Little Help? Learning the Hard-way

[Koop]

A '72 iin Vegas with AC is a torture chamber, I couldn't imagine doing that run without AC. :eek When you have everything out be sure to put lots of insulation everywhere you can. I run my Vette to the desert a few times a year, it's so hot I've had to get out of the car and take off right shoe cuz my foot was cooking. I have insulation and AC.

 

[najar28]

A '72 iin Vegas with AC is a torture chamber, I couldn't imagine doing that run without AC. :eek When you have everything out be sure to put lots of insulation everywhere you can. I run my Vette to the desert a few times a year, it's so hot I've had to get out of the car and take off right shoe cuz my foot was cooking. I have insulation and AC.

I hear you. I would make it a winter vegas run. I hate vegas in the summer anyway.

 

[najar28]

Well I'm back to tell you all where I am at with my restoration. I wish I had never gotten into this because me credit card is taking a beating. I currently have my car at a restoration shop and they have switched off all my parts from my old rust rotted frame to the replacement frame. I bought all new front and rear suspension components, bushings, brake lines, exhaust system, and fuel lines. The chasis looks great!! I will post some pictures.
BUT.....
When we pulled the body off, we noticed that the rocker channels were rotted out, so I had to replace those and they have found some rust on the bottom coners of the birdcage. Now that is going to be another unforseen expense. I am about 18k into this restoration and I am afraid of how much more this thing is going to cost, but I am so far into it that I have to complete the car. The only way I can look at it is that I will have a brand new car when this is all said and done. If anyone knows where I can get a birdcage or birdcage sections for cheap, please let me know.

 

[duke94]

I feel your pain! Went through the same thing with my 71'. Think of it as a "hobby". All the Corvette svendors seel the windshiel frame parts since it is a common problem. Here is ZIP.
http://www.zip-products.com/Zip/dept.asp?dept_id=2184

 

[muddywaters]

I hear ya Koop on the heat. All of the C3's (4) I had were brutal. My wife usually had to keep her feet off the floor, I suppose the headers didn't help. You really didn't need a heater, there were enough BTU's in the cabin, but they were still fun and knowing what I know now, I should have kept them all...............Someday I'll get over it

 

[topless82vette]

Sorry to hear your misfortune but congrat's on your ambition. I honestly thought my project was intensely rough with stripping all the paint off and having it repainted and new interior. I am fairly certain though I have no rust issues ... Thank God ... I can't even imagine what that involves but now that you brought it up I should probably check mine out real good. Mine originally was sold in texas then found its way to california and ended up in arizona so I'm hoping for the best.

 

[najar28]

Thanks for the tip on zip..

 

[najar28]

Sorry to hear your misfortune but congrat's on your ambition. I honestly thought my project was intensely rough with stripping all the paint off and having it repainted and new interior. I am fairly certain though I have no rust issues ... Thank God ... I can't even imagine what that involves but now that you brought it up I should probably check mine out real good. Mine originally was sold in texas then found its way to california and ended up in arizona so I'm hoping for the best.

Yah mine came from Georgia and I had is shipped over to southern california. I bought the car over the internet with the word from the seller that there was no rust and the pictures did not show any. Stupid move on my part. All I can do now is just get it done.

 

[topless82vette]

Yah mine came from Georgia and I had is shipped over to southern california. I bought the car over the internet with the word from the seller that there was no rust and the pictures did not show any. Stupid move on my part. All I can do now is just get it done.

Bought mine off ebay. what a nightmare that was. flew to phoenix to drive the car home and this guy had let the registration expire on the car. Although the car was in nice shape I asked him why the power door locks and mirrors don't work, his reply was they sometimes just stop working then work again. So I thought simple ground no biggie. Later found out all the wires were cut for this stuff LOL ....... Oh and with no registration ... had to rent a uhaul with a trailer LOL ..... Probably should have just got back on a plane!

 

[najar28]

I hear you. I hope you don't find anymore problems. It's not fun being in this position.

 

[Koop]

Sometime I'll scan the pics of my car after the great fire of 1997, then you girls will quit whinning.

 

[LVMYVT76]

If you buy fron zip, tell them you are a member of this forum, and they should give you a discount on most parts.

 

[najar28]

Sometime I'll scan the pics of my car after the great fire of 1997, then you girls will quit whinning.

Yah Yah I guess we sound pretty bad crying about all this, but my car is going to be NICE........when everything is all said and done.

 

[topless82vette]

Sometime I'll scan the pics of my car after the great fire of 1997, then you girls will quit whinning.

post these pictures .... this I want to see

 

[najar28]

I just want to give an update if anyone cares where I am at, at this point. I have taken it in the shorts with this car and the only thing that I could do was go for the total restoration. The credit card companies love me at this point of the project.

The car is nearly finished and I will post some pictures of the before and after soon(if I can ever figure out how to attatch pictures. Any help??). I replaced all the suspension parts, bushings, exhaust system, fuel lines, brake lines on a new "old" frame purchased from Just Corvettes. We ran into a problem with the rocker channels because they were rusted out as well, so I purchase new channels and had them welded in. That job alone costed 2k. The work on the chassis set me back another 3500.00 plus the cost of the frame was 3k.
I Purchased an entire interior set:
carpet, seat covers, entire dash, steering wheel, seat belts, all interior panels, gauge bezel, console, shifter plate, radio, speakers, and even a new aftermarket a/c system from hotrod air.
Exterior: all the chrome was new and off the car when I purchased this rust bucket. I purchased all new eblems, side light makers, tail lights, door trim, and front windshield.

Paint: I am going to go with the original color which was steel cities gray. I already have a sample and it is a great color. I'm going to throw a baldwin motion stripe in black over the top as well. I love the look of a stripe when done right, though some corvette purest may say don't do it. I can't help it, I have always wanted a car with a stripe over the top and when everything is all said and done I am going to have a small fortune invested in it, so I DAMM BETTER LIKE IT!!

I don't plan on selling it so I figuered I would have a new "OLD" car to drive around and show off!!

 

[petes74ttop]

Good Progress!

Hi najar28, good for you, it's money well spent. You brought an old Vette back from the crusher and now you'll have something to be proud of. Look at it this way, it's only money! You could have invested twice as much in the stock market and had only half left. This way you have a brand new old Vette and I'm sure you'll get years of enjoyment from it.
Enjoy your restored Vette. PG.

 

[fine69]

Najar,

I am glad that you're making progress. You mentioned something about the "purists" --- at this stage (with a different frame and all the other items), WHO CARES? It's your car, you're making it the way YOU want it, right? Oh BTW, Steel Cities Grey is gorgeous!

I was actually surprised when I found out that my car is numbers matching, but that does not really make much of an impact on what I'm doing and plan to do to my Vette.

Keep up the good work. Just remember to take your time... and don't repeat the mistake of rushing things.

Ralph

 

[najar28]

Thanks for the encouragement fellas. I'll keep you posted. The shop hopes to have it all done by Christmas.

 

[oceangal]

Hi Najar28,

I can't wait to see some pictures, so that being said I use photobucket.com. Basically you hook your digital camera to your computer and upload the photos. Then you join photobucket (there are other sites as well) and upload the photos for free there. Then its a matter of copying and pasting the appropriate code onto CAC.

Good Luck!
L

 

[najar28]

Thanks. I'll give it a shot.