An Oil Leak, Center Council, and Seats

The oil leak was a combination of several things.  Loose valve covers, loose spark plugs, and an empty bolt hole (shown).  This is located on the front of the engine block in front of the fuel pump.

Viewed from below with an inspection mirror, you can see this is a open hole.  That's the fuel pump push rod on the far side of the hole.  Although this is not on the pressurized side of the oiling system, this open hole allowed oil to get on everything under the hood.

A bolt with sealant did the trick.  The bolt hole was used for front engine motor mounts used in the 50's.  It had no function in 63.

The center council was next.  That starts with the rubber shifter boot and retainer ring.  Also shown is the ash tray.

That's followed by radio side covers, center council trim and a trim ring.  Also shown is the arm rest.  This was installed for fitment only.  A new blue one is on order.

I finally got around to installing access plates located in front of the rear tires.    Also shown is the trailing arm center bolt and the stainless steel fuel line installed about 3 years ago.

The SEATS.

The fact that the seats are being worked tells me I am very close to being done with this restoration.  Think about it, the seats are the last "big ticket" item.  I am close!

The upholstery is generally correct but still not original to the car.  The seats were probably reupholstered 40+ years ago.  You can see they have lots of "patina".

Upholstery will be done by a highly recommended business located in Pasco.  They said it was OK for me to remove the existing upholstery and restore the frames.  Their only request was that I bring the old covers so they can see where the hog rings were located.

I ran about a 100 pounds of sand through the sand blaster.  The frames look great.  All the parts are there, there were no broken springs, and the sliding mechanisms function.

I blew sand out of the nooks and crannies then painted the frames with Por15.  The paint dried for a day then I irrigated the sliding mechanism with WD40.  I used a full can before they worked properly.  I will add white lithium grease after the seats have been upholstered. 

Double click on the photo.  The frames look really good.  

Blue leather seat covers, foam padding, clips, cardboard seat backing, hog rings and other seat related goodies have been ordered.  In fact, they shipped on March 30th so I expect them any day now.  When received, the folks in Pasco get to work their magic.

I found out some interesting things about the ignition system on our fuelie.  That will be the subject of our next post.

Thanks for watching. 

First Test Drive Repairs

After last weeks test drive I found a few things that need attention.  This includes soft brakes, loose trailing arm shims and this little jewel, a detached speedometer needle.

It took 3 hours to remove the steering column and dash, push the needle back on, then reattach all the dash wires, switches and cables and reinstall the steering wheel.  It's all done.  Whew...

The gas gauge wasn't working because of  a bad sending unit.  That requires the tank to be siphoned.

Then the spare tire tub has to be removed.

I already had a spare unit, the one is in the foreground.  It came with a new o-ring and locking ring.  I replaced everything.  The fuel gauge works fine now.

The brakes were soft.  I checked the National Corvettes Restorers web site to see if there was a trick to bleeding the brakes.  The most recommended solution was either to open the bleeders and use gravity or pressurize the master cylinder.  A vacuum pump was not recommended.  I decided to pressurize the master cylinder (shown). 

I built a simple plastic lid with an air fitting.  I added a large flat washer as reinforcement.

A standard clamp held the cap in place.  It only took about 5 psi to get the brake fluid moving.  There was a large air bubble in the left rear caliper.  The brakes are much better now.

I found loose trailing arm shims at both trailing arm locations.  My shop manual says the shims have to be packed tight then t torqued to 60 foot pounds.  They're tight now.

Here is one of the shims.

They get stacked side by side and go on both sides of the trailing arm. This view is from the front of the rear tire looking up.

If you haven't guessed, I took the Corvette out for another test ride this weekend to verify everything above.  All is well but I did find a new issue.  The right side of the engine is leaking oil at the #2 spark plug.  I called Matt P. and he recommended I put thread sealer on all the head bolts and exhaust manifold bolts.  That's a job that I will address in the next post.

So, instead of ending on a sour note I thought you'd like to see the headlights in action.  Check them out in this video.  A special thanks to Ty for restoring the headlight buckets a few years ago.  They work great. 

Rolling the Headlights