Rust Prevention Inside Frame Rails & New Fuel Tank Install

MORE RUST PREVENTION...

Jul 16, 2014

Oct 24, 2014

The powder coaters delivered the frame back after only a week and what a difference!  Totally pumped now to start bolting shiny parts back on as all I've been dealing with for awhile is rust, dirt, and grime.  Unfortunately still some more cleanup needed on some suspension components, but definitely turned a corner with the return of my shiny few frame.  Here's a side-by-side of the bottom of the front cross member.  That caved in area due to being used as an improper jacking point is looking pretty good now.

I've been wondering all along though how to protect the inside of the frame rails from rust.  Powder coating doesn't reach inside, but then I discovered the product below.  You attach the plastic tube to the can and at the other end they have a brass fitting with several holes that cause the paint to fan out in all directions when sprayed.  It will seep out where you don't expect though, so I had to frantically work some paper towels as well.  In hindsight, I wish I would have treated inside the frame rails before powder coating, but glad I have some protection inside now.

 





Here's a side-by side looking down the front cross member from the spring pocket.  Notice the metal plate at the end... that's one of the gussets I welded in when reinforcing this area of the frame.

before treatment

after treatment

NEW FUEL TANK...

I opted for a new complete fuel tank kit for peace of mind versus trying to restore my original tank.  I was annoyed though to find out upon delivery that the kit did not include the filler neck.  How a 'complete' fuel tank kit does not include a filler neck is beyond me.  I decided to restore mine especially when I saw this small part was about $80 new.  It needed some work though because I stored my original tank outside in the elements since I planned on discarding it after the new one was installed.  As a result, my filler neck was looking pretty rusty. But after some research, I found the appropriate product to stand up to the environment it was going to be in.  It came out looking pretty good too.

 

For the actual tank install, everything went pretty smoothly with the sending unit, but attaching the straps around the tank to the frame was a bear.  It took 'significant adjusting' with a rubber mallet where the straps hook to the supporting cross member to get them to just barely reach to the rear of the frame where they bolt in.  Got it eventually though, and it is in there tight now.  Before the straps were attached, I had to hunt down a new plastic shield for the back of the tank.  Mine was discovered to be badly cracked when the body was lifted and it is important as its job is to minimize chances of puncture upon a rear end collision.  I don't know how mine got cracked, but there is no other evidence of rear damage on the car.

NEXT POST...
In my next post to come soon, I'll talk about my final suspension decisions, including work on my trailing arms by THE Gary Ramadei (aka GTR1999) on the forums.  Incidentally, I also have a 'Super 10 Bolt' differential in his queue now and really pumped about the capabilities that will have!

Frame Repair And Strengthening

It's been busy with work, etc, but made time here and there for frame repairs and strengthening.  First, I power washed it to remove 42 years worth of grime, not to mention the pounds of sand I discovered inside the frame rails.  It was an Arizona car and I figure the sand hassle was a fair trade in exchange for the excellent no-rust condition it was in having spent its life in a dry, albeit sandy, climate. It was no small endeavor to move it out of the garage and onto the driveway to power wash, but thankfully my 14 yr old son and I were up to the task.

July 19, 2014

The plan was then to media blast it in a home made tent in the garage.  I gave it a valiant effort, but the combination of fully realizing the mess it was going to make plus never getting the media blaster to work quite right forced me to wave the white flag.  I returned the media blaster and got to work with a wire wheel to do localized surface prep for welding.

The biggest hurdle with the welding was that I had never done it before, but I've never done any of this before!  I wasn't going to let that stop me, so off I went to get an affordable MIG welder and some steel to practice on.  After some research, I was ready to give it a try.  Turns out that MIG welding is not that hard to do, but doing it well is another story.  I'm sure a pro would have issue with many of my amateur welds, but after a bit of practice I was able to design and weld up this barbell rack for my basement weight room.  It is still standing!

With my first welding project completed, it was time to tackle the frame.  First job was the bottom of the front cross member.  It was caved in due to improper use as a jacking point.  As you can tell from the picture below, the area is clearly not suited for that and you would think somebody would have noticed before taking it this far!

bottom of frame front cross member

You can see in the pic my guide lines for cutting out the bad area, which I did with a cutting wheel on my angle grinder.  The spot welds were broken with a cold chisel.  Then I fashioned some vertical ribs from 3/16" steel plate and welded those in as extra support in case someone wanted to jack it here again.  Finally, a new cap was cut from the same steel plate and shaped with a BFH to get the arch needed.  After some welding and grinding, the final result came out nice enough for this amateur and should be stronger than original for sure.  Once it is powder coated it should blend in well enough and certainly leave the area looking better than it did.

   

Next on the to do list was to weld in gussets at several points in the front section of the frame.  If you plan to autocross, these are recommended in the Corvette section of the Chevy Power Book produced back in the '70's.  I discovered this document in my research some time ago and wanted to follow their recommendations in case I ever did get that urge.  Before the chassis was disassembled, I made cardboard templates for all the gussets to be sure there would be no clearance issues with components of the engine or suspension.  Then the gussets were cut from 3/16" steel plate for strength, except for boxing in the front frame horns where I used 1/8" plate for better fit.  Below are some pics of the process and finished product.  Much more time was spent grinding than welding, but that's what I got for amateur welds!

The Chevy Power Book also recommends welding in the skip welded areas on the frame rails.  From the factory, the two halves of the frame rails were skip welded together every few inches or so, presumably to save time in the manufacturing process.  Welding the skipped areas is recommended to further stiffen and strengthen the frame.  Frankly, I'm unlikely to drive the car that hard when it is complete, but I figured better safe than sorry on doing the skip welds just in case I did ever want to autocross the car.

With the skip welds recently completed, I shopped around for a local powder coater and found an outfit nearby that would pick up and deliver.  They will media blast the entire frame, do some more grinding, and then powder coat it.  I should have the frame back in a week and can then begin bolting some things back on.  Meanwhile, time to make some decisions on the suspension.  The next post will document those decisions, show off my shiny new frame, and begin the process of putting back together a rolling chassis.

Chassis Disassembly

July 16, 2014

The chassis is completely disassembled finally.  Didn't take too long really, but couldn't get to it until this month.  I was really fortunate in that there was not a single bolt or nut that I couldn't break lose with just wrenches and occasionally some PB Blaster treatment.  I was painstakingly careful in documenting everything with lots of pictures and partially reassembled suspension and steering components off the chassis to make remembering how everything goes back together easier.  I have 120 pictures of just the chassis disassembly alone!

front suspension

rear suspension

I think meticulous organization down to every nut & bolt is key in the restoration process for an amateur such as myself.  Whenever possible I re-installed nuts and bolts to the original part once off the chassis.  Also, when disassembling the front and rear suspension it is important to keep track of the shims to make the trip to the alignment shop easier in the end.

passenger side trailing arm shims

passenger side upper control arm shims

 Next step... degrease, pressure wash, and media blast the frame to prepare it for rust preventative.

Lift Off!

4/6/14

4/6/14

As you can tell from above the restoration has begun!  Took me a few weeks of a couple hours here and a couple hours there to work through the odds & ends of things to disconnect but finally the body is off the chassis.

I'm working in a two car garage and space is tight, so first I had to back the corvette out of the garage to have the space to build the body lifting rack and body dolly.  The lifting rack was modeled off plans from the great website The Corvette Restoration Page.  Here's a link to the lifting rack plans.  The rack was easy to build in a weekend afternoon, and fit perfectly under the chain mechanism for my automatic garage door opener.  I added the X-bracing on each side after an initial attempt with the weight of the body and noticed the rack start to try to fold forward towards the front of the car.  Used 2 x 4's for the X-bracing and that cured that problem nicely for me.  The body dolly was built off of plans I found on the Corvette Forum.  Many thanks to Alan71 for his plans and here's a link to the post that contains those plans.

To get the lift started, I initially used a floor jack and wood blocking to get the body a couple inches in the air.  This technique insured that anything encumbering the lift or still connected to the body could be spotted and taken care of before getting the body fully in the air.  Several of these were discovered, such as rear bumper brackets, a ground wire, a couple vacuum hoses, etc.

passenger #1 body mount

After all looked good to go, my father & I worked the chain falls in tandem to get the body up in the air, pushed the chassis out from underneath, positioned the body dolly under the body, and lowered the body onto the dolly.  Voila!  The body is separated from the chassis for the first time in 42 years!!!  More difficult than it sounds and there were mishaps such as when one of the wheels broke off the dolly while trying to get it and the body over the lip from my driveway into my garage.  Thankfully the body dolly was well built, and a quick repair was made.  Then we made a phone call to my brother-in-law for extra muscle and successfully the three of us got it into the garage.

Next plan is to be sure I have everything photographed, cataloged, etc before dismantling the chassis for media blasting.  I have over a hundred pics already to keep track of how everything goes back together, but taking more now with the body off.  Looking forward to the next phase!  Stay tuned...

Working Up to Starting the Resto-mod

Still catching the blog up to the actual time of where I'm at with the '72.  As I type this post, I am almost ready to begin the resto-mod.  I initially thought I would drive and enjoy the car for a few years first, but I've become increasingly concerned with its safety for the following reasons.

• The seat belts were frozen/rusted and unworkable.  I replaced these right away with after market belts, but started to make me worry about other issues that may be hiddened.

Oct 2013

• The steering was pretty loose.  I eventually narrowed this down to a bad steering flexible coupling joint ("rag joint").  I've since replaced this, and the steering is a bit better but still does not have the tight feel that I want.  This could mean the steering box needs rebuilding.

old rag joint in car

 

Nov 2013

• I watched an episode of "Fast N' Loud" on the Discovery Channel that featured a car with brake line issues.  The show is about a hot rod shop that flips cars for profit, and this particular episode showed a car with rusty brake lines that gave way during their work only hours after the car was being driven into the shop.  My '72's brake lines (and fuel lines for that matter) are original to the car and wouldn't want them to cut loose while driving down the road!

So the resto-mod is due to begin soon.  It will give me peace of mind with respect to driving safety, not to mention that I'm eager to get started anyway.  I acquired a large compressor to run a sandblaster and air tools, and built a workbench for the garage.  Just the other day, I got some wood to build the dolly that the body will sit on once it is separated from the chassis.  I also need to build a body lifting rack.  Next post will include pics of these two items... after that, let the resto-mod begin!

How a Hot Rod Should Sound!

A quick video of the engine start. Ignore the dog barking in the background.... he appreciates the sound too! Gotta love the deep throaty sound of the 454 big block and its true dual exhaust.

Buying the '72

For several weeks, I scoured the internet for the right car for me.  My criteria were...

• C3 generation corvette because that is by far my favorite body style... I really like their sexy curvy look and believe the models from '84 to current have body lines that are mostly too straight and boring in appearance

• '68 - '73 model year because I wanted true dual exhaust, no catalytic converter.  The '74 model year also qualifies but I don't like the way the split rear bumper looks.

• Not concerned about a "numbers matching" car.  I knew I wanted to do a frame-off mild restoration modification ("restomod") and altering a numbers matching car would mess with my conscience.

• Currently running and driving.  I wanted to be able to enjoy it for a bit before the long restoration process began.

• As little rust as possible.  Yes, the body of these cars is fiberglass, but the uninformed doesn't realize that the frame, bird cage, etc, are steel and have certain areas that are notorious rust concerns.

• Big block engine... for the sheer horsepower potential!

• Manual transmission... a car like this begs to be shifted manually!  One big problem... I've never driven a stick before!

Oct 11, 2013

With that criteria as a guide, I searched for just a few weeks and came across the one pictured above and was drawn to it right away.  It fit all my criteria, plus the price was right in my mind since it could benefit from a restoration... but that was my plan anyway.  Unfortunately, the car was in Arizona (low rust probably!) and I'm in Missouri so going to look at it would cost me a plane ride and trip away from work/family.  But the folks at the classic auto dealer I got it from were very helpful in sending many pics of the car plus a video of it running and driving.  They did have it listed on ebay though, so once I realized I liked the car, I pulled the trigger quickly before it was bought out from under me.  A couple weeks later it was delivered and I've been enjoying it ever since!

Rekindling My Passion for Classic Corvettes

I've had a passion for classic Corvette's for as long as I can remember.... in particular the C3 generation with their "mako shark" body style.  As a teenager I fell in love with the 1980 model and pictures of that car on my walls got me through the rigors of college. I kept telling myself... graduate, get a good job, and then you can buy that car for yourself.  I did just that and eventually got that '80... black exterior, white leather interior, small block engine, automatic transmission.  I think I bought it around 2001 and it only had ~25k miles on it at the time.  She was a blast to drive.  Here's a pic of the car...

I eventually sold it as my wife and I were starting a family and I thought I had out-grown it....  I was wrong.

Fast forward years later and the itch to dive back in had grown to a fever pitch.  I started researching on the internet, came across a great website in The Corvette Restoration Page and thought... hey, I think I could also restore a classic corvette even though I had never done anything remotely close before.

Next post... my criteria for the next corvette and buying it sight unseen!

First Post - Venturing Down the Rabbit Hole

Join me and watch as a I partake in a restomod of this 1972 Corvette Stingray coupe.

This will be completely a proverbial trip down the rabbit hole in a couple ways.  First, I have never blogged before so that will be learning experience in itself... but so far Google Blogger seems fairly straightforward. More importantly, I have never done anything remotely like a car restoration unless you count the bike I tore down and rebuilt as a young kid.  My hope is the blog will help me chronicle the adventures for myself as well as friends and family plus hopefully keep me motivated to keep plugging away on the car to keep the blog updated.

So here we go!  First post in the blog... next up will be a brief history of my obsession with corvettes and then how I found my car and bought it sight unseen.

Thanks for reading!