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...
