1963 Corvette

[Fred32v]

Maybe back to Corvettes at Carlisle again, August 26th -28th.
Take your Dad.

[TireSmoker]

Maybe -- I'm having a hard enough time convincing him to come to the Dream Cruise which is 2 hours closer. But we are driving it down to Mid-Ohio on Sunday for the SVRA Vintage races. He used to take me down there a bunch when I was a kid. IndyCar, SCCA, IMSA GTO/GTU, Corvette Challenge.. Mid-Ohio is a really nice place if you've never been there.

-Dave

[TireSmoker]

So far, so good.

I've put a few hundred miles on the car over the weekend. I drove it around for several hours on Thursday night as mentioned earlier. I also drove it to breakfast on Saturday morning, and then to Norwalk for the NHRA qualifying and then to Mid-Ohio on Sunday. No issues at all! The ignition and carb could stand some fine tuning, but if I never get to it, it still drives well enough.

I LOVE driving it.

[TireSmoker]

Back in Dec 2009, my father ordered a power steering conversion kit for the Corvette. Spring 2010 I was out of the country, and they were down in Florida for his cancer treatment. I didn't get back home until early June, so I wasn't real interested in taking the car apart in the middle of the summer, especially after I let it languish so long in 2009 with the heater core. And then this winter, after making the decision to do the engine, well, why hang a power steering pump off the motor when its going to be coming right back out? I also had Dad order a new set of front springs, as the old ones were sagging.

So, the engine is finally done. I've kinda had my fill of major work on it at this point, so I decided to take it to Pete @ GPV. He's worked on the car before and I trust the work. I took him the parts from the power steering kit and the power steering control valve isn't there. Instead, there was a box of brake pads. Lesson: always open your packages and check the contents. All Eckler's was willing to do was to sell me another kit at the old price since it had been 18 months. I can't really say I expected much more than that, but I had to call at least.

So, dad made a run up to Bair's in Linesville, PA and took a new control valve down to Pete. Then the pump ends up being bad and we have to get another one. WTF?? That kit was crap.

But in the end, the car has power steering, which is pretty nice when manuvering in the driveway or parking lot. And new front springs so the car sits level again. I'll probably have to re-adjust the headlights, as I remember having trouble getting them aimed high enough with the nose-down attitude from old front springs + newer rear spring.

I mean ... everything's been done at this point.. Engine, trans a couple years ago, paint / interior / top in 2005, rear spring, front springs, power steering, heater core, radio .. just gotta get the tach, clock, and interior lights at this point.

Can I call it done?

[MostMint]

Did you get the PCV/breather set up on there yet?

[TireSmoker]

I got the PCV -- still need a breather. They only had 1 valve cover grommet in stock at Classic Chevy.

-Dave

[oldvettedad]

Tiresmoker, got a question. What did you finally do for hood clearance with your air cleaner? I'm planning some major mods this winter (i hope it will only be this winter). One of the mods will be a 383 engine and I'm trying to figure out a manifold combo that won't create hood clearance problems. My initial thought is to use a Holley 750 street/strip carb and with my stock air claner. The stock one is a drop down so I hope it will clear the hood. But the manifolds are also a problem. GM Performance parts has a dual plane that they say is good for hood clearance issues, and then there are Edelbrock performer air gaps. Edelbrock says they won't clear Corvette hoods, but a guy on the corvatte forum said he did it and used a drop down air cleaner. So what was your experience?

[TireSmoker]

For the entire summer, I just stuck with the Edelbrock Pro-Flo air cleaner. I had to cut off the little riser ring on the baseplate. The drop-base air cleaner might be an option -- it wasn't for me because I have an electric choke on the carb. Not sure it would've worked anyway. My solution is certainly less than ideal, but its workable for a driver.

What kind of heads are you going to use? I have Vortec heads, which apparently sit the intake manifold a little higher than the older conventional-style intakes. Edelbrock said the Performer for Vortec heads wouldn't fit under a Corvette hood, and after my experience, they're basically right. If you're using regular heads, you should be able to use a Performer, maybe even an RPM, but probably not an air-gap. Check Weiand too, the carb-pad height should be an available spec.

-Dave

[GMJohnny]

Hey Oldvettedad.... Why are you going to switch the intake? Is the goal to
get extra horsepower or do you want a certain look, or..... ? I changed the
intake on my 87 442 from a stock aluminum intake with puny ports to a
stock cast intake that I had ported and the benefits were noticable. Later on
in the project, I put an Edelbrock Performer intake on the car trying to get
more power out of the package, and there was no difference in power. In fact
it never et'd better than it did with the cast intake. The stock manifold required
no fab work to hook up vacuum lines, choke, etc... I really like the stock look
in my cars, so when they look stock and perform real well, people scratch their
heads wondering what's going on. Just a thought.

GM

[oldvettedad]

For the entire summer, I just stuck with the Edelbrock Pro-Flo air cleaner. I had to cut off the little riser ring on the baseplate. The drop-base air cleaner might be an option -- it wasn't for me because I have an electric choke on the carb. Not sure it would've worked anyway. My solution is certainly less than ideal, but its workable for a driver.

What kind of heads are you going to use? I have Vortec heads, which apparently sit the intake manifold a little higher than the older conventional-style intakes. Edelbrock said the Performer for Vortec heads wouldn't fit under a Corvette hood, and after my experience, they're basically right. If you're using regular heads, you should be able to use a Performer, maybe even an RPM, but probably not an air-gap. Check Weiand too, the carb-pad height should be an available spec.

-Dave

Dave,
I am trying to find out now if the heads I am getting or the Vortec style, or early SBC design. I'm getting a long block which includes aluminum heads. Actually, I assumed they were vortec typ heads, but they may not be. Originally I was looking at ZZ383, and that definitely has vortec style heads. Of course I better find out before i get a manifold! What i would really like is to be able to use my stock air cleaner with a new street/strip Holley 4150. But no guarantee that will work either. I'm still doing research, but the long block is on the way.

[oldvettedad]

Hey Oldvettedad.... Why are you going to switch the intake? Is the goal to
get extra horsepower or do you want a certain look, or..... ? I changed the
intake on my 87 442 from a stock aluminum intake with puny ports to a
stock cast intake that I had ported and the benefits were noticable. Later on
in the project, I put an Edelbrock Performer intake on the car trying to get
more power out of the package, and there was no difference in power. In fact
it never et'd better than it did with the cast intake. The stock manifold required
no fab work to hook up vacuum lines, choke, etc... I really like the stock look
in my cars, so when they look stock and perform real well, people scratch their
heads wondering what's going on. Just a thought.

GM

I don't care about th look too much. As Tiresmoker pointed out, depending on the head design, my stock manifold might not work. If the heads are standard SBC (Gen 1) I could use my manifold, and might do that. If the heads are standard SBC and i use my manifold i won't have any clearance problems.
What i want is a more driveable car, with power in the rpm range I will be driving it, and the ability to cruise at a reasonable RPM, oh yeah and have AC, power steering, and be quieter. I like amellow sound, but my Hookers are too harsh even at cruising speed they make a racket.

[TireSmoker]

Good idea on making changes to make it more enjoyable to drive. I drove dad's quite a bit this summer and enjoyed every minute of it. Looking forward to another summer driving it, and this time there won't be any more major projects, other than getting the tach working.

-Dave

[TireSmoker]

Wow, I haven't updated this thread in a couple years? I guess I haven't really done much to the car, other than drive it. But rather fitting that the last post was about fixing the tach, because that's what I finally got around to.

I removed the instrument cluster from the car. Not really a huge deal, but not minor either. I had to pull the steering column first. I've been wanting to replace the rag joint in the steering, and now will be the perfect opportunity to do so. Some articles suggested taking the driver's seat out along with the column, but the bolts werent looking very accessible, so I passed on that.

Dad is gonna run it up to Bair's Corvette in Linesville, PA. We will get the tach, odometer, and trip odometer fixed. Everything else seems to be working. Well, clock doesn't work, but that's a seperate effort

[Blue_69_malibu]

Upon seeing the pix, the job is a little more involved than it sounds....but well done.

Can Bair's restore the Corvette hubcaps?

Two plus years between posts? Shocking....but in a good b/c you've just been driving it! That is, after all, the real goal in all of this.

[TireSmoker]

As this year's awful winter wore on, I got tired of working out in the garage a bit because I hated having to run the torpedo heater all the time (noise, fumes, or time spent letting it warm up), so I procrastinated a bit in putting this back together. (Shocking!) We picked up the repaired instrument cluster from Bair's shortly after Dad got back from their Florida vacation, which was early March.

I got everything put back together -- for the most part. There was only a clamp related to the steering column that I got wrong, but it will be easily remedied this week. I was able to start the car and it was very nice to see the tach jump to life! I am very curious to see what the cruise RPMs are and what RPMs its running when I shift it at WOT.

We also got the replacement for the convertible top latch that broke.. $139, ouch.

Just little stuff left to look over:
Right-front turn signal doesn't light up. Probably a ground issue
Clock still dead (not part of instrument cluster)
Fuel-gauge doesn't read right. Believe it's wrong sending unit in tank.


We will be making our annual trek to the Bair's Corvette show on May 17 in Linesville, PA. I think we started going there with the Vette in '07.

-Dave