Dave1959

I have a 1959 C1. I drove it into my shop, and I stripped and bagged everything as best as I could about 8-10 years ago. The time has come to refresh my corvette. It is a rolling frame with the body still on. I am doing a power disk brake conversion for safety, getting it into paint, and reassembling. Windshield off. dash pad removed (was bad). All floors bare. Dechromed everywhere inside and out. Seats and brackets removed. Gas tank and all parts out. Only the trunk, the hood, the soft top cover and I think the glove box are still intact. Steering column out. The inner workings of the door removed (regret that). Rear end rebuilt. Engine at shop being machined and re-assembled. Ordered thousands in new parts/NOS/Reproduction over the past 10 years.

We just sold the shop I was working on it in. I have downsized from 13 vehicles to just 2. The wife says get it done and sell it, and I agree with her - been too long, and I'm not enjoying the hobby or car and keep hurting myself at my old age. Almost blew out my knee carrying box of parts the other day for another vehicle - not good. I get dizzy sometimes when I stand up after working on my back under a dash or similar. Just time to move on from the hobby after 50+ years.

I'm about to replace the drum brakes up front with disk, put the steering column back in, and roll it into paint shop for body & paint.

Here is the challenge: I forgot the order I removed everything, and I've forgotten where most everything I have off the vehicle goes. Slight exaggeration, but I don't remember the sequence to reassemble. I have lots of YouTube links and the vendor sites have papers and I think I have the ST-12 with some of those not so detailed diagrams, but I'm looking for a holistic "this is the order things should be done in" guide. For example, I have all the items that need paint/powdercoating that are seperate from the main body in a huge pile (like the fan shroud, seat frames, bumper supports) and a massive pile of chrome and stainless trip (door handles, bumpers, smaller parts), and another part of my shop dedicated to interior related stuff needing re-upholstery (I have the kit already minus the dash pad).

Things that immediately come to my attention are:

• How to reassemble the steering column properly in the car?
• The sequence of putting the windshield frame back on the car - after dash pad and after wiper transmissions?
• How to put the guts back into the doors - there are like 40 pieces to each door!
• Does the trans (4 speed T10) go in before the engine, or do they go in together?
• How do the heater hoses route?
• Where did the electrical wires sit (don't have a wiring kit yet - but next big purchase)?
• How do I easily identify the thousands of small parts that make up the car?
• How do the gauges go in?
• Will an HEI fit?
• Best spot for alternator under the hood?

Finally, my machine shop is saying that he won't even have time to start on the engine until November timeframe. He has all the parts - engine mount & pads, draft tube, exhaust manifolds, etc. I may need to put a SBC engine in it just to get it around until the engine is ready from this shop. In fact, since I'm not going numbers matching but more era correct or just a refreshed driver at this point, maybe I will sell the engine when he is done, but for now get another SBC. The issue is I won't have a place to store it or even work on it between the time the paint is done and the motor is ready. As such, I may need to drive it around for 6 months or more before that numbers matching engine is done. By then I should be able to afford to redo all the chrome and get the powder coating done. By drive around, I mean park on the street covered with security cameras pointing at it, and move it for street sweeping every few days.

I can't afford to pay others to do the labor except for the paint. It is costing a fortune to refresh this vette. Not having a shop to work on it, and under huge time pressure to get it a driver has me frazzled and a bit frozen as to what to do in what order.

Thanks for listening friends. It has been a while since I've posted. Happy to be done with my C4 project. Now time to wrap up this project.

FYI: most people would look at the project the way it is and say forget it or basket case or whatever. But I drove the vehicle into my shop, pulled the engine and trans, rebuilt the rear end and transmissions, then intended to work on this car for years. I found a few other cars that took less work and drove them, sold them, traded them, or held on to them until recently. Time to start working on the C1 again.

Oh one thing I definitely do not have and need is a flywheel for a clutch/T-10. I have new clutch kit. I also have 3 starters and can't recall the tooth count. What I don't know is which flywheel I need - are they the same for the 283/327/350/400 or are sizes different in addition to teeth count? Thanks friends. Help how you can. Point me to links. The biggest problem with many videos is that they talk a lot and what I need are step-by-step no nonsense videos if possible. For example I love this one on how to get the regulator back in the door:
Share your opinions, please. I'm sure you're wondering how much dollars I have into the vette. I'd say about $35K right now. So I think that I'll still be able to finish it and break even or maybe make 5-10K but no idea. Maybe I'm naive - watching this market go up and down for years. Ran into David Kindig at a show recently, and when I asked his opinion, he said to buy a complete chassis and go that route. I'm trying to reduce the amount I have in the project, not do a $100,000 build. Funny advice.

cbernhardt

Sounds like a good project to sell "AS IS".

Ken Sungela

Well, here's my opinion. I think you have a long, laborious, and costly road ahead to get this done. Make money, I don't think so, unless its an original fuelie. If its a labor of love and want the satisfaction of getting is back together, then that's your profit. But the cost in your physical and mental health may trump that profit. There are online resources to show you how to do just about anything, but the time to research the "how" will likely take longer then doing the actual work.
Do you have any kids or grandkids that would like to get involved, make it a family project? Just an idea.
After tear down, I do all the body work first and then paintwork. Send parts out for plating/polishing since that usually takes 2-4 months. Sounds like you'll be farming out the paint work, so I would get it ready for that first. While its at the paint shop, do an inventory of parts and buy what you need to fill in the holes. Get your interior ready for install then too. When the paintwork is all done, start assembly. Maybe you'll be done by Christmas.

Dave1959

Just spent 2,000 on new rubber, trim, and other misc parts to reassemble. Thinking I'd sell at a huge loss if a project and not a runner/driver.

Dave1959

Thank you @Ken Sungela for your reply. My thoughts as well. Hence get it to paint, buy some time to sort out next steps, and when out of paint drive it somewhere else to work on it maybe.

Open to other suggestions and replies...thanks again Ken and @cbernhardt

Ken Sungela

You're welcome, where you located?

Dave1959

I am in greater Los Angeles area

Ken Sungela

There must be dozens of cars in your area. Connect with an owner who will let you look at their car and take pics/videos to see how everything is assembled.

Dave1959

The shops nearby don't want you walking around inside of them for insurance purposes (whether you are an NCRS member or sign a waver or not) so that makes it a challenge. Anyone in the beach cities (PV, Torrance, Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan, Playa Del Ray, Marina Del Ray, Venice) area?

road pilot

There is plenty of literature out there
NCRS,AIM etc to buy and read. Read,
learn and apply.
Your project is not easy and won't be cheap.
It will take a great commitment. Only you
know whether you want to continue.
Good luck

ironheadvette

I've been working on my 61 since I brought it home on 3 trailers in 2007. I'm still fixing and upgrading things, including a Dakota Digital RTX dash setup.
I have done all the work myself, and have may hundreds of hours in it - which I will never re-coup.

Since you need to inventory everything anyway - I would make a list and take about 150 pictures of the car, parts, frame, body, seats..... and on.....
You can "Test" the waters for just selling it as a project on BAT - Bring a Trailer.
A listing for 7 days is $99.00 and you can set a non-disclosed reserve so you don't give it away.

As they sell two or three C1 Corvettes a week, there is a lot of interest with thousands of views. You open it up to people who may want to Restomod it, restore it,
or just have a project to work on. This also allows a buyer to finish it as he/she would like - including paint color, interior, wheels, tires.
If it doesn't sell, you really haven't lost much, and you can continue your build.
Good luck.

Dave1959

I’ve been on Bring a Trailer since it started. Sold one. Bought two. About to list my Porsche for sale there.

I don’t love it when people post to see what their project is worth and get reserve not met. Usually a dealership trick to test the market. I know not everyone does that. Huge fan of BaT.

Dave1959

Okay so here's an update.
Y'all were absolutely right about the time it takes to find out the 'how' with pictures or video online to get what you need. I learned the most by visiting an NCRS member's house and crawling under his car and looking under the hood. Often times a one hour task took me 10 hours with all the research I had to do. And things I thought would take just an hour because I have experience in them - like putting in shift linkage - ended up taking 20 hours and multiple trips.
Since I posted this in late March, I spent about 4 weeks on it getting it back together enough to drive it under its own power to the paint shop. That was great. It is now in paint.
Every little thing took a long time.
A few times, parts I bought and have receipts for I could not find anywhere in all my boxes of new parts.
I laid out the parts as best as I could in huge groups - trunk area, engine compartment, transmission related, etc - and still couldn't find everything I needed easily.
I have clear storage boxes - that helped quite a bit.
Anyway, thank you for your support.
I had probably 6 different alternator brackets and arms - could not remember which ones.
I had 5 different upper water pump pulleys - could not get it to line up with the harmonic balancer pulley.
I ended up doing an oil pan gasket on the engine while hovering in the air on a hoist - never done that before and man it took hours to clean that surface - especially the rear main seal area.
I fired it up and it had an intake leak. Thought it was the oil pressure line hole in the back - it wasn't - it was the intake manifold, so had to do that.
Man that lower radiator hose was a severe pain to get on.
The fan shroud - someone should put together a tips and tricks for that MAN was that a pain.
Even figuring out the starter bolts, or where the ground wire runs from the battery to the rear bolt, and on and on and on.
I have learned so much - the vette is truly unique to work on and clearly I did not retain much knowledge from removing parts.
It also did not help that the original engine and transmission wrong for the car. That is why so many photos I looked at online here and ST-12 and elsewhere didn't match my car.
Got to say that online ST-12 helped a lot.
Searching through old forum posts here was priceless.
Looking at restored show cars posted at the auction sites sometimes helped. The detailed, high-resolution photos taken by the frame-off rotisserie restorations helped so very much.

cv67

Put a post up in the SoCal section here there are a number of guys who own these local
I understand your plight but at this point Id sell just the way it is and move on. Cant buy time, health etc.
id never do a resto like you are again. Did it once..sure happy with it but I cant get those 10 yrs back. Has nothing to do with $.
If you wanna forge ahead take the 1st step and find come local members they will help out.

reedkona

Dave,
what you are looking for can be found on the NCRS site, thanks to Rich Mozzetta: https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...tion-Documents

Dave1959

Thank you @reedkona - huge fan of Rich's documentation. I found that it was easier to go to the mid-atlantic corvette site - doesn't require download - for most of the same articles.