1963 Corvette Sting Ray - Split Window Coupe - Restoration

Guide Coat - First Sanding

2012-01-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

Our first guide coat process is almost complete and it took a lot of hours to get here. Thankfully Ty came over and spent many of those hours with a sanding block in his hand. While sanding, it's amazing to watch how the guide coat identifies everything that's less than perfect. Here's an example:

The next four pictures show the progress made on the drivers side roof. The only difference between these pictures is the amount of block sanding that occurred. After a few swipes with the sanding block lots of irregularities are identified including a significant run in the primer located near the door opening.

A few minutes later many of the irregularities are gone except for the run and a few pits.

A little more sanding and the run is gone. A few of the pits remain and we now see some irregularities near the door opening.

Fiberglass is beginning to show through so we have to stop sanding. The roof is very smooth with minor irregularities that will be fixed with the next coat of primer.

Looking at other areas of the car we can see that this area needs another heavy coat of primer. The circled spot identifies an area that needs a little Bondo.

Areas marked with an X also require a little Bondo.

This is a repair that was recently made when we found an air bubble in a rivet hole.

These irregularities occurred when we installed the wheel well inserts.

Except for the X's, this area will only require another coat of primer.

The left rear looks great except for a few little shallow areas.

The primer in this photo is very thin but the surface is very smooth.

This is the left rear window area. The pattern you see are depressions made by the body mold used back in 1963. They are so shallow they can't be felt but the guide coat tells us they are there. Our next coat of primer will fix these "irregularities" as well.

More primer, more guide coat and more sanding is next but we only have to do the areas that need it, not the whole car. We'll still have to make another paint booth though.

As always, thanks for watching.

Guide Coat 101

2012-01-13T07:39:00.000-08:00

What the... ?

You gotta be kidding me!

OK, here's the deal. A Guide Coat does two things. It insures flat surfaces and it identifies low spots. The process requires a contrasting paint lightly sprayed over primer followed by block sanding. We want to leave as much primer on the car as possible but we also want to remove as much as necessary to get a flat surface. To achieve this we only block sand until the guide coat is removed or until we expose fiberglass. When either one of these occur we stop sanding and move onto the next area.

Lets get started. After block sanding this fender for just a few minutes we have mostly flat surfaces (green) and a few low spots (guide coat). A few more swipes with the sand paper should remove several of these low spots.

And that's exactly what happened. The front part of this fender is very flat and smooth. Any thin areas of primer will be corrected when we shoot the car with the next full coat of primer.

The rear part of the fender will need additional work though. We have low spots and we have exposed fiberglass. Since we can't sand this area any further we will probably apply a thin coat of Bondo to correct.

These low spots are super shallow and will be filled in with the next coat of primer.

Click on this picture and check out the results. Do you think the next coat of primer will fix the low spots or do you think they need a little Bondo? It might be a combination of both.

The front is turning out very nice. The raised center section may require a little Bondo.

Nothing major back here. The next coat of primer should fix these imperfections.

There is a lot left to do including the door jambs, drip rails, hood jamb, window jambs, and everything below the center line. When we are done we will shoot fresh primer on the whole car again followed by more Guide Coat. We will continue this process until all the surfaces are flat and all the fiberglass has primer so expect several postings about guide coating. One thing for sure is the results are already pretty awesome.

Thanks for watching.

Fresh Primer for the New Year

2012-01-07T23:06:00.000-08:00

While waiting for warmer weather I managed to find another half dozen areas to repair. None of them were in dire need but I decided to fix them anyway. This one is the right front blinker housing and it had a few hair line cracks on its face. The cracks would have been covered by a gasket but I fixed it anyway.

The repair turned out fine.

There is a lot to see in the next few pictures. Check out the body work that's been done over the last couple months. How about that paint booth? Masking the wheel wells and engine compartment took a few hours longer than I thought. Masking requires a skill that I don't have (yet). These are hi-def pictures so be sure to click each picture to see the detail.

The entire car was sanded one more time to remove oils and other contaminants.

It was then wiped down with a post sanding solution to insure good adhesion.

House of Kolor 2 part epoxy primer was used..

Two heavy coats equalled about a half gallon of paint.

The garage will be kept at 70 degrees for at least 24 hours.

The plastic has an electrostatic charge and it attracted the over spray like a magnet. The primer looks great and the make shift paint booth worked perfect.

Gerri took this picture after I was all done and said I had to post it. XL paint suits are not as roomy as they use to be.

With the new year I thought I'd add a picture to help us remember where we started. This is our car in Hawaii in 2009 being loaded into a shipping container. Dennis S., the previous owner, is at the wheel. Aloha Dennis!

Next up will be Guide Coating 101. Bet you can't wait!

The Birdcage - Final Repairs and Internal Paint

2011-12-25T04:36:00.000-08:00

We took another hard look at the birdcage and we found one additional area that needs attention. It's the portion of the birdcage that runs along the top of the windshield. There were factory holes here but they looked... irregular. I stuck a burr grinder in each hole then gently pushed it in all directions looking for thinning sheet metal. The burr grinder followed the thinning metal and left behind these tracks. These areas need repair.

I squared up all the areas to simplify making the repair pieces.

16 gauge metal was bent to match the general profile of the birdcage.

This will be cut as needed to fit each repair area.

The pieces were welded in, new holes were drilled, then JB Weld was used to fill the irregularities.

While the JB Weld was hardening I cleaned all the internal surfaces in preparation for paint. I used a length of plastic tubing on the end of the air hose to get deep inside and used the shop vac to catch the debris. There was a bunch of it, mostly sand from the sand blaster.

An hour later the internal surfaces were clean.

This is a product from Eastwood. It's a paint that has a phenolic resin that penetrates, converts and encapsulates any rust on internal surfaces. It also has zinc phosphate that seals internal surfaces to prevent future corrosion. I figured it would work nicely on the birdcage.

It worked great. The nozzle on the end of the hose sprayed the paint very nice.

Be forewarned though. This stuff goes everywhere. It finds all the nooks and crannies and little screw holes too. I like it a lot but be sure to wear full eye protection and old clothes. It's messy! The over spray, runs, and drips you see in this picture were cleaned up afterward.

What about that birdcage repairs from earlier? The JB Weld was ground smooth, the internal surfaces were painted, then a little primer was sprayed on the outside. It's nice and it will last a long, long time.

The body is basically ready for primer now. While we wait for warmer weather we will continue to do odds and ends. The interior floor still needs cleaning. Maybe we will tackle that next. But the next big thing is primer!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Lower A Pillar Repair - Drivers Side

2011-12-17T18:47:00.000-08:00

Ty and I were giving the Corvette another once over looking for things that need to be fixed before we shoot the next coat of primer. If you click on the picture and look inside the magenta circle you should see nothing abnormal.

Ty, however, spotted something suspicious. With a pick he started poking behind the fiberglass.

Sure enough, he found a rusted area on the lower drivers side A pillar. Ty had to remove a section of the floorboard to expose the area.

All the rust was removed including more of the floorboard. This hole goes through the body. The only reason you can't see the garage floor is because the body dolly is in the way.

Ty cut, ground and welded for a couple hours in this awkward position.

All of the joints were butt welded. No lap joints here.

The frame repair turned out beautiful...

... and the underside is just as nice.

Butt welds were used on the vertical section as well.

Then everything was ground flush. We left a good size drain hole in the center so this doesn't happen again.

JB Weld was used to fill in the nooks and crannies. This area will be painted before the floor repairs are made. We checked the passenger side to see if we have the same issue over there. It looks fine.

Next up is a little more welding then we paint the inside of the birdcage. Yep, the inside.

Thanks for watching.

Hood, Drip Rails, Door Jambs and Stuff

2011-12-09T05:38:00.000-08:00

The results are in! We will install the 1963 hood with the classic racing strip. We might even paint the 67 hood with the 63 racing strip then hang it in the garage somewhere. That would be cool.

We continue to find odds and ends of things that need to be finished before we shoot the next coat of primer. In this picture I am getting ready to spot weld clips onto the drip rail. These clips will hold the interior door molding.

The same drip rail had to have a tab welded onto the front. This tab fits into a rubber molding.

3M Ultrapro Sealant was used on both drip rails. It's a flexible sealant that can be sanded and painted.

The inside of the door jambs on the car body have been dressed up and prepared for primer.

Tabs of all sorts continue to be a nuisance. The front clip is full of them.

This is a fiberglass clip that was broken and recently repaired. Right below it is a rusted metal clip. This clip and others have been removed and will be replaced after the body is painted.

The lower part of the front end had a couple good size cracks in the fiberglass. These were probably caused by large speed bumps or concrete bumpers. Both have been repaired and are ready for primer.

I found a small super thin area of fiberglass on the left front fender. Turns out there was an air bubble caught in a rivet hold from a couple years ago. The hole was ground out then fiberglassed as shown.

With a flashlight on the backside you can see where the rivet hole was. Because we use clear fiberglass this repair looks unfinished but it's actually a full thickness repair ready for primer. All of the wheel wells were examined to make sure we didn't have similar issues. None were found.

Ty continues to work on the 63 hood. Now that we know this hood is going to be used it will become a priority item to finish.

The hood has lots of issues but all are easily fixed.

And in closing, Ty and I both fit in the Corvette but it's a snug fit. There are several options found on the Internet, one of which is to swap out the 1963 steering wheel (left) for a 1972. The diameter is smaller and it's not as deep. Another option is to install a tilt wheel made by Flaming River. We could just loose a little weight but we prefer to keep out options open. More on this in a later issue.

As always, thanks for watching.

Hood Repairs

2011-11-30T19:35:00.000-08:00

Only a few days left to vote on the hood and racing stripe. Vote in the upper right corner.

While replacing the fresh air cowling I spotted a questionable section of fiberglass on the passenger side front fender hood lip. I ground out the area until it was paper thin.

Fresh fiberglass and resin were laid in and allowed to cure.

A little feathering brought it back to new.

The area is super strong and I am glad I repaired it. Better safe than sorry.

Our 1963 hood was purchased last year locally and it had been involved in a head on collision. When that happens to a C2 Corvette the front end of the car usually jambs the hood to the point that it can not be opened. Common practice is to use a reciprocating saw to remove the front end. Unfortunately, the hood often gets cut in the process and that's what happened to this hood. The hood has two cuts and this delamination.

The delamination was dressed up then bonding agent was applied.

While the clamps held the delamination the cut was feathered back then fiberglassed.

Both of the cuts to the hood were repaired.

Although the car is looking uglier by the day, it's getting better by the day. After we remove the old paint from the hood we will shoot everything with fresh primer.

Before long we will start installing Dynamat on the interior. This insulating and heat barrier needs a clean surface to adhere properly so I got out the Dewalt side grinder and a big wire brush.

The results are pretty impressive. This will take some time but I got a good start on it today.

Expect more on the hood, door jambs and drip rails. After that... Fresh Primer!

Fresh Air Cowling

2011-11-22T18:40:00.000-08:00

I just noticed we have had 40,000 views on this blog. Excellent.

We recently test fit the 1963 hood and noticed that the body lines on the fresh air cowling were not crisp and didn't match the hood very well. If you've been following this blog you'll recall that this cowl received extensive repairs a couple years ago. Check out that repair here:
http://1963splitwindow.blogspot.com/2009/06/more-fiberglass-repairs.html
We decided to replace the existing (green) cowling with an original undamaged cowling (the red one).

Using our Fien vibrating tool and a chisel we were able to remove the old cowling with little difficulty.

The bonding strips were cleaned and fiberglass repairs were made where needed. The brown paper was used to keep resin off of the fire wall.

After the fiberglass set it was ground and feathered until the original contour was restored.

The new cowling was clamped into position then bonding agent was applied and allowed to set.

Check it out. Nice sharp body lines and we got rid of the excessively repaired cowling.

Very little Bondo will be required at the joints.

Ty has been doing a lot of work on the 1963 hood. Those pictures will be posted soon so keep watching.

Shop Talk Tidbit

OK, here's the deal. We know we want a racing stripe but the style may have to be dictated by the year of the hood that we use (see photo's below). We have both hoods. The thought had been to use a stripe that would accommodate both hoods, however, a long time follower of this blog, Jim Q., thought that using a hybrid stripe that accommodates both hoods might look peculiar. He may be right.

So the question is, do we want the 63 hood and stripe, the 67 hood and stripe or a hybrid stripe that will allow both hoods to be interchanged? Tell us what you think. Vote in the poll located in the upper right corner of this post!

In this picture the hood and stripe are classic 1963.

In this picture the hood and stripe are classic 1967 big block.

Knock on Wood

2011-11-14T18:50:00.000-08:00

I should have knocked on wood when I said fiberglass issues are getting less significant. This is a blister we just noticed on top of the left fender. We poked at it then wondered what might have caused this to occur in an area that was already repaired.

Having no fear we took our trusty die grinder and removed a pretty good area of dry fiberglass located just under a thin layer of regular fiberglass. We decided this was from "the fire", one of several events in this cars colorful history. This error occurred about 2 years ago when we tried to squeegee fresh resin into the fiberglass. Soaking would have been a better solution. Think about it for just a couple seconds and you'll agree.

The black spot is paint on the underside of the fender.

Lots of fresh resin and fiberglass were applied and allowed to soak in and saturate.

The area was ground and sanded back to the general contour of the fender.

Then a thin layer of Bondo was applied. Yes, it's super strong now.

On a different front, Ty took the initiative to start repairs on the 1963 hood we purchased last year. It was found locally on Craig's List and it has issues. But don't worry. Ty's favorite saying is, "It's only fiberglass.", and he's right. If it's fiberglass it can be fixed.

The hood was involved in a front end collision and it has several areas that need attention, some are shown here. All of these areas have since been fully prepped and are now ready for fiberglass.

And finally, this is a body line that had rounded, or softened, over the years. The area was built back up...

then sanded back down. The line is a little too sharp now but will be corrected when we guide coat. That's a subject for a future post. What's important to notice is how little Bondo actually remains.

Soon we will ask you to vote on one of three hood/racing stripe options being considered. It's one of the reasons we are fixing that 1963 hood.

Thanks for watching.

Body Work Continues

2011-11-05T21:05:00.000-07:00

Issues on the body are generally fewer and less significant now, with this one exception. The license plate area is very non-symmetrical. Ty rolled up his sleeves and tackled this repair.

The circled area dips down about a quarter inch and the face is not symmetrical either.

Ty reinforced the back with fiberglass, layed out a grid to understand the errors, then he ground away the dip and sanded the face until it was restored back to normal. This area will look great once it's painted.

Ty also worked on the passenger side body lines.

The drivers side is equally as nice.

On 63 and 64 Corvettes the doors have a raised boss for the door handles but they don't match the handles very well. We decided to outline the door handle then grind the bosses to match.

The bosses now match the handles perfectly.

We even worked on the hood and nose. Yes, paint will make this look good too.

Here you go Max. A couple pictures of the whole body.

As promised, here's a little tidbit from the shop.

When we begin painting it will be critically important to keep moisture out of the air lines. One of the ways to do that is to cool, condense and siphon off moisture before it goes into the air tank. In this picture the manufacture had a 12" copper line that ran directly from the compressor to the tank. As you can see we modified it.

This is the back side. Using a design found on the internet, we made a radiator/condenser and it works great. It even has an automatic valve at the bottom that purges moisture every time the compressor starts up. Not only is the air drier but the unit runs quieter too.

We will switch to the shorter body dolly soon. Keep watching!

Sanding Sanding Sanding

2011-10-26T17:10:00.000-07:00

OK. Here's the deal. Finishing work is boring and there is little to photograph as far as progress goes. So in order to satisfy those of you that demand periodic, meaningful updates, I will post progress photos and throw in some kind of tidbit information to keep your interest. Lets give it a try.

Click on this photo and you will see a bump in the body line. This was no doubt caused by all the fitting and sanding that was done when we restored the wheel wells.

Here is a little better look at it. The bump is the original body line. The area on both sides of the bump need to be built up.

After adding fiberglass followed by a little Bondo, the body line is looking much better. Another couple hours were spent on this area after this picture was taken and the results are more than acceptable.

The same issue is on the passenger side but not quite so bad.

We are sanding the primer and the fiberglass until the surface is ready for the next coat of primer. Since we are block sanding, the primer left on the fender is actually filling low spots.

The top of the right front fender is ready for primer. It required very little sanding.

The right rear however required lots of sanding. Yep, the same goes here. The green that's left behind is filling low spots. These low spots are only a few thousandths thick so it's not a big deal.

We keep finding that occasional area that needs to be repaired with fiberglass. This one has since been dressed up and is ready for primer.

Corvettes are notorious for developing stress cracks. The door handle area is especially prone because the handles are bolted down tight from the back side. To help prevent new stress cracks we decided to actually mold the handles to the door panels. The handles were wrapped in cellophane then held against the body with a wet layer of fiberglass sandwiched in between. It worked great.

OK. Here's that tidbit of information I talked about. My brother Jim is moving to China and he didn't want to leave his Nomad in storage for several years. He asked if I'd be interested and my wife told me I would. I owned this car many years ago so it comes with a ton of sentimental value. So we now have two Nomads and the garage is stuffed. That's a good problem though.

Here's a picture of Gerri and I taken next to the Nomad about 25 years ago. When the Corvette is finished this will be our next project. Should be lots of fun.

As always, thanks for watching.

Body Removal - Round Two

2011-10-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

Why was the body installed if we knew it had to be removed at a later date?

Good question. If you'll remember, the car was purchased disassembled. We didn't know how the body was shimmed, how the doors fit, what modifications were done over the last 48 years, and we didn't know how all the repairs we have made might affect the fit of other adjoining pieces. So, instead of painting the body and finding out later there were issues, we decided to verify fit first. We installed the body, fit the doors, headlights, hood, radiator support, bumpers, and the gas tank to mention a few. We fixed body lines, filled extra screw holes and repaired our repairs (like the passenger A pillar to door interference). We got to drive the car and we made a list of things that need to be fixed or replaced on the rolling chassis (remember the white board?). Installing the body and assembling the major components was a good idea but now it's time to dis-assemble and remove the body. Lets get started.

These items weren't thrown on the table. I set them there nicely and I intend to store them properly.

All the body bolts were removed and the body straps were hooked up.

That little $65 12 volt Harbor Freight winch worked just fine.

Radiator hoses, master brake cylinder, clutch rods and throttle lines had to be removed from under the hood.

The chassis was rolled out from under the body then the tall body dolly was put in its place.

The rolling chassis was put on the trailer then it was off to the car wash for a well needed cleaning.

We might not work on the chassis for a few weeks so it was covered up to protect it from the elements.

Now it's time to prepare the body for paint. This will require making all the final fiberglass repairs, removing most of the existing primer, adding Bondo where needed, applying fresh primer, applying glazing compound, then guide coating and block sanding. This will be long tedious work so be patient.

Expect the body to become less attractive over the next few weeks as we sand through the primer. Don't worry though. The *Ugly Duckling Project transformation should be soon.

* http://1963splitwindow.blogspot.com/2009/03/ugly-duckling-project.html

The Doors - 1963

2011-10-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

In early 1963 Chevrolet discovered that the roof panel was not being produced to specification. It was too small. The die was about .10" too small which made for a poor fit at the upper door to roof panel. Later in 63 the die was chrome plated which helped but never fully corrected the problem. This error occurred on all coupes from 1963 to 1967. So the question is, do we want our coupe to be as it was when it came off the production line or do we want it as the designers intended. We opted for the latter.

Tape was used on the upper door so that the Bondo could be easily removed from this area. We don't want the door any taller than it already is.

After hours of sanding we ended up with very nice results.

Both doors received the same treatment and both turned out equally well.

The door to body gap was worked until uniform.

This should look really nice once painted.

Click on this photo and check it out. After a little more primer and a little more sanding the doors should look like they were cut from the body, just like the designer intended back in 1963.

The body will be removed next. Guaranteed. Thanks for watching.

Finish Work Begins

2011-09-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

We decided to start the finish work on the doors before removing the body. The reason is because our body dolly no longer supports the nose of the car and we thought that might alter the doors alignment. I started with the passenger door because there is a spot that I suspect needs more than just Bondo.

I was right. Using a burr grinder I removed old damaged fiberglass all the way down to bright metal. The fiberglass was feathered back so that the repair would cover a large area. The larger the area the stronger the repair.

Five layers of fiberglass matte were used to make that repair. While the fiberglass was curing I started sanding the louver area. All blemishes and questionable areas were removed by grinding. In this picture the areas that still have green primer are shallow/low areas that require Bondo.

The green primer was removed before applying the Bondo. Bondo is intended to be applied directly over fiberglass and metal, not primer.

After the fiberglass resin and the Bondo cured, the area was block sanded until smooth. The next time we work in this area it will be for fresh primer.

Ty was able to come over for a couple hours today. Ty used the same basic technique on the front of the passenger door. After sanding, the thickest amount of filler material is estimated at only 1/32".

The passenger door is 2/3 done. As we continue to finish the car we will have less and less primer. You can gauge our progress by watching the primer disappear.

So how did we do on our first day of finish work? Ty and I think we did pretty good. Double click on the picture to judge for yourself.

After cleaning up the mess we took a few minutes to admire the car. There is shop talk about a white racing stripe. What do you think?

A Pillar Modification

2011-09-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

When this A pillar was repaired over a year ago it was done without the benefit of the drip rail or the door being in place. Now that the drip rail and door are hung/aligned we can see we don't have a gap between the door and the drip rail on the inside of the car. An interior molding goes here so the gap must be increased.

After examining all options we decided to modify the pillar in the area shown. A gradual taper was needed starting at the mid point of the pillar working down to a 3/8" gap at the bottom.

The drip rail was removed then the pillar was cut using a thin cutting wheel. The pillar was bent into its new position then prepared for welding.

Using dozens of tack welds the pillar was re-welded into place.

The tack welds were ground smooth then JB Weld was applied to fill in any nooks and crannies.

The drip rail was welded back in place then we check to see how everything fit. We ended up with a nice even gap between the door and A pillar as viewed from outside the car.

And we have a respectable "3 tongue depressor" gap on the inside. This will be perfect for that piece of molding.

Body removal should be next. Stay tuned for that!

More Fitting and Aligning

2011-09-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

All right, I wasn't done. Rivets, rivet holes, thinning fiberglass and general workmanship issues drove me back to the headlight buckets. I marked the areas that needed attention...

then ground all the areas until the fiberglass was almost paper thin.

Those areas were then filled with fiberglass resin and matting.

After grinding the fiberglass, a thin coat of Bondo was applied...

then the front end was painted with 2 part epoxy primer.

Although I don't have pictures to support his effort, Ty spent several hours fitting the rear bumper area to perfection.

After all that hard work we loaded up the Corvette and took it to a local Friday night car show a few miles down the road. It was a fun evening and several people stopped to talk about our project.

Oh yeah. I got tired of people referring to my trailer as a POS so I made some minor modifications and gave it a fresh coat of paint. I think it turned out great and I doubt Ty and Dennis will bad mouth it any more.

OK, so here's where we are. There is one more repair that needs to be worked on before we can say "fit" is complete. There is an interference between the right side A pillar and the passenger door that won't allow a chrome piece to be installed. This interference can only be corrected by cutting and repositioning the A pillar. Once this is repaired we can remove the body and start doing "finish" work. Be forewarned, finish work will be a long process.

While the body is removed we will fix several items on the rolling chassis. If you double click on the picture you'll see some of the things we need to do.

Check back in a couple weeks to see if the A pillar has been repaired. Thanks for watching.

Fitting and Aligning Headlight Buckets

2011-08-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

Fitting and aligning headlight buckets. Sounds simple. Sounds innocent. Yeah, right...
First you start off with what appears to be a perfectly fine 1963 Corvette front end.

Then you look real hard for any kind of stress fractures that might later show up in the paint job. You grind back a little paint and you grind back a little fiberglass then you sandwich the area with fresh fiberglass to make it real strong.

Then you keep looking real hard until everything looks suspect then you grind it all back and re-fiberglass everything.

After the fiberglass sets up you clean everything up by grinding and feathering some more.

Headlight bucket inner plate reinforcements are next. These bolt to the header bar that run left to right just behind the headlights. After these are bolted in and the support rods are installed its time to apply bonding adhesive.

As we did for the hood, I used a set of dumbbells to match the height of the body and the buckets. Bonding adhesive was then applied between the body and the header bar and allowed to cure.

I used a bent length of flat bar to get the proper contour as shown.

20 hours later it looks pretty good. All it needs now is a little primer to pretty it up.

Then you do the exact same thing to the other side. I am not sure I am done but they're much better.

What the ??? Is that Wilson?

Naw... It's Ty. He's working on the interface between the bumper and body. This too will require grinding, fiberglass and feathering. More on this in a later edition.

As always, thanks for watching.

Hood Alignment

2011-08-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

Ty and I aligned the hood until we had a nice gap along both fenders and the front of the car. Shims were installed as necessary then all 10 hinge bolts were torqued down tight.

When we rebuilt the front end a year ago the body was off the chassis. Now that the body is on the chassis, the headlight brackets are installed and the hood is aligned, we can see there are issues.

The front corners of the hood and the front center of the hood are properly shimmed with the body but the nose sags in between those areas. Ty and I agreed the mismatch in height was unacceptable and we also agreed the cure would not be Bondo.

It sags between each of the headlight buckets.

We decided to remove the front end support structure in its entirety and start over. This took hours of work and it was not for the squeamish.

If you double click on this picture you'll see hammers, chisels, a sledge hammer, an air chisel and a variety of other tools of persuasion. More importantly, the nose support and the headlight bucket supports have been removed.

After grinding away the old bonding adhesive from all the supports and the underbody we started reassembly. Because bonding adhesive sets up so quickly it was decided to bond the nose support in sections starting with the center. In this picture the clamps hold the the nose support in position while the center section is being bonded. The dumbbell is holding the center section flush with the hood.

Bonding adhesive is a catalyst compound that basically glues fiberglass pieces together. Unlike Bondo, it can not be used as a filler. Because the hood support is now bonded at the center, access to the rest of the support is limited. In cases like this I've found that disposable cake decorating bags work great as an applicator. In this picture the bonding adhesive is mixed, loaded in the bag and ready to be piped into place. All I have to do is snip the bag and squeeze. I get about 10 minutes working time before the adhesive starts to set up.

Once again I use dumbbells to maintain alignment with the hood. They work great.

I think the results are exceptional. Compare this picture with the first and judge for yourself.

If you haven't guessed, headlight buckets are next.

Thanks for watching.

Rivet Nuts

2011-07-30T05:07:00.000-07:00

Shop time remains limited and will stay that way until October or November. For those of you that insist I post something every couple weeks or so I offer this nugget of information about a pretty cool tool.

Have you ever tried to tighten a molding, sill plate, chrome trim piece or something similar only to find that the hole for the screw had stripped out? Options were to either use a bigger screw, goop up the existing hole with something and hope the screw holds, or just push the screw into the hole and hope it stayed there. Now there's another option and it's called a rivet nut. Below is a Rivet Nut kit that I bought at Tacoma Screw. There are other manufactures as well.

It's a pretty simple process. The stripped hole is drilled out to a size that accommodates the rivet nut you want to use.

5 different sizes came in my kit. This rivet nut is steel but other materials are also available.

The rivet nut is screwed onto the tool then inserted into the drilled hole. The tool is squeezed until the backside of the rivet nut mushrooms. Unlike a pop rivet gun, nothing pops or breaks though.

The rivet nut ends up flush on the outside...

and it mushrooms on the backside. Here is an example of one I used on a flat washer.

This thing works so well I decided to use rivet nuts for the whole upper door molding on the drivers side door.

10 minutes later I had the molding installed and it's very secure. I'll do the other side as well.

I am sure I'll be using rivet nuts at several locations, especially when we start the interior trim pieces.

As always, thanks for watching.

Drivers Side Door Alignment - 1963 Corvette

2011-07-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

As was the case for the passenger door, the drivers side upper hinge had to be ground and the lower hinge had to be shimmed. Once we were satisfied with the alignment all 20 hinge bolts were torqued down.

Now it's time to work on the door to body fitment. Instead of using Bondo my preference is to build up low areas using fiberglass. I removed the primer from all the areas that were either mismatched or too low. Duct tape was placed to channel excess fiberglass resin away from the rest of the car.

Duct tape works great because fiberglass resin won't stick to it.

Door gaps were stuffed with strips of foam rubber to prevent resin from going inside the door jamb.

Fiberglass was then applied and allowed to cure.

Some areas actually bridged the door gap.

The duct tape was removed after the fiberglass cured.

The fiberglass was cut at all the door gaps using our Fein Multimaster tool. Door gaps were then sanded open to the proper width using a small piece of sheet metal wrapped with sandpaper.

The 2 inch square fiberglass patch in this picture was done over a year ago when we reinstalled the B-pillar. I ground this area paper thin then used it as a form for the fiberglass we applied today. Remember, the fiberglass we use is clear which means the patch you see is on the backside.

With today's effort we will only have to use a small amount of Bondo when we prep for paint.

That's it! Both doors are done.

C2 Corvette Drip Rail Clips

2011-07-10T05:16:00.000-07:00

Back in 2009 when our Corvette was delivered Ty made me promise not to throw anything away during the restoration. I thought that was an odd request but I've since seen the wisdom.

These are the original upper door drip rails that we replaced over a year ago. They're nasty, rusty, difficult to store and they have sharp edges. It would have been easy to toss them but I kept them and I am glad I did. They have original trim clips and they tell us where the trim clips get installed. You won't find that information in any book. In this picture I have already drilled out the spot welds and removed one clip.

The drip rail requires 5 clips but ours only had 3 usable ones. 2 had to be fabricated. Can you pick out the replica in this picture? I can't either.

4 of the 5 clips are ready for welding.

Each was plug welded then ground smooth.

All 5 are now installed on the drivers side. The passenger side is next.

Thanks for watching.

More Odds and Ends

2011-07-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

My time in the garage is still limited but Lester (Wilson) says that's no reason for not posting. So here's a few odds and ends that I hope will satisfy one of my most faithful followers. You can also check out Peter's blog on his 1966 Corvette restoration. Peter is another faithful follower that lives in Spain and his blog is at http://elcorvettedepeter.blogspot.com/

Ty and I continue to align the drivers side door. As was the case on the passenger door, we had to grind away some of the thickness on the upper hinge. The lower hinge will need 4 shim plates. We didn't have any so Ty made 3 with available material but we need more. I have since ordered several.

With 3 shim plates installed on the lower hinge you can see that the upper part of the door doesn't fit quite tight enough. The extra shim plate should do the trick.

Overall the door looks really good. It shouldn't need much glass work at all.

Switching topics, the brass fuel float in the fuel injection unit had a leak and had been filling up with gasoline. When the float doesn't float the car doesn't run. This float has two halves that are soldered together. After a couple failed attempts to repair the old soldered joint I removed all the old solder and resoldered with new. The FI unit is back together and it's much better now.

Changing topics again, mechanical fuel injection experts recommend calibrating and tuning our engine using an air/fuel meter. Sounds good to me. Here I just finished welding the bung for an O2 sensor onto the drivers side side pipe. Don't worry, this is the reproduction side pipe, not the original one.

The meter was installed in our make shift dash and it works great. The optimum reading would be 14.6, that's 14.6 pounds of air to 1 pound of fuel. The reading you see is a little rich but it was taken at idle. We hit 14.6 when the car is cruising down the road. Our Corvette currently has 108 octane racing fuel in it but it will soon be changed to pump gas. When that happens we will retune the engine using our new gauge.

That's it for now. I will not be able to work on the car for the next couple weeks so, Wilson, you're just going to have to grin and bare it. Keep checking back though!

Cool Desert Nights - 2011

2011-06-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

The weather could not have been better and we had a record turnout of 801 entrants.

Once again Gerri and I entered both the 1963 Corvette and the 1957 Nomad.

Dennis and Annette K. brought their 1933 and 1956 Chevy's.

Ty thought we should showcase the undercarriage since that's where a lot of our effort has been. We put a couple rims under the tires and set several mirrors under the car. It worked great.

There was a lot of interest in the Corvette all day long.

Everybody loved the engine.

This year was the largest crowd ever. Thousands showed up.

Interesting vehicles included this pick-up truck sporting twin turbos AND a blower.

Jeff B. brought his custom painted lawnmower. This thing brought more smiles than anything else at the car show. Hundreds of photo's were taken and the kids especially loved it.

How about this custom 53 Buick Skylark. This was my favorite and it was for sale. I checked my wallet but I was shy $70K.

OMG! Is that our Corvette in the winners parade? Yes it is!

For the second year in a row we won Best Work in Progress.

It was a great weekend at Cool Desert Nights but the absolute best part occurred after the show. We had trailered the Corvette to the show Saturday morning but I decided to drive it home afterward. I drove it through town and out on the highway for a total distance of about 5 miles. This thing is outrageous!

Passenger Door Alignment

2011-06-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

Dennis S., the previous owner, had bagged and tagged 4 shims for the lower passenger door hinge and that is exactly what it needed. When we moved to the upper hinge we found that it needed adjustment in the other direction. The only way to do that is to grind away some of the thickness of the hinge and that's what Ty is doing in this picture. He found my biggest grinder and started to "align" the door. It turned out very nice.

About a 1/4" in thickness was removed. Here Ty is using a 6" ruler to locate high spots.

After putting the door on and taking it off several times we ended up with the best fit possible. All the hinge bolts were tightened and the striker plate was installed. Now it was time to start working on the body. The majority of the passenger door fit very well with exception to the area shown below. In this picture the door is aligned properly, it's the fender that needs work. The fender was purposely built "fat" when we repaired the A pillar.

After using a burr grinder to reduce the fender height, the area was masked off then fiberglass was cut so that it would span both the door and the fender.

Resin was applied then worked into the area until everything was saturated.

Several hours later the fiberglass was cut at the door seam then sanded until there was a smooth transition between both pieces.

The same process was used on the side of the fender.

I primered the area but finishing work still needs to occur.
Compare this picture to the one above. It's a nice improvement.

Cool Desert Nights is next and this will be the 3rd year our Corvette is entered. This year we can drive the Corvette so it will be off the trailer during the show. Should be fun. Stay tuned for pictures!

Weatherstripping our Doors

2011-06-10T13:01:00.000-07:00

Installing weatherstripping on a door can be a very messy job, especially if the door is attached to the car. Fortunately, our doors are not attached and we know a couple tricks.

The weatherstrip on a 1963 Corvette coupe is glued to the door. There are no push pins, screws or clips. We start the process by masking the door where the weatherstrip will go.

That tape is then bordered by two more rows of masking tape as shown.

The first row of tape is removed then the paint is scuffed with Scotch Brite.

Weatherstrip adhesive is a contact cement that comes in two basic colors, traditional yellow and black. We chose black because it matches the weatherstripping and it's hardly noticeable against our dark blue doors.

Adhesive was applied between the two rows of tape then allowed to dry for a few seconds. All of the tape was then removed leaving a clean door with very little mess.

Adhesive was applied to the weatherstripping then the weatherstripping was glued to the door. If you don't have a helper it's best to install the weatherstripping one section at a time. It can get very messy.

3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner was used as a final step to wipe down the weatherstripping and the door. This cleaner does a great job and it won't harm the painted finish.

Both doors are done and they turned out great. Next we start aligning the doors.

Color Sanding

2011-06-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

Color sanding removes orange peel, nibs (dust), fish eye (contamination), and other imperfections and it gives a smooth glossy mirror finish when complete. Unlike what the name implies, color sanding is only performed on the clear coat, never on the color.

On the inside of our door there is only one area that's visible when the door is shut. It's the area shown below. All other areas are either covered with chrome, weatherstripping or door panels. We will color sand this area only.

If you click on this picture you will see we picked up a gnat. Bugs can be difficult to remove because they can wiggle down into the paint.

I start by wet sanding with 1000 grit wet/dry paper. I use a spray bottle with soapy water to lubricate and rinse the area as I sand. I wipe the area frequently with a clean cloth checking the cloth to make sure I don't see any color. If I see even a hint of blue I'll know I can't sand in that area anymore. In this picture the gnat and the orange peel are still present and require more sanding.

I intentionally avoid sanding any area with rivets. It's impossible to sand in these areas without sanding through a painted rivet.

The imperfections are gone. Now it's time to remove the scratches left by the 1000 grit sand paper.

1500 grit sand paper removed the 1000 grit scratches. 2000 grit was then used to remove the 1500 grit scratches. You can see where this is going.

Cutting compound on a wool pad was then applied with an electric buffer. That was followed by a swirl remover on a foam pad.

I think the results are spectacular. Compare the first picture with this picture and judge for yourself.

What happened to the bug you ask? Well... he's still there. I stopped sanding when I saw a hit of blue on the wipe rag. After long deliberation I decided to just leave him alone. If he were on the exterior I'd have to re shoot the door, but he's not. Besides, this guy is so small the only people that will ever know about him are those that follow this blog with a passion. This will be our secret.

I think we should name him Wiggles.

First Color - Lapis and Cobalt Blue

2011-05-29T15:26:00.000-07:00

The paint on our Corvette will be House of Kolor, one of the finest custom paint manufactures in the world. Check them out here: http://www.houseofkolor.com/hok/index.jsp

Several weeks ago we started working on the door jambs preparing them for paint. The doors were sand blasted, rust was removed, weld repairs were made then several coats of primer were applied followed by lots of sanding. This green 2 part primer is KP-2CF-A (yellow) mixed with KP-2FC-B (blue). Just before this picture was taken the primer was scuffed with red Scotch Brite pads to help with adhesion.

Black Ko-seal II was applied next. This is a high quality primer sealer intended to increase the bond between the primer and the top coats and it prevents the topcoats from soaking into the primer and reducing gloss. Ko-seal II comes in black or white. We chose black because we want our blue to be as dark as possible honoring the original color of the car which was Daytona Blue.

Lapis Blue base coat, BC05, was applied about an hour after the last coat of Ko-seal. Lapis Blue was chosen from the House of Kolor color chart several months ago by Ty, Gerri and myself. 3 medium coats of this metallic blue were applied then allowed to dry for 15 minutes.

5 coats of Kandy Apple Cobalt Blue, UK5, were applied next. Candy colors are very difficult to apply without streaking. One of the ways to reduce streaking is to apply candy color over the same color base coat, which is exactly what we did. After the candy, 3 wet coats of UFC35 clearcoat were applied. UFC35 is an ultra-high gloss, chemical resistant, flexible clearcoat that will resist minor stone brusing.

So how did it turn out? Gerri and I think it's absolutely stunning. We could not be happier.

The following pictures do not do the paint justice but they are the best I could photograph. In the sun the metallic is dazzling, in the shade it's a beautiful dark blue showing no metallic. Cruising at night the car should look black. Lester, you and Jacquie NEED to come to Cool Desert Nights to see this.

Double click on the pictures to see the metal flake.

Too bad this gets covered up with weatherstripping.

It's beautiful!

The paint will dry for several days before we start the color sanding process. Color sanding will eliminate any orange peeling, nibs and/or blemishes. After color sanding I hope to buff and polish the paint to perfection. Wish me luck!

Odds and (Rear) Ends

2011-05-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

Two years ago this week we took delivery of our 1963 Split Window Coupe.
Oh my...

Today...

Preparations are being made for Cool Desert Nights 2011, a local car show we've attended the last few years. The engine compartment is mostly stock now, even the gauges are gone..

Gauges are now in a temporary dash cluster. The starter switches have been moved as well.

All repairs have been made to the drivers door and it has it's first coat of primer.

Sand blasting removed some of the fiberglass matting. The voids left by the matting have been filled with primer as shown. Although this looks rough it's actually very smooth.

The green ribbons of primer are filling shallow depressions left by the grinder. As above, this area is very smooth. One final heavy coat of primer for the whole door then a light sanding and we are ready for color.

Several months ago we had a poll asking which rear end we should install. The choices were 1975 (the one in the car), 1965 (one on our shelf), or go buy a 1963. The 1963 won by a huge margin. After months of looking here it is. This differential was assembled late 1962 and is perfect for our early 1963 Corvette.

Here are the date stamps (upside down). The majority of fuel injected Corvettes in 1963 were sold with 4-11 gears and that's what we have. This differential is perfect for our fuelie.

Thanks for watching.

Driver Door - Short and Sweet

2011-04-24T21:57:00.000-07:00

For the next few months I will only be able to work on the Corvette a few hours each weekend. I should be able to post pictures once every couple weeks so keep checking back. I am going to try a little less narrative as well. Check it out below and tell me what you think.

Drivers Side Door - Sheetmetal Repair

2011-04-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

The passenger side door repairs are complete, the primer coat has been applied and the door hangs ready for paint. The drivers side door has been removed and is ready for sandblasting.

A 100 pound bag of sand was used to sandblast the drivers door. A few areas were exposed that need welding, one of which is circled on the right side of the photo.

Here is a close-up.

Using a pointed burr grinder the rusted area was removed then the hole was trimmed as shown.

A sheet metal patch was cut and held in place with a magnet.

The sheet metal is too thin for a continuous weld so a series of tack welds were used instead.

Additional tack welds were added until the entire area was welded.

Using a thumb sized burr grinder the crowns of the tack welds were removed.

A sanding disc was used for final feathering of the repair.

Next I get to tackle this.

Wish me luck.

Post Script Picture:

Repairs were made followed by a coat of JB Weld to fill the nooks and crannies.

Passenger Door Rivet Replacement

2011-04-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

While working on the interior side of the passenger door I spotted several bumps on the fiberglass located on the outside top portion of the door. Double click on the photo for a close-up. They were insignificant looking and could have been sanded flush within just a few minutes. I decided to repair them instead.

A thumb size burr grinder was used to remove the fiberglass exposing an aluminum rivet. The rivet is used to hold the fiberglass panel to the steel door frame. It exhibited light oxidation but otherwise looked fine and the surrounding fiberglass looked fine as well. Oxidation must have been the culprit.

It would have been easy to fill the hole and sand the other areas smooth. I decided to grind out the other areas and remove the rivets instead.

New aluminum rivets were installed then buried in several layers of fiberglass matt and resin. Green masking tape was used to channel the excess resin off the door.

Remember, our fiberglass is clear. The rivet heads you see are buried deep, sandwiched in matting and are not exposed to air. Chances of these rivets oxidizing are sip, zero, nada.

After the fiberglass set up the masking tape was removed.

30 minutes of grinding and sanding produced a very nice repair job. We will shoot this with primer when the rest of the door is ready for it's second coat. The drivers side door is fine. There are no other similar repairs needed.

Passenger Door

2011-03-28T17:28:00.000-07:00

As you can see this door has a colorful history. The blue on the face of the door is the original color of the car, Daytona Blue.

There are too many nooks and crannies on the door to clean it up with power tools. I decided to sandblast instead. It took about 45 minutes.

Both the fiberglass and the sheet metal cleaned up very nice.

One of the nice things about sandblasting is that it's aggressive enough to show weak spots caused by rust. If you double click on the photo you can see an area that needs repair. There were a few areas like this, all were minor. None the less, I ground out the damaged areas then welded them back up, and feathered them smooth.

I also found a couple areas of damaged fiberglass. Prior to the repair this hole had been torn out.

A couple broken bolts and a few damaged rivets were removed and replaced.

After the repairs were made the door was sanded then wiped down with a tack cloth.

The garage was heated to 70 degrees then primer was applied. This will dry for at least 24 hours then it will be sanded, blemishes will be corrected, then it gets another couple coats of primer.

This is a very solid door with a very nice primer coat.

The Portland Swap Meet is coming up. Hopefully we will find interesting goodies for the car.

Thanks for watching.

Passender Side B-Pillar Fiberglass Repair

2011-03-13T19:33:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we repaired the drivers side B-pillar fiberglass. Now its time to do the passenger side.

This is the panel that needs to be reinstalled.

Before the fiberglass repair was started we had to fix a damaged rivet hole located near the tip of the drip rail shoe. A copper plate was positioned behind the sheet metal then the area was welded. The copper plate acted as a mold because weld wire will not stick to it.

The area was ground and shaped then the rivet hole was drilled a little later.

After aligning the pieces, fiberglass was applied to the backside, allowed to cure, then the front was ground then fiberglassed. This sandwiches the pieces and makes for a very strong repair.

The repair was feathered and blended and the rivets were put back in place. It's super strong and it's now ready for primer.

I think we will start working on the door jams next. We need to install the rubber mouldings so we can confirm a good fit on the drip rails. Because the only way to install the rubber moldings is to glue them in place, this will be the first place we paint Daytona Blue on the car. Should be interesting.

Side Exhaust on a 1963 Corvette

2011-03-04T18:36:00.000-08:00

I recently purchased an original 1965-67 Corvette side exhaust system on E-bay that included the exhaust pipes, covers, trim pieces, mounting brackets and all the hardware. This set is exceptionally nice and I'd rate it an 8 out of 10. These are perfect for our driver.

As you recall I had also purchased a new set of stainless steel reproduction exhaust pipes several months back. Since I now have an original set of pipes I decided to do a side by side comparison. The original pipes are in the background. It's easy to see that the reproductions have a significantly larger exhaust tip than the originals and that tells me the repo's will sound different. Since the originals are in such nice shape I decided to swap them out and go all original.

I was bummed when I realized a portion of the front wheel wells and all of the side brackets had to be removed in order to get the exhaust system to fit. After a couple days of deliberating I finally decided to go ahead and do it.

I cut the fiberglass using my Fein Multi-Master tool as seen in the previous picture. It's a great tool and it worked perfect.

The brackets are heavy gage steel and they are very close to the frame. I decided to cut these brackets with one of the most diabolical tools I own. The twin bladed, counter rotating, tungsten tipped Twin-Blade from Sears. You can see it in the picture below. This is a scary tool and it demands a ton of respect. It will cut through anything... and I mean anything. You turn it on and push it toward whatever you want cut. No backlash, no jamming, no slowing down. It took 1 minute to cut these brackets. I could have cut the frame in half in the same amount of time if I wanted to. It's a cool tool but very scary.

Done.

The exhaust covers and trim were installed first followed by the exhaust pipes.

The front brackets were sand blasted, painted and riveted in place.

The bolt that holds the exhaust pipe is suppose to go through a hole that I was suppose to drill in the frame. I decided to weld the bolt to the frame instead. It worked great and is very strong. By the way, that's only surface rust in the exhaust pipe. The pipes are like new.

They sound great and look awesome.

Yes, I did both sides.

This completes our Era Modified changes. Modifications include the Torq-Thrust D wheels, side exhaust, and the 67 big block stinger hood. Not shown is the rear torsion bar. I like it!

B Pillar Fiberglass Restoration

2011-02-27T08:37:00.000-08:00

Last year when we repaired the B pillars we had to remove the fiberglass that covered the pillars. It's time to reinstall those covers.

The drivers side cover was tabbed in place (two black tabs), riveted at the drip rail shoe, then fiberglass was applied after feathering all the joints.

I didn't like the gap between the top of the panel and the drip rail shoe so I decided to add a little more length to the panel. Our preference is to sandwich all fiberglass repairs. Because the panel is already fiberglassed into place I had to wedge open the gap at the top of the panel and place fiberglass matting on the backside. Duct tape was strategically placed to capture all the excess fiberglass resin run-off.

The back side was fully wetted with resin then fiberglass matting was put on the front side to complete the sandwich repair. The duct tape worked great. You can see the excess resin collecting on the paper towel at the bottom of the photo.

Here is a close up of the repair. Remember that our fiberglass is clear so even though you see rivet holes the holes are long gone.

A tongue depressor and duct tape were used to make the resin conform to the drip rail shoe.

After 24 hours the duct tape was removed. This picture was taken just before the fiberglass was trimmed to fit.

Double click on the picture to see how much length was actually added to the panel. It's about an 1/8" overall but it matched the shoe very nicely. This overall repair is extremely solid. Just prior to painting this area the pop-rivets shown will be replaced with flush mount countersunk rivets and bonding agent will be applied along the panel and the car skin. The same will be required for the passenger side.

The next post should be about the side exhaust.

Thanks for watching.

Wheels, Tires and Alignment

2011-02-20T10:26:00.000-08:00

The Uni-Royal Tiger Paw tires we had on the car were too large. Although this picture of the left front wheel well shows clearance, we did have clearance issues with the front sway bar, frame, rear leaf spring and the rear wheel wells.

Before we mounted tires on our 15X7 Torq-Thrust D wheels we dry fit them on the car taking careful measurements at several locations. We finally decided on 225-60-15 BF Goodrich tires because they are the exact diameter as the stock tires sold in 1963 and they are as wide as possible without having clearance issues.

In order to verify proper clearance both the front and rear axles had to be aligned. This preliminary alignment was done using a level for the camber and a length of string for the toe. The wheel dollies worked super nice during this process since they allow us to put the full weight of the car on the tires while allowing the tires to move during adjustment.

This is the left rear tire before the toe was adjusted. On the left side of this picture the string and the tire should be touching.

After moving several shims we ended up with an alignment that's certainly good enough for us to drive the car to the alignment shop without tearing up the new tires. Now we can check clearances.

This is a full right hand turn on the left front tire. There are no issues with the sway bar.

This is the front right tire in a full right hand turn viewed from the rear. As you can see we are very close to the frame but not touching. The next size up would have caused issues.

There are no issues with any of the wheel wells.

The rear sway bar and the leaf spring clear the tires and wheels without issue.

And what about that potential clearance issue on the front fender? No problem now.

I think the tires and wheels look great and I think we need to see them in action. Check out the short video below.

Tires, Valance and B Pillars

2011-02-14T20:48:00.000-08:00

TIRES
The votes are in and a full matching set of tires have been ordered. An exhaustive search of the Internet was performed to make sure we bought the widest tire possible without creating clearance issues. We ended up with 225-60-15 BF Goodrich tires with raised white letters. They have a good classic profile and the tread design is appropriate for our 63 Corvette. The set is on order and we expect them in a few days.

VALANCE
Ty has been rebuilding our rear valance, the piece that fits under the rear bumpers. The exhaust holes are being blocked off because we don't need them with side exhaust. There are also missing tabs and weak spots that are being corrected. Here are a couple photos of this in process effort.

B PILLAR

When we rebuilt the B pillars last year we has to remove the fiberglass panels that covered the pillars. We are now reinstalling these panels.

The fiberglass panel was riveted into place and duct tape was used to protect the drip rail shoe.

Double click on the photo to see how the fiberglass matches the shoe.

Watch for our new Torq-Thrust D wheels and BF Goodrich tires.

First Test Drive

2011-02-06T08:01:00.000-08:00

40 year old tires, soft brakes, and bungee cords to hold the doors shut. What the heck. Let's go for a ride!

... great! It ran great! The brakes need bleeding and we already adjusted the idle. The lack of power steering won't be an issue either. The tires really need to be replaced before we Fred Flintstone this thing around the block again. And speaking of tires, don't forget to use the poll in the upper right to help us decide what to purchase.

Thanks for watching!

Wheels and Tires - I Need Your Thoughts

2011-02-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

OK... I need your advice.

A set of 15X7 American Torq-Thrust D wheels have been purchased as shown (thanks Les for your input). Now it's time for tires. Do we want a full matching set of tires or should we rake the car by running smaller tires up front? All tires will be wider than stock, we're talking about one size difference in height. Use the poll on the right to cast your vote. Use the comment section below to offer thoughts. Tires will be purchased within the next 10 days. Thanks.

As long as we're talking wheels and tires, I found a web page that has some outrageous pictures of old 'Gasser" Corvette race cars from the 50's and 60's. Check them out here:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=545759&showall=1

"Dry Fit" and Drip Rails

2011-01-30T12:42:00.000-08:00

Dry fit continues. Since we didn't start with a fully assembled car we are not certain about how all the parts and pieces get assembled. The dry fit process allows us to identify and fix things prior to paint. Already we have found missing bolt holes (dash), too many holes (under the exterior rear view mirror), mis-located holes (drip rails), missing pieces (clutch linkage), malfunctioning pieces (hood hinge), alignment issues (dash to A pillar), and other similar issues. All have been fixed, repaired or replaced as needed. This effort continues and will be well worth it once we start the fit and finish process.

To complete the clutch assembly I needed a pin to connect the clutch pedal to the connecting rod located under the dash. I was unable to find one on line so I fabricated one out of a stainless steel bolt using my bench top lathe. The stepped section on the shaft was key to getting a good fit.

Last year I fabricated new drip rails for both doors but never got around to installing them. Last week I clamped the rails in place...

spot welded them from the inside...

fabricated drip rail shoes...

then welded both pieces together.

This is the old drip rail next to the new. The new drip rails will be weather proofed when we do the fit and finish on the car.

Brakes have been installed. This is an original 1963 master cylinder that was purchased with the car. It works great but I did manage to spill brake fluid on the firewall. You can see where the fluid ate away the paint on the fire wall and exposed green primer. This will be fixed when we disassemble the car for paint.

The battery, expansion tank, and the Heater Delete block-off cap on the heater hose have been installed. Although the battery fits, it is too tall. A shorter battery will be installed later.

All of the tail lights and running lights have been installed.

The dash, steering wheel and seats have also been "dry fit".

Even the FI air cleaner has been installed.

Except for the windshield, we are ready to Fred Flintstone this thing. Ty is out of town this week so we will wait until his return before we take this to the road. That should be fun. Stay tuned!!

Clutch Fork and an Oil Leak

2011-01-22T18:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I am a little embarrassed. I went to install the clutch fork through the clutch fork hole in the bell housing and guess what? You know the answer, it doesn't fit, the hole is too small. Aghh... I had to remove the shifter, shifter linkage, transmission and the bell housing. The body is on the car so all of this was done while lying on my back. Sheesh...

I found oil coming out of the hub on the front of the transmission and the side plate. I found a brittle gasket and no gasket at all. A quick trip to Napa was disappointing as the guy behind the counter said they don't carry gasket sets for manual transmissions, only automatics. Go figure. So I bought a set of gasket paper and made my own.

I freshened up the clutch fork with a little sand blasting followed by paint.

A 1963 clutch fork uses a push rod to fork configuration much like a push rod to rocker arm, basically a ball and half of a socket. In 1964 the clutch fork was changed to a pinned configuration as shown below. I decided to install the 1964 configuration simply because it looks like it would be less likely to fail. I might change my mind later but for now this is what we will use.

All the fasteners I use are new and either stainless steel, Grade 5 or Grade 8.

Everything is buttoned back up and we have a functioning clutch.

It won't take too much more before we can Fred Flintstone (Ty's expression) this thing around the block. Stay tuned for that!

Brake and Clutch Pedal Assembly

2011-01-13T19:20:00.000-08:00

Ta da!

Body Alignment, Engine Timing, and a Cracked Exhaust Manifold

2011-01-07T07:17:00.000-08:00

Now that the body is back on the frame we are able to see how much work will be needed to align the doors and the hood. Both doors look real nice, especially along the roof line.

The hood may require attention but we are not certain. There are two support rods and two brackets that fit under the nose to help support the electric motors for the headlights. We have the rods but not the brackets. We should get the brackets this week and hopefully the misalignment you see will be corrected. Fingers are crossed on this one.

Proper timing has been questionable since the first time the engine was started. The vacuum advance canister would either hit the FI unit or the coil bracket depending on which tooth the distributor was sitting on. We were never able to get the required 10 to 12 degrees before TDC. It was like we were 1/2 tooth off.

It turns out that the distributor can be indexed in half tooth increments by rotating the distributor drive gear 180 degrees. This is not something you will find in any service manual, you get this type of information from people that live and breath Corvettes.

I get technical and mechanical help from members of the National Corvette Restorers Society, or NCRS. See their response to my timing issue here http://www.ncrs.org/forums/showthread.php?p=528533&uid=2516 . The engine runs great thanks to their help.

And finally, when I sand blasted and painted the drivers side exhaust manifold I spotted a crack at one of the threaded holes where the manifold and exhaust pipe join. You can see it on the silver manifold on the left side if you double click the picture. These are very rare manifolds and I was bumbed when I found the crack. Fortunately, I was able to find another manifold in excellent condition. It's the one in the foreground, still unpainted.

After painting the new manifold the swap was made and it looks just like the other one. Only better.

We will start attaching parts to the body next and we will begin with the clutch and brake pedal assembly. Brother Jim, this will be the bench top work you suggested.

1963 FI SWC Restoration - You Tube Video

2011-01-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

Some of you have had trouble viewing video in the past so I am trying a link to YouTube. This video was taken January 2, 2011 and starts a new year for our build. Follow along and see how we do in the new year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JEQKAZLiTA

Mounting the Body to the Chassis

2010-12-31T19:35:00.000-08:00

It's time to fit the body to the chassis. We want to do this so we can check the fit on the doors, drip rails, hood, trim pieces, etc. We will basically assemble the car, verify everything fits, then disassemble for paint. In this picture I've drained the cooling fluid and removed several pieces on the chassis so the body can be installed.

Using the electric winch and body straps, we lifted the body off of the body dolly.

Ausy Pete, these are the shortened straps I told you about. They work great.

We were very careful not to scratch the fresh paint in the engine compartment.

Minor modifications were needed because of the side exhaust.

The body was shimmed then bolted down tight. It looks great!

Happy New Year!

Lets Paint

2010-12-24T21:24:00.000-08:00

Safety first!

Protecting the tools and toys.

Exhausting the fumes through the doggie door.

I had to use an old siphon paint gun to spray up in the wheel wells. A gravity gun, one with the paint canister on top, couldn't reach.

These photos were over exposed in order to show the detail in the wheel wells. The car is still green.

Only the wheel wells were painted in 1963. The rest of the fiberglass under body was left unpainted.

The engine compartment turned out exceptionally nice.

Everything looks great!

Merry Christmas!

Wheel Wells and Engine Compartment are Ready for Paint

2010-12-19T12:43:00.000-08:00

When this picture was taken the fiberglass repair had only been made from the underside.

The fiberglass repair is now 100% complete with exception to feathering and general clean-up.

Fiberglass is used as much as possible to make repairs.

The fiberglass we use is clear which makes it difficult to photograph our progress.

Very little Bondo has been used on the car.

More Sandblasting, Fiberglass Repairs and Paint Preparation

2010-12-12T18:43:00.000-08:00

The weather cooperated for about 3 hours on Friday so we did some sandblasting. The body was wheeled to the RV pad and both of the driver side wheel wells were sandblasted.

All areas received attention, even the areas that would never be seen. This was a messy job.

The fiberglass looked great after sandblasting but there were still areas that needed attention. Ty came over on Saturday and ground out a couple cracked bonding seams, feathered a few areas that need fiberglass repairs, and he did some general cleanup in preparation for paint. He was covered in dust and was as dirty as I was from sandblasting.

Time for a repair. This access panel is suppose to be oval but you can see someone modified it years ago. I can only guess why.

A batch of resin was prepared, strips of fiberglass matt were cut, then the repair was started.

After the fiberglass cured I used the die grinder to restore the original contour. Holes were drilled and all surface irregularities were removed. This repair is ready for paint.

I also decided to resand the inside of the engine compartment. This will be repainted when the drivers side wheel wells are painted.

Other minor fiberglass repairs were made this weekend and new bonding agent was applied where needed. While we wait for the weather to improve we will continue to make preparations for paint.

Thanks for watching.

Our 100th Posting + 20,000 Views + 20 Months of Work = Time to Recap

2010-12-07T19:45:00.000-08:00

This is our 100th posting and I thought it would be a good time to show some of the more memorable events of our build so far. If you've been watching since the beginning I bet you laugh at least once and also say, Oh yeah, I remember that.

The container in Hawaii

Cool Desert Nights -2009

Wilson

Rocky

Cool Desert Nights - 2010

Lester (Wilson) and Ty

Wheel Wells, Body Brackets, Shift Linkage & Stabilizer Bushings

2010-11-28T18:29:00.000-08:00

In the last 2 weeks we've had -8 degree weather and 8 inches of snow. Neither of these are conducive to painting. None the less that's just what we did, we painted the passenger side wheel wells. Since we couldn't go outside it was necessary to build a make shift paint booth to control over spray. Plastic was wrapped around each wheel well and a plastic flap was positioned over the wheel well opening.

The shop vac was used to collect the over spray.

A fan was used to blow the fumes outside.

It worked great. No over spray, the house didn't smell, and nothing blew up. The matt finish POR 15 paint looks real nice.

The front wheel well looks just as good.

We also installed the shift linkage. 1963 was the only year that had the 1-2 gear linkage cross over the 3-4 gear linkage as shown. All other years the linkage ran parallel to each other.

Ty replaced the last rusty body mount. This one is located inside the engine compartment, on the firewall, on the drivers side. This one drew blood just like the other one.

Ty swapped out the previously installed generic front stabilizer brackets and bushings for these GM manufactured brackets and bushings. These are exactly what would have been installed on a 63 Z06. The stabilizer bar is 7/8" in diameter.

I am not sure what we will work on next. I'd like to complete the drivers side wheel wells but that requires sand blasting and that has to be done outside. I don't have snow tires on the body dolly so the snow has to melt first and that may happen later in the week.

Thanks for watching.

Head Bolts and Body Brackets

2010-11-21T14:55:00.000-08:00

All of the coolant leaks are fixed. Every head bolt was removed, cleaned and reinstalled using Permatex High Performance Thread Sealant. This required the removal of both exhaust manifolds and the valve covers. Part of the air meter assembly (intake) had to be removed before the drivers side valve cover could be removed. The exhaust manifolds were sand blasted then painted with high temperature paint. Antifreeze is in the engine and it's ready to be started.

The shifter boot backing plate was installed. This is looking up from the transmission tunnel. Alignment bolts were installed in all the threaded holes that will hold the shift boot. The bracket was clamped tight near both of the rivets.

Using an air hammer with a blunt attachment and a piece of rubber hose to keep the tool on top of the rivet...

The rivets were hammered flush while holding a heavy piece of metal on the back side (I used a body dolly).

The 10 alignment bolts were later removed and the passenger compartment side was cleaned up.

Using the same general technique, Ty replaced the hood support brackets. This is inside the right front wheel well.

Ty also replaced an old body bracket located inside the engine compartment. This is on the fire wall behind the right wheel well. This bracket used 5 rivets and the backside was almost impossible to gain access. I think some of Ty's DNA is back there somewhere. The installation looks great and it's very solid. Thanks Ty.

The rolling chassis and the body are now rust free. If I can figure out a way to spray paint in the garage while controlling the over spray I might paint the two passenger side wheel wells next. Stay tuned. Thanks for watching.

Installing the Cooling System

2010-11-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

I started with a 185 degree thermostat then...

Modified it by drilling two 3/8" holes as shown. This will allow some water to pass the thermostat should it ever fail closed.

A water temperature gauge was installed...

Then the oil gage was reinstalled. (I know, it's not part of the cooling system)

The fan shroud was sandblasted then later painted with Por 15

A new aluminum radiator was installed. The original would have been copper.

It looks good.

The lower radiator hose is worth talking about. It took me 30 minutes to install this thing. Can't imagine what it would be like with the body on. Look how it snakes around everything.

When it was all done we ended up with a motor that was ready to be run. And that's just what we did. We ran it for about 10 to 15 minutes and found a few issues including:

A couple of the head bolts leaked because sealant wasn't properly used on the threads. Each bolt will be removed, cleaned, sealant will be applied, then re-torqued before moving to the next bolt.
The paint on the exhaust manifolds cooked off within 30 seconds. These will be repainted with high temperature aluminum exhaust manifold paint.
The timing and fuel mixture needs to be adjusted. We will start that work after we redo the head bolts.
We found a threaded hole behind the idler pulley that leaked like a sieve. It was lacking a plug. A quick trip to Ace Hardware made this a quick fix.

The engine ran nice, sounded nice, and it's throaty. My neighbor even came over and jokingly mentioned the noise. I am not sure we'll ever be able to drive this thing without getting a ticket. If we do get tickets we will frame each one.

More body work should be next.

Fiberglass Work - Before and After Pictures

2010-11-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

BEFORE & AFTER pictures of things we've been working on lately.

BEFORE - Both front and rear wheel wells on the right side of the car have cracked bonding. Double click on the picture and you'll see the crack near the bottom. This is the right front wheel well.

AFTER - Ty used the burr grinder to remove all the old bonding agent then, using a cake frosting bag, he piped in all new bonding agent. It sounds simple but this was a dirty job that took several hours.

BEFORE - This is the right rear wheel well. It has cracked bonding agent located behind the body mount.

AFTER - Using the same technique, Ty removed the crack and installed new bonding agent.

BEFORE - This is a view of several unfinished fiberglass repairs we made to the transmission tunnel last year. This is looking up from underneath the body and it's near the shifter. Before we tilted the body on the body dolly, access to this area had been very limited.

AFTER - The hole at the top of the photo is for the ash tray. The area just to the side of it will be cut out for the shifter. We are waiting for the shifter boot plate so we can use it as a template.

BEFORE - This is a fiberglass repair we made last year that was temporarily painted over for Cool Desert Nights. This repair area is located in the passenger foot well, on the firewall, viewed from the engine compartment. The paint was removed this morning to finish the repair.

AFTER - Fibre Strand Body Filler from Napa was used to fill irregularities in the fiberglass. Although it looks far from finished, the area is flat and ready for paint. This will be painted when we do the wheel wells.

And finally, Max H. likes an occasional big picture of what's going on in the garage so here you go Max... Enjoy!

HOME RUN! Our 1963 327 FI Corvette Engine Sounds Awesome!

2010-10-29T17:36:00.000-07:00

After weeks of frustration we finally got our 1963 327 fuel injected engine to run on its own. We are extremely excited and we love the way it sounds. It's awesome!

ORIGINAL FOOTAGE OF THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL START

ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE

Note: I wasn't able to download the audio file mentioned in the second video. This blog does not accept that audio file type.

MYSTERY SOLVED - IT WAS THE HIGH PRESSURE FUEL PUMP

I spoke with Gary Hodges yesterday. Gary is one of just a few people that really know how these mechanical fuel injection units work. Gary has been dealing with these units for the last 40 years. Gary sells FI parts and his web page is http://www.garyhodgesramjet.com/2001.html

I discussed the high pressure fuel pump with Gary and he recommended that I scribe all three main housing pieces before I take the pump apart. Ty is scribing the fuel pump in this photo.

Double click on this picture to see the scribe lines. It's important.

Now, take note of the tiny hole on the end cap near the center of the pump.

This tiny hole is located on the high pressure side of the pump and it shouldn't be there. When the pump is running the fuel escapes through this hole and goes back into the fuel bowl, not to the injectors. The end cap had been installed 180 degrees out of position.

This is the correct orientation. The vent hole is now on the atmosphere side of the pump. We verified this by examining a picture of an original fuel pump found on Jerry Bramlett's web page. Check it out here http://www.jerrybramlett.net/museum.html

Note the missing scribe line on the cap.

It's on the opposite side now. The pump is now assembled properly.

Time to reassemble.

Everything lined up perfectly.

We hooked up the spider and gave the pump a test. OMG! We could have drowned in all that fuel!

We were running the drill motor on the lowest speed possible. Fuel was gushing out like never seen before. Whoo hoo!

So, what happened next? Why we grabbed our spouses and celebrated with a little bubbly of course! Check it out:

Thanks for watching.

Cleaning Up the Wheel Wells

2010-10-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

All of our wheel wells have vintage undercoating. This would be old hard and dried undercoating. I removed large patches with an air chisel but it didn't remove years of dirt and road grim. I dug out several air tools and I tried all of these discs.

They worked well but they couldn't get into the nooks and crannies.

This area would have been impossible to clean with a die grinder.

So I decided to sandblast. It's messy, it's dirty, but I knew it would work.

I like using Quikrete Commercial Grade Medium Sand because the granules are small enough to get through the nozzle yet large enough to do a good job of removing rust and paint. Play sand doesn't work in my blaster, it plugs up the nozzle.

The results are pretty spectacular. In fact, this wheel well is ready to paint.

But this is only 1 wheel well and it took 100 lbs. of sand. Three more of these are waiting plus the transmission tunnel.

Ty, you're missing out on all the fun!

Manometer

2010-10-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today I built a manometer to find out if our motor creates enough vacuum to operate the spill plunger. A manometer measures pressure or vacuum and is measured in inches of either mercury or water. It's a simple device and I build one using the basic instructions shown at http://www.bullittarchive.com/7031.htm

To operate the manometer the PVC pipe was filled with colored water...

Then the ruler was positioned at the top of the water column.

The tubing was attached to the rear of the fuel injection plenum.

Then, with the coil disconnected, I cranked the motor over and it developed about 3.5" of vacuum. This is with the PCV valve installed.

I removed the PCV valve, plugged the hole then cranked the motor again. This time we got about 4.0" of vacuum. The PCV valve only took .5" of vacuum. Not bad.

So what does this mean?

One of my favorite sites for fuel injection information is Ramjets that Run at http://www.jerrybramlett.net/index.html. Jerry Bramlett talks about cold start cranking vacuum and states, "Only .5" to .7" water vacuum is needed at the main diaphragm during cranking to generate a good fuel stream at all nozzles."

So, in conclusion, since we only need .5" to .7" water vacuum and we have 3.5", I guess we need to look elsewhere for our cold starting problem. Next we will investigate the high pressure fuel pump at low RPM. Stay tuned.

Looking for Vacuum Leaks

2010-10-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

Our fuelie has trouble starting and a vacuum leak is the likely cause. I removed the cover of the fuel injection unit to take a look.

This is the connection that draws air from the fuel bowl. If you stand in front of the engine it would be located on the left side of the plenum. Although the rubber hose and fittings are an 1/8" or so in diameter, there is only a tiny hole that draws air. You can see the hole on the inside of the plenum just under the fitting. No issues here.

This is the fitting for the PCV valve and it's located on the left side of the plenum near the rear. We have a PCV installed but it might not be the correct one. The 63 and 64 fuelies had unique PCV's so this might be part of the problem. It's worth looking into.

This is the vacuum line that feeds the cold start enrichment valve and it's located on the front left corner of the plenum. This one we want to draw air.

This is the throttle body valve and it's located on the right side of the plenum. It's 99% closed during the cranking procedure. I don't see any issues here.

This is a threaded outlet used for power brakes. Since our Corvette doesn't have power brakes this outlet only gets a plug. I don't see any issues here either.

I removed and cleaned the plenum lid gasket. When I reinstall the gasket it looked like this. The gasket has 4 corners so it wasn't just me stretching it. There's just too much gasket on the far side.

I decided to replace the existing gasket with a home made gasket. I cleaned the gasket channel then masked both sides with 1/4" masking tape.

A tube of high temperature Permatex silicone gasket material was applied then smoothed over with a finger.

When the tape was removed it revealed a very nice form fit gasket. Double click on the picture for a closer look. This material takes 24 hours to fully cure so it will sit on the bench until tomorrow.

I am heading back to clean the wheel wells. It's a crappy job and Ty's not here to do it. Stay tuned, more to follow.

The Engine Started - We are Safe at First Base!

2010-10-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

Since the last posting Ty and I have re-looked at everything associated with the fuel. We identified 3 items that we felt needed to be corrected. The first item was the spill plunger. As you recall we had to make a valve for the spill plunger that came with our 327. That valve is shown in the spill plunger on the left. Since then I was able to find an original NOS spill plunger, the one on the right. Our valve does have a little more mass than the original so we decided to swap them out.

The second item was the "filter support" as shown in the picture below. This item was never installed in our unit. The filter support keeps the spill plunger up tight inside the fuel bowl and it's a critical part. Without it the spill plunger drops down and away from all the valving mechanism which means the fuel just recirculates. There are several different variations of this support and they range from rings to springs. We decided to use the o-ring as shown. It was a perfect fit.

The third item we examined was the Cranking Signal Valve. It's circled on the lower left of this picture. This is a small check valve that has a long history of not working well and it's essential for starting the motor when cold. If this valve fails closed the engine won't start. Period. I removed the valve and found the diaphragm couldn't hold a vacuum.

I tore it down and found the 5 components as shown. I cleaned them up and reinstalled them using silicone along the edges. It works better but needs to be replaced.

Having tried to start the engine previously with little success I wasn't optimistic about it starting today. In fact, I forgot to ask Gerri to film the event. We cranked it over and it started. Woo hoo! We let it run for only 20 seconds or so, but it ran! Gerri came running out with the camera and got the last few seconds and this short video captures our jubilation. The motor needs to be tuned but that won't happen until after the radiator support is installed, the radiator is refurbished, correct hoses are purchased, etc. etc.

Our focus is now leaning more toward the body. We modified the body dolly today to make access to the underside easier. This winter we will remove the old undercoating, make fiberglass repairs and install bonding agent where needed. We will work on the wheel wells first followed by the transmission tunnel, engine compartment, interior, then the exterior last. That's plenty of work to get us through the winter.

Thanks for watching.

Gentlemen, Start Your Engine - Strike 2

2010-10-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

Dennis K., Max H. and Ty came over today to help with the second attempt to start our 327. We started the day very optimistic but we were soon disappointed. We believe we still have a fuel problem.

We looked at everything that had anything to do with fuel. In this short video Max is simulating manifold vacuum to push gas through the injectors, Ty is running the starter and coil wire, I am running a drill motor to turn the high pressure fuel pump, and Dennis is spraying starting fluid and running the throttle. It was pretty comical and we did laugh about it, but the engine did run for a few seconds. We all agreed it was lack of fuel.

We examined the fuel line from the primary fuel pump up to the fuel injection unit and it was dry. Max and Dennis removed the fuel lines and the primary fuel pump for further inspection. The pump was bench tested and it worked fine. Something else was wrong.

The culprit was a bent fuel pump push rod. You can see the bend when it's put against a straight edge. The push rod was wedged in the block which means it wasn't functioning. Fortunately Dennis had a spare one and now the pump works perfect. We tried a couple more attempts to start the motor but now we have too much fuel. We decided to give the battery and the starter a rest and try it again in a few days.

Ty and I spent the rest of the day installing the drive shaft and shift linkage. When we were finished we looked for something else to do and there was nothing. The rolling chassis is done! We couldn't believe it.

The next post will be an update on the fuel injection unit. I was able to find a new spill plunger and it should arrive in a few days. I'll replace the one we repaired last week and take another look at all the vacuum connections and diaphragms. Ty took several of my fuel injection books home with him so hopefully we can noodle our way to a running motor. Stay tuned for more. Thanks for watching.