What have YOU being doing or are you planning to do with your Vette?

Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump

CCCUK regional rep
antijam said:
The remaining outer end of the bolt dropped out easily but the stub of the inner end - arrowed below .....

.....will not shift, despite repeated attacks with a club hammer and chisel and with an air hammer. I don't want extraction to end up with a distorted hole in the frame from too much thumping, so I'm going to try getting some serious heat into the stub to break the rust bond free - hopefully without setting fire to the body or igniting any fuel vapours in the tank area.

....and then there's the other side to tackle. (What happened to all the easy jobs?) :(:(
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Wow - No going back once you sawed through the trailing arm! I hope the other side's T/A bolt comes out easier. What is the state of the bolt head on the remaining stub? Presumably it won't turn with a spanner on the end.
 
antijam

antijam

CCCUK Member
Forrest Gump said:
...... What is the state of the bolt head on the remaining stub? Presumably it won't turn with a spanner on the end.
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The bolt head is pretty sound; I can get a ring spanner on it and even have room to give it a clout but so far it's resisted all attempts to shift it. I'm hoping with heat on the stub and the spanner on the head it'll eventually free up.
 
johng

johng

CCCUK Member
Had to take my grandson to play football yesterday, the roads were dry so decided to take the Vette. The journey there was a great success, grandson was very happy. The game went okay (a 1 all draw), but the journey home wasn't quite so good. The gearbox wouldn't shift out of 1st gear, which made for a very noisy and slow 10 mile trip home.
The good news today is that having had a look underneath, the problem was just that the vacuum hose had come off the modulator. All now fixed and changing gears properly again :)
 
Nassau65

Nassau65

CCCUK Member
Yes, your quite right. It can be a little fiddly if you have to disconnect the battery, or remove it if it doesn’t have a top handle. You soon get used to it. Side pole batteries were widely used in US car manufacture, but most not in confined spaces like the 68-82 corvette.
 
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Corvetteville

Corvetteville

CCCUK Member
I put on a cutoff switch & use a small trickle charger. I found that undoing the small bolt holding the cable on was fiddly, & repeated disconnection was wearing the threads on the battery terminal away. The old battery was just that, so did the work when I replaced it.
I attached the cutoff switch to the positive red pole, whilst the battery was out, making sure it was parallel to the edge of battery, but would clear the lid when closed. This made it easier to attach the cable when battery back in place. It's now very easy to disconnect the battery.
When charging I attach the clips to the terminal not the switch, thus only charging the battery & not the wiring.
 

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antijam

antijam

CCCUK Member
antijam said:
The bolt head is pretty sound; I can get a ring spanner on it and even have room to give it a clout but so far it's resisted all attempts to shift it. I'm hoping with heat on the stub and the spanner on the head it'll eventually free up
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Finally got the bolt stub extracted - without having to resort to heat.
Hole.jpg
The frame on my '71 is liberally coated in ancient underseal (would this have been original - did chevy underseal early C3's? ) and I was chary about using a torch in case it decided to go out in a blaze of glory. Underseal is always a bit of a two-edged sword but on my car it does seem to have preserved it quite well.

Anyway, I unearthed a 5/8" AF combination spanner and tried this on the bolt head instead of the offset ring I'd been using.
P1370586.JPG
The flat combi allowed more torque to be applied than with the ring since the offset of the latter causes the ring to twist off under load. The increased torque broke the rust bond and out the stub popped!

I've stripped down the old trailing arm and cleaned up and removed the bearing races from the spindle support.....
P1370582.JPG

.....ready for some shiny new goodies.....

P1370580.JPG

Should keep me out of mischief for a while .....;)
 
teamzr1

teamzr1

Supporting vendor
FYI
That undercoating was a big deal back in the 1970s as the dealers would sell this crap as a delivery option
In many states that have winter snow, ice and salt on roads, the dealer salesmen would sucker car buyers into having this done at a big cost.
 
Nassau65

Nassau65

CCCUK Member
teamzr1 said:
FYI
That undercoating was a big deal back in the 1970s as the dealers would sell this crap as a delivery option
In many states that have winter snow, ice and salt on roads, the dealer salesmen would sucker car buyers into having this done at a big cost.
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So true. Big $$$$$. But, for those in the rust belt states it did offer some protection. Cars in the 70’s rusted away before your eyes.
 
teamzr1

teamzr1

Supporting vendor
Nassau65 said:
So true. Big $$$$$. But, for those in the rust belt states it did offer some protection. Cars in the 70’s rusted away before your eyes.
Click to expand...

Yes I agree, but that crap was it gets older and harder is a bitch to get things taken apart

Good example, I was drag racing my 1975 C3 one night at the strip,
I knew the 4 speed manual tranny was going out, so in fact had bought another one

On the way home the tranny crapped out and had to park on the side of the road in the dark which had gravel :(

I had a buddy go get the tranny and in the dark with a flashlight in my mouth had to do the swap and that crap undercoating made it
a bitch getting bolts and nuts off as they were covered with it :-(

Ever try and line up the tranny end spine through the clutch pressure plate and line up the end of the spine to the pilot bearing in flywheel

What a real Bitch !
 
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antijam

antijam

CCCUK Member
Looks as if my undercoat may well have been original then. Not sure where the car was first sold but its last Title before being exported was Pittsburgh - and Pittsburgh is certainly in the 'Salt Belt'. If the car spent the first 47 years of its life there, it's survived remarkably well!
 
Chuffer

Chuffer

CCCUK regional rep
richie500 said:
Saturday turnout, come the summer we hopefully have double the turnout, take note all you other regions: breakfast starts at 10:30 in the Southwest thanks to our leader :)

View attachment 15249
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A good turn out for a winter breakfast meet , well done to all . I hope this rubs off on Beds, Bucks , Northants , Cambs once I have a venue sorted . Got to carry out some practical quality surveys on breakfasts first ! :LOL:
 
Nassau65

Nassau65

CCCUK Member
Just thinking, if you want a correct look, California reproduction month/expiry date stickers are available on eBay.com. Prices vary depending on year, you will need 1972 as you cars a 1971 I believe. They run about 15-20 bucks. Although correct 1971 tags would be as photo, blue/yellow.
2ED7E9C0-3732-4076-95D4-46749815677B.jpeg
 
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