DILYSI Dave
DILYSI Dave MegaDork
8/19/24 2:42 p.m.

Nice.  Thanks.  

maschinenbau
maschinenbau PowerDork
8/19/24 4:17 p.m.

Wow I look away for one week and massive progress is made! Looking great.

a_florida_man
a_florida_man Dork
8/24/24 7:53 p.m.

Hey kids!

Do you have a 55 year old neglected corvette?

Well if you do, have mom and dad check out those seat belt mounts before you hit the road.... they might just need some attention .

Piguin
Piguin Reader
8/24/24 8:05 p.m.

Wow.

 

Are you sure these are the seat belt mounts and not parts off the antikythera mechanism?

DILYSI Dave
DILYSI Dave MegaDork
8/24/24 9:35 p.m.

One of the few updates I've made to ours is modern retractable belts. The rear belts from an early 2000's F body are nearly bolt in and a good length and are oriented correctly for the locking mechanism to work when bolted into the Vette. 
 

Mine did have 3 point, but the lap and shoulder had separate reels and both were worn out. So it was a struggle getting belted. Modern belts made it modern easy. 

a_florida_man
a_florida_man Dork
8/25/24 12:09 p.m.

When you buy a project car "and parts", there is no guarantee that you have all of the parts or that the parts you have are what you need.

For instance this bag was marked bellhousing.

And in it we have a head bolt, the oil filter adapter, the z bar pivot for the block, the clutch fork, 5 unknown, non specific bolts, 5 of 6  bell housing bolts, 2 of the 3 clutch linkage springs and the throw out bearing.

So, yeah, that's close I guess.... lol.

When it comes time to assure that I have all of the parts, that the hardware is correct and that they are assembled properly.... this is what I use. It's the only way to get it right the first time and separate internet  legend and lore from reality.

My 'restoration' is not concerned with asthetics, date codes  and paint daubs, but it will be reassembled correctly!

 

a_florida_man
a_florida_man Dork
8/25/24 12:34 p.m.

In other news...

The distributor build is coming along....

The body side of the defogger blower bracket has been repaired.

The passenger side seatbelt and seat track mounts have been replaced.

Both rear inner and outer body mount brackets are in.

I ordered and contemplated using the factory style rivets to do the repairs, but with access issues, nuts and bolts did the best job of pulling the multiple layers together. The 10-24 hardware is stronger than the rivets and it fits the holes perfectly.

Where I did have access and the hardware would be visible, the rivets worked just fine.

These are the tabs that hold down the jack in the storage bin.

 

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L)
wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) PowerDork
8/25/24 1:02 p.m.

Very nice work, indeed

Recon1342
Recon1342 UltraDork
8/25/24 3:58 p.m.

Looking good so far!

Those seatbelt mounts are a little sketchy...

a_florida_man
a_florida_man Dork
8/26/24 10:33 p.m.

I think I mentioned missing parts?

I was missing almost all of the transmission hardware, most of the shifter linkage, and the transmission mount.

It all starting to arrive.

I mock up stages like this to be sure I have all of the right parts and hardware and that none of the threads have "gone missing".

Still on order is a seal kit, shifter bracket to cross member  hardware, clutch linkage stuff and a fork boot. 
 

When the parts are all in I'll tear down the transmission and the shifter mainly for cleaning as they both feel pretty solid and shouldn't need much if anything in the way of hard parts. 

a_florida_man
a_florida_man Dork
8/26/24 10:39 p.m.

Oh and mufflers. I have 55 year old mufflers.

Im going to use them because I think its cool that only 4355 c3 corvettes ever got factory side pipes. They were all 69's and this was one of them.

Im sure they will be fine. Right?

 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter)
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
8/27/24 10:06 a.m.

I love that GM reverse lockout and need to figure out how to build one for the Boxster shifter in MonZora.

Ian F (Forum Supporter)
Ian F (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
8/27/24 12:21 p.m.

Corvettes at Carlisle was this past weekend and I saw a ton of Vettes of all years as I was driving down to Fredrick MD Sat morning.   I happened to pass a nice early C3 in dark green.  Looked like a 68 or maybe a 69. Chrome bumpers; split rear bumper.  

I hadn't seen one of these on the road in awhile and I was struck by how small it looks.  Especially compared to the other C5-C8 examples I also saw. 

a_florida_man
a_florida_man Dork
8/27/24 1:49 p.m.

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

I had also realized that they had become a bit unusual to see a chrome bumper c3 out and about.

Sorta one of the reasons I chose this car, it will be fun to have one out and about as a daily driver!

a_florida_man
a_florida_man Dork
8/30/24 10:52 p.m.

Three day weekend. 

A list....

and a few things off of it!

Overhauled distributor and tach drive.

Gear lube in.

And a lot of shop cleaning and prep!

Loweguy5
Loweguy5 Dork
8/31/24 7:50 a.m.

Wow the project is really coming along.  I've always thought the earlier C3s were such a pretty car.  

a_florida_man
a_florida_man Dork
8/31/24 2:44 p.m.

The big Corvette 3 day weekend is off to a slow start.

a_florida_man
a_florida_man Dork
9/1/24 1:49 p.m.

When I bought the car, the vacuum reservoir was off and the hardware was bagged. 
since I didn't know if it was good or if it had been pulled because it was bad.... I tested it.

it held vacuum just fine!

Piguin
Piguin Reader
9/1/24 4:16 p.m.

While I do enjoy the resurrection of the C3, I do find it sad watching all the work the previous owner put in weight reduction being undone.

He added so much lightness in the form of rust and thoughtful removal of actually needed parts and now you are putting everything back.

 

Such a shame.

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter)
vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) PowerDork
9/1/24 9:10 p.m.
Piguin said:

While I do enjoy the resurrection of the C3, I do find it sad watching all the work the previous owner put in weight reduction being undone.

He added so much lightness in the form of rust and thoughtful removal of actually needed parts and now you are putting everything back.

 

Such a shame.

Not to worry. I intend to get out to the Challenge C3 tomorrow and start removing anything that will slow me down! Finally.

Piguin
Piguin Reader
9/2/24 2:43 a.m.

In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :

I've been really looking forward to that build since you purchased it. Take lots of piktsurs!

a_florida_man
a_florida_man Dork
9/2/24 10:39 a.m.

So... in short... the Challenge Car Thread is about to enter the chat....

https://grassrootsmotorsports.

com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/building-the-car-i-never-wanted-to-build-just-the-/135217/page14/

I need to fully develop this engine further via lots of driving and o2  / acceleromoter observations before the next challenge. 

That will be for the goal of looking for performance gains in drivability for the autocross.

Doing so in the legally tagged and insured '69 will be easier. lol

In the drags, the slicks smoked the clutch on the first full power drag pass... (and we still held onto 3rd place), so I need to diagnose that failure. Right now it looks like not enough pressure plate force.

 

 

Hot Rod Power tour is then in June, so plenty of time to get it back into the 69 if I haven't built the final engine by then.

Two projects at the same time? This is new territory.

 

 

hobiercr
hobiercr UberDork
9/2/24 11:42 a.m.

"What would I do if I had a million dollars?

Two project cars at the same time"

a_florida_man
a_florida_man Dork
9/2/24 12:03 p.m.
hobiercr said:

"What would I do if I had a million dollars?

Two project cars at the same time"

Absolutely.

Im am lacking the million bucks though...

a_florida_man
a_florida_man Dork
9/3/24 7:40 a.m.

4 years old.

22 hours run time

It will be interesting to take a peek.

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