tsdorsey

Ahhh, home sweet home.

Been lurking here for about a month now and like what I see. The whole Christmas giveaway thing blew my mind. Wish I was here for that. I have lots of doodads I'm not putting back on my vette. Oh well, there will be another Christmas in a year.

So... Hello CorvetteForum.com

I enjoy reading posts with lots of pics so I thought I share some of the ones I have taken up to this point.

Links to larger and Huge images are under each image

So this started when I decided I was to the point where I could afford to start looking for my dream car, a 1969 Hardtop Camaro (Waits for rotten fruit to fly...). I knew my friend was selling this Corvette but I hadn't considered it because I wanted that Camaro. I know everyone and their brother has a 69 Camaro rebuild but it's a cool car. Anyway I ended up over at my friends house one day and we needed to run to the store. He said we should take the vette and I could see if I liked it. It was love at first sight. All thoughts of the Camaro were gone. (Maybe I just have ADD )

Drove it home a week or so later and continued to drive it for a few months until I moved into the house with the 2 car garage. As you will see from the following photos I'm putting the garage to good use

Some stats:
1976
Originally buckskin, repainted burgundy at some point
99000 miles
Matching engine and 4 speed tranny
Tach is busted
AC is gone
Deluxe interior option
Power windows are shot
Floor pans are rusted through
Body is 98% perfect (Big selling point)

Now that I pulled it apart there is some slight damage to the car. Front right side marker light was glued into the housing because the box was broken off the back. Don't know how but maybe low speed collision. The back right bumper dampener thing has the lower outside corner bent forward (pics below) but I can't see how that's possible from a collision.

Plans: (Like I'll follow them, but whatever )
T56 6 speed (Must have)
It has a 3.08 rear end and I want something more like 3.4-3.6
New suspension (1 inch lower all around)
Shave all handles, emblems, and locks (Let the hate begin )
Completely custom interior. Diff steering wheel, center gauges moved to the top center of the dash, Touchscreen nav system in their place.
AC back in. (Southern Cali cars NEED AC )
Smog eqip gone
Dual Exhaust, no cats, (Maybe side pipes, but probably not)
1.25 inch swaybar in front
0.75 inch swaybar in rear
DIY Conversion to Rack and Pinion ($1200 for the steeroids? I don't think so)
Lots of other little custom stuff

On to the pics...



The day after she came home. Wow.

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I like to just sit and look.

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Garage is clean, workbench is built. Time to make a mess.

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I have been told by another corvette owner to not go selling all my stuff, but I don't intend to put the factory gauge cluster, much less the gauges back in, so unless there is a good reason for me to keep these they are on the market.

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Man it sucked taking this out. Lots of connections and no room to maneuver.

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Looks like I just brought it back from the junkyard. Bubba had gotten to most of the wiring

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Thank goodness for those ratcheting offset wrenches. I don't know how I would have gotten the back bumper cover off without them.

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Buh bye stock exhaust.

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There was a lot of wiring in this thing.

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Inside close to done, getting syked to work on the engine.

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tsdorsey

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The tach was stuck at 1000 the whole time I drove it.

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I messed up a little pulling the steering column out. I just couldn't figure out how it connected to the bracket that bolted to the firewall. I ended up bending it when I yanked it out.

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Another sunny weekend in the garage

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My mini junkyard has started. Those doors are friggin' heavy.

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All the interior trim.

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Bumper, T-Tops, Door panels, Steering column (need any parts?) rack, seats, and the spare tire holder.

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Well, there it is "Dorsey's Dig In Car Salvage"

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Thirsty? Oil, Tranny fluid, Anti-freeze, gas, WD-40.

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The radiator shroud in the top left corner was hacked up but was still a PITA to get out. What gives?

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This was bathed in power steering fluid. The system leaked and needed to be refilled all the time.

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I need a 3 car garage, One for the body, one for the frame and one for all the parts. They just keep piling up.

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Nooo, I just cleaned up, where did this come from?

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In hindsight there was no need to pull the engine because I was gonna take the body off. But it did make getting at the rusted on body bolts a lot easier and taking off the stuff off the inside of the engine bay makes the front less likely to crack once the it's off the frame.

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tsdorsey

Please put your seat backs and tray tables in their upright and locked position.

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Bubbafied tranny jack.

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This is getting out of hand.

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Hope the landlord doesn't see this

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Pulled out without any major difficulties

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That wasn't so bad.

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Did someone drive this into an oil pit? It's 1/4" thick on the cross member.

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There was a bit of a gap in photo taking at this point. I removed all electrical and vacuum from the engine bay. Removed the front bumper and headlights.
Then I had to wait about a month to work on it because work got really busy.

Back to the car, I got the garage cleaned up and ready to have the body and frame side by side.

Big thanks to Jordan (Gray shirt) for helping take the body off. When smoothly. Yes, that's me in the white shirt.

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Looked forward to this for a long time.

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tsdorsey

Didn't have time to make a dolly, I was to impatient to get the body off

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So we just setup some jackstands and set it down on them.

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And THAT'S what a garage is for.

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I have read a few horror stories about frame offs and was bracing myself for a some rust when I took the body off. The worst of it was the body mount bolts that I'm replacing anyway. The frame is near perfect. It's a SoCal car so that makes sense but it's way better than I was hoping.

The next bunch of pictures show the condition of the frame.



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tsdorsey

I took the body off on Fri night and this is what the frame looked like on Sun afternoon. I didn't take any pics because I didn't want to stop and clean my hands



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Not a bolt or screw left in it.

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I explained earlier about the bent bumper piece. This is the mount point for it and you can see what is going on. But I don't see how this could happen without the bumper being hit and collapsing the dampener.

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The junkyard got an overhaul and is ready to be covered. We are getting close to the raiy season here and I don't want to end up with a pile of rust in 3 months.

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I'm sure I should replace them while they are out, but these U-Joints look great. Not sure how old they are.

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I'm about 1 month into this project and I hope (Hope, HOPE) to have this done no later than July 1st of this year.

Thanks to all the guys on here who are so willing to share their knowledge. Hope I can return the favor someday.

-Trevor

m1tommygun

WOW!!! You are doing what I hope to be doing to my 76 in a couple of years. I just wish I had a nice garage like yours to work on mine in. You look like you are well on your way to a killer car! Are you going to customize it, or are you doing a restoration? Sooooo, which parts are you going to rid yourself of? Good luck, and keep us posted.

Scott

StingrayDK

Great job

PhotoVette1

I remember discussion, years ago, when most people said that C3's would never be collectors' cars--would never be worthy of restoration.

Then--common wisdom said that only the chrome bumpered C3's would ever be desirable.

Now--there's probably not a one of us who doesn't flip through our catalogs and assembly manuals dreaming of the day when we too will start our frame-off restorations.

Except--for those that have completed their frame-off's; they are browsing through Ebay occasionally searching for the next C3 to restore.

Welcome to the brotherhood of the C3!

Keep posting images!

RATT7

Great job, alot of work and effort to do a job like that. Keep us updated on the progress, it's looking good.

ruby76

I'll pay attention to this thread. Im one of those thumbin through the catalog dreaming of when I'll start the frame off on my 76

kortensi

Looking good.

Are you going to POR-15 or powder coat it?

rudolph schenker

Great work!!

stingraymaniac

looks great

chevy69

Nice post and welcome

I'm going through the same process with my '69. I am 18 months in and probably about 50% done. While I look forward to getting it done, I'll probably start another project as soon as this one is done. It's a labor of love. Keep the pictures coming!!!

MEGALADON

WOW what a project
Why do you have a rope tie on the front
end to the roof???

Durango_Boy

CLICK - "Subscribed." I'll be watching this one. You have no major issues from what I can see. Nothing bad with the frame and the body looks great. Good luck. You doing a new custom motor and trans or keeping everything stock?

tsdorsey

m1tommygun:
That garage is thanks in large part to some good friends of mine. 4 of them to be exact. The 5 of us are sharing a house and I'm the only one who wants the garage so it's all mine.

PhotoVette1:
Maybe it's just me but I don't like chrome. At least not on vettes. The no chrome C3 - C6 versions are perfect to me.

kortensi:
I wish I had the money to powder coat it but I like what I see others getting out of the POR15. Thats the route I'm gonna go (this time )

chevy69:
Like I said in the first post, I got a little worried when work picked up and I had to leave her sit for a month with no progress, but it's all good now.

MEGALADON:
The front, while it weighs very little right now is prone to breaking off while not held up by anything. Just want to keep the amount of glass work I do to a minimum

Durango_boy:
I read a few horror stories on here before I took the body off but was ecstatic to find there was only surface rust. I'm gonna keep the original engine for now. Maybe new heads and cams, not sure. I'm shooting for 350-400 hp at the flywheel. Maybe thats not practicle with the Ditch all the smog gear (I have 18 months 'til the next inspection) and put bigger dual exhaust on it. The 3 speed auto tranny with 100,000 on it is up for grabs if someone wants to pick it up. That goes for the torque converter as well. I had no problems with the transmission (other than a top speed of 80mph before I risked the engine) but I'm not even sure about that cuz the tach was busted.

That said, I want (will insist on) a T56 6 speed for this bad boy. Mix that in with a 3.4-3.6 diff in the back and I think it will be one fun ride.

Thanks for the great welcome everyone.

Pusher

Wow! You jumped in with both feet, good luck and keep the photos coming. I have one question, from what I've read on the price of POR vs. Powder coating I don't think there's a big price difference (I may be wrong?).

Durango_Boy

I think a 3.55 would be perfect for your application.

tsdorsey

Pusher:
Yeah I did. When progress is made the photo's will come. You were right on the powdercoat vs. the POR-15. procoatpowdercoating.com has sandblast and powdercoat of a car frame listed at $370-$550. And based on the cost of the POR-15 that's about what it would cost to do the frame.

I can think of a couple reasons to go the POR-15 route.
1. I'm in control. Schedule, parts, quality.
2. I don't have to send all the parts anywhere. More money to spend on the vette.

But there are some good reasons to do the powder coat.
1. I'm NOT in control. Someone who knows what they are doing IS.
2. It's a nice finish and would last a long time. (But I think POR-15 would too)

But there is something else to consider. I want to do the upper and lower A arms, the trailing arms, the crossmembers and probably some other small misc parts. That could add up fast doing it the powdercoat way. There is a thread on here by a guy doing his own powdercoating of trailing arm sized parts and down with the oven in the kitchen. As a bachelor that is an option

Crap, now I don't know I'll think about it some more

Durango_boy:
I'll keep that in mind. The question would have come up sooner or later. I want something that I can light up the tires in 1st, chirp 2nd and cruise at 90mph without burning up my engine. I think the 6 speed and 3.55 would do that. Need a few more ponies than I have now, but that just takes $$$$