72 Corvette - Restoration Updates

[TimP]

Looking good Tim. Those crossmember cushions were easily the most difficult thing to remove on my restoration.

Thanks. I can believe it - mine took almost a whole day to remove. They're a tight fit at the best of times and over 50 years of corrosion and dirt don't help. A few days of Plus gas probably eased it but I ended up (very carefully) using a die grinder to weaken the outer steel wall of the cushion and then separating that from the crossmember with a chisel. The only odd thing was that the nuts that mount on the studs that go through the cushions were very loose. I'm pretty sure I had'nt undone them but perhaps somebody else started before.

 

[Chuffer]

..... and finally...
New disks were added after the diff crossmember was re-attached. The rear suspension was cleaned and in some areas repainted for better corrosion protection.
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The prop shaft was added with new U/J's and a new manual gearbox yoke. Two new fuel lines were added on the passenger frame rail - here the old vapour return is being sized up for replacement. Surprisingly, the old U/Js came out without two much of a fight but they had been had been sprayed with Plus Gas for about 2 years...
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Whilst the body was off I added the reinforcement for the gear level hole that I repaired a year or so ago....
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And with the addition of the remaining lines on the drivers side - I made my own vapour line and had bought the brake pipe a few years ago - and a refurbished (again) cleaned and sealed (another Rustbuster product that worked very well) fuel tank assembly. The forward end of the pipes aren't don't have the clips in place at the moment so they look a little sloppy at the front but I have been concentrating on those clips that are hidden/covered by the body which are mainly at the rear. Two further coats of black epoxy primer were added (as well as spraying all the insides of the box sections with Dinitrol) to try and make the chassis last as long as possible.
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Lots of other things have been done too: the gearbox lever alignment was checked - it's so much easier with the body off - and loads of other stuff too.

There are still a couple of small jobs to do: hoses to add and brake unions to do up but generally speaking it's about ready for the body and chassis to be reunited. I have summarised quite a bit but I think you get the gist... Hopefully, if the weather holds, and it looks like it will, it should all be back together by Sunday evening. Fingers crossed.....

Super impressive amount of work Tim . The devil`s in the detail and you have got it nailed !

 

[Oneball]

Coming along now. The c clip for one of your ujs doesn’t look like it’s in properly

 

[CaptainK]

This coincides with my general desire to get 'the gallows' ... off my driveway.

Having removed the body and put it to one side for a while....

Snipped your post a bit for clarity, but these two bits combined made me laugh a lot whilst reading the post.

Good work on the restoration though, amazing stuff.