Hi Y'all,
Hi Y'all,
Extensive Rebuild, many upgrades, black on black. $100,000 obo.
I started on what I thought would be a simple paint job 15 years ago and discovered that the car needed a major overhaul. The body had been hacked through the years and needed to be replaced and there was rust from the mid-range areas of the birdcage to its top.
Had there been no rust, I likely would have changed less of the body.
I am the kind of guy who likes to be thorough with things, and after spending most of my years as an autobody repair man (old school), trained and certified in the frame repairing and welding of unibodies, felt up to the challenge.
Not having done one of these cars in particular to this degree before, I was not aware of the intricacies, or the degree of what needed to be done.
I will provide perhaps too much detail on the journey, but like I said, I am thorough.
At this point I would like to thank the several on this forum, John, Mike and others who have helped me with suggestions, birdcage measurements and etc. as I could not have done this without your great expertise and time. Thank You.
Since I was not starting off with a rare, numbers matching car, I did not want to overdo it, though I guess I ended up doing that anyway. I wanted it to look like a stock model (with the exception of the rear lower door to 1/4 panel factory lines), allowing for the sounds of the modified engine.
I wanted it safer, faster, with improved body lines and designed to last longer than the first 50 years.
I will be adding details and pics and videos as time permits.
1. The rules of engagement were simple, replace damaged or worn parts/assemblies which could be updated or improved upon or could not be repaired.
2. Repair what I could repair and do this with what were the best materials available.
The pics may not be in chronological order, as I have literally thousands of photos on this project.
I have all the receipts and paperwork.
Engine - Rebuilt by professional builder, High performance parts include roller rockers, rods, crank and pistons. All internal parts are high performance, aluminum high rise manifold, Pertronix ignition, includes two carburetors, a Quick fuel drag strip model 750, with complete jet and spring kits, and an Edelbrock AVS2 750 CFM, race cam, double humper heads with modern inserts and intake are ported and polished, and engine is balanced and blue printed to factory specs., and more, to the tune of about $7,000,12 years ago. It has been started and driven regularly, has about 1,500 miles on it, regular synthetic oil changes, and oil still looks like honey. Dyno rated engine at around 385-foot pounds, prior to adding the roller rockers and high-rise. A set of Hooker chrome colored powder coated shorty headers are included, new and never installed.
I rebuilt the Muncy aluminum 4 speed with a kit and replaced the cluster, 1st, 3rd and reverse gears.
Nearly 25 pieces of the bird cage were removed at factory spotwelds, all upper parts including the windshield frames, drip rails, rear cross member, and rear plates on the frame. I had to form the rear lower drip rail structures from stock sheet metal as they were not available, then replaced all thin or missing parts of the birdcage with shaped sheet metal. These parts were sprayed with zinc paint on the insides for rustproofing prior to welding, all exposed metal on birdcage got zinc chromate. The birdcage was then painted with an epoxy paint prior to mounting the new and hand fashioned bonding strips. I chose Lords products for their exceptional bonding and structural adhesive products. The fiberglass's used were commercial grades of cloth, matt, chopped, kitty hair, Cabosil and microspheres as best suited. The majority of the resin used was vinyl ester and epoxy resins. The entire exterior was gel coated, hand blocked and coated with polyester primers, sealants and paints.
Areas of the fiberglass body, the frame, birdcage and vertical panel behind the seats, fan shroud, and the seats frames which are prone to breaking or cracking received extra fiberglass, steel and/or gussets as needed.
Every part that was practical to powder coat was powder coated included the seat frames, steering parts and etc., sixty some parts in all.
High grade lubricants were used as indicated by the manuals used which were the Chilton's as well of course as the bible.
Most seals available were replaced, windshield, door as examples as well as front suspension bushings and such.
I rebuilt the fan shroud, heater assembly with fiberglass, new control cables and vents, and cleaned and lubricated all moving parts. I disassembled the wiper and headlight assembly motors, including the rotors, stators, brushes and repaired broken wires as needed. Headlamp assemblies were rebuilt with new parts, the switches and rotating parts were replaced. They function as they should.
The car received a complete wiring harness including headlamp wiring, interior, exterior, front, back, fuse block assembly, bulbs and fuses. Brakes were upgraded to a dual reservoir master, all new brake lines, and the rotors upgraded to drilled and slotted, with upgraded calipers from a manufacturer in Florida known for high performance products. Front wheel bearings and seals were replaced, as well as main U-joints.
The fiber glass parts replaced were the front clip, rear clip with roof, wheel wells were painted then installed factory stapled seals. The parts were bonded with bonding adhesive, Lord's structural adhesive as well as other recommended agents based on the various manufacturers and manuals recomendations.
Chromed parts were triple plated and polished prior to plating, and include bumpers, front bumper cross bar, door handles, and all outer body script was replaced as well as the 4 taillight and 2 front parking light assemblies and the R license plate aluminum thingamajigger. A clean grille with mounting tabs is in place. New horns, powder coated radiator frame, new baffles to radiator, radiator and heater core pressure checked, new heat system hoses and thermostat as well as its housing.
Spark plugs, 8mm wires, coil, motor and trans mounts as well as most of the nuts and bolts on the entire car have been replaced.
The doors received new felts, most rubbers and a thorough overhaul, then adjusting and lubrication of internal window parts.
The frame was taken to a frame shop after metal repairs were made, for straightening as it was not square. When I brought it back to my shop, I borrowed frame gauges, set up a datum line and saw that they were not properly repaired so I raised the rear rails an inch on each side to bring they to the datum line.
The frame was painted and undercoated where repaired.
The windshield is new as is the rubber. The glass is a tinted and shaded PPG, with new mounting clips and polished trim.
Interior, seats and armrest are new leather, foam, springs and clips with lubricated tracts. Dash pads were repaired to the Madrid pattern and painted with vinyl spray, and new clips. The fiberglass frame was repaired and painted; the steering wheel assembly was rebuilt from steering wheel to gearing box with spring, bushings and bearings. The steering gear box which was not opened. Glove box has new felt liner and the aluminum face plate was replaced without having to touch the original rivets. The glove box door was refinished, and new script installed on the outside and decals on the inside.
Original radio removed and fitted with Alpine sound system with CD deck. Entire interior was fitted with sound deadener, carpet backing and new carpet. Cargo area front plate was straightened and reinforced. Seat belts restored. Center console face plate replaced as well as new ashtray and trim. Rear window glass halo repaired and refinished. Clock repaired and that was short-lived. New headliner, all padding and insulation under dash on firewall installed as well as firewall seals and gaskets. Engine bay completely painted with polyurethane on fiberglass. and detailed.
Dash cluster: the tach and speedo were repaired and calibrated by specialists in Seattle, WA. Two gauges replaced; water temp gauge has an aftermarket calibrator installed. Speed and tach cables replaced, cluster was disassembled and refinished inside and outside as well as replacing all cluster glass. Several other new parts went into the cluster assy.
The car still needs a couple of things installed and the clock replaced. I will have it inspected soon. Tires will be replaced as well.
Thanks for looking!
VIDEOS ARE BELOW
Attached Images
Attached Files
Corvette Video 2nd try.MOV (19.87 MB)
IMG_1252.MOV (8.39 MB)
IMG_1356.MOV (6.62 MB)
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FS (For Sale) 1966 Coupe 327 350 bumped up
Linear Mode
