Firewall and Inner Fender Repair Work Continues

The more work I do in the engine compartment, the more areas I find that need repair.  Of course, the best time to do them is now while the body is off frame.  I can do all the work while seated comfortably on my rolling shop stool and I can access all the areas.  It has been frustrating and disappointing because I had planned to have the body mounted on the frame and have had most of any mechanical issues worked out two weeks ago.
 
However, I have made progress in some areas;  figured out how to mount the DBW gas pedal, removed ALL the interior, allowing easy access to the power brake booster, removed the AC/heater box and assembly, etc., etc., yada, yada, yada!

I've been learning fiberglass repair and I'd like to thank Dub, owner of Corvettes Etc. in Charlotte, NC, for taking the time to give me tutorials over the phone and internet.  His knowledge and advice have been invaluable and he has helped me get past my demoralized moments when I would think a task was in the too hard to do category.

Some, not all, areas follow:

Under the left fender. The front of the rocker panel  attaches here.  It should look like the fender section in the next pic. I got it to patch in, but Dub convinced me to spot repair rather than compromise the intergrity of the fender by cutting the section into it.

I built the area up with fiberglass and I'll will get to work on it with the grinder, filler and Dremel tool.

Sections of the firewall separating.

Old adhesive chipped out and the seam is ready for bonding.

The inside of the side scoop on the left fender was delaminated from a poor repair job.

The old repair job exposed after grinding.








Making a mold to lay in new fiberglass.









Holes in the firewall.

Holes patched 

A hole in the fender well ready for patching.








Checking the the drive by wire (DBW) gas pedal for fitment.  The upper mounting hole fits the existing hole in the frirewall and I drilled one for the lower.  The lower hole was below the existing metal mounting plate so I fabbed a new one and molded it into the firewall just above the big firewall patch (two pics up) by extending the patch far enough upward to mold in the plate.

  

I couldn't stop myself.  Once I started pulling the interior out, I figured the more stuff out of the way, the easier to work on things.  I pulled out the brake and clutch pedal and the rest of the wiring harness after I took this pic.

Starting work after the winter break, or, my wife let me have her half of the garage back after the snow melted!!

I took a break for the unusually snowy winter we had here and rolled the chassis assembly under the body so my wife could use the garage during the snows.  The weekend after the engine start up in my last post, I raised the body high enough to roll the engine/chassis assembly under it for the winter.  Once it got to the low 20s, I decided to pack it up for the winter.  By the time my friend brought over a propane shop heater, the temps were rising and it's been tolerable working temps in the garage.  I have been using the heater for the fiberglass work, raising the heat of the body panels and the working temp for the resin/hardener.  I rolled the chassis out and moved it back into the other half of the garage, re-occupying my wife's side of the garage and making her park outside again. 

I am doing all the minor body/engine compartment work that is facilitated by having the body off the frame.  I fiberglass patched the underside of the mounting holes for the luggage rack on the rear deck lid since I won't be mounting the rack.  There are numerous little cracks and bad spots on the body that I'll patch from the inside.  I'll patch and finish the outside when I start the body/paint phase.  I'm also rebuilding the AC and converting it form the old VIR system to the newer accumulator system.

Of course, while the frame/engine is out/off, I'll patch, clean, and paint the firewall and engine compartment.

 I want to thank "DUB" of Corvettes, Etc., in NC who has given me telephone tutorials and advise on the fiberglass repair.  I found him in the paint/body section of the Corvette Forum.

Pix of the fiberglass and AC work to follow (as soon as I reload the flashcard driver on my computer).

IT'S ALIIIVE!!!!

First start up.  After almost three years of disuse, the motor fired on the first crank and blew just a puff of black smoke.I disconnected the plug wires and turned the motor over with the starter a few times to get the oil moving.  The video clip is poor quality and there's some down time in it since I don't have the Quick time editting software.  Watch the first 30 seconds, fast forward to 1:50 then watch the rest.  The lighting is bad so

I added some still pix to show the jury rig set up.  I used an ignition switch from NAPA to start it and used jumpers for power to the starter.  There's no exhaust hooked up, just the manifold and the LS2 adapter pipes from Vetteworksonline.  During the last run I'm testing the drive-by-wire (DBW) accelerator pedal.

A good 60 lbs on the fuel pressure guage.

Short update

I haven't gotten as far along as I had planned.  But, that's how projects go, don't they?  With the advent of cold weather (it gets cold in that unheated garage around 6:00 pm), the Christmas season, and the usual other distractions, work has slowed quite a bit.  I want to get the body on within the next couple weeks so my wife can use her side of the garage before the real bad weather hits. I got her a new snow blower for Christmas just in case.   Progress since the last post:

Engine accessories reinstalled - had to change out the stock LS2 water pump (wp) for a LS1 because the LS2 pulley is not deep enough to run the LS1 brackets/belt. However, the LS1 wp has bolts that hold the rear cover on and these bolts hit the timing cover, requiring the bolt heads to be ground down.  I had to remove the heater hose fittings and tap the holes for the 90 deg offsets (again) and tapped a hole (1/8" npt) in the wp boss for the steam line from the heads.  You can see the stainless line in the pix below.  That's a MAF with air cleaner from Street & Performance and the AC brackets are made by Josh at Custom Image Corvettes.

The steam vent at the top of the head and the vent line routed under the MAF.

The LS1 pulley sticks out further to accommodate the F-Body brackets/pulleys/belt.

The vent lined attached to the fitting I drilled into the wp boss at the thermostat housing boss.

 

The vent line passing under the MAF.



Driver side exhaust manifold adapter for LS2 made by Dan at VetteWorks.  I got the first set made.  They fit the stock flange and have a 2 " long section for fitting the exhaust pipe.

I will have to offset the exhaust pipe slightly to clear the clutch lever.

Passenger side.

Magnaflow exhaust kit in for mock up.  It's made for stock Big Block C3 vettes and almost lines up perfectly with the stock LS2 exhaust w/adapter.



The X-tube.

 I'm still debating if I want to go with factory C3 side pipes or stay with this MagnaFlow.  The pros for the side pipes area just that - they're side pipes and look cool.  The cons are that they are loud and the sound is at your ears rather than at the rear, there is no performance advantage, and I would have to buy them and fab the connectors.  I have the MagnaFlow kit, they make great systems, and the performance factor will be an improvement over the stock system of the donor car. But, I'll still have to fab the connection.

'Nother update

The frame with drive train is almost complete. The motor and tranny are in, the gas tank with fuel pump mod is done and the Russell fuel line is run, the VB&P Performance Plus suspension and Rack Attack steering unit are installed, the rear end has new pinion and side yoke seals/inspected and installed, stainless steel brake lines/powder coated calipers from VB&P, etc.

Just a few more items before I do a test start while the body is off the frame/drive train!!

Stock clutch Z-Bar w/custom adjustable rods. I'm going to use the mechanical McLeod throw out bearing. I painted the stock exhaust manifold and polished the covers and painted them with hi-temp clear. I sold the Melrose headers and am trying to decide to go with after market factory style side pipes or use the Magna-Flow polished stainless steel C3 system I have now.

The u-joints are for the steering column.

The fuel line and ss brake lines.

The fuel pump and lines. The loop is a design by Dan at Vetteworks to eliminate the fuel return line. That's an Edelbrock in-line filter.



The fuel pump installed using Vettework's brackets. They come plain and I painted them to prevent rust. No comments about the sloppy tack welds - I am an amateur, you know!

Had to cut a 3.875" (3 7/8") hole per the instructions. I could only find a 3 5/8" hole cutter. I used it, thinking I would grind the hole to fit the pump. Actually, it cut a perfect fit because there was just enough slop while it was cutting.  I decided not to compete for the Darwin Awards by cutting and welding the original tank, so I bought a new steel reproduction tank that had no fuel residue in it.



I moved the body out so I could degrease and pressure wash the underside. I need to wire brush and paint the fitting points for the body mounts and the metal under side where the frame side rails fit.

More to follow soon.

Frame almost completely assembled

From this.................................waiting to go to the sand blaster...............




..............................to this.







So how DO you flip over a frame to paint top and bottom when you're alone and only have an engine hoist....hmmmm...another...crustacean??!!








Mods to suspension/brakes:

Vette Brake and Products (vbandp.com)

1. Performance Plus Suspension; new box tube upper & lower control arms, transverse front fiberglass spring replaces coils, new vbp rear fiberglass dual mount transverse spring, vbp adjustable rear struts, vbp offset training arms w/SS parking brake and new bearings, Bistein shocks, etc. yada-yada-yada. All powder coated pewter.


2. Rack Attack rack and pinion steering


3. New VBP SS brake lines. New VBP stainless steel O-ring calipers, powder coated pewter.


Next: clean, repaint gas tank/cut hole in it (wait for news flash from CT - "Retired soldier blows up self and garage welding gas tank - PTSD blamed!!!!") and install 2000 Camaro in-tank fuel pump and run custom Russell fuel line.


MO to follow.

Frame removal

This past Saturday, my wife's godson, at $10 an hour for six hours, and I dropped the frame from the Vette. I'm rolling now!!!!





For some wild, gawdahful reason only a gearhead can understand, just at the start of spring, I decided to take a perfectly good, well running 5 speed 2000 H-D FXST, Softail Standard that I have mildly customized over the years apart. I installed a RevTech 6 spd gear set, 58 mm inverted Marzocchi front fork with Kosman billet racing trees, and a bunch of over stuff too numerous to mention here. So, this set the Vettte project back even more.

Motor/tranny in for mock up.

Finally got the motor and tranny in and the accessories, headers, wiring harness, etc. mocked up. Getting ready to install an F-Body in-tank fuel pump in the tank with the VetteWorks adapter kit. Ordered the VBP Performance Plus suspension kit and their Rack Attack Rack and Pinion steering kit. I need to build the fule system and get power to it for a test start up. After that I'll decide whether to pull the body off the frame and paint the frame or just build it so I can drive it..

Okay, I'm serious this time, really!!

I've decided to go with the Tremec TKO500 5spd OD kit from ClassicChevy5Spd. I'll sell the T-56. The drop in kit appealed to me more than fabbing parts for the T-56. The gear ratio numbers are good: The 5spd will give me just under 1900 rpm @ 70 mph and 1st gear will make my 3:08 rear act like a 4:11. I ordered Speedhound's Melrose coated headers and Magnafow exhaust. Trey at Speed hound is a great guy and is willing to share his knowledge and advice - I recommend him to anyone interested in doing this conversion.

I plan to start mock up of the motor for fitment week after next when I get back from a business trip and hopefully install the motor and tranny by the end of April or early May, depending on my work schedule.

Finally starting some work.

After several months of remodeling work in the house that was supposed to be a few weeks........&*^&%&^%# contractors!!!! Well, I have my garage back and some time to devote to the project. Slow steps at first and I know this probably isn't worth the effort to post, but I've never owned an engine hoist and never lifted a motor before...aaand I'm finally doing something after being delayed by the contractors who had their material in the garage...so it's a major milestone - 1st official step, so to speak. I wanted to get the motor off the pallet, keeping it on its small crating pallet, and putting on to a dolly so I could move it around and start the mock up of engine accessories. Besides, the big pallet was taking up room and I can now get around the garage to organize my work area.