Brandons72vette

Really great thread, I've enjoyed it.

CraigH

Thanks guys, really appreciate your comments.
This is my first Vette and in fact my fist attempt at anything like this.
The main reason I document it all is that I got so much help from other peoples posts along the way that I want to pass it on in case my experiences can help others.....also the older I get I think I will this more and more to remind me how how i did stuff in case I need to repair later on :-)
Started knowing nothing about it in 2009 and have come a long way but have a huge amount still to learn..

Dustup7T2

Just came across this thread also. How did I miss your work until now? My fault but will continue to re-read and to follow.

Thanks for sharing. Outstanding effort! Beautiful results!

yyz1970

Great thread, I've enjoyed every page I'm doing the same with my 72 with not as much talent and detail as yourself. When I'm doing a project I have to tell myself to "Take your time" here in Canada the weather isn't corvette weather until April.

My wife and I are traveling to Sydney in April we hope to see a few stingrays

Cheers,Barry

riverracer au

pity you wont be in adelaide in april, easter time, as the Australian national vette convention will be held there
well bout an hr's drive out of the city, "vette's in the vines"

sorry, dont mean to hijack your thread craig

CraigH

Not at all Alan, I was going to look up the dates for it myself and suggest it to Barry.

Additionally looking at the NSW Corvette Clubs web site may be valuable if your going to be in Sydney.

http://nswcorvettes.com.au/forum/index.php

Also thanks for the nice comments on the thread guys, I feel like I have been a bit slack recently so need to get back into doing more stuff on the vette.

Craig

vetteman1981

[QUOTE=CraigH;1585766935]Gave all the chrome work and wheels a polish.

Wheels were wet sanded first 1000, 1500, 2000 as below, ready for Powerball

What kind of polish do you use on your wheels? I used Adams 2 part metal polish today and am not very happy with the results.
On my factory wheels I used Bush Super Aluminum Shine Polish and it did a very good job so I am thinking of getting some again to see if it works well with the Coys.

CraigH

[QUOTE=vetteman1981;1586382312]Ok I waited till I was back from Work traveling to answer this.

Mothers
Power metal polish
Mag and metal polish

meguirs
All metal polish
Billet polish

autosol
Metal polish


Brilliant
Chrome polish
Aluminium polish

Ok so I found the alloy used in coys wheels can be got a to good if not great shine but not a real high shine like chrome.

So starting with something fairly abrasive like wet and dry work through the tough marks then move to an abrasive polish like Autosol or one of the Mothers ones.

Finish it off with mothers billet or the brilliant polishes.

It's a lot of work for a good result but it's not an amazing difference.

Biggest thing for me next time is to use a yellow power ball to start with the more abrasive polishes rather than a red one.

Remember less polish is better than more - I found this many times when I clogged up the power ***** and they stopped working well.

vetteman1981

[QUOTE=CraigH;1586406707]
By wet and dry are you referring to sanding? If so I will have to get some help on that as I am sure I will screw them up.
The wheels for the most part look pretty good. I was hoping to get them to shine like my factory wheels but now I think that will not happen because of the differences in the aluminum. I can live with that but there is a small area on one for the wheels that has some hazing or something that I couldn't get out. You have your face about a foot away to see it, so it not that bad I just want to get that off.

CraigH

[QUOTE=vetteman1981;1586413703]You only need sanding with wet and dry paper if thee are marks in them, so sounds like you can skip that step and just polish them.

I would suggest a powerball or powercone to do the job and it will get a good shine and remove the haze.

briankeery

Wonderful thread Craig, as most I've enjoyed it right from page one. I spent two years in your wonderful country from 2002-2004. I lived/worked in Adelaide, Brisbane and Surfer's Paradise. Would go back in a heartbeat. Keep enjoying your beautiful ride, and keep us updated with any changes.


I noticed earlier on you had ordered a new rear spring. Has this been installed yet?

CraigH

Thanks for your comments.

Have not got to doing the rear suspension fully yet, I am told I need to leave some till I retire.... :-)

Its on my list but the list is so long.

CraigH

Had a very frustrating daya a week back.

Took the 71 out for a run and all was good but I started to notice a slight hesitation on exiting a circle when I came back onto the throttle.

Over the next day it developed into a signifigant missfire when you got onto the throttle.

Went for a run with a mate and convinced ourselves it was electricat - how wrong were we :-)

So I spent the morning doing each of these to pinpoint it.

- Replaced plugs
- Replaced leads
- Replaced coil
- Checked voltages
- Checked timing
- Checked advance springs and changed them
- Changed electronic ignition module

No better !!!!!

- Checked fuel flow through pump fine.
- Changed filter in carb
- Checked all vacuum lines

No better !!!!!

- Changed carbs

All fine ....as I said how wrong were we.

So now I have to work out what is wrong with my carb, working one day missfire under light acceleration the next.

Idles fine.

Out came the papers from lars etc

I decided this is as good a time as any to rejet the carb for the new motor so I stripped the carb down.



Removed seconday hangers etc.



Removed all the top bolts.





Remove bolt that holds Choke assembly.







Remove roll pin from accelerator pump lever.



Lift top off carb.



Remove accelerator pump.



Remove top gasket.



Remove rods and assembly.



Remove float bowl cover then float.





Remove jets, accelerator pump check valve ball bearing and fuel inlet parts.



Turn over and remove 2 bolts that gold bottom plate on and split it.











Done, now I can clean it up and put back together with new gaskets jets, rods etc.

Hopefully missfre will be gone.

empeg9000

Wow that's a lot of work! Carbs scare the heck out of me. I have yet to try a rebuild. I can adjust the cold and normal idles but that's about it.

CraigH

Got some time on the weekend to start reassembly of my quadrajet.

First I cleaned the 3 body parts and let them dry.





Now take the base and put on stand.



Fit the gasket to the middle section.



And place it on the base.



Flip base and add bolts to hold it together





Turn it back over and we can start re fitting parts.



Fitted the main jets, went from size 74 to size 76.



Accelerator Pump check ball.



Needle and seat.





Float.





Rods and assembly.







Cover.





\



Checked the float level by holding float in upper position and measuring against scale.





I had earlier found binding in my secondary butterflies so I removed them and sanded the problem areas smooth. So this step may not be needed on other carbs.



Temporarily placed top of carb on to work on butterflies then fitted shaft and flaps.







Then remove top and flip it over to allow the return spring to be pulled up and wrapped around the metal shaft.







Place gasket on carb and carefully pass rod assembly through it.



Fit accelerator pump after some silicone lube.



Fit the choke lever to shaft on carb top and fit it to the base carefully aligning all tubes etc.





Bolt the top on.



Add accelerator pump lever and roll pin.



Fit idle needles and fuel filter parts.

All done apart from fitting choke assembly which requires the carb being placed on side and aligning the lever so we can slide the choke assembly on. (Will show this later but ran out of time before I needed to head to airport for work trip)

briankeery

I really like your carburetor work stand. Your design?

CraigH

Unfortunately not, I picked it up from Summit Racing for $30.

Adjusts to different carb types etc, and makes the job a lot easier.

CraigH

Choke mechanism going back on the carb.

Easiest to do by putting carb on its side and alligning the little crank for the choke inside.





Then link up the seconday lockout lever and slide the mechanism on. You may need to rotate it a little to get the inner cam connected.

Dont worry if it takes a few goes.



Bolt it up and then connect the pull off vacuum.

CraigH

I have been playing with my front alignment as the car handles great but has a tendancy to tramline a bit on worn roads.

May just be the 245 front tires but I thought I would add a bit more caster.

I had shims in the front A-Arms are as follows.

Front 1 x 1/8 + 1 x 1/16
Rear 5 x 1/8

New setup

Front 1 x 1/32
Rear 4 x 1/8 + 1 x 1/16

So that should have added some more positive caster and possibly lowered the negative camber a little. (have heaps of neg camber anyway)

So I needed to check the toe each time to see roughly what changed.

Knocked up a couple of these to allow 2 tape measures between the wheels.



Accurate enough for testing.

Saw it on a Porsche site and though was a good idea.

Hooked666

Craig
I am in awe of your talent and patience (neither of which I possess) and your rebuild is fantastic.
I am new to corvettes and this forum and would appreciate
I have recently purchased a 1971 C3 454 corvette for my wife which has a rebuilt engine.
I need to fit some thermo fans to it as it gets too hot when sitting in traffic.
What type of car did the thermo fans that you fitted to your C3 come out of?
I think your fan controller design is great how can I get one.

Ray