72 Corvette - Restoration Updates

[TimP]

Yes it scary how rebuilds can grow and grow. I never thought I would have to do surgery at the level of detail here....

Firstly the JB weld repair to the cowl mount turret


And then dismantling the speedo/odometer mechanism which had completely seized up. This was due to (a) the rotor bush seizing - now fixed and rotating freely with a little help from some Plus Gas - and (b) the little idler wheel attached to the side had seized too. This also now fixed. However the seizure of the idler wheel resulted in the plastic gear shaft getting a little chewed up and not engaging properly with the (not shown here) vertical odometer shaft. A new plastic gear shaft will have to be fitted.

The drum assembly also had to be cleaned up. The drum is shown after clean up and the casing before (cleaning in progress) - they had corroded together to become one solid unit.


Other than these items it all worked perfectly...

On the good news front I repainted the cowls inners in matt black as these surfaces were starting to show the chrome beneath (seen here before the masking tape was removed).


.... and the housings are going back together. The lenses came up really nicely after some polish with T-Cut.

This will now be parked until I can locate a new odometer drive gear and (hopefully) put it all back together.

 

[TimP]

Having received a new speedometer second worm (metal not plastic) on next day post from CK I took a bucketful of beta blockers, a deep breath and after a few tries managed to rejoin the speed cup to the field plate. The tang of the (very delicate) needle return spring has to be threaded through a hole in the casing and glued in place - it needs steady hands and delicate fingers. It's some while since I had either, but persistence wins in the end.


On the main frame the new second worm was installed.


And the whole lot then put together - this photo was taken after the number clusters and jewel plate - the 'cross member' on top of the clusters - installed.


The speedo faceplate screws were painted as they were rusty


And then installed in the dash.. Front and reverse


The vent was reworked a little to remove some slack from the mechanism and the light switch refitted.


As far as I can tell at this stage everything seems to work fine. I haven't done anything with the dash covering so far and will kick that particular can down the road for a while until I have worked out what to do.

Coincidentally on YouTube 'The CorvetteBen' posted a video this week to do a very similar job. The reverse of his dash (a '75 rather than '72) was similarly rusted and had seized and broken in exactly the same places. His task was to replace the electronic tacho board but much of the work was the same. It's worth a watch if you need to do something similar and all his videos are very interesting and you can a lot from them - I know I have.