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1963 SWC Restoration Update

61 Silver

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 27, 2001
Messages
871
Location
Wyoming N.Y.
Corvette
1961 270HP and 1963 340HP
I thought this would be a good time to post an update on the 63 project. Collins 63 SWC is coming to a closer and I thought the pictures might bring back a few memories. I also figured that when Barry views the photos he will realize how close he is to driving his 65.

The 340HP engine is at the machine shop and being evaluated for rebuild. I was lucky that the engine had ever been apart and no previous machining had been done. I now need to determine how I will proceed with the engine rebuild.(If anyone has an opinion please post) Keep it original or drop the compression so that it will be a little friendlier to today’s fuel.

The original frame was shot. This is the first time I have been fooled with a frame inspection. The frame had been previously repaired, fiber glassed and painted. The repairs must have been done a long time ago because there were enough signs of surface rust to lead me to believe that the frame was solid. After sand blasting the frame looked like a piece of Swiss cheese. I have ordered a replacement frame from Vette Products of Michigan. The good news is that they are tightening up their quality control on their frame products, the bad news is that it will take up to 12 weeks to get my frame. (9 weeks to wait) Thanks to John Z for the frame lead.

This past week we started to remove the paint by using chemical stripper. The car must have been completely stripped before; the paint is coming off very easy and the primer is different than was used on the 61 or 65. I hope to have all the paint off with in the next few days. There has only been one area that shows bodywork, front right fender. The repair was done very well and should only need some minor work to clean up the bodylines.

I will continue to post up dates as the restoration proceeds.



Ray
DSC00151.JPG
 
Hey Ray she is looking good. You are making me yearn for a SWC now!
 
looks good Ray.

Boy, that pic reminds me of how glad I am not to see my car in bare 'glass anymore! :)
 
Are you going "factory correct" with your resto or will you take the opportunity to take advantage of modern materials & processes?

-Mac
 
Hi! Studiog

The 63 is going to be a bigger challenge than the other vettes that I have restored. It seems like at the 63 parts were original to that year and hard to find and buku expensive. I am really looking forward to seeing your project come to a conclusion. The first ride is worth all the work.



Hi! Barry



I was figuring that you were taking a beating lately on not having you 65 back from the painter. I hope it lifted you spirits.



Hi! Mac



The 63 is quite an original car and I will be restoring it using the NCRS Judging Guide as a reference. I just am not sure how to rebuild the engine. Should I lower the compression or stay original. Maybe John Z will respond to this question. He has great knowledge about Corvettes.



Ray
 
61 Silver said:
Hi! Barry
I was figuring that you were taking a beating lately on not having you 65 back from the painter. I hope it lifted you spirits.


yep, still have a few bruises on me from last week's beating but they are fading :eyerole
that's OK though because when I DO get my car back it will all be quickly forgotten.

Your '63 body looks in pretty good shape overall with the paint off - you are lucky there even if the frame was trashed.

BTW, you may want to check with Collin since he is just finishing up on his SWC restoration. He may have some suggestions for you on getting hold of those hard-to-find '63 only parts.
 
OHHHHH MAN deja vu....It looks like its coming along, but boy does that bring back the memories of a year ago. Great progress. It will be ready for Carlisle..right ;) . Keep the updates coming....are you having fun yet?

The key we found to stipping the car was the washing processes, making sure every nook and crany was cleaned and letting the car "Air out" in the sun for several days. Then the prep work began.

Let me know about the engine rebuild, the first rebuild I did was a terrible failure, found many things wrong with the block, then had to pull it again and finishing the 2nd rebuild now. This time we did it RIGHT...

It a way I was lucky in the respect of the frame, my frame had some small damage but no rust to deal with....fixed the small cracks, and now it looks new.

Keep the photos and updates coming...

I have some parts (engine and body) for the 63 that are still in good shape etc. Let me know via email if you are interested and I will try to get a list together...I do have some glass, front windshield, vents, doors, and window regulators etc. Many extra parts floating around...let me know...
 
Hi! Collin

I am in need of a few parts at this time. The drivers side window regulator, water pump for a HP 340 engine, shifting linkage for the original shifter and other minor things. The reason that I purchased this car was that it was so complete.

Ray
 
61 Silver said:
The 63 is quite an original car and I will be restoring it using the NCRS Judging Guide as a reference. I just am not sure how to rebuild the engine. Should I lower the compression or stay original. Maybe John Z will respond to this question. He has great knowledge about Corvettes.

Ray

Ray, I'd leave it alone compression-wise, just use .039" Fel-Pro composition head gaskets instead of the original .019" steel shim head gaskets.
:beer
 
Thanks John


I will rebuild it to stock specification including the 097-specification cam form Federal-Mongul

Ray
 
Sounds like you are on the right track. The thicker head gasket will relax the CR a little. You would not want to lower the CR too much without looking into a different camshaft. You might want to consider smoothing up all of the rough edges in the chambers so there is nothing sharp to get hot and cause detonation. I didn't do a full polish on my last engine but I did smooth things up a lot including softening the edge of the valve reliefs in the pistons and the edges of the chambers after I had the heads cut. Anything you can do like this will help make the engine more pump gas tolerant.

Tom
 
Thanks Tom, I talked my engine machinist today and relayed the information that you provided.



Ray
 
Ray


Best of luck,Have you ever not been restoring a car?

Looks like your making good use of your new Garage

make sure you tell the motor builder NOT to touch the pad.

If your numbers are there explain the importance of them to the value of the car.
 
Hi! IH2LOSE



This is the third engine this machinist has done for me. I told him that if the deck needs to be machined, stop! Call me and do not proceed. If he removes the numbers it will cost him $20,000. I hope I have made it clear enough to him. As far as restoring Corvettes, I am an A-D-D type person. My children tell me that I do not know how to relax. Relaxation to me is the golden oldies on the radio and working on an early Corvette. Another positive about restoring Corvettes are the people that I have dealt with, I have made a lot of good friends that are always willing to help. I am looking forward to meeting everyone from CAC at Carlisle this summer. I hope that a location and time will be arranged for every one to get together.



Ray
 
61 Silver said:
As far as restoring Corvettes, I am an A-D-D type person. .............. Relaxation to me is the golden oldies on the radio and working on an early Corvette.

that sounds a lot like me! I only wish I knew HOW to work on my own car and other's. I would LOVE to take a project car and be able to spend time and restore it. So far the only work I can do on my own is cleaning and detailing it. I was so excited last summer when I actually managed to change out the temp sender unit and to remove, clean, and reinstalled the PCV valve on mine without screwing something up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, not exactly the two toughest repair jobs on a car but never having done ANY work on a car before it made me feel good. Merchanical things do not scare me at all as I used to do all my own work on my motorcycles. Rebuilt the carbs on them a few times, replaced a few clutches, oil changes, etc but never having done work on cars makes me a bit hesitant to start on my own Baby.
But the joy and satisfaction that you must get from doing the whole car over and seeing how great it turns out must be wonderful and hopefully i'll someday work up the nerve to attemp it myself. Honestly, I think the hardest part would be getting myself in the proper frame of mind to just tell my self to do it. Once I start any type of project I'm the type of person that MUST follow it through to completion on principle as I hate knowing that if I start on something that I "failed" if I don't complete it. A car would no doubt be a HUGE, HUGE project and undertaking for me but something I'd really like to do at some point in my life.
I really envy and respect people like yourself and so many others on here (don't want to list names as I'll miss so many of them) who have the knowledge, talent, and cajones to do such projects. Watching these projects on here is not only so interesting, but frustrating also as it makes me wish more and more that I could do something similar.

and Larry.......no wisea$$ comments on what would happen if I tried such a thing! ;LOL

I wish you all the best of luck on your new project Ray and I really look forward to watching the progress as you do it. :beer
 

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