Quick update after doing some work

Alright I know it's been months since I made a post but I'm finally working on the car again!  Honestly it feels great to be able to do this again after busting my ass for work for months and then having school on top of that.  My goal is to start the car before the end of the year.  As of right now, it's looking like that's a realistic goal to meet.

The shark bite suspension and steeroids have been showing up for the past couple weeks.  The only part that hasn't shown up is both the upper and lower control arms but the company said they were supposed to ship last Friday.  I expect to see them soon.  Also, Ecklers started carrying the retrosound sums radio and had a sale last week.  So I now have the last piece of the stereo coming to get it fully functional.  Good thing too because I sold the original radio to a guy in Missouri that's restoring a t-top.

Some things I've been working on...
Got the fuel line completely hooked up to the engine.
Rebuilt the crankcase ventilation and evap canister setup with braided stainless steel AN hoses and fittings.
Finished wiring the water pump, fans, electric choke, and AC system in the engine compartment.
Reconditioned the gas peddle and finished hooking up the throttle cables.
Pulled the speaker wire I had ran to the back and reran just the RCA cable and remote wire.
Nearly finished wiring up the interior (including the transmission TCC circuit).
Tried to follow the BTO instructions for the TV Made Easy system by changing the spring for the TV cable only to figure out that I couldn't which made a big mess...  need to contact them about that...
Started putting the exhaust wrap on the headers.  One is done but didn't have enough for the other.

That's it for now!  Pictures will be posted later with more updates as I continue working.

Wish i had more time to work... maybe soon (old unpublished post)

About 2 months ago I started working heavy overtime at work.  Five weeks ago it was made mandatory to work at least 50 hours per week for my entire department.  Given that I've had to neglect school for work, I've had very little time to work on the Corvette at all.  On top of all that, I started having big problems with my WRX again and I was out a car for whole days at a time.  Finally got fed up with dealing with the car so I decided to trade it in.  After lots of test driving and research I ended up getting a 2013 Dodge Charger R/T Road & Track with the Super Track Pak.  It's a lot of fun with it's 370 hp, 395 ft-lbs torque, performance steering and suspension, and 3.07 performance differential.  I only wish it came with a manual transmission...  Enough with my issues on to what's new with the C3.

I haven't been able to concentrate on one piece of the other, so multiple things are half done.  First, I started connecting up the throttle cables (main and cruise).  This required that I patch the hole where the original throttle cable went because the Lokar one has a different shaped mount.  Took a piece of aluminum stock and bent it so that it could be secured where the old hole was.  A little black paint and it's ready for the throttle cable.  I had to let it dry, but then never came back to finish the project.

Next I started back on the wiring.  The transmission has a kickdown circuit that needs to be connected to the ignition line as does the Vintage Air system, water pump, fans, and carburetor.  I mounted the relays for the electric fans and water pump on the cover where the old A/C system used to be.  That's where I'd mounted the battery terminal I'd installed.  There's lots of room over there to work with.  There's a couple breakers installed there too.  Using a new heat gun, I was able to get most of the complicated wiring done in the engine compartment.  Now I just need to finish running the lines to the ignition power and to each of the devices.  I didn't like how I had done the fuse box previously so I ordered a different style one with a cover.  Again, this is where I stopped...

A while back I decided I didn't like how the crankcase ventilation line and the evap canister turned out, so I ordered the parts to connect them to the carb with AN hose.  I had enough left-over stainless braided hose, so it was just a matter of getting the right connectors.  It ended up being a 6AN hose finisher (worm gear clamp) on the crankcase and carb because they were barbed connections, but then standard AN hose end for the others.  There two 6AN hose ends, a 6AN T, a 6AN coupler, a 6AN to 4AN reducer, and then finally a 4AN hose end for the evap hose (it already had a hose finisher on the other end).  This was all done using nickel plated connectors.  After destroying my first 4AN hose end, I decided that I'll be doing the nylon/Kevlar braided hose from now on.  Going this route was much more expensive than using the Hose Candy (which I do not recommend unless you use their hose), but it looks WAY better and is more secure.  This I actually finished!

The last thing I started but then didn't finish was hooking up the fuel line.  I'd hooked the carb up, but then left it because it was going to take too long.  Well, I finally got back to it.  The pump to carb line Sperry Engines had put together for me had the inline fuel filter coming right off the fuel pump.  Now if you've ever looked at where the fuel pump is on a C3, there's no way in hell I was getting that on there with the A/C compressor.  What I ended up doing was clocking the fuel pump one space clockwise so that I could fit two 90 degree NPT to 6AN adapters.  From the pump I then went up in front of the serpentine brackets and behind the belt.  From the carb I came straight out to a 90 degree hose end that connected to the fuel filter.  That's where the line coming from the pump connects up.  It actually ended up looking really clean, and it makes easy access to the fuel filter.  There's only a little wiggle in the hose, but it shouldn't be enough to cause noise or problems.  As for from the line to the pump.  I ended up having to get a 120 degree hose end so that I could connect it up.  After draining the gas tank, we sawed off the barb from the fuel line so I could attach my adapter.  It was cut with a hand saw and then deburred and cleaned.  I still had to bend the gas line a bit to make the final connection, but it even went on.  It looks pretty good, and I only chewed up the connectors a little bit (good thing they're hard to see).  The gas leaked onto some of my undercoat and it came right off.  It seems dumb that the undercoat wasn't resistant to gas, but oh well...  Just got a little bit of touch-up work do now.

I've got lots of other exciting projects ready to go...  I'll be getting on those within the next week.  I'll put some posts up this weekend about what they are.

Here's some pictures of how the A/C heater hoses turned out...

Started Hooking up Fuel Lines

Well, I started assembling the fuel line kit tonight.  Got the lines connected to the carb and then figured out the hoses I got for the heater aren't going to work.  Basically, because of the way the Holley style carb has its fuel lines, the line goes right over the intake fitting making it impossible to put a hose on the barb.  The only way to do it would be to use expensive AN hoses and fittings with different angle adapters.  I was second guessing my choice for the hoses anyway.  After attempting to use the pseudo-braided hose on the radiator, it left me with a low opinion of these hoses and clamps.

So I ordered a lot of different angle fittings to just try different setups.  I went with black braided hose instead of stainless because it's considerably lighter and these hoses are pretty large.  The fittings will be nickel colored which will match the compressor, condenser, and evaporator A/C lines.

Also, as far as the A/C line fittings go...  Vintage Air called me this morning.  He said, "So it looks like we're going to send you the different fitting.  I think that will be the easiest route".  I wanted to say "No sh*t...", but I stayed polite and said thank you for the help instead.  He also said that I could get the fittings crimped at a Napa store and that it shouldn't be done with a hydraulic crimper because it will damage the fitting (which is actually opposite to what I'd read online, so that was good to know).

The Air Cleaner Post

Ok, I said I'd post about the air cleaner but then never did.  Here's what I did...

I ordered the Spectre Cowl Induction Air Box with the flow-thru top air cleaner.  I had been debating about this because it was pretty expensive and I wasn't sold on the whole cowl induction thing.  So after posting to Corvette Forums about it and seeing plenty of other people still having this problem and often custom making air boxes, I decided to do a little more research.  I could have gotten an L88 hood, but I don't like the look of those things.  Makes the car kinda ugly.

The Spectre air box has a 1.7" drop base and claims that you only need 2.5" from the carb flange to the hood.  This is 1/2" lower than the Proform with it's 1.5" drop base.  Since the 3" just touched the hood, it seemed like 2.5" should be about perfect.
 
When the cleaner came I was impressed with the quality packing and how nice it actually looked.  I always figured Spectre for kinda cheesy looking stuff.  The problem was the cleaner didn't fit.  It was hitting the distributor even though it has a special cut-out to avoid it.  This is a standard 350 block, so maybe my carb sits a little back in relation to the block?  I don't know.  So anyway, then we discover that it was actually hitting the two bolts on the ends of the carb.  Just barely, but it was making it so the cleaner wouldn't sit flat.

Disappointed that it didn't fit out of the box and I had spent so much time looking into it, I was determined to make it fit.  So, I got out some thick duct tape, a block of wood, and a ball peen hammer.  A few well placed hits and the cleaner could sit down on the carb.  A lot of hits later, it was also able to go in next to the distributor.  Next was the hood test...

My wife helped me get the hood back on the car after I removed the cowl induction flapper and its wiring.  It had been disconnected for years anyway, but it needed to be removed because the air box is nearly a sealed compartment (not sealed in the corners).  Moment of truth....

The hood closed.  And from the look of it, the new air box sealed perfectly with the hood.  I was extremely happy...

That was until I started installing the TV Made Easy system from BTO.  The system is actually pretty large, and bracket for attaching the throttle cables actually just hits the air cleaner.  I couldn't believe it.  There was a lot of extra metal on the bracket at the top, so I decided to trim it a bit with my grinder.  A trip to Menards for a new blade and a tool to remove the blade later and I had the bracket ground down.  Now it fits!  Yey!  Lets not have any more clearance issue with the air cleaner, okay?!

Of Course The A/C Couldn't Be That Easy!

Lots of fun with the Vintage Air SureFit system for 1975 Corvette with factory air conditioning...

So according to Vintage Air, the kit is supposed to go in with only minor modifications to the car for the new duct work... Riiiight!

Alright I didn't have any problems installing the duct work adapters and converting the controls.  Now on to the rest of the kit.  First let me mention one thing.  I ordered the kit directly from Vintage Air instead of buying it through Ecklers or Zip because I was getting the March Performance serpentine kit as well.  I ordered the regular kit with three changes.  First, I had them remove the mounting bracket.  Second, I had them provide a compressor with a serpentine pulley instead of a v-belt.  Finally, I had them polish the compressor so that it would match my polished alternator.  Nothing big right?  Anyway ditching the bracket pretty much paid for the polishing, so it was all good.

The compressor went on the March bracket fine.  I had to get a longer bolt for the adjustment rod, but March provided that for free.  So the next thing after the compressor was the evaporator.

Before you put the evaporator in the car, you have to put some pipes on it and do some bracket prep (including drilling some holes in the firewall using a provided template).  Got everything ready and then went to put the thing in the car.  It didn't fit!  There's a bracket for bracing behind the passenger side dash on convertibles and a couple other models that prevents the evaporator from going in.  The bracing helps reduce cowl shake.  So I gave Vintage Air an email, here's what they said...

I have talked to our R&D tech and to one of our Dealer/Installers in Houston Texas who has done several of the 68-76 Corvette installs. None of the cars we had in-house during the design had the support brackets but my installer stated some of them did and some didn’t. He did have to remove the two lower tabs with the bolts in them for the evaporator to fit. He also stated some of the cowls are formed different than others – he has had to trim insulation back on some for the servo motor to clear and slightly modify/tweak the evaporator bracket for the bolt to go in.

Seriously?  Their research is kinda piss poor then...  The other system out for C3's (which is sold by Corvette America) called Perfect Fit takes the brackets into account.  They point them out in the instructions.  Honestly, wouldn't you think they'd put a note in the instructions and even on the catalog information about the models with install issues?

Ok, so I used a new Dremel and cut off the bracket. Whatever...  The evaporator finally fit in.  Well, on to the cover that goes on the firewall.  The holes they had me drill for that were both 1/2" off (and yes I checked like four times before drilling).  It's not only that, but there's a notch in the cover for around the mounting bolt for the evaporator.  That was off a bit too, so the Dremel came to the rescue again and I made the cut-out bigger.  There was one hole that actually fit though and that was an OEM one...  Now you're probably thinking I just didn't have it line up right.  If I had lined up the cut-out with the mount bolt, it would have been even farther off.

Next was the condenser install.  I had just finished installing a brand new radiator and radiator support.  The support kind of sucked to install by the way...  It's supposed to line up with existing holes in the radiator support and you're supposed to use the OEM bolts.  Well guess what?!  Bolt holes didn't line up and in one case there wasn't even one close so I had to drill a new one.  I also had to go get a longer bolt for one.  It's in now though.

On to my latest call with Vintage Air.  The hose kit they set me is a "mod" kit.  Which means the hose didn't come put together.  Wouldn't be a big deal except that you have to have a $5k tool to crimp the fittings on and at least one of the fittings isn't the right angle!  I double checked all my documentation and it looked like the right kit according to the title and everything.  With the #10 hose fitting on, I wouldn't be able to shut the hood.

This of course prompted me to call Vintage Air and see what was up.  They initially told me that I need to rotate the compressor so the fitting would be pointed toward the passenger side fender wall.  I immediately told him that it wasn't going to work because it would hit the wall.  He said I needed to send him pictures of it.  So I did...  Got a call from him today about it.  He proceeded to tell me again that I just needed to rotate the compressor because the mounting bracket I had wasn't theirs and theirs puts it at a different angle.  He also said they've had this problem a few times in the past and that's what it took to fix it.  I told him that I really didn't think it was going to work and that I still needed to put the radiator overflow tank in and that was going to take up that space.  He insisted that I try changing the mounting and rotating the compressor with the radiator overflow tank in.

I got home, put the overflow tank in, and didn't bother with messing with the mounts.  Instead I got the tape measure out.  The fitting requires over 4-1/2" inches of clearance and that's without a hose installed, so it would be more like 6" or 7".  The distances between the compressor and the fender wall are typically less than 4".  One spot gets to 4-3/4", but surprise!  The overflow tank and hose is there and it reduces clearance back below 4" again!  There is no possible situation where this fitting would have ever worked regardless of the mounting bracket.  The compressor cannot go more toward the engine because of the cylinder head covers, and it cannot be lowered because of the exhaust manifold.  In other words, the tech from Vintage Air appears to be full of it...

 

Here's the odd thing...  I tried to find the hose kit on their website.  It doesn't exist!  And to top it off the two hose kits they have for the 1968-1976 Corvettes with factory air conditioning have the correct angle fittings.  Plus one of the kits is the "standard" kit and the fitting are already crimped on!  My question to the tech was, what the heck is this kit and why did I get it instead of the standard kit that would have worked?  I've asked that twice now...  He seems to be avoiding the question.

So my experience with Vintage Air so far is less than desirable.  Other companies have been better.  Lokar customer support is amazing.  Bowtie Overdrives is pretty good except when their main support guy is gone for a week.  March Performance is good when their support rep is in.  Somehow I always need help when people are on week vacations.

All I can say about the "Surely doesn't Fit System" from Vintage Air is that it better work really well...  Can you tell I'm pissed off?

Redesigning Radio Setup

I've been waiting for Retrosound to put out the Model Two since last year.  Originally it was supposed to be released at the beginning of this year.  You may have seen some of my earlier posts where I was designing the speaker/sub enclosure.  I had designed it assuming that I would be able to use the speaker outputs from the radio to power a pair of component speakers.  Original Retrosound had said the Model Two would have 50Wx4 RMS, but they have since changed it and it's only 25Wx4 RMS.  I was comfortable sending 50W to my 100W component speakers, but 25W is just too low...

Disappointed in the change in wattage, I started looking into other retro radios.  Unfortunately, the other radios out there aren't any better.  In fact they're all lower and only advertise the peak power ratings.  So my only option to get the quality radio that looks good would be to get an amplifier to power my component speakers.  After several hours of looking through different amplifiers and trying to figure out how I could integrate a different sub into this tiny car, I finally came up with two options.  I can either buy a different amp that can power the rear speakers as well as the sub, or I can get a tiny amp that just powers the components.  The best little amp that I've found is the Rockford Fosgate PBR300X2 and the PBR500X1.  The stereo 300W model is small enough that it would fit under the glove compartment tray.  There are lots of models that can power two speakers a sub, the problem becomes finding one small enough to fit in my space...  Remember my design goal was to make it as blended into the car as possible.

Here's my new enclosure design.  I've given up on the dual sub design to my the enclosure easier to build and to support a larger amp if necessary.  Also, I was dumb and bought a SVC sub instead of a DVC so I'm stuck at 4 ohm and unless I bridge an amp, 4 ohm loads are not very efficient.  Oh well...  The new design also lets me mount the component speaker cross-over to the sides.  The volume shown assumes a 15% increase by using batting.  The sub isn't more centered so that I can mount the light on the front.

On a separate note, the hood clearance issues have been fixed!  Pictures and an explanation later!

Hood Clearance Issues

So I knew it was going to be a close fit, but I had no idea it was going to be this bad...

The 1/2" spacer showed up today, so I decided I needed to check and see if the hood was actually going to close.  My answer is a huge no!  It was pretty much 1/2" off from closing.  Removing the spacer and I was able to close the hood.  But...  and it's a large but...  It's extremely close to hitting.  So much so that if the hood were to bounce at all, it would likely hit.  I'm going to need to change out either the entire cleaner or possibly just the top to get more clearance.  Looking into it.

The other thing this means is that I will not be able to use the vacuum port on the intake manifold.  No matter how much I don't want to spend the money for a hydroboost brake booster, that means I'm going to have to.  Sucks...  But don't have much choice.

Been A While, Need To Give an Update

A lot has happened since my last post.  First thing, had the starter looked at.  It's a rebuilt Napa one, but the guy said it was in good shape.  He replaced some bushings and such, so it should be good to go.

Next, I finished up getting the car ready to accept the engine and transmission.  New battery cables ran with an additional battery cable for the new electric fans, transmission kickdown, and electric water pump.  Finished painting the engine bay.  Fixed up the vapor canister bracket and made some new lines for it using stainless AN fuel line.

With the new wiring ran, I was able to install the new transmission tunnel insulation.  Installed new clips for it by drilling out the old ones.  Used an aluminum riveter to install the new ones.  With that, the engine was ready to be put in.

My dad came over and helped me get started.  First we got the engine onto the engine hoist and installed the flex plate.  We had to fill the torque converter with a quart of transmission fluid and then install it carefully on the transmission.  Then I used my dad's motor cycle jack to get the transmission up to the motor.  Had to use a regular jack to level out the engine.  My wife and I then proceeded to bolt the transmission and engine together.  Getting the flywheel and torque converter was a treat....    Few more steps and the engine assembly was together and ready to go into the car.

Got some of the accessories installed on the transmission.  The shifter kit went on easy, so did the TV cable. Unfortunately the dipstick was broken inside the package.  Contacted the manufacturer, Lokar, and they had a new cable to me in two days.  If you've never dealt with Lokar, I highly recommend them.  Both times I've talked to them, they've been really helpful.  The last bracket to put on ended up not working.  It's for the steering column lock cable.  Turns out that's something that always doesn't work and people just make their own.  I'll be making my own, but have lots of other stuff to work on first.

So the engine is finally in the car!!!  It honestly looks really good.  Unfortunately I have a few issues to work out.  First, the serpentine belt touches the passenger side upper control arm.  Luckily it was an easy fix.  All I needed to do was get the A/C compressor to be closer to the cylinder head covers and March Performance has shorter rods that I can get (unfortunately not exchange for, oh well).  The second problem is that the carburetor covers up the vacuum port on the intake manifold.  The carb manufacturer, Quick Fuel, said I should connect my brake booster to that port instead of using the port on the carb itself.  I'm able to solve this problem by adding a 1/2" carb spacer, which leads to another potential problem.  The air gap intake manifold adds a lot of height.  Luckily the new carb is shorter than the old one and my air cleaner base is a drop base.  However, it was going to be very close to hitting the hood without the 1/2" spacer, we'll have to see what happens there (just ordered the spacer).

The next problem is really annoying.  The position of the dipstick changed on the new engine.  It's now on the drivers side and it's horribly difficult to get to because of the brake booster.  It sucks, but it's usable so I'm leaving it for now.  The last problem is the lower radiator hose.  I have no idea how to route it around the serpentine belt.  The hose I have can't make a 90 degree turn and then angle back to avoid the belt.  Not sure what to do here yet, but I think I'm going to wait until the radiator is in to figure it out.

Several issues can be fixed with one expensive upgrade.  If I replace the brake booster with a hydroboost system that runs off the power steering pump instead of the engine vacuum, then I eliminate the need to have the need for a fitting in the intake manifold which means I don't need the carb spacer.  If I don't need a carb spacer, there's less chance of hitting the hood with the air cleaner.  The other benefit of the hydroboost is that it's much smaller.  This means I wouldn't have issues with the dipstick or getting to the windshield washer fluid tank and alarm wiring.  Going to a 383 stroker engine with a larger cam likely reduced the amount of vacuum the engine produces, so going to the hydroboost is also less risky in that aspect.  Could also switch to electric lights to remove some of the drain on the vacuum, but that's more expensive (have someone getting me specs for the McSpeed bracket kit).  I think the right answer is to get the hybroboost system.  For now I'm going to get things working like this (I can deal with the dipstick issue), and if I have brake and/or hood clearance issues I'll invest in the hydroboost system with money from selling the old parts.

While I was trying to figure out the steering column lock cable bracket, I decided to work on other parts of the car.  I got the passenger side door pretty much put back together.  Got all my ducts modified for the new A/C system and installed the A/C control electric conversion.  However, I ran into a large problem with the Vintage Air SureFit System...  The evaporator doesn't fit.  There's a bracket for some additional braces on the convertible models that included A/C that prevent the evaporator from being installed correctly.  I've contacted Vintage Air and they said they're aware of the issue, but haven't given me any information on what to do to fix it.  In my opinion, the best answer is for them to exchange my evaporator for one of their smaller universal units and then give me the tubing to hook it up to the kit I already have.  I have a feeling they're going to tell me to cut the bracket out (which I do not want to do).

The Transmission Has Arrived

Well, the transmission showed up via freight on a pallet in a wooden box.  There's a lot of stuff in the box...  It's a little intimidating reading through the packet of information.  In order to get the transmission properly installed, the entire engine and drive train have to be installed.  The reason being that once it's installed, a series of pressure tests have to be run and the pressures called in to the company (BTO).  Once the pressure and temperature tests are called in, only then does their warranty apply.  The pressure tests have to be run in every gear, so the parking brake must work...  So here's the order things will happen...

• Finish cleaning and painting the engine compartment
• Install the new battery post in the engine compartment
• Put the transmission insulation in place
• Put the engine and transmission together, and then install in car
• Mount differential
• Clean and recondition driveshaft and halfshafts
• Rebuild parking/emergency brake
• Install new radiator
• Finish A/C system installation (needs to be done to put interior back together)
• Replace remaining bad hoses and lines
• Perform transmission pressure tests and adjustments

Once all that's done, the car will be driveable, but there's still some things left to do (mainly the stereo for this year).  This winter break will hopefully be the time to do the suspension.  I'm on a notification list for when the stage kit I want has the option for aluminum lower control arms (upper arms are already available).

Also installed the serpentine belt today...  For some reason, our first measurement was off by more than 1/2" so the belt I ordered did not fit.  No one carried the size in town so I had ordered it through JEGS.  However, the next two sizes up are carried by O'Reilly so I went and picked them up today.  And the
winner is.... 81"!  It's the Gates Micro-V AT K060810 81-5/8" OC and it just barely clears the water pump.  Had to remove one of the idler caps to get it on, but the next size up was too big and was causing lots of adjustment in the tension arms.