72 Corvette - Restoration Updates

[TimP]

Good luck with the knee

Many Thanks! All seems to have gone well - have relegated the crutches to a cupboard and am now reasonably mobile again. Not quite yet ready to return to the workshop but hope to get a thumbs up from the physio's soon when I will re-start some light duties (QuadraJet rebuild seems like a good place to start...). Having said that I have reviewed the parts I will need to keep things going for the next couple of months and have a delivery of goodies set to arrive in the next few days so I haven't been completely idle.......

Probably ought to get my budget/accounts up to date but sometimes it's best not to know

 

[Chuffer]

Many Thanks! All seems to have gone well - have relegated the crutches to a cupboard and am now reasonably mobile again. Not quite yet ready to return to the workshop but hope to get a thumbs up from the physio's soon when I will re-start some light duties (QuadraJet rebuild seems like a good place to start...). Having said that I have reviewed the parts I will need to keep things going for the next couple of months and have a delivery of goodies set to arrive in the next few days so I haven't been completely idle.......

Probably ought to get my budget/accounts up to date but sometimes it's best not to know

Good to hear you are off the crutches and getting about a bit . Forget the budget tally , it might set your recovery back with the shock of it all .
Just concentrate on getting back in action . I had both knees refurbed with artificial half knee joins back in 2009 and my idea of light duties was a full days shift driving this monster after just 6 weeks !! Neither the Doc or the physio new about that part of my rehab but the misses was not impressed . I have just had an X Ray of the left one this morning as it`s been `clicking` when I walk these last few weeks so I have probably worn it out already .

 

[TimP]

Good to hear you are off the crutches and getting about a bit . Forget the budget tally , it might set your recovery back with the shock of it all .
Just concentrate on getting back in action . I had both knees refurbed with artificial half knee joins back in 2009 and my idea of light duties was a full days shift driving this monster after just 6 weeks !! Neither the Doc or the physio new about that part of my rehab but the misses was not impressed . I have jView attachment 21857View attachment 21858ust had an X Ray of the left one this morning as it`s been `clicking` when I walk these last few weeks so I have probably worn it out already .

Good to hear that your knee operations went so well. I think steam trains are terrific and the Tornado shown here is a fantastic example of the type. Driving this must have been a great incentive to get back to normal life after the ops. I spent an afternoon on the footplate of a steam engine at the Bluebell Railway a couple of years back and it was a brilliant experience - would recommend to anyone.

Your knees have lasted 14 years - which is pretty good - hope the X-Ray didn't show anything worrying. Pre op my knees are clicking like castanets when walking downhill so I know that sound. If I remember correctly I was told to expect a 12-15 year lifetime with mine. Might fit some grease nipples as some point to see if that extends them at all.

 

[Mr. Cricket]

There should of course be two budget sheets. One available for all to see and one that is the true spend with all the cash purchases and for your eyes only..

 

[Chuffer]

Good to hear that your knee operations went so well. I think steam trains are terrific and the Tornado shown here is a fantastic example of the type. Driving this must have been a great incentive to get back to normal life after the ops. I spent an afternoon on the footplate of a steam engine at the Bluebell Railway a couple of years back and it was a brilliant experience - would recommend to anyone.

Your knees have lasted 14 years - which is pretty good - hope the X-Ray didn't show anything worrying. Pre op my knees are clicking like castanets when walking downhill so I know that sound. If I remember correctly I was told to expect a 12-15 year lifetime with mine. Might fit some grease nipples as some point to see if that extends them at all.

I am waiting on x ray results and told it might take a couple of weeks before results get to my GP . I think you might be right about being worn out after 14 years . I did think about filling a srynge with WD40 and injecting the joints !!
Great to hear that you got to experience the amazing atmpsphere of the footplate on the Bluebell Railway . I would have got off my death bed to do that driving turn on Tornado !! I did a lot of instructing as both a Fireman and then as Driver on Footplate Experience courses and I always told the attendees that it would feel like the fastest 25mph of their lives , such is the noise , heat , vibration and the scenery flashing by the cab . All heritage Railways are limited to 25mph maximum except for rare special dispensation on some lines . I did many main line running steam hauled specials too on the footplate and barrelling along at 80mph is something else entirely !! Border line scary , especially when trying to stay on your feet and shovel coal into the firebox for mile after mile .

 

[CaptainK]

I'm on the waiting list of the "Stage 1" training /course / steam experience on the West Somerset Railway. I'm told they are delayed due to trying to find some new people to manage the courses. Fingers crossed it happens this year.

 

[Chuffer]

I'm on the waiting list of the "Stage 1" training /course / steam experience on the West Somerset Railway. I'm told they are delayed due to trying to find some new people to manage the courses. Fingers crossed it happens this year.

Hope you get on the course , you will love every second of it . Just remember not to chuck the shovel into the firebox along with coal . You will have your work cut out charging up Crowcombe bank on the way to Minehead , it`s about a 1 in 50 or 1 in 70 gradient from memory .

 

[TimP]

Haven't seemed to have posted anything for a while so here goes....

With a somewhat delicate knee in mind I started simply with a bit of bodywork... namely the aluminium embellishers that sit at the rear/top of the front wings. The previous owner had painted them for some reason and weren't looking at all good having been badly damaged by strong sunlight.

A day with some sandpaper and metal polish gave quite a nice finish - certainly a lot better than before...



Quite therapeutic but not going to get the car on the road any sooner, so refocusing on priorities... fitted a new (I think TCS) temperature sensor which even if no longer needed will stop coolant coming out of the block...



Also fitted a new set of studs for the pulley/thermo clutch connection as the olds ones were in really poor state...

Also restored the knob for wiper override switch that goes under the steering column. I had cut the old one off as the switch was seriously corroded - nothing new there then.


The above tasks were all quite quick, but the real activity has been centred around getting the doors back on, in the right place of course. Something that takes a long time to do but not much to show really as it boils down to dozens of iterations of shim settings and height and width adjustments. However, one thing became clear that I couldn't make sure the doors were correctly positioned without having the lock post covers in position.... So... (to be continued)...

 

[TimP]

.... I started replacing the covers using a glass fibre to effect a repair. I had taken (actually cut) them off to allow repairs to the birdcage sills and had chosen the cut locations to a) allow the repair and b) to be reasonably easy to repair afterwards. So starting with...


Then preparing the cover panel by grinding down the bonding edges and doing the same on the car...

Fitting and rust proofing the door switch brace...


Inserting the insulator (presumably to stop the panel vibrating)


Final check for alignment..


Glued the cover in position on the lower edge..


Glass'd it in place...

A bit of sanding, filler and glazing putty later...




It looks finished at this point but I always add a bit of paint to highlight surface roughness as it normally ends up in reality looking like a lunar landscape. It's not bad but you can see a few craters here and there...

The door can now be checked...

Close enough for now from a fitting point of view so I can now concentrate on the front edge by the front wing. It does also highlight how much bodywork will be required on the doors - looking a bit rough. The blue line is the 'swage' line used to help align the height of the door.

 

[johng]

Good to see you are back on the case, I've been missing your updates.

 

[Chuffer]

.... I started replacing the covers using a glass fibre to effect a repair. I had taken (actually cut) them off to allow repairs to the birdcage sills and had chosen the cut locations to a) allow the repair and b) to be reasonably easy to repair afterwards. So starting with...
View attachment 22254

Then preparing the cover panel by grinding down the bonding edges and doing the same on the car...View attachment 22255

Fitting and rust proofing the door switch brace...
View attachment 22256

Inserting the insulator (presumably to stop the panel vibrating)
View attachment 22258

Final check for alignment..

View attachment 22257
Glued the cover in position on the lower edge..
View attachment 22259

Glass'd it in place...
View attachment 22260
A bit of sanding, filler and glazing putty later...


View attachment 22261

It looks finished at this point but I always add a bit of paint to highlight surface roughness as it normally ends up in reality looking like a lunar landscape. It's not bad but you can see a few craters here and there...
View attachment 22262
The door can now be checked...
View attachment 22263
Close enough for now from a fitting point of view so I can now concentrate on the front edge by the front wing. It does also highlight how much bodywork will be required on the doors - looking a bit rough. The blue line is the 'swage' line used to help align the height of the door.

Fabulous work , keep on keeping on .

 

[L303]

Really interesting thread Tim. What a mammoth task that birdcage was! Brave

 

[TimP]

Really interesting thread Tim. What a mammoth task that birdcage was! Brave

Many thanks! Some people might say really stupid. It has been fun.

 

[TimP]

Good to see you are back on the case, I've been missing your updates.

Thanks! Much more to do and many more posts to come.

 

[TimP]

Following on from my efforts on the drivers side lock post panel I moved to the other side and repeated the process...


However, it was fairly obvious when I stripped the passenger door of its window and motor etc. that it had a certain lack of structural rigidity... who would have thought it...

Trying to align the door and the front clip whilst in this state was going to be like chasing my tail so a little surgery was required. The metal here is relatively thin gauge and requires a bit more thought/skill/ planning as it is much less forgiving than the thicker steel that I had been used to. A little practice seemed like a good idea....

Starting with the power window motor cover ...

After some while ( ok a long while) ended up a little better with one or two irregularities that I can live with. Most of the shiny bits at the lower end have been replaced.

Moving on to the big cahuna.. ... I started with a bit of bracing to get it into the right shape and repaired the corner of the cutout.


And then cut out and shaped a patch to bridge the gap using an RSJ that I bought for the birdcage repair....



.... to give the correct section.

It's not quite right actually (the section should change dimensions as it goes along the door) and it looks a little rough but it will do for now. The goal was really to get some rigidity into the door as I really want to get the front clip bonded on in the next 2-3 weeks. Thus some of the finishing and corrections will wait until the doors are required for final fitting.


Putting the doors on adds a little motivation ... It will also stop people asking how my Lotus is coming on. Possibly.


Now for some alignment...

 

[TimP]

.... Alignment completed and the front moulding is bonded back on to the firewall...


There are a couple of reinforcement brackets, one on each side... These bond the front of the birdcage sill to the outer lower rear side of the moulding. Couldn't work out how to hold it in place whist the sealant went off but ultimately decided to drill a hole in the middle and pull some strimmer cord through with a knot at one end and then put some tension into it by fixing the cord to a dashboard bracket. This pulls the bracket out and back into place nicely and I hopefully should be able thread the cord back through again when the time comes.



There is also a metal bracket/clamp on the driver side near the forward body mount that needs to be installed...

Whilst the seat/adhesive was going off I decided to do some work on the exhaust panel which had been badly damaged (it was almost broken into three pieces) at some time in the past. Although I had done a repair before it clearly wasn't fitting right - there were some quite large gaps and when bolted in place there was quite a lot of force required to make the bolts fit.



By carefully adding a strip of glass fibre (the grey section along the top of the exhaust panel) to extend the height of the panel the fit is now much better.


However there was still some distortion in the panel and a bit of drastic surgery was required...a slit was cut with a grinder and a rocker cover washer was used to open up the gap whilst some glass fibre was added in the middle. The fixing holes for the right hand side of the panel were also repositioned. On the rear body, that the exhaust panel aligns with, there was also some damage and although not shown this was also repaired.



Finally, after a reasonable fit was obtained and with a lot of time spent with various fillers and
sandpaper, here it is on the bench in epoxy primer...


It's now time for another knee replacement op so there will be a break for a few weeks.....

 

[TimP]

So where were we .....

Still on light duties following the knee replacement so decided to spend some time on the bodywork at the front. Starting with the ridge on the inside of the hood aperture up by the wiper bay which, for some reason, had been completely destroyed. A few other cracks had to be dealt with as well. The thin strip of glass fibre at the windscreen end of the front moulding was completely cleaned up and made ready for paint.

The air dam at the front of the car had also been severely damaged in the past and needed to be repaired with glass fibre/filler/glazing putty in the usual sequence. I have only shown two of the more damaged areas but it was pretty ropey in detail all the way along.
Before...


After...


Plenty more to do in this area - I would like to get the front clip ready for paint (which in my case means removing all the old paint, repairing any damage and 'sharpening' any creases that have got warn) by the end of the month.

Also got distracted (it is my way unfortunately) on to colour choices and tried this very nice shade of green (I think quite similar to Elkhart green but slightly darker and more metallic) on the fuel cap. It really looks good in the sunlight - the photo doesn't do it justice. There are one or two bubbles on the edge because (I think) I put it out in the hot sun before it was ready. The carrier for the fuel cap was badly pitted and a lot of the chrome had pealed off - well beyond the point of being scrapped but.... I sanded down all the rough parts, filled the pits and missing areas with glass fibre filler and painted it with Rallye wheel silver. It looks ok for now (nowhere near perfect) but will be replaced with a chrome one when the time comes. The shaft for the fuel cap bracket broke off during disassembly because it was so corroded and a new one was made from a piece of aluminium rod carefully sanded down in a drill to the right diameter. Will use a couple of capped spring washers to keep it place. Not original but they will be effective and look as if they might be stock (stock has an exposed spring washer on one end only) even if they aren't.


I have some more colours to play with but I think this (the green) will be on the shortlist.

There are 4 more areas of glass fibre damage on the body to deal with and if I can stop getting distracted I should have those done for the next update.

 

[antijam]

The effort that has gone into this resto is astounding - fainter hearts would have thrown in the towel long ago! Can't wait to see pictures of the final fruit of your labours Tim.
An early C3 in metallic green is the perfect combination.......



....(and it's the fastest too! )

 

[TimP]

Thanks! I agree that green looks terrific.

 

[TimP]

Having received some domed star lock washers in the post and also visited my favourite nut and bolt shop in Hove (Namrick - highly recommended) to get the necessary set screws the gas door assembly is now almost complete, just the rubber bumpers to be attached. My wife says it looks like a toilet seat....



Have continued removing the paint on the front clip - interestingly (or perhaps not) there is at least two extra (ie non GM) coats of paint on some of the front end. I don't know how many of you have done the full paint strip but rest assured, it is one of the most mind-numbingly boring things to do on a car but ... progress is being made.

To keep the little grey cells happy though (and as respite from the wettest July I can remember) I have also done some work on the drivers door in the workshop.....
The front corner had a few rust holes as I think this area collects water and I can't see any trace of GM applied paint, so its probably quite vulnerable. Decided to chop it all out....


... make a (somewhat complex) patch ....


Weld, fettle, add a little filler and added a coat primer to stop it rusting until I can get the rest of the door completed.... It's an all metal repair and water tight, just using filler to get rid of some surface imperfections. Once I have completed the repairs and got the inside of the door looking respectable I will bond the glass fibre outer back to the metal inner. It will get a coat of rust resisting paint, or similar on the inside and some sort of drain hole to stop it rusting through again.


Plenty more to do ....