My '76 restoration (long post)

[denpo]

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.

.004, that what I got with the right position, two shims a the two lowest bolt, and I was within .002
Yeah, those holes, are they really needed?
I'm not sure I can do it properly with my hobby column drill, and if I ask my mechanist it won't be free. Don't you need some kind of flat top drill bit to make the hole for the countersunk bolt?

 

[saudivette]

Mine didn't look much like that by the time it finally came free :lol:

 

[mrvette]

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.

.004, that what I got with the right position, two shims a the two lowest bolt, and I was within .002
Yeah, those holes, are they really needed?
I'm not sure I can do it properly with my hobby column drill, and if I ask my mechanist it won't be free. Don't you need some kind of flat top drill bit to make the hole for the countersunk bolt?

The only types that bother with replacing those rivets are NCRS types....they were part of some assy process GM used....50's technology....

I always put a thin film of wheel bearing grease on the flange surface to stop rust, and for that matter I grease the wheel studs also...makes the lug nutz easy to get on/off.....some guys cringe at the thought, but I been doing it for decades on all my vehicles...never a issue....

:harhar:

 

[010752]

I'm not sure I can do it properly with my hobby column drill, and if I ask my mechanist it won't be free. Don't you need some kind of flat top drill bit to make the hole for the countersunk bolt?

You can use a 82° countersinking bit with these decent quality cap screws.
A single flute bit at low rpm on a home drill press works well to prevent chattering.
http://www.mjvail.com/holokrome/dd_fhcs.html
A local industrial, not automotive machine shop will tell you where the bits are available locally.
The screws, any decent bolt supply.
I don't know why anyone jacks with the shims, especially on their own cars. Having the rotors turned properly, mounted on the front hubs will give you almost perfect runout without the need for shims.
Back can be done that way too as an assembly before the axle is assembled.

 

[Arthur Brown]

MYBAD79 posted more detailed info on replacing the rivets with bolts, I remember his thread had many photos. Try a search.

 

[denpo]

MYBAD79 posted more detailed info on replacing the rivets with bolts, I remember his thread had many photos. Try a search.

Damn, you're right. The search led me to idea I was missing : reusing my rear rotor as pattern for drilling. I'm gonna bolt them together and drill baby drill.
Thanks Arthur.

 

[MYBAD79]

Yup, here it is:
http://vettemod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3013&highlight=rotors

on page 3 are photos of Mike's (Red) rotors that I drilled.

 

[denpo]

Ok, done refreshing the headlights



Took all the part in a CLR bath, then evaporust, then phosphoric acid.
Painted some, covered the other with WD40.
Lithium white grease in all axes and antiseize wherever steal meets aluminum.
I could not remove the long fine thread ajusting bolt, I had to drill and retap it 3/8-24.

Nobody showed up to pick up the body, so this weekend we gonna cut it in pieces and store whatever can be saved.
Finally I'm gonna reclaim some of my precious space

 

[denpo]

more room.... finally

Yesterday I brought Jeff and Sovan home and we did a body cutting party.
No picture of during the cutting, sorry but we were all way too busy to take pictures. We had to move fast before the night comes down.
We took the new front clip out of the garage, cut the body in three, the rear clip, the windshield/pillar/firewall part and the front clip.
Here's the result :


I was right thinking bad thing happened to the old front clip before because it just felt into part as soon as we start separating it.
Here is one side of the front clip with the center piece :


Then we dismantled the body dolly and reclaimed the frame dolly it was sitting on.
Put the tires back on the new frame, and for the first time take the new version of my vette off the jackstands.


I was worried the frame dolly couldn't support the body of the car, turned out I was wrong, with those you can really move the whole car easily.

We move the front clip back in front of the new car, and I still have plenty of room to walk around.

Well, plenty if you've been like me climbing and crouching for months.

 

[denpo]

I didn't post update for two week. Not meaning I wasn't working in the garage, but what I did was long and not very spectacular.
I could remove the firewall from the new front clip, it came out nicely.



I could even keep the fragile center piece. Sure it helps to have the part out of the car.

Since corvette's windshield frame seems very prone to rust I took special care of it.
It cleaned it to bare metal, hunting down rust in every crack.



Then filled all those gap and seams with welder's caulking.
Then painted and top coated it



I might have to grind some area back to metal to give windshield glue a good grip, I'm prepared, I don't mind

I also cleaned and painted all the small fasteners


The ttop can leak, the windshield frame won't give a damn.

This weekend I brough some help home, and we pushed the car back to the entrance of the garage, for a final separation.
I leveled the frame, with the help of this homemade ghetto tool:

I had four tubes going from the bottle to the #2 and #3 body mount.
A regular level was also used, but this tools was save me a lot time.

Now the frame is leveled.

We drop back it gently with some playdoo wrapped in plastic film at each body mount. We let it sit for a couple of minute then lifted it again.
I'm not sure the operation went right, when reading how playdoo have been pressed, the amount of bushing I would need seemed ridiculously low (a couple at most). I think I gonna try again, with some thicker material, like clay, and will let it sit for a shorter amount of time.

Then, here is a sneak peek of my LED taillight project.

 

[denpo]

I love when things go as planned.
Tonight I finished welding the turn and brake light and juice it up.
The circuit is designed for 14v but only got 12v for test, it should be brighter in real life.
I tried to take picture, but it's almost impossible to get the real picture.





The very good news, it that white led and red led don't look the same through the red bubble lens. The outer ring is white smd led and they look orange through the lens. Orange turn signal with all red lens, I love that.
The high brightness red led look just red. I usually prefer smd led, but I gave those focuses allegedly 40000 mcd led a try.
They are extremely focused, 15° view angle. On the pictures, the red dot are not the led itself, it's the projection of it's beam on the lens.
I'm not sure it's the right choice, I'll have to try with bright ambient light. After that if I'm not convinced I'll get back to smd led for the brake and drive light also.

 

[denpo]

Ok guys, that will be a boring weekly update.
I'm kind of sick, maybe some half-ass flu virus.
No really knocked down, but a lot of energy drained down the fever, so I didn't feel like taking pictures, those would have been boring anyway.

This week I rebuilt my vapor canister, repacked with activated charcoal from the aquarium shop.
I've put the windshield washer and the overflow bottle back in.

I did clean and paint the inside of the front clip, what will soon be my engine bay.

I also dealt with the laborious task of cleaning all my door, hood, TA and body shims. Grind, evaporust, acid then metalized POR15.

One good news, we did test the led taillight in ambient light, and they do shine bright enough, the pattern of the flashers is just beautiful.

I'm hitting a speed bump on the body now, some parts are missing to finish the fuel line. I want the line installed before I drop the body for good. I think I'm gonna focus on the doors restoration in the meanwhile. I hope there's not ugly bad surprise awaiting in them.

All I know it that the passenger side motor was having such a hard time lifting the glass it was constantly blowing the fuse.

 

[mrvette]

P/W assy's require the removal of 50 thousand 7/16 hex bolts, like every one of them in site, remove window glass first....just two bolts gets that for you, make damn sure you don't drop it....

then soak the guide/operating rails in a pan of gasoline over night to degrease them after 40 years they get a tad sticky/dry on the white lube the factory used.....honestly, do NOT replace the lube with anything...I didn't and 16 years later mine still go up/down nicely.....I did loose a counter spring though, looks like a car rod on a electric range...tough little bastard there.....
they tend to snap....I junkyarded mine two for 5 bux, damn I paying new prices for dubious crap....

:shocking::beer:

 

[Arthur Brown]

keep up the good work :thumbs:

I wish I had the skills to do all this.

 

[denpo]

P/W assy's require the removal of 50 thousand 7/16 hex bolts, like every one of them in site, remove window glass first....just two bolts gets that for you, make damn sure you don't drop it....

then soak the guide/operating rails in a pan of gasoline over night to degrease them after 40 years they get a tad sticky/dry on the white lube the factory used.....honestly, do NOT replace the lube with anything...I didn't and 16 years later mine still go up/down nicely.....I did loose a counter spring though, looks like a car rod on a electric range...tough little bastard there.....
they tend to snap....I junkyarded mine two for 5 bux, damn I paying new prices for dubious crap....

:shocking::beer:

Roger comrade Gene :thumbs:

keep up the good work :thumbs:
I wish I had the skills to do all this.

Thank Arthur.
Frankly, no skills required here. Just time time time and time.:smash:
Front clip gluing will be another story :confused2:, and there won't be any Control+Z to the rescue.

 

[denpo]

Spaaaaaaccccceeeee!!!!

Michel came to the the rescue last week, bringing his engine hoist.
So I could put my front clip in the air, and while I was at it, I put it beside the lifted body.
I could for the first time envision what it will be once finished, and most important I'm reclaiming a fistful of square feet, I can know walk freely around my car yeah!!!! :bounce::yahoo:



The front clip being now virtually weightless I could put the radiator back in place, that will be one less thing off my overpopulated shelves.

 

[denpo]

This weekend I've removed my trailing arm to put the final mod.
When installing the tires I noticed how close the parking brake bracket was from the tire. To I decided to move them.
Michel was kind enough to some MIG welding from me.







Then installed and shimmed my new rotors


One final paint job


And back in place, this time for good I hope

 

[MYBAD79]

Looking good, you made progress :thumbs:

I hope you're not planning on using that MrGasket wheel spacer that you show on the last photo :sweat:

 

[denpo]

Looking good, you made progress :thumbs:

I hope you're not planning on using that MrGasket wheel spacer that you show on the last photo :sweat:

huh... I mean... well .... no of course :sweat:
Seriously, if they are that bad what should I put instead?

 

[MYBAD79]

Here's an example of hubcentric adapters, they come as thin as 5/8", I have used 3/4" and 1" on several cars with 300-400 HP and never had a problem.



These bolt on to your axle and they fit tight over the axle's hub. On the outboard side there's another hub that centers the rim. Theoretically you can remove all five lugnuts and the hub ring holds the wheel (no load on the studs) - that's IF the rim is hubcentric as well, most wheels are but there are some that are drilled for different bolt pattens and the center is then machined oversize.