# 7 Cylinder and Door Panels

The issue with #7 cylinder has been resolved.  Matt P and John S helped diagnose the issue and we thought it must be either a missing or damaged intake valve stem seal or a bad fuel/injector.  Both were probable, both were wrong.  When the valve cover was removed I found a dislodged rocker at the #7 intake.

The possibility that normal break-in caused this is highly unlikely.  I found out I could turn the rocker nut with just my fingers and that's wrong.  Rocker nuts have crushed ends and require wrenches for installation and removal.  This one had little to no resistance.  I bought all new rocker nuts and replaced all the existing ones.  I paid special attention to the resistance when removing the old ones and I was surprised that several had little resistance.  The new ones are very tight and almost require two hands to tighten.

Lesson Learned:  Always pay attention to rocker nut resistance during installation.

Our cam card specifies .030/.030 lash on the intake/exhaust valves when hot.  Forum discussions on the National Corvette Restorers web page recommends .027/.027 for optimal performance.  Since a cast iron block with cast iron heads is expected to tighten .003 from cold to hot, I set lash at .030 cold.  I started the engine (it ran great), warmed it up, checked lash and sure enough, .027/.027.  I then checked compression and all cylinders were between 190 and 200 PSI.  We're good!

New Topic

I purchased a used passenger door panel on EBay recently.  I needed this panel because I didn't have several trim pieces, specifically, the hockey stick and the stamped steel upper piece (not shown).

These are the pieces I salvaged.  The stamped steel piece on the far left was sand blasted and painted.  The hock stick was fine as is.  The fuzzy window eyebrow piece, far right, was stapled to the stamped steel at the factory.  I have new eyebrows but I don't have a heavy duty stapler.  Humm...

The new eyebrows came with staples so I decided to use them.  I aligned, clamped and drilled the eyebrow then inserted, bent and secured each staple with pliers.

It turned out great.  One down, many to go.  (Note my fancy 4th of July cast)

Here is the completed passenger door.  The new brow is at the top.

I finished both door panels and they turned out very nice.

New Topic

Al Knoch Interiors finally sent all the seat components.  This Thursday I will drop everything off at a local upholstery shop recommended by several car enthusiasts.  I am told I can pick them up the following Tuesday.  It will be nice to finally get the seats done.

Don't forget, Hot August Nights in Reno, NV is our next car show and we hope to have the Corvette done for that event.  Dennis and Annette K will also be going and they intend to bring their 57 Chevy Nomad.  Should be a fun event.

Thanks for watching.
      

Cool Desert Nights - 2013

What a great day.  We arrived at 6 am and found the grassy area 80% full.  We set up in a spot close to our usual location.  This year it was the Corvette, the Schwinn, Gerri and I.  Dennis and Annette K were in Las Vegas and weren't able to join us.

This was the first day we saw the car in full sunlight and I have to say it was stunning.  Early in the morning the car favored the color purple but by high noon it was blue as blue can be.

People admired the car all day long and comments were non-stop.  The most asked question was, "What color is that?"  Early on we tried to explain all the colors and the process but found later that the best answer was "Cobalt Candy Blue".  Professional painters weren't satisfied with that answer and wanted the details.  Everyone loved the ghosted stripe.

Gerri and I decided the most frequent statements were, "63 Split window, my most favorite car ever" and "That is the most amazing paint job I've ever seen."  Without question we heard those two statements at least a hundred times each.  Comments were non-stop all day long.  I was amazed.  Click on the picture, you'll see.

Max H showed up and it was great to see him.  Max is one of the 5 most frequent visitors to this blog and he does it from half way around the world.  He was suffering from 12 hours of jet lag.

Just because it's beautiful.

700 cars showed up for Cool Desert Nights this year.

CDN was full-on with great participation.

This was Gerri's favorite.  The teardrop was awesome.

Wow.

Now this is purple.

Gerri took this picture.  Look close and you'll see our Corvette.

On a sour note I have to tell you we developed an oil leak at #7 cylinder.  It's fouling the plug and smoking out the left side pipe.  My suspicion is a bad or missing valve stem seal.  It's not a big deal but it wasn't something I expected.  I'll start investigating the issue in a few days.

I started feeling bad then I saw this poor guy showing off his quad ride.  I am much better now.  

The car isn't done so this won't be the last post.  I am going to target Hot Summer Nights in Reno instead.  That's a couple months away and that gives me enough time to complete the interior.   Next post won't be for a couple weeks though.  I am having foot surgery Tuesday and I'll need a little time before I can start working on the car again.  See you in a few weeks.

Thanks for watching.