RBrid

Greetings fellow C3ers. Not much progress in January, but every baby step counts right? So here we go:

First I soaked the differential cross-member bolts and bushings

and was able to get it off easily with a puller after a couple days. I took the bolt half way off and drilled a little hole in it so the puller would not slip. Worked like a charm:


Then SuperBuickGuy dismantled one of my trailing arms with his press. Don't know how he did it - It was magically done overnight.


I got my own 20t press afterwards from HF like Chadillac2000 ($150+tax) - put it on casters:


Used it to break loose the second spindle myself. I cut some holders with steel from HD, drilled holes and used long bolts to retain the spindle holder - similar to what bwinterstine did:






After the big BANG:


I also started to clean some parts that I intend to put into storage instead of reusing them (used paint thinner):



I have a lot more cleaning ahead of me.

More pictures under January Teardown.

Still enjoying the adventure

Thanks for taking a peek.

doorgunner

Your doing good! (I just reinstalled the diff. & the driver's trailing arm).

The grimy parts that I need to clean---I submerge them in a lidded plastic container filled with degreaser/Varsol....the lid keeps the fumes inside the container....the grime is easy to remove after soaking.

Keep at it....and post the pics!

Bakaruda

I'm doing a 69 Barracuda like this. Man lots of work......Good luck!

SuperBuickGuy

nice progress, don't forget, next Sunday is the Corvette swap meet in Puyallup!

RBrid

Thanks. Sounds like a neat idea - I'll give it a try.

Thanks man - good luck with your Barracuda project!

I did not forget since I never knew about it. But now that I know I might forget. Now you did it!

SuperBuickGuy

No worries, I have fireworks I can shoot your way to wake you up to go....

RBrid

Well, well, well, what have I done in the last 5 weeks? I suspect nothing exciting for you guys. But here's a little summary anyways:

Punched out all the bearing races from the rear spindle holders:


Same for the front hubs:



Wire-wheeled the 4 rotors inside & out:


Ended up drilling out the rivets of the front rotors:


The remainder of the rear rivets just needed to be pressed out of the spindles:


Cleaned the automatic transmission for storage (planning to convert to a manual):


Cleaned the steering system for storage (planning to convert to Steeroids rack 'n pinion):


Some engine cleaning (original '77 L82):


Then opened up the top end:








Followed by some basic cleaning for storage:


The cylinders are as smooth as a baby's butt:




Top-end back together:


Then I opened up the bottom end and did some cleaning too for storage:








It's all back together now and whether I will reuse the engine block or not is still undecided.

Put my blasting cabinet on casters so I can move it easily:


More pictures under February Teardown and March Teardown.

Next step:
- purchase the equipment needed to paint so I'm ready when the spring is here (paint gun, etc...).
- build a rolling cabinet for painting equipment.
- wire-wheel the differential, remove yokes, get it ready for paint and seals + clutch pack replacement.
- purchase all replacement parts for differential.

Half a year into the project and not a single piece is ready for reuse. I'm looking forward for higher temperatures so I can sand blast and paint the first parts for reassembly...

Lots of fun ahead

Thanks for taking a peek.

SuperBuickGuy

but you now know what a Corvette looks like as component pieces... that's something

RBrid

It does not hurt for sure.

So here's what has been going on in March, occasionally from stupid o'clock to insane o'clock in the evenings:

Wire-brushed the differential, before I bring it to a local shop for a rebuild:


Took out the oil and opened it up, curiosity obliges:

Will be getting the (quite expensive) parts for the rebuilt soon.

Sprayed a bit the rear spring and put it into storage - not planning to reuse it:


Cracked open the four calipers - found nasty sludge in there, including white creamy substance:

Skin moisturizer?

We have lip-seals with SS sleeves all around:


Like I said, nasty stuff inside and out:




Next I liberated the cross-member from the exhaust pipes...




...to clean the cross-member:




Then wire-brushed the four dust shields. The difference:



They need further prep work before being painted.

Bought the 1/2 shaft flange protection plate & pressed out all u-joints:




Needed the help of some heat:


Wire-brushed everything before it goes to the sand-blasting phase:


Unfortunately after all that careful handling and cleaning, I noticed cracks and bite marks all over one of the flanges:



This puppy was mistreated in the past. It was bent and pressed back to normal, causing cracks in the middle. I'll get a new one.

Finally, I built rolling shelves for future paint spraying. It will store painting stuff and incorporates a water/particulates filter + pressure regulator combo just before the gun:






March Teardown

That's all for now folks. Maybe some paint spraying in April?

Thanks for taking a peek.

SuperBuickGuy

looks good, I had great plans of swinging by on Sunday - but got called out to Oso...

RBrid

That's what I suspected. For those who don't know, SBG is a SAR volunteer. Kudos to you for dedicating lots of time and energy for that community. Such a sad site.

Dustup7T2

That's a lot of work invested, so far. Nice job, RBird.

Is the vendor that you purchased the flange protection plate a CF member? If not, could you PM who that may be?

My lack of understanding along with no tool caused me to use an option that I had not intended: buy a second set of preassembled half-shafts with u-joints and flanges. I learned quickly that Corvette half-shaft u-joints are not pressed out like ordinary driveshaft u-joints. Ugh.

Like you have shown, one original flange of mine is now distorted and I know that it will crack if I attempt to do what someone did with yours. I.E. bending to straighten it out. I will also replace mine but I was considering fabricating the plate to create my own tool. If the price is right, this will save a few steps to build one as I don't have any spare steel stock of that thickness laying around.

Thanks in advance for any help. Keep up the fine work and I'll watch as a new fan of your project.

RBrid

Thanks Dustup - I appreciate it.

Sorry to hear about the little snafu. There are at least 2 sponsoring vendors who sell the plate - but there might be more: Ecklers and Willcox (at a lower price).
Notice the groove in the plate that allows it to be mounted flush with the flange. I'll use the tool again to install the new u-joints.

Chadillac2000

Looks great. We've taken a lot of the same steps in our restorations. I picked up that same blasting cabinet and hydraulic press. They've both been very helpful so far. Keep up the good work!

mac79vette

Looks really good, making progress. As I was reading I was thinking that your going to need a sand blaster and then I cam across your photo of your harbor freight blast cabinet. I have the same one and it has been invaluable. I like the caster wheel idea on I
The blast cabinet and press, I may have to copy that.

RBrid

Thanks Chadillac & mac79. I enjoy following your builds. You're both way ahead of me.

I have not used my sand blaster yet but probably will in the coming days. I will then spray the parts with After Blast before priming them.

I have made some progress this month & will post a summary soon. A few pictures are under April '14. Stay tuned...

rrent

Thanks for all the pictures.
I have a second set of A-arms and shafts to rebuild and swap out with my originals. I thought I was going to have to crawl under car to determine left/right lower shafts/arms - your pictures did it for me.
Thanks again, good luck with the assembly of the full sized '77 - may it go as well as the much-smaller-scale '78!

FireballXL5

Subscribed. Great read. And local. ;-)

RBrid

Glad I could help rrent & good luck with your project.
FireballXL5, stop by my place some time if you want to see a naked vette.

So what happened in April and beginning of May? Well, lots of time spent on the dreaded federal taxes, some fun time in Maui - Hawaii, and this:

How to mess up a caliper
One of the bleeding screws broke inside a caliper.


So I bought a kit to extract broken bolts. Drilled a hole in the screw and tried to extract it.


Forgot about the wise words from my friend SBG & did not heat up the whole shebang. And of course, it broke off.


Now I have two decommissioned calipers out of four (another one is too scarred to be reused). So the new plan is to get a complete Wilwood kit.

Wheel studs removal
Let the big boy do it.




Lots of wire-wheeling




The last station before the sand blasting


Repairing chassis threads
The bolts for the sombreros in particular were super rusty when I removed them a while back and they damaged the chassis threads. So I bought a thread repair kit

and repaired the threads, with oil of course

They're in a much better shape now.

Hand brake clean up
The old look:


The new look:




Gas tank straps clean up
The threads deserved some reshaping too.


Gas tank dismantling




No, I have no bladder problems doctor. Everything is in good shape. Thanks.


Rear bumper parts cleaning
Before makeover:

After makeover:


Finally some sand blasting
First it did not work so well. In fact it totally sucked in that it did not suck. So I did a couple things to improve the machinery:
- replaced the original suction hose with a much stronger one which does not kink.


- added an air dryer just before the sand blasting cabinet, even though I already had one after the compressor.


- added a coupling manifold and a blow gun to conveniently blow into the nozzle and unplug the suction tube.


Here's my setup:


And some of the results so far:






Immediately after blasting, I clean the parts with Eastwood PRE Painting Prep and then spray them with Eastwood After Blast:

After a few minutes I wipe the excess off.

I have been using the compressor around 20-25 hours since I bought it new and it broke this week. All symptoms point to (a) dead capacitor(s).

What comes next? Spray all the sand blasted parts with various paints. Exciting stuff!

Thanks for taking a peek.

alconk

Is your sandblaster from Harbor Freight? If so how well do you like it? What size compressor are you running for it? Thanks.