CraigH

I had not discussed it on this forum but the upper yoke of my column is in 180 degrees out. Must have been repaired at some stage and put in upside down.

Plays havoc with indicator cancel etc etc.

So to resolve it

- the Rag Joint needed splitting and rotating of the column side 180 degrees (When centered flat edge is bottom).

- the upper part of the column needed removal and rotation 180 degrees so the chisel mark in the upper column points down but the upper case is in correct location.

Now blinkers cancel fine etc. Much simpler than pulling column apart to correct yoke.

CraigH

Fan control is now finished and installed.

Ralph did a great job.

The control panel in the ash tray.



The control box.



Test rig.



Wiring instructions laser etched on bottom of case.



Easy to use.

Press fan 1 or 2 button to manual control fans.

Set threshold for each fan by holding down button at desired temperature.

You can also control led brightness (it adapts for night day) and fan cut off points.

main led is blue as car warms up, green when at desired running temp, yellow when one fan on, red when 2 fans on, flashing when 10 degrees over 2 fan point and beep as well beyond that.

CraigH

Note to self, dont get too smart !!!!

Was putting the column back together and i was about to mount the ignition switch.



Thought it looked a bit crappy (even though it worked perfectly) so I decided to take it all apart and chemically treat it etc etc.

Bad idea, 12 small springs and bits and pieces later are all over the floor.

Got it all back together but i think I lost something as I have no accessory setting.



No problem will do for the moment and i will order another one to replace it later.

CraigH

After a few more rebuilds I get accessories, its just a matter of lining up all the metal parts inside then closing it.

I still think there is something missing in it :-)

But its too loose now, lost the distinct notches between settings.

Never mind its working ok till i get another one.

Pontiworld has one so will call tomorrow.

CraigH

Got the vette flat bedded to the exhaust shop Monday.

Gave me a chance to clean the garage :-)



Got a 2.5" mandrel bent system made up. I did not want it to be too loud but have a nice sound. Seems to have hit the mark.

Tune was WAY off though and it ran like a PIG, by the time I got home it had fouled the plugs.

Turns out the springs I used in the advance were so weak they came all on at just over idle and a vacuum leak from a cap they popped off so the settings were off the mark.

Fixed those things up now and it runs nice.

Adjusted the semi coilovers a bit more to get it as level as possible.

CraigH

So the good and the bad.

The steering with the Borgeson box is fantastic, brings the car into current century.

Precise, smooth and feels like a different car - still dont have an alignment yet so can only get better.

The bad is the intake manifold is leaking oil from the rear GRRRRRRRR.

Will have to take it off and do it again. :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

CraigH

..........

CraigH

New ignition switch arrived from Ponti World



They got it out to me next day - great service.



Should get it mounted back in vette tonight.

CraigH

Column went back in with new seals and tightened into the rag joint.

Took it for another spin out on the highway and all I can say is wow - it drives like a different car.

The steering is so precise, certainly one of the best changes I have done.

CraigH

Ok so here are a few shots of the exhaust system.

2.5" mandrel bent with lukey mufflers at the rear.

CraigH

Underside of the hood had some bubbles in the paint so I started to give it a light sand.......





After these shots were taken it was all back to glass.

Not sure if i should give it a paint with fiberglass resin or some sort of gel coat primer before painting or not .... any ideas. ?

CraigH

Need to take the vette for an alignment this week, either Monday morning or Thursday Friday as i am traveling for work in between.

Needed to get the hood fitted so I am less an issue for the Police.

Brackets back on.



Hood fitted and lots of adjustments to get it almost correct.







The hood latches have not been restored yet but they need to go back in.

CraigH

I had spend hours stripping the underside of the hood and repainted it yesterday.

Was not happy at all so stripped it back to glass again - what a pain.





Have decided to use one of the under hood liners instead so ordered it yesterday.

CraigH

Wanted to see how much clearance I had with the new manifold to the hood.



Heaps

CraigH

Did some final height adjustments.

Front is 60cm from bottom of rim lip to wheel arch lip

Rear is 61cm from bottom of rim lip to wheel arch lip.

CraigH

I went and got some rubber from Clark Rubber to fill the top area of the radiator to the support.



Then marked it for the hood seal and spread weatherstrip adhesive.

CraigH

My front grills had seen better days, the chrome is starting to break up etc.

So I stripped and cleaned them up as good as i could then gave them a few coats of Satin black paint.

I wrapped the old lens covers in glad wrap as a masking method.







I know they should have been silvery grey but black looks good and it hides the problems much better than the grey.

May have to look to get them stripped and re chromed at some stage.

CraigH

After some work with the razor blade they don't look too bad.

By using the satin black the areas where chrome has deteriorated don't stand out as much.

I think the grey would have offered less contrast so the issues would have been more obvious.

Very happy with them.





Re Chroming possibly in the future.

CraigH

I built new brackets to mount the grills to the bumper tabs that gave more adjustment.

Final fit, first the headlight shields.





Then the grills and plenty of adjusting then some more :-)

CraigH

December 2011

Now the lens gaskets and lenses as well as the center grill









Just the Number plate to go.