges can be purchased for 4$/each.










This is the configiration my gauges will receive.
Yes i know, my car doesn't go till 6500RPM, but what isn't yet can become in future. At least is this that plan for someday.



Also the interior insulation from Vettenuts came in.
A real bargain from my point of view.
Very good quality for a pretty fair price.





While one Body mounting screw only wanted to release with brutal force and heavy tools, a new mounting bracket need to be purchased.



By a german company which is specialised in manufacturing cooling profiles i ordered 2 big cooling profiles for the hood domes.
They measure 620 x 220 x 15mm and will now be milled down to 10mm thickness and in front get the angle like the domes have.
Then a polish and clearcoat over it.
In case the car needs more cooling i can cut out the domes under the cooling profiles. But that's not planned.



All the brake parts for the front came from Muskegon Brakes.
I opted for O-Ring calipers while i trust more in O-rings then seals. And if one breaks, no big deal. Just let fabricate a new one.
Later on the also for the rear i will order new calipers and rotors from Muskegon.







I put up a new section with Company recommandations.
All those companys were those with which we had very pleasant communication, delivery service and a good price/quality range.

Greetings
Robert

 

[Sharkey1807]

Hi Together,
got yesterday a big package with the headlight units and the sidemarkers.
Was pretty pleased when i unpacked the headlights, made a pretty good impression.
For the sidemarkers have to say i'm not yet sure if i will use them.

Today after work had to see how they will fit and look in the grill section. And was again amazed how well the angles fit into it
Now have to fabricate a grill insert, the target is that only the frontglass can be seen and all the mechanics are covered.







the following functions were included in the units:
- standard light; big reflector inside
- beam light; big reflector outside
- fog light; small lower reflector
- siedemarker; small upper reflector
- Angel Eyes; around the 2 big reflectors
- lightbar; under the 2 big reflectors
- LED; up between the 2 big reflectors


If it really gets an issue about visibility there is still plenty of space to move the headlight grill section sidewards with a electric motor.

Greetings
Robert

 

[Sharkey1807]

Did some more photos.

This one shows it from top:


And here all the connections. There's also a cover which is screwed down with the bolts.
The 2 gears are for motors with which the reflectors can be adjusted while driving:


Those which were interested, they are available also in USA for 194$ the pair:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1999-2004-JETTA-CCFL-HALO-LED-PROJECTOR-HEADLIGHT-CLEAR-/130436994702?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e5ea6968e#ht_4777wt_460

Greetings
Robert

 

[Sharkey1807]

Hi Together

finally we found some time to go further in the build up.

But first of all some parts came in, all in all pretty eavy package:
HEAVY DUTY 7-LEAF SPRING




LONG SPRING MOUNTINGBOLTS
Who wants to have a ride hight like a offroad car ?!?


NEW REAR ROTORS



460LB FRONT COIL SPRINGS
I guess the need to be shortened a bit.



Steve started over with assembling the rotors.
Means before that he had to dissasemble the old rotors from the hubs.
We decided instead of riveting the hubs to the rotors to screw them like many other sports cars have it.


http://www.cybergate-corp.ch/mako_clip/11_assy_rear/076_rotors.JPG

Next step was extensive cleaning of the old hubs.
[ATTACH=full]30970[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]30971[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]30972[/ATTACH]

A good coat of POR15 over the hubs to give rust less chance.
[ATTACH=full]30973[/ATTACH]

Testfit of new caliper.
[ATTACH=full]30974[/ATTACH]

Testfit on the axle. Looks nice.....
[ATTACH=full]30975[/ATTACH]

Pre-assembling hubs into rotors.
[ATTACH=full]30976[/ATTACH]


I started over with beginning of the grill inlay construction.
But 1st of all had to "glue" the frontend together with tape.
Man, specially the pieces inside the hood which gives some structural strenght will really need a lot of reshape work. They're made to big, guess had to be this way for individual alignment.

And yes, I WAS AMAZED seeing the headlights in the front.
[ATTACH=full]30977[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]30978[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]30979[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]30980[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]30981[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]30982[/ATTACH]

Just placed the headlights in the frontend to see how they fit.
Finally they will be behind a cover, only the frontglas will be seen and all the mechanics and wires behind that cover. That cover will also give the whole lower part of the front more stiffness and stenght.

At the moment the cooling profiles which come on the domes are in the machine shop.
Should get them back on friday.
Then need to grind all the edges smooth and polish the edges.
Will put some photos of them at friday.........


As allways, any comments very welcome.

Greetings
Robert

 

[phantomjock]

Robert -
Thanks for sharing the find on those lights! Now I have a solution for mine.
Very nice work and its all lookin' really good. Cheers - Jim

 

[mrvette]

Where the hell ARE YOU?? I need flip in and steal that front end....

THAT is cool man....looks GREAT.....

but here in the states it will not meet some stupid headlight center-on height requirement....so I hear...but in Florida we have no inspections....most states do....so watch out for safety nazis.....

that idea of any paint/surface other than naked steel on the hubs kinda bothers me, in that it works around with heat/stress/cooling and the wheels will come loose....over time....

I don't bother with the old rivets or any other than the wheel studs for rotor/drum placement, and never have....even on a old shark...

:crutches::friends:

 

[denpo]

I'm with Gene on the paint on hub, it could mess you rotor runout.

You should talk with Gary Ramadei (GTR1999) on how to make rear bearing assembly right. He does them for a living but always give advises for free.
At least read the paper he wrote.

 

[Sharkey1807]

Hi Gene,

yeah in my country, Switzerland, i too would have no chance to pass technical inspection with the lights so down.
I know in germany as example it's no problem, they get it approved.
Don't know how it's here in Romania, but anyway here you can "make it happen $" to get it approved.

 

[Sharkey1807]

I'm with Gene on the paint on hub, it could mess you rotor runout.

You should talk with Gary Ramadei (GTR1999) on how to make rear bearing assembly right. He does them for a living but always give advises for free.
At least read the paper he wrote.

Thanks for the headsup.
Steve has the tools which Gary mentions in his Rebuild-techinfo.
As it's not the 1st Vette he restored i'm confident he knows what he's doing.

You will see this weekend some more info on the website about building down the trailing arms on my Mako and with which tools.

I'll put a link on the website to Gary'S PDF.
It's really good writen and easy understandable.

Greetings
Robert

 

[Sharkey1807]

Just a sneek preview.
Picked up yesterday the machined dome grills.
They look pretty cool, but do not ask me about the price for machining them. I was stupid not to ask before how much it will cost.
Well, we never stop to learn.

Of course couldn't resist to put up the complet frontend and also stick the emblems.













Next week i will start over with building 1st the front grill.
Haver to do that first to see how much space it needs and only then the grill inlay with headlights can be constructed.

Today 2 orders went out. Mainly suspension and wheel parts.
Wheel Spindle, With Disc Brakes, Rear, $259.98
Front Wheel Bearing & Seal Kit, $59.98
Rear Wheel Bearing & Seal Kit, $85.98
Wheel Stud Set, Front Or Rear, $19.90
Wheel Lug Nut Set, Chrome, $24.99
Wheel Spindle Flange Nut, Front/Rear,$7.98
Rear End Bearing & Seal Rebuild Kit. $141.99
Trailing Arm To Spindle Support Studs. $13.98
Strut Rods. Adjustable W/Polyurethane $109.99
Rear Backing Shield. Silver LH $26.99
Rear Backing Shield. Silver RH $26.99
Trailing Arm Bushing Kit. Polyurethane $99.98
Rear Shock Upper Mount Bolt Kit. $23.98
Front Wheel Bearing Cap $9.98

About the spindles more later. Steve teared them down already, they're not anymore usable. Too much wear from wrong installed bearings and other issues on the rear suspension.
Will put all that up on the website this weekend.

Greetings
Robert

 

[Sharkey1807]

Hi Together,

haven't had the time to update the website lately.
That's why now it's a major update covering the time from 20.otober till today.

In general i have to admit that i didn't like too much what Steve discovered with the rotors, spindles and bearings.
All the bushings and most of the bolts i ordered already new.
But there was a ton of more cost intensiv pieces which needed to be replaced.
Anyway, now almost everything is new.

Luckily Steve had already all the necessary tools to that inhouse, what saved a lot of money.

[/img]

Some pictures of how the rear wheel assembly looked before.
Say idiots worked on this car !?!
[/img]

One more. Could have become easily a disaster on the road !!!


The new and old rear spring.
Went with a 7 leaf Ghymkana.


Good looking strut rods.
Will be replaced by new adjustable ones.


One more great use of a cotter pin !!


Sure this car was very well adjusted, means maybe it steered just a bit over the whole road space ?


Like always, Steve takes atention to detail and marks all the pieces.


Shot trailing arm bushings.


New bolt assembly for the trailing arms.


Decided to throw all the old calipers and ordered new stainless ones with o-rings for front and rear.


Something is missing at the u-joint bolts ?


Well yes, the french locks which should asure the bolts can't come off !


A piece out of the parking brake !
Explains why the parking brake had not a lot of use on the pads. But also why it didn't work at all.


This maybe explains the parking brake problem better.
Makes any adjustment impossible.


Here a overview of the parking brakes. Surface rust overall let's guess it was "out of use" !


Some of the new parking brake stuff.


Bad looking rear spindles.
More in next photos.


Must have made a lot of noise when driving with such wheel bearings !
Grease seal failed.


Nice picture !?! And cost intensiv too.
Damage from bearing failure.


Shot rear spindle from all the bearing damage and no grease anymore.


one more.


This is just to show how the tool gets used.
Not really necessary as the spindles anyway get thrown.


Uff, at least the trailing arm is not looking bad and just has surface rust.


New wheel bearings from Muskegon Brakes.


The new spindles. NIIICCCCEEEEE


New lug nut studs, spindle nuts and chromed lug nuts.


spindle assembly with the new lug nut studs.


Rotors will getting bolted to the spindle instead of rivets.


Rotors bolted on.
Bolt heads still to long, but will be shortened to specific hight.


This is something i say looks hot.


And the whole 4 together. YEEAAAHHHHH


Trailing arm gets rid of the worn bushings.


New trailing arm bolt and bushings.



Now a switch to the front assembly.

Also the front hubs get new rotors. Again screwed instead of riveting.


Screws shorted to size on the rotors.


Lug nut studs pressed in.


Also on the fron wheel new bearings as well.


A good greasing is doing the trick.


Front wheel assembly. Not yet bolted together with the spindle nut.



As all the gas tank was restored to new condition it made sense to buy also a new gas tank sending unit.



Soon the body will go back on the frame.
So i thought it's getting time to have new weather strips and a good adhesiv from 3M.




Finally i made the long desirted progress with the Mako Shark Emblems.
They're out of metal. Yeaaahhhhh
The material is called ZAMAC and is often used for making car emblems.
It consists of Zinc, aluminum, copper and some other materials.

Here a shot from some of the scripts just after sand casting.
Still raw, but ehhh......heavy !




After the first polish they already shine like crazy.
Just let's see when they're plated in nickel over copper !!!



Next step is now to have casted also the special made Mako Shark gaslid-door insert and the special made Mako Shark shifter knob.


Like allways much much more photos (this time 169 new pictures) on our website.
And comments, also critical ones, allways welcome.

Greetings
Robert

 

[Sharkey1807]

Hi Together,

while waiting on a simple seal to install the new sending unit into the tank i got bored and ordered some cosmetic stuff.












The applying of the brushed gold faces on the gauges didn't came out so well. So nothing to show, means we decided not to show it.....
But he, nothing without plan B. The faces got reordered and this time will make sure it comes out as wanted.

Greetings
Robert

 

[Sharkey1807]

Hi Guys,

Maybe some of you seen the Corvette Report from Scott Teeters and realised that in 2 Reports our build up got featured.
I admit, that was a pretty cool moment seeing our build in the Report.
To read the reports:
1st Corvette Report
2nd Corvette Report



The differential received a close inspection, and it's fine to go.
Even when the bearings are still OK they got changed just because we allready had them. The old ones get stored for eventual future use....
Yes, i sayd UFFF....







Finally some parts came in which were essential to go further with the build.
The "main part" which was missing for many weeks was a simple seal which is needed for the new tank sending unit.
Without it, no final assembly of the tank and no startup of the engine.

But now it's here and soon, well i'm extremely spanned on this moment, the engine can breath again since more then 1 year.

The chrome valve covers and some of the chrome pulleys, unfortunatelly not all could be used about measurement issues, got assembled. Together with some minor motor chrome parts.











Also the ordered tires and wheels came in.
As sayd in front 235/60/15 and rear 255/60/15, booth Cooper COBRA Radials.




For the wheels i went with aftermarket Corvette wheels 8x15 which came allready with Trim Rings and Hubcaps.
The Trim Rings and Center caps will go on Steves 70 Vette while my Mako will have to run with the 69 Hubcaps.








The rolling chassis is close......
All the time i still had a open eye for 30 spoke western wheels.
But now as seen how cool the wheels look with the original hubcaps i know my decision will remain by the hubcaps.






As allwayscomments welcome.

Greetings
Robert

 

[Sharkey1807]

Hi Together,

once again a major update.
Was a bit out of order, but now back in the saddle ...

The differential got cleaned agian.
The guy who did the sandblasting didn't cleanded well enough !
Afterwards panted with POR15.


All then torqued together:


Here the installation on the frame:


New 7-leaf Ghymkhana gets under the diff:


Strutrod-bracked with the new strutrods:


New diff shock-mount:


By the trailing arms, old bushings out new polyurethane bushings in:



New Bearings and races installed:


Some issues with the new strutrods.
As they're much stronger/bigger they needed to be cutt down a bit not to collide with the spindle bearing carrier.


Solved:


Parking brakes also get their new stuff:










Front suspension is on it's own wheels.
New 460lb coil springs in:


new caliper assembly:


From inside view with new wheels and tires:


And on its own:




Next will be the rebuild of the power steering.
As a Rack and Pinion wasn't planned it get's rebuilt.



AND FINALLY UP INTO FIBERGLASS.

As the steel frame for the watercooler is rusty it needs somehow a replacement. So we got two options.
Buy a new replacement for a lot of money !
Or fabricate a new one....as anyway in the motor compartment a lot of black glass will take place we decided to go with the 2nd solution.
So Steve began to fabricate a new frame out of fiberglass which then finally will be covered in black glass and look similar to carbon.

First step was to clean the frame:


2nd was to fill the gaps of rusted away material:




A good waxing is the major task for later demolding:


Fiberglass gets layed:




The precutting of the black glass:



This process is getting done for each side of the frame.
Then they new halfs out of fiberglass get inforced with metal parts on the inner side.
And finally booth halfs get bonded together as a new lightweight watercooler frame out of black fiberglass. Carbon-like liek the inner fenders and some other stuff.


As allways much much more explanatory information and in total 165 new photos for just this update on the website.
It's simply too much to put all here.

Any comments are appreciated.


Greetings
Robert

 

[Raybe]

Love to see all the progress you're making on your Vette! I will look great!