[ Up ] [ 79 Taking it Apart ] [ 79 Assembly ] [ 79 Body Interior ] [ 79 Debugging Car ] [ 79 Before & After Pics ] [ 79 Show Pics ] [ 79 Status ] One of the first things I did was to cut off the crappy front and rear end. Both were broke or cracked and neither resembled the factory spoilers. Here are the pics of the new ACI fiberglass parts. I met the vendor at Mid America's Funfest and bought the bumper covers a week later factory direct for a 25% savings. I always recommend buying direct!
The engine compartment was filthy with dirt, paint over spray from lame good intentions, and unusual mechanical modifications. I labeled everything coming off and documented the entire process. The second picture is a solenoid that was added to the fire wall because the wires had melted at the starter. Take a good look at it because it won't be in the finished product! The radiator and housing came out without a hitch.
Ah yes, the fancy red velvet interior. I couldn't wait to get that out before too many people saw it. I started with the wires and hoses and labeled everything well enough so my wife could put it back together. Fat chance, but that's how thorough I wanted to be. The other pics are of the blower motor box and the emergency brake assembly. Finally the last pic is the gutted interior. I know I heard a sigh of relief from the car the moment the last of the velvet was removed!
Here is a poor man's body cart. It cost me about 40 bucks and an afternoon, but has been working great ever since. To get the body ready to lift I spent at least 30 hours in a bent position grinding body bolts off. Only one was nice enough to let me unscrew it and all of this was after a week of soaking in liquid wrench. In the next pic you can see the friends of mine who prize free beer and pizza over a little hard work. They lifted and I rolled the chassis out, and the body cart in --- piece of cake! After taking the body off I found the tank sticker in tact, but difficult to read. With a little work I got it off and will have it laminated to go into the scrap book. As far as the frame goes, if dirt and surface rust were gold, I could have retired just from standing next to it. Fortunately there didn't appear to be any damage to it anywhere... amazing!
These are just some random pics from the disassembly process. The head light assembly bracket had broken mounting holes on both sides. Disappointing because that meant replacing. Luckily I have a vette grave yard near by and they know me by name. The rear end was in great shape, but needed cleaning, lubing, and painting. The trailing arms on the other hand needed much more. These were treated to new bushings, bearings, and emergency brake assemblies. While disassembled the main parts were blasted, primed and painted to factory specs. The pic of the engine here looks way more normal than this piece of steel performed. A problem that was not soon enough fixed. Finally just a pile of old parts waiting for my time and patience to restore.
I have over 300 pictures of the disassembly and assembly process so if there is a special pic of a part that you would like to see just let me know! Contact me @ 69convbb@corvetteprojects.com
When complete, all pictures will be available on cd upon request for the cost of the cd and shipping.
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