SBG's C3

So more refinement
I have a couple friends who work with Corvettes daily and neither noticed this until I asked about it
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See the nice bow? That allows air to go over the radiator - so today was fix it day
with some heat, paint and foam strip, now the air goes under the arch, not over
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and yes, I'll be making a metal piece to fill that - but I'm out of sheet aluminum so that will have to wait to another day

Then installed a MSD ignition
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and it even started the first time :)
 
I love Google. I thought my tach was reading too high, so to google I went; and voila, tach filter. Until 5 minutes ago, I never realized they existed - now I can't live without one. If anyone is curious why getting old sucks, not only do you have to remember more stuff that you can't live without; but your memory can't store it :bomb:
 
replaced the poly bushings with heim joints on the rear

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still need to figure out how I'm going to do the front

that poly joint has maybe 60 miles on it
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SuperBuickGuy said:
I love Google. I thought my tach was reading too high, so to google I went; and voila, tach filter. Until 5 minutes ago, I never realized they existed - now I can't live without one. If anyone is curious why getting old sucks, not only do you have to remember more stuff that you can't live without; but your memory can't store it :bomb:
Click to expand...

I have a T shirt that says......'I do know it all, I just can't remember it all at once'.........:beer::gurney:
 
more work with the rear suspension

rear sway bar... what a PITA
the problem(s) the bar was bound up, and actually jacking the right side.... not good. Add to that problem there was little if any rear suspension because the bar couldn't go up. I took the bar off, and it drove - kind of - better, but I kept feeling like I was going to lift a front tire on hard corners.... so tonight I worked on it. As you read, keep this in mind - I'm completely changing the rear suspension to a guldstrand suspension; so this is temporary.

round 1
it's hitting the support that holds the rear differential up (maybe a half inch above at ride height)
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round 2
move the heims to the other side
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round 3 and 4
flip the sway bar over and notch the offending member
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rounds 5-7
move the sway bar back, put a spacer between the sway bar, and heat the new contact point
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round 8
cut more
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now I have 2" of vertical compliance, and 4" of drop. the tab now hits the frame - but I can't shorten the heim because it would reduce the amount of travel. Anyway, I'll drive it tomorrow and see how it's doing - if it doesn't hit much, I'll probably leave it until I do the new suspension.

also, there might be fuel injection in its near future... to be continued
 
SBG, I tried a thick bar like that in the rear, and found it way overkill, make the '72 vert very skittish in the ass....went back to a thin stock bar.....which when I got it, had no end links....so being cheep I just heated and twisted the ends till they were flat to the ground and bought a set of sway bar links, and bolted it all up, works like a charm.....:surrender:
 
mrvette said:
SBG, I tried a thick bar like that in the rear, and found it way overkill, make the '72 vert very skittish in the ass....went back to a thin stock bar.....which when I got it, had no end links....so being cheep I just heated and twisted the ends till they were flat to the ground and bought a set of sway bar links, and bolted it all up, works like a charm.....:surrender:
Click to expand...

That could be next - I have a good friend that autocrossed a C3 20 years ago; so I'm starting with where he suggested (soft springs, large bar, etc).... so if it doesn't make sense today, that's why :)

I guess I'm going to have to put my Perry Mason hat on and cross-examine him a bit - because of the interference - and find out what he did....

and if all else fails - I saved my front bar from a recent trip to the scrap yard for that very reason :)
 
I cut the tabs off, welded pins to the bar, and drove it today. Wow, what a difference. I still may put in a stiffer rear spring; but for now, I'm going to drive the tires off it - man is this thing fun to drive.
 
SuperBuickGuy said:
I cut the tabs off, welded pins to the bar, and drove it today. Wow, what a difference. I still may put in a stiffer rear spring; but for now, I'm going to drive the tires off it - man is this thing fun to drive.
Click to expand...

Watch that ass end man, they get vicious with thick bars in the rear, I gave up on my VBP bar for that reason....:devil::devil::friends:
 
mrvette said:
SuperBuickGuy said:
I cut the tabs off, welded pins to the bar, and drove it today. Wow, what a difference. I still may put in a stiffer rear spring; but for now, I'm going to drive the tires off it - man is this thing fun to drive.
Click to expand...

Watch that ass end man, they get vicious with thick bars in the rear, I gave up on my VBP bar for that reason....:devil::devil::friends:
Click to expand...

weeeeeee :D
 
so this last weekend I made the pilgrimage to Portland to go to a past favorite swap meet.... and picked up this thing for 12 pack of coca cola money
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and while I was down there.... I formed up this for the Corvette
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good information - thanks

I was waffling between the 360 and the 420.... I asked Vansteel to change what they're sending me.... even though my car is going to be lighter, it's low enough that I need the increased weight to keep it off the bumpstops... and even so, I may put progressive bumpstops on the car (it's a 4x4 item that works well for people who want a soft spring rate when driving and increased rate when racing because the resistance to bottoming out increases when the spring moves faster
 
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All I can say is that back in '95 when I got this '72 vert, I put on a VBP 360 rear plastic spring, with KYB shocks....

and with the grossly undulating bridges here in Florida, I finally took some advice, and put Bilstein shocks on all 4 corners, that was a HUGE improvement......wish I knew of them back earlier.... but instead of bouncing like a basketball for 3.5 miles, it feels like a normal road now....

something about the way they build bridges here, the cross supports and sagging beams, they even grind out the peaks and redo concrete, it's so bad....but I don't give much intelligence to road folks anyway.....:tomato:
 
So, I got the board to fix the tachometer - so here's a step by step installation instructions
1) Remove center console
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2) Remove transmission
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3) say "ah ha" as to why the starter was having trouble engaging
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(note how there's paint on the tops of the teeth on one side, and there's no paint on the other side? stupid thing was out of round

4) adjust linkage for transmission
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that's it for tonight

Tomorrow I'll put the transmission in, then pull the dash apart.

stupid willcox never put these steps in his video to replace the board... dunno what he was thinking!!!:search:
 
I like the way you work!! Go right at the problem! ;)

I really like the way the auto tranny turned into a 4 speed - MAGIC!!!!

Good luck with getting the tach repaired.:thumbs:
 
It gets worse

The tach board

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and here is the nice blank space where a transmission will be
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I'm also changing the entire fuel system and gas tank to a FAST efi setup.
I took my car to a private autocross (parking lot with friends at 2am, private) and I kept having trouble with the carb spilling fuel out of the vent tubes on hard corners.... so I'll fix it with a planned upgrade.
so yes, my Corvette will be a knuckle dragging, side pipe wearing, power steering avoiding (pun intended), a/c losing, efi car.
 
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