BIG BLOCK Road Trip!

I have some time off from the Vette now, because I'm waiting to redo the soft top after the holidays. So, Tommy and I set out to prepare the powertrain for his 80 Malibu wagon with a quick winter road trip. We started out by going to Transmission Specialties in PA for a nicely rebuilt Turbo 350 and torque converter. Look how happy Tommy is putting tie-downs on it!

Then we stopped by to see our pal Bobby at Fischer Automotive. Bobby has plenty of big blocks on hand, and his reputation for performance engines at Englishtown Raceway Park is well known.
We picked up the long block for the Malibu, all 461 cubic inches and 500+ hp and tucked it away in the South Hill Customs Garage for Tommy. (Thanks again for the White Rose burgers pal!)We got a new project started now! I promise Tommy, I won't sneak that big block into the Stingray, even if it is so very tempting.

My Inspiration.

Last week I took the vette out to a few cruise nights, and ran into some old familiar faces. I even picked up a trophy! I got to thinking about why I've been such a gearhead all my life, and it all started with some of my earliest memories. My father had a Camaro when I was about two, and my grandparents raced Austin Healeys and Jaguars. Check out the damage to the Jag, my grandmother rolled it in a road race! My grandfather said he set the air pressure a bit too low, she hit the turn and flipped! They fixed it, and I still remember taking a ride in it.


I stopped by to see my grandfather a few weeks ago. We still like to do some bench racing, and he keeps up with the South Hill Customs via printed copy through the mail. Thanks for the inspiration Pap!

Found Wagon

I was just surfin' and came across my old 1965 Impala Wagon on the Air Ride Technologies website.

I'm thinking about an Air Ride system on the Vette....maybe.





Tomorrow (Saturday & Sunday) I am going to check out the Fall Swap Meet at Englishtown Raceway Park. Tommy needs some parts for the Malibu wagon, and I am always looking for the next project. I am sorry to say Zach and Jimmy won't be coming with us this year, but we will be thinking of them both.

Here it is!

I have almost everything installed but the wiper motor, wiper arms and rear carpet. Sarah and I took a little shake-down run this afternoon, where we came up behind a new Mustang GT and a Honda S-2000. Now I am not in favor of street racing, but I had to give them a little taste of classic GM muscle. Needless to say it was over quickly, and all they got a good look at was the tail lights.

Is this Tommy?

I found this and thought it was Tommy!

Vette Dogs

I came across this site, "Vette Dogs", and thought this looked like fun. These guys drive their cars like Tommy and I do.....HARD! Click on the play button and check this out...

Busy Working!

Tommy said, "If you spent half as much time working on the car as you do updating the South Hill Customs Blog, you would be driving that Vette already!" Good advice, pal! I have already taken two trips around the block with the kids because the motor is running, the hood is on, the door glass is installed and all of the electrical bugs have been worked out!

I have a video clip!

We had plenty of problems: leaky fuel line from Barry Grant (Thanks to Mr. Chris for going all the way back to the shop after he got home from a hard day at work and picking up the fuel line and new battery). We had a huge air lock in the cooling system which took a while to get out, I had the distributor in 180 degrees out of phase, the vacuum line for the distributor needed some persuasion to stay on the new carb, and I had to take the intake off and install better gaskets on the front and rear of the intake because we had a major leak!

Only two boxes of parts left to install, and the windshield....but I will need to recruit some help for that.

Good Time....

Zach and I went to Corvettes at Carlisle last weekend to get the last few parts we needed for the Stingray. There are plenty of other parts that will need to be replaced, but we can do those later. I absolutely needed to pick up the wiring harness, clock, nose emblem, and a few screws and small parts. We left home at 5:00 a.m. for the 3 hour drive to Carlisle, and were able to pickup all of our parts in only 3 trips back to the car. We scored on a pair of used seat backs for $25/pr (regular price is $160/pr), a new black soft top, rear carpet....and FINALLY found a 64 clock. I guess we won't need to fill the hole in the dash now.


The clock needed to be restored, so for now I disassembled it, painted the needles and gave it a new glass face. I didn't even check to see if it works yet. I am also going to install the radio again...I don't feel like doing the radio delete option, frankly I can't wait to start it!!!

I already wired the entire car, except for the dash, and plan to test the electrical system this weekend. If I am luck, I can fire it up!

Dashing!

Now that vacation is over, I am back on task, and making progress. I finished cleaning up a few pieces and installed them, like the heater box, fan and water pump pulley, belt, throttle linkage and dust shields. I also stayed late one night in the garage and cleaned up, sorting through the many bags and boxes for missing screws.

The dash was a project that I wanted to make look real nice, after all it is right in front of my face! I purchased a new dash from eBay last year for around $40, minus the gauges, because my old dash was missing a large chunk under the wiper switch. You couldn't really see that it was missing, but it needed replaced. So, I stripped the core down and then started to prep it for the new start button.

I masked off the rings and painted the rest off the dash, leaving the chrome exposed. I know this is not correect, but it looks nice. The gauges were restored by a previous owner, and still look great.

I had to repaint the inside of the gauge cluster, and create new glass bumpers for each lens.

When I was finished I installed the new headlight switch, rebuilt the wiper switch, and put the start button in. I have a new lighter element, but need the dash piece still.

Vacation Break

So, we decided to take a break and hit the west coast for vacation, and of course we had to stop by a few hot rod museums and shops. We saw hundreds of awesome exotic cars while in LA, especially up the Pacific Coast Highway, but the Peterson Museum had some cool displays of old California hot rods.

By far the best part was the trip to the So-Cal Speed Shop in Pomona. There we we able to check out the entire shop, and meet Jimmy Shine, star of the new TLC show "Hard Shine". He was great, and took time to show us the cars from the show. Thanks also to Gill who gave us the tour!

Grill

I made a temporary grill out of oval perforated sheet aluminum, which is just sitting in place now. I will make another and paint it black, and see which one I like best. I also spent a few hours installing the radiator (thanks Nancy for the hand), fuel pump, and hoses. All I really need is the heater box installed when I get the back-ordered gaskets, and the wiring harness.


The clutch was also finished up, every piece new or refurbished, even new cotter pins. Feels tight, I can't wait to drop it in gear!

I also installed new felt channels on the vent windows, and as soon as the other felts come in I will continue the rest of the door restoration. They were a pain to install by myself, thanks again to Nancy for the helping hand.

Oil and Gaskets

I had a dream that I was driving the Stingray already, jammin' the gears down the highway, and then I realized that I forgot to put the oil in the motor! I'm so glad it was just a dream. First thing today I did was get some oil and an oil filter installed. I also put the exhaust gaskets on the headers, installed the new Demon carb, and the fuel line. Jimmy stopped by the other night and we installed the harmonic balancer, lower pulley and water pump. Before that, I adjusted the transmission mount so that the shifter was centered in the body. The cross bracing on the radiator mount was welded in tonight too. This entire entry is practically out of sequence/backwards, so I'll keep up with it. I started today by installing the headlights, although I can't turn them on without the harness.

I did get all the parts out of the house and into the garage this past week, and that has definitely helped move me along. I ordered all my parts, except for the wiring harness. Now I need to work on the dash soon.

Driveshaft In.

I finally got around to installing the correct U-joints on the drive shaft, and installed the drive shaft, shifter and spedo cable in the car. No picz...it was a bit too cramped under the car in the garage, and it was over 90 degrees out, so I worked on the cold concrete in the garage.

Now I need to lay out all the parts I still need to install, go over my shopping list, and place some orders. I want all the parts in the garage this weekend and out of my attic and bedroom. I am motivated now that the water company has removed the large pipe from the driveway, and I "could" take the car on a ride if I were finished. Sarah is holding me to my September due date....but I want it done earlier! NOW!!!

This weekend I plan to start to lay the fiberglass on the dash, and possibly get working on the dash cluster. That should be a fun job.

Thanks Jimmy!

I really owe Jimmy a thank you for motivating me to install the motor and transmission this week. He called me up out of the blue, and said "I'll be over Wednesday with the hoist." So I pulled everything out of the garage and started to assemble the powertrain in the driveway.

It took a bit of persuasion to get the new motor, clutch and transmission to slide into the Vette, but we managed it. If you ever tried to stretch a hoist over the long nose of a mid-year Stingray with very fresh paint, then you know what I mean!


We had a few bolts we needed to clean, replace or modify with the clutch and bell housing...but nothing too serious. I will however, need a larger u-joint for the driveshaft.

Missing....Lost Arm

Last seen clutching Dewalt buffer in my driveway. If found please return....I will need it to finish buffing. May be hanging out with my common sense, because that hasn't been around for about a year also.

I have been color sanding, and buffing, and polishing to the point where I can hardly type this entry. So far it looks pretty good, especially considering that I am not a professional and this was done in my garage for a few hundred bucks. I still have some minor scratches from the 1500 grit color sanding in my clear, even after all the buffing/polishing. Maybe tomorrow I'll try some more...maybe not.

Paint!

I did it! The Stingray now has a shiny coat of paint, and I did it in my garage for a few hundred dollars. I started by giving it the basecoat of 1967 Marina Blue, and as can be expected, had immediate problems. The lower doors and hood were terrible, with lots of sand scratches that were were visible. I took the hood off and sanded it down with 600, and then re-shot it again with the base. The doors were also wet sanded down to the primer and re-shot, each with three more coats of base blue. No big deal right....wrong...I spilled about $100 worth of paint when I dropped the gun. Nice job. So I was running out of supplies quickly. What, no picz you say? I was so frazzled, I forgot...sorry. Then I had to lay down the thin line tape for the hood graphic, and by then I was ready for bed.

Wake up the next morning, paper off the entire car and shoot some black down the hood. After removing the paper/tape I found a few areas that needed a bit of a touch up, so I adjusted the spray gun fan to small, reduced the air pressure, and was able to blow in the paint like an air brush. I was pretty excited with my new talent!


So here it is as of tonight, with two medium wet coats of clear, and a ton of dust, runs and bugs to color sand out of it tomorrow.

Knowledge vs Application

Yesterday, Tommy (72 Chevelle) and I were talking about how the body work was going. I told him that I probably know enough about paint and body work to write my own book...but it is the application of this knowledge that eludes me. Every time I do it , I get better at it, but there are those times where I swear I just got lucky at it.

My wonderful new neighbors are so kind and supportive as I push the Vette out into the driveway each day and sand, sand, sand. Then I push it back in and prime, push it out and sand. I tried to warn them that when the Vette is done, I am sure to have another project in the driveway, and they don't seem to be bothered by that. (Whew)

I was wet sanding the car for what I thought was the last time with the 600, when I found this HUGE bulge on the rear deck. (I thought I had fixed it earlier) Damn, now I had to rough it up and start filling and feathering again. I lucked out by getting it the first time!

So, you want to see what it looks like after all this sanding? I have given it my best effort with the sandpaper, washed it down, and plan to paint this week. Wish me luck!

Shimmed Out...

I finished cleaning up the hardware for the decklid and installed it. It took a few times to get it all adjusted, but now all the body panels are on, finally!

I was feeling a bit down about when I looked at the doors last week. Why were those body lines so off? Then a little help from some $3 wooden shims used to adjust the door gaps and we were in business! The lines are very good now, and I am ready to start block sanding with the 600. I was hoping to have it painted by this weekend, but of course work has me all back up, again, maybe next weekend.

Hung...

I didn't want to post another entry, but I couldn't let the opportunity go by with such a title. I hung the doors and hood, and tried to set all the gaps equally the same. Of course I'm frustrated with the results, because on a Stingray you can't shim the fenders or hood...just align the doors the best you can. I really want the body line to match up nicely, but it never really did before because the front end, and the rear end, are both aftermarket pieces.


The hood always had a huge lift here. Not much I can do about it, I can't bend fiberglass.

Then I found the little bag with the bolts, and of course I never cleaned them. So after I do, I'll hang the rear pieces and finish aligning the body parts to the best of my ability. Then finish sanding, and I hope (gulp) paint!

We Jammin'

No, I'm not in the garage with the guitar...I'm jammin the doors and hood. I finally thought that I've spent enough time with the sandpaper, and it was time to put some color down. I hope to have the doors hung and the hood back on this week, so that I can sand the rest of the body with 600 and shoot it next Friday.

All I have to do today if figure out if I need to clear the jambs first, or hang the parts back on the car, paint the basecoat and then clear everything. I'll figure it out.