Original L81 engine pic's..

[Tom Bryant]

Lookin' good Peter. The lighting is brilliant. (pun intended)

Tom

 

[XLR8]

What Tom said! It's coming along great! I can't wait to see the finished photos. :cool

Jane Ann

 

[82ColEd]

It's really coming together Peter.. Very nice

Cant wait to see the pic of the front with the fibre glass over the lenses. I do assume you will put 1 fog and 1 turn signal in there per side, right?

-Stefan

 

[Peer81]

Thanks for the kind replies everybody.
Yes one fog and one turn signal per side Stefan!
Now everything is comming together so this pictures are very nice if I may say so.
The rear with the bumper re-attached (fits very nice!), lenses with Led inside.

Fitting and altering the front bumper. Altering it with a dremel, very slowly because the paint is already on but everything went just fine. The light gray edges are the ones that needed some work.

Some pictures of the rear in the dark. Now you can see the reverse lights that I altered. These also have brake, normal and turn lights but the inner part is still reverse light.

And as last the fog lights tested. Original in a C4 are 35 watt but these are 50 watts
The last two pictures are the final check befor assembly and putting everything together.

Till next time,

Groeten Peter

 

[GerryLP]

Peter,

Looking good!

I like the fog lights! But I wonder, will the bottom part of the air dam be enough for the cooling of the radiator/engine? It's probably no different than a C4, right?

I can't wait to see a video of your Vette running on the road...

GerryLP:cool

 

[topless82vette]

Hello everybody,

This project will continue in 2007 so there will be some updates from time to time. If you're interested in this project and want to see pictures from day one please feel free to visit this topic in another forum. It's a dutch forum so all the text is in dutch but there are a lot more pictures there

Continuing with the center console, this is a quick mock up without the handbrake and auto-gearstick.

Also redone the crossmember to accept a true dual. It's not exactly as high as on the right side but it should do the trick.

From a friend I bought a right inner fender. Mine fender would take to much time to repair, this one only had a some problem so easy to fix. btw. I didn't do the polyester stuff but another friend who was kind enough to help me with this. After the repair I painted it and after that I put an extra paint-layer on the inside to match the other 3.

After that is was time to put the doors back in. The painter will get them out when painted. But this way we can still make some adjustments before the paint is on everything.

The new truflex rear bumper needed to be cut to accept the original parts. I wanted the original steel strips back on the bumper because I think they will distribute the tension more equally. After that we test fitted it on the vette. Same with the front bumper.

Next up the C4 fog lights. I wanted to change the orange cornering lights with the C4 fog lights. I already altered the cables to accept the fog lights. I've not added a extra button in the interior but linked it to the park lights and driving lights. The fog lights will go on with the park lights but when the driving lights will go on, they'll switch off. This way I don't have to ad an extra button and I can drive longer with the light assembly down
I put to much paint stripper on the plastic of the lenses and when I found out it attacked the plastic it already melted some of the lens. Well, throwing it away was not my plan so I looked for a good hard clear plastic that doesn't turn yellow over time and made my own fog lights with clear lenses.

The next problem was the engine. After I changed the ignition I tried to start it but a no go.. Checked everything 3x but still no go. After I gave up the engine-builder came to help me out. The problem was not that hard.. I centered the distributor in the middle of the connection for spark plug #1. It should be in front so I was off about 10 degrees.. oeps..
I walked around and taped the vette when it was running without an exhaust system, very nice to hear but the sound and image is very crappy. You hear the engine almost die because there where setting the idle rpm. Enjoy!

http://members.home.nl/peter.verbogt/MVI_3670.AVI

The past few weeks I completed the undercarpet at the rear.

Putting the headlight assemblies back together. Almost everything is powder-coated, except for the shafts (polished them) and the springs (I tried to paint them black..) After that I fitted them into the vette. But as you can see this one still needs some adjustments.

And finally a picture of the vette with the headlights up and the fog lights in.

The vette will go to the painter in about 2 to 3 weeks I hope. After that I still have enough things to do if I want to graduate this year. And of course I need to polish some special things! A couple of months ago I got a package from Gerry (LP) who send my two sparkplugshields I didn't have. I still can't beleave somebody I haven't spoken to in person wants to send me some parts I need free of charge and without me asking for it! So I'm very glad with the shields and want to make them into very mirroring shiny shields! When I'm finished with them I'll post a picture here. So my special thanks goes out to Gerry!

Groeten Peter.

Are those C4 fog light assemblies?

 

[topless82vette]

Also dop you have more in depth pictures and advice on rebuilding everything in the doors and repainting the insides of them. Also what is that for carpet underlayment? where did yopu get it.

I am going to start my interior restoration soon and need all the tips I can get. I thought about dynamat but its a convertible so to be more wind noise then road noise so I saw dynamat as a waste in my case.

 

[82ColEd]

Very nice!

Glad your're keeping an original look to the lights. Looks very clean and fresh. s

I hope the Politie wont bug you re the red rear side emblems. Mine kinda slipped through (Psst, dont tell)..

Didnt you also re-do the red turning signals to be orange turning signals? Or was that Twinny?

 

[82ColEd]

Also dop you have more in depth pictures and advice on rebuilding everything in the doors and repainting the insides of them. Also what is that for carpet underlayment? where did yopu get it.

I am going to start my interior restoration soon and need all the tips I can get. I thought about dynamat but its a convertible so to be more wind noise then road noise so I saw dynamat as a waste in my case.

Peter has his stuff on the Dutch website here -> http://www.heartbeatforum.nl/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5618

He usually does the translations for us..

But he'll get to you soon, maybe he's hiding an english version somewhere..

 

[Peer81]

Thanks everybody!

I hope the cooling will be enough, I didn't test it but I didn't have any radiator insulation around it and now I do, so I hope its enough.

Yes the back piece is a original C4 fog light, but I removed the front plastic and redid it with clear plastic. I do have several pictures of my doors, please clarify which you like to see I still need to rebuild everything inside my doors but that isn't a problem. You can find everything inside the repair manual. I sandblasted the inside metal of the door and painted that with a new layer of black. The inside of the door (sides) I did by hand and made a thicker layer of paint to protect everything. But my doors didn't show that much rust so I hope to keep it that way.

The carpet underlayment in the interior is actually some sort of isolation they have here at the interior shop, its about 1" thick. (I think they also use it under normal carpet..) Against the firewall I did something different to really protect against the heat and put something like dynamat overthere (with the original isolation over the dynamat). I got everything here in Holland so sorry can't help you with that.

Stefan, I think the police will not bug me, they don't know what is legal or not The only problem I could have are the one year checkups. The side markers are between legal and illegal, the 4 headlights are illegal (no E-qualification) and the fog lights also have the same problem. But I know where I bring my vette for the yearly check they don't know these things so no problem

btw. as you can see in the dutch topic, this english version is a simple headlights topic. English still takes a while longer to typ so I keep it a little shorter overhere but still with all the pictures!

Groeten Peter

 

[Peer81]

Well for this week there will be a direct translation Of course I didn't sit still this week so here we go..

I've waited long but this week was the week to begin. A big table with enough space to place everything next to each other without a problem.

Taking apart the steering column isn't that difficult but you need to pay attention and have the right equipment. The first problems came with the hub (to which the steering wheel is connected), I needed some sort of extractor to get it from the steering shaft. Lucky me I found a little steel plate and a nut, welded them together and a new extractor was born
After removing the hub there was the next problem. A plate in the shape of a star and locked by a C clip. Putting tension on the steel plate I could remove the clip. Again lucky at home I had an extension from another extractor which fitted just fine.

Now these are the important parts of the steering column, flash handle (in blue) You can also see two small steel springs in the right bottom corner, these are for the tension on the flashlight handle. The small one on the outside is the cause that I need to put alot of tension on the handle to work, now I know I can change that spring so I can operate the flashlight handle with only one finger.

After removing the keyhole, flashlight handle and outer shell the real work could begin. You can almost see the upper bearing and the second bearing is just below that one. To get to the second bearing I need some UNF bolts which I don't have (ordered them today) so that is going fine till now. When I disassembled everything I can check everything for excessive play, change the bearings and paint the shell in the right color.

At the same time I continued with the front bumper. I marked the poly pieces with tape so I could connect them to the bumper. One disadvantage was that the first time one piece moved a little so I needed to cut it free and try for a second time. The second time went perfect. In the picture you can see the rear of the front bumper with stones compressing the polyester piece to the bumper.

The next day I could put the bumper on the vette and tried to make it perfect. Not that easy to fit a bumper because the corners left a opening from a 1/4". I already saw that with the pre fitting so I located one extra bolt with nut in each corner. With the extra bolt the opening almost completely closed and it looks fine to me. Now you can see how nice the fog lights connect to the new bumper inserts.

In detail

As you know the side if the bumper doesn't connect to the fender, that is something I can't change but I wanted the opening to be as equal as possible. With some luck and some fitting and refitting I managed to get it right. With the opening on both sides beginning at 3mm going to 3.5mm and then back to 2.5mm I think its good enough.

After the bumper of course come the pop-up lights. There are a 1001 ways to adjust them so you can fit them in perfectly, but it takes some time to do so. Also with this I didn't get it a 100% perfect because the cover has a different curve from the body, but this is the best I could do. Because it took some time to get the first one in I didn't have time for the second one. But I put the second one in just a few hours ago (no pictures sorry) Btw. the blue tape if to protect the paint.

If you look from the top, I think the cover fits in just find with on every side a equal opening between the cover and the surrounding body.

And the corvette till now.. or yesterday

Next week there is more to come

Groeten Peter

 

[XLR8]

It's looking great, Peter! And the detailed description and photos are a work of art!

Jane Ann

 

[Tom Bryant]

Nice work.

 

[Peer81]

Thanks for the compliments Jane Ann and Tom

We continue were we left the previous week.

I got the calipers, steering house and brake fluid reservoir back from the powder coater. They are nice and grey a little lighter then I had imagined but no problem.
When I removed the wooden stops from the brake cylinders and cleaned the coating from the places were the two half calipers come together I started putting them together. I removed the coating from the contact places because I was afraid it could start leaking because the rubber seals didn't fit that good.

Continuing with the steering column. I found some bolts with which I could remove the two "locks". I thought I needed 8/32 bolts but I really needed 8-32. I didn't know the difference but now I do After that the steering column was turned inside out in no time

You can see the tilt part inside the steering column, its the yellow ball in he middle.

The steering column totally separated.

Before I took the steering column apart I checked for problems with it but everything was fine so I only need to change the bearings and repaint the steering column. I just sandblasted the metal jacket and put a second layer of black on it. The parts that can be seen from inside will also have the new interior color. More next week.

Next point was filling up the doors with the window guides, lock, glass, rubbers etc etc. Of course I begun in the wrong order with the window mechanics in place there is no way to get the lock inside the door but now it's oke.

It's only the question if I can install the mirrors with the glass in place but I'll find out soon enough.

Because I was a little to hasty with the steering house I destroyed a bearing. I was tuning the steering house and found out that I had a max resistance but no equal resistance. When I opened the house I found out the rear bearing slipped and wasn't rolling in the race so it was more a triangle and round.. Lucky for my a new bearing was here almost the next day so I could tune the house correctly this time. I tuned the house to the following specs. Overall resistance: 8 lbs/inch (should be between 5-8) and center max resistance 16 (8+8) lbs/inch (should be between 4-10 in excess to the overall resistance). In the picture you see the dial torque wrench and the resistance to turn the shaft.

That's it. Next weekend I'll try to put the calipers back on the car, check brakedisc run out. Brake fluid Dot 5.0 silicone will be in next week. The steering house is already on the chassis. And of course I'll continue rebuilding the steering column

Groeten Peter

 

[82ColEd]

Very :cool Peter..

I admire you for taking your time. I'd be too giddy and slap it together..


-Stefan

 

[Peer81]

Whooops, I see now I didn't update this topic for a few months. Not that there is so much to tell but here we go.

I continueed with the steering column, thanks to the great help from Jim Shea I managed to complete the column. Not that it is to difficult but there where some parts I just didn't knew where they went

New lower bearing.

Sanded the plastic parts for the new interieur color.

I also noticed that my brake discs were to thin, and of course with no brake fluid in the system now was the time to change them.

Old front disc.

New disc (almost 4.5mm thicker)

After that checked for disc run out and corrected it. Run out should be max 0.12mm and in the front both discs had 0.40mm, at the rear was 0.15 and 0.05mm

As you can see, this will keep you bussy for an entire day...

And the end result. 3 discs have a run out of 0.05mm and 1 has 0.02mm so I'm very happy with that.

Continueing with the steering column...
The yellow spacer ball (in picture) still worked perfect and this time I secured the sector bolts with some locktite (I don't like my upper column piece comming loose while I'm driving)

A nice layer of grease on everything except for the tilting mechanism (upper piece in picture).

[img[http://peter.all-corvette.com/Corvette/IMG_4814.JPG[/img]

So far the steering column, the rest is easy to rebuild. A big thanks to Jim Shea, without him I would have ended up with a few pieces outside of the column

Next months the interior will be the main thing. Here a small reminder what I'm looking for as an end result (this is a concept)

But first a nice day to clean the entire car. Wash, clay and polish week

I think it's nice that I polished the front window trims and also a piece of the rockerpanel to have a "connecting line" between the front and rear wheels. Normally the upper piece of the rockerpanel is polished but I choose for the deeper laying row under it, its a thinner line but gives a nice effect.

The difference between polished and non polished...

I also altered the upper trim to better connect with the side trims but mine didn't stay in its place that nicely so I helped a little.

And last but not least, some pictures from a seat in progress.

The seat is compleetly wraped in leather, the foam in this picture isn't fixed to the seat. As you can see the seat will be a little different, the big bumps will be less (in the lower back of the seat) and the "rows" will continue down making the upper and lower half more one piece I'm still not happy with the rows but you'll see next time what I had in mind.

Greetings Peter

 

[82ColEd]

Again a very :cool from here.. I still admire you're patience. And it is coming together. Very nicely..




-Stefan

 

[GerryLP]

Peter,

Wow! You have been busy! I liked the simple and clever solution to the brake rotor run-out. In the US they basically machine the rotors in place to make the run out fall in within limits.

Looking good!

GerryLP:cool

 

[Peer81]

Patience and the lack of money go hand in hand

Groeten Peter

 

[Rawj]

Hello Peter...,
It's been a while and you probably don't need these anymore but I thought I'd send them anyway. Here are pics of the brake release handle attachments bolts that you were looking for several months ago (!).
Working in the dash compartment right now and was a good time to take a few pics. Bolts are 7/16" in size.