My '76 restoration (long post)

[denpo]

Good and bad news

Yesterday was a bag of mixed feeling.
The good : my heater core arrived, the tracking still tells it's at the departure post office, I guess you have to take those with a grain of salt.
This is a brand new one, bought from our trusty Willcox but never installed. At 25$ that's a steal.
Now I can reassemble my interior once for good.

The bad : I kept of removing the paint and what's under is worrying.
You see those two area near at the back of the front clip where there's still the top black paint layer:


Well, turned out under that there is a mofo thick layer (around 1/16") of soft yellow repair crap stuff, and under that the fiberglass is bible paper thin.

I'll post picture this evening.

When I talked about the 16 layers of paint to my friend (actually 18, the pink-salmon stuff on the picture turned out to be one of the two last layers before I actually reached the fiberglass) they joked about the fact I'm removing structural strength to be body, looks like it was not such a joke afterall. *sigh*

 

[denpo]

Damn, he got me

Thanks guys, I'm honored to host your post. This is definitely badass industrial process.

In the meanwhile, the newbie I am got caugth on Ebay. You remember my leaky heater core? Well I rushed to buy a replacement on Ebay. It was an allegedly a "1968-1979 Heater core" bought for Willcox.
On the picture it had the bended tubes, not the two 90° tube like the no A/C car. So I thought is was the right one.

Yesterday I brought it to the garage, just to realize the mistake I made blindly trusting a Ebay seller :


On the left the new core, on the right my leaky one.
Hey, Willcox, since I know you're around could you help me identify this piece? My guess is that it is a '90-something corvette heater.

Looks like my interior completion will have to wait for a while. No big deal, this weekend I'm finishing my trailing arm, and I still have enough works in progress to not be completely stuck.
Still this is a tad depressing.
Hopefully LeSkid showed up with a sixpack and we sipped beers while talking about the project. Just what I needed.

Ok, time to put a "WTB heater core" on the forum.

 

[denpo]

#@$*§ !!! (insert favorite swear here)

Man, not a good week.
We finally, Sovan and I, removed all the gooey crap on the side of the front clip, near the windshield.
Thick layer, average 1/16" with peak at 1/8".
Not done yet.
Under that, some sort of dark resin that get shiny and oily once you heat it, I bet some that never entirely cured.
Once done removing, the grim reality showed up it ugly face:

t's been fractured and put back together in authentic Bubba style.
I'm still wondering how such damage could happen, and really don't know if and how it's fixable.

 

[denpo]

JJ day !

Resto makes sad those day, let's do some mod instead.
A while ago, I bought those Johnny Joint.



Today I went to Michel garage, Michel is restoring a '72 BBC near Montreal, he proposed his son who is professional welder to help me put them on the trailing arms.

I used his sandblasting booth to clean the tip of the arm.


Steven, Michel's son, welded close them


I Cut a 2" hole in place of the former axis.





Place the JJ



Weld it


Cleaning


Result

 

[denpo]

Seat belts

In the meanwhile, here's my seat belt setup, in my usual style : cheaper, newer and safer.





This is the classic mod, using a pair of Camaro '94 (maybe '93) rear seat belt, bought a the scrapyard for 50$.
Basically all F-body of that era make good donors.

As advised by a Vettemod forum member, I searched for 90's GM male buckle, they are compatible with the stock female buckle, so you can still use the seat belt sensor.



This is not the best buckle, but it does the job, I'll search for a better one when I have time to roam the scrapyard.

Here are my reinforcement installed, epoxy glue and rivets, and a grade 8 bolt , maybe overkill, but better stay on the safe side.



It's a one tensioner setup, less fancy, but that make one less device to fail.
My stock system might still work, but it looked so aged I didn't want to take any chance, and given the price of restored one, this was my only option.

 

[MYBAD79]

Awesome job !!!! Keep the updates coming :thumbs:

I noticed on the first photo of your headers that they're discolored brown(ish) ... this color is normal for 400 series stainless after a few heat cycles. 304 stainless is not magnetic, 409 is magnetic but you feel a difference between that and carbon steel... take a magnet and check...

On your brakes: did you verify good contact of the mating surfaces between the two caliper halves? I've had a pair that I rebuilt leak and since then I use ink on the surface to check for good contact.

 

[denpo]

Awesome job !!!! Keep the updates coming :thumbs:

I noticed on the first photo of your headers that they're discolored brown(ish) ... this color is normal for 400 series stainless after a few heat cycles. 304 stainless is not magnetic, 409 is magnetic but you feel a difference between that and carbon steel... take a magnet and check...

On your brakes: did you verify good contact of the mating surfaces between the two caliper halves? I've had a pair that I rebuilt leak and since then I use ink on the surface to check for good contact.

Not sure the headers are stainless, I had to remove a good deal of surface rust, I know even stainles can rust, but that much? Still I'll try your tip.

No I haven't checked the calipers surface.
Basically you spray ink on one side and see if all is transferred to the other, right?
But isn't the small o-ring supposed to do the sealing?
I'm still got to get the 7/16 fine thread grade 8 bolt for installing them, so I'd definitively check this out too.

Thanks, you was right, that not on CF I could get advises that good.

 

[denpo]

Pressed in!

Ok, it's done. My rear spindle assembly is done. phew. That was not a walk in the park, because I made the mistake to install the seal backward. I initialy thought the right way, but a the last minute, just to be sure I check the haynes manual, and what I saw indicated otherwise. I realized that when sending the picture to Gary.
So I had to disassemble everything, extract the outer bearing (thus ruining it), and get a new set of outer bearing.
Hopefully I had a spare pair. Not the original USA made timken bearing, but I'll change them next winter.

I did the jog a Guy's mechanic shop. He's my dedicated mechanist, he's a old wise guy, sorry to see nobody will pick up his business we soon retire. He's using WWII era machines no young mechanic can operate. He gave me tons of advises all along the process, on how to hold tool and to thing the proper way.
So it was a great teaching at the same time.

So, here's the proper procedure when you get the economical way with Gary (sending him only the spindle house and the flange).

Pack your bearings, this is a neat tool Gary talked about in on of his paper




Grease is synthetic Timken, bought from Gary too.

Install the outer bearing


The spindle housing received a generous amount of grease, not filled up to allow expansion.

Install the outer seal (the right way!)



Insert gently the spindle, at put the assembly under the press. I used the tool I talked about a couple of post earlier.


Obviously, don't press onto the studs, there a huge nut found in my mechanic shop.



Back from the press, slide in the spacer


And the shim


And the bearing


Your bearing might need some pressing, not really mine, I just had to press by hand with a metal tube. Never hammer!

Instal the seal


The spindle shield


changed all the little pieces like the flange Shield


Put the flange


Then torque the nut at 100lbs. The nut didn't lined up with the cotter pin hole, to I remove the nut and grind it a little with some sanding paper on a flat surface. In two attempts I was good.

Put the cotter pin, et voila


The spindle can be turned with a finger, I feel no play at all, well done M. Ramadei.

 

[denpo]

the Johnny Joint installed:


drilled and NPT-tapped the JJ shell, and made a slightly bigger hole for the zerk.
With the greasing zerk here, no need to use a drilled ta bolt. I didn't feel good about having hollow bolts on trailing arms.

I shimmed the rotor down to 0.003" which is more than enough with o-ring calipers, and while at it checked the rotor play : 0.002", good job Gary.

Once done, the way for putting back the TA was clear.

The TA bolt received a generous dab of antiseize in order to exorcise my TA removal nightmares

I'm adding to my buy list a pair of rubber ebrake protection and a pair of rear rotor.
I don't even try to clean then, they're done, good enough for now but will be changed soon. As soon as payroll permits.
Disclaimer, I'm really not sure the calipers purge valves are at the right place, I haven't check that yet.

I can now see the time the car is going to seat on its tires, when the suspension will feel the car weight for the first time.
Can't wait.

 

[MYBAD79]

Not sure the headers are stainless, I had to remove a good deal of surface rust, I know even stainles can rust, but that much? Still I'll try your tip.

No I haven't checked the calipers surface.
Basically you spray ink on one side and see if all is transferred to the other, right?
But isn't the small o-ring supposed to do the sealing?
I'm still got to get the 7/16 fine thread grade 8 bolt for installing them, so I'd definitively check this out too.

Thanks, you was right, that not on CF I could get advises that good.

400 series (409) stainless is the "cheap" exhaust stainless.... stainless usually means 12% chrome or higher, 409 is as low as 10.5%. 304SS has 18% chrome for example.

primary reason for using 409 stainless is cost, I just bought a 4 foot section 304SS and that's $60 at jegs.... a 409ss U-bend is only $25 (mandrell bent)...

Info on 409 stainless:
http://www.suppliersonline.com/propertypages/409.asp


On the brakes: yes the O-ring is supposed to seal but if it is not clamped properly due to unparallel surfaces then it will leak. I now use a sharpie on one half and then put that half in a vice, then rub the other clean half firmly against it ... you'll see if it takes the sharpie ink off evenly or only on one corner.... I use a small file to knock down high spots.

 

[denpo]

Must do shopping... ouch

Not much accomplished on the car itself this week, it was time for finding a bunch of missing/broken parts.
Hoppefully I found someone who go to Summit Racing quiet often. Those guys have choice and decent price, but each time the shipping (to Canada) cost was killing the deal.
Not anymore!
So I spent quiet a lot of time making my shopping list.
Heater core, rear rotors, a steering U-joint to replace the archaic ragjoint, and all it take to redo my fuel and steering lines.
All teflon stainless braided and -6AN fitting.
All fuel lines were rotten, the pump to carb line was rubber

, the fuel return line was not even connected, nor the vapor line *facepalm*
Turned out that for the price of regular stainless fuel line set, you can have something that will last forever and get rid of ALL rubbers.
For the steering the question was to connect the hydroboost to the existing setup, this week's thread contains a good summary of the needed plumbing:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...ro-brakes.html

Some my have noticed in my previous post than the nut on the rear shock mount was not there. I installed it soon afterward, and torque a 70ft/lbs as says the AIM. The threads died at maybe 50. Damn.
Hopefully a forum member was selling a pair at good price... never say is done for good....

Still I could spend few hour in the garage, preparing the hydroboost.

Cut the existing connection to install the new clevis. Made sure it has the same overall lenght than the vacuum booster.





This one won't break for sure

Made an adapter plate, put a small bead of weld



Grinded it....


Painted the hydroboost after sandblast (at michel's), gutted it (so simple inside), the rebuilt kit is on its way.

 

[denpo]

Hydrodone

I received my hydroboost rebuild kit.

Here's what went in:


And that's what went out:


I would have love to make picture of the rebuilt, but I just don't have the time. One word of caution: the yellow reservoir (a pressure backup) can potentially be under pressure, make sure to clamp it with a wise before you attempt to remove the retaining clip. Mine was not, didn't prevent me for stressing.

Here the hydrobeast rebuilt, matted to the replacement mc I found at the scrapyard. It fit well, but the reservoir is designed with and angle. As advised on this forum I'll got look for a replacement reservoir.

 

[denpo]

Ok, now I'm downright insane

Allrigth, I think I'm all set.
Today Sovan and I went to a truck company terminal pick my new front clip.
I bought the part from Ken's Corvette Part, front the Toronto area.
He made me a really cool price, and took great care to make sure the part arrive in good shape.

Only one problem..... I'm reaaalllly running out of space :


I went one step further into space compression insanity. The former body have to go, really quick.

It's in really good shape, and it's already stripped, so no hidden surprise.


I only asked for only the front clip and the rad support, and Ken priced it accordingly, still, since he wanted to piece to stay in good shape, he left the front bumper


AND the firewall, with the pedals!!

So big

to Ken.
Here's his website: http://www.corvetteparts.ca/

I also received the lastest body part I need for my resto.


The '80 fiberglass rear bumper, that cause a fair amount of trouble, we already talked about this.
I'm not fan of the '76 bumper, like lot of people actually.

Ok, I hope I found someone to take the body quick, I priced it "just above free". It's because I've been given a pristine body I'm "dumping" it, because it's still a good piece.

 

[denpo]

Achievement unlocked!

Yeah, after all the horror stories I heard, I though I won't not make it.
Wrong! Tonight I'm been able to remove my windshield without damaging it.

Well, thing is the windshield was actually already cracked, but the crack starts at the top and make half a circle back to the edge so it couldn't grow any anymore.
Sovan suggested we could fix it with resine injection, we gonna give it a shoot, I have nothing to loose anyway.



So let's say I didn't aggravate the situation

After cutting the rubber spacer away from the pillars I could just pull it almost entirely, then with a thin steel wire I cut the lower part, where the spacer is much wider.
All along the operation I make sure I never ever touch the edges of the windshield.

It's my first windshield, but I found suspicious that the bonding was still all sticky and gooy. Is that normal?


I expected something more solid, like a glue that would have cured.

I wonder if it's not another "Bubba was here" moment when I see so little surface contact





You tell me.

 

[mrvette]

On that HB setup, one thing that really struck me over the pix was you having the studs in the plate, when if you can see your way, you should put the studs to the body, reverse them, maybe tak weld in place, this makes future removal a snap instead of a royal PIA......I can see the GM way because of the vac boosters, but that's another advantage to HB, that I think you should do....

:trumpet::bounce:

 

[clutchdust]

Holy crap, D! That is one serious project you have going on in that little garage. I had no idea you were that deep into your car. It is all looking good from what I can see. As for the windshield though, I think that glue does stay soft. The windshield needs to have a little "float" in the frame so it doesn't crack (easily). Keep posting as you go. I haven't figured out if it's inspiring me to tear mine apart, or a warning against it.

 

[denpo]

On that HB setup, one thing that really struck me over the pix was you having the studs in the plate, when if you can see your way, you should put the studs to the body, reverse them, maybe tak weld in place, this makes future removal a snap instead of a royal PIA......I can see the GM way because of the vac boosters, but that's another advantage to HB, that I think you should do....

:trumpet::bounce:

Yeah Gene, we talked about that with Michel last weekend. I'll have a look at that. On the other inside, there is the brake petal setup, woudn't welding the stud make the pedal ass'y impossible to remove? I'm considering putting a sitck in my Vette is a medium term goal, so I don't want to get into unreversible mod.

Holy crap, D! That is one serious project you have going on in that little garage. I had no idea you were that deep into your car. It is all looking good from what I can see. As for the windshield though, I think that glue does stay soft. The windshield needs to have a little "float" in the frame so it doesn't crack (easily). Keep posting as you go. I haven't figured out if it's inspiring me to tear mine apart, or a warning against it.

Thanks CD, I recently realized not much people on Vettemod was aware of my bold endeavour.
You are surprised, then imagine the face of my work collegue, mostly game programming geeks, kind of guys afraid by the mere shadow of a wrench
:huh::huh::huh:

My goal is to transform my overpriced downright scary rust bucket into a sound and safe budget restomod under a 12 month time frame. All really started with the purchase of my replacement frame from Tom, end of August last year, so I'm still on track.

 

[mrvette]

Not that big a deal, when you got the car apart, I just took some Grade 8 3/8-16 bolts from the steering mount inside, faced the ends forward.....and stuck nutz on the outside through the HB plate...no biggie....in fact, because I have NO welding capability I decided to just use some home construction type paneling adhesive to hold the bolt heads in place....some time later I put the HB on, and the lazy trick worked.....

obviously needed to see the threads clean so to not break that cheep convenient 'solution'......


:harhar:

 

[denpo]

Tonight I could finish the front wheels.

Cleaned the rotors and put some hi temp paint.
Shimmed the rotors down to .002 runout with calibrated .001 bronze foil.
That's overkill with the o-ring piston but won't hurt.
I just need to tight the bleeder and I can put the wheel back on.

By the way, does someone knows about bleeders/plug position for each caliper? Could find it in the AIM nor Haynes'.

 

[MYBAD79]

I was lucky and got my rotors under .004" runout by simply cleaning the mating surfaces and trying different clock positions. Moving the rotor one hole over will change the runout, try it... maybe you can do it without shims.
Your rotors don't have the holes for the rivets ? I drilled mine and cut 3/8" threads into the spindle flange - I use countersunk bolts instead of the rivets.