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I’m not certain what your method of removing the guts of the converter is, but,
as an idea, I would consider cutting a square hole in the top in order to make
sure you don’t alter the alignment of the pipes. Just a suggestion.

GM

I was going to cut both pipes at an angle so they only go back one way, plus mark them, but cutting the cat itself is a possibility to consider too.

-BP

I think you could literally make a 1 or 2" square hole in the top, cut three sides, peel it back, and use a screwdriver or something to bust up the inners. At least if they are similar to what what was in my Camaro. Since my 89 no rewelds I assume the stuff in there is brittle

How do you guys make square holes?

How to make square holes at home without special tools ==> https://youtu.be/7n1r5XfVkyk

whizzer wheel

First I jammed a coat hanger down the pipe and was quickly stopped by the converter guts. Sooo, I liked the idea of opening up the converter instead of cutting the pipe, and since I have a ton of hole saws and love to cut holes in metal with them, I figured this would be fun. A 3-1/8" hole looked to be about right. Then a smallish pry bar with a flat steel end on the handle for hammering was the tool for chunking out all the converter internals. Each one took about 10 minutes to empty. Then I used a magnet to hold the remaining circle of steel in place while I tack welded it, and did the final weld. I also liked the holes on top of the converter, so nobody can see my awesome welding. These actually weren't too bad as I cleaned the surfaces and the thickness was all the same. Just had to cover a reasonable size gap in a couple places.

Since the welder was out, the exhaust manifolds needed the holes filled from the emissions piping since none of that is going back on. That went way better than I expected. There are still the remains of these tubes still inside the exhaust chambers that I will grind out to help improve the final flow of these "manifolds" that are actually just steel headers.

-BP

Over the week I ordered more parts. A new water pump, motor mounts, an oil filter (I have LOTS of oil), and a head gasket kit. I also took the exhaust manifolds and ground out the air tubes on the inside, and ported some of the excessive welding inside the manifold opening, so those are ready to install. When I was installing the new water pump yesterday, I realized I should be putting new hoses on too, so I'll order those this week. I also need to order a band clamp for the exhaust at the y-pipe.
I also snapped a shot of the numbers matching engine block.
I'm also going to formulate a plan to keep the hvac blower in the car, but remove the A/C box, but they're all kind of one piece right now. Looks like a do-able scenario. With the A/C evaporator box removed, and most of the A/C compressor bracket trimmed down, this motor becomes WAY easier to access everywhere, especially with the clam hood/fender combo.
Lots more to come...

-BP

BP - After our recent chat about springs, here is some supporting info:

https://forums.corvetteactioncenter.com ... rt.115074/

According to the info in link above, for an 87 the correct codes for Z51 springs are BMB for the front and NYU for the rear.

You remember earlier I gutted the catalytic converters and was going to sell the guts on ebay. I got flagged twice in my listings because you're not allowed to resell catalytic converters for reuse, only for scrap. What the ebay bot didn't realize is that my converters were just a pile of internal guts. So I gave up on that and found scrapcatalytics.com on Google. Through their website, I sent a picture and a brief description of what I was selling. They replied promptly and said they pay $40/lb for internals like this. So my 2-3/4lbs was worth $110 to them, and I cover shipping. I tracked the package, and two business days after they received it, I got paid. If you have any old converters laying around, or tear yours apart, I recommend them as a fair and legitimate company to deal with. I had a couple pictures of the converters I took the guts from too.

Yesterday we got the new motor mounts installed on the Vette. We also cleaned out the cylinder head threads on the block, but on the passenger's side only (ran out of time). Next time we'll finish the holes on the D side and work on getting the HVAC box off the firewall.

-BP

Tuesday we finished cleaning out the threads on the driver's side block. Then we pulled the A/C box off the firewall. Looks like we'll have to screw around some to get the blower to still blow across the heater and not use that HUGE box for the evaporator. I found a block off plate on ebay that will save us some time, but will still need some real modification to be able to keep the heater core and blower fan. But I think I can make it work.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/161923989742?c ... gLK4_D_BwE


-BP

Earlier this week we pulled the condenser out of the cooling box in front of the radiator. We reassembled it just to not lose hardware, but most likely the trans cooler will go there like in MostMint's vette. We also took the hoses off the oil cooler and will be ordering all new hoses for that part, along with trans and P/S coolers soon.

-BP

We've been working on the Vette, but with no major urgency. We finally got the heater fan assembly "done". Once it's finally installed on the car, we'll slap a coat of paint on it to make it not look so not-OEM. It's got some outdoor gutter parts and some indoor hvac componentry. It should easily get the air from the outside into the heater core without bringing in underhood stink and heat. This final assembly won't get done until the cylinder heads are installed though. Next up will be the heater core which is sadly leaking... From what I can tell it's a 3-4 hour job, so not the end of the world. Once that is completed, the motor will start to get reassembled.

-BP

The heater core can be found somewhere under the dash pad.
There is a cute little YouTube to remove the dash pad.
I had a fun Sunday afternoon removing that dash pad.
Removing the pad is just the very beginning of getting to the core. It can only get worse from here.

With plenty of scratches and swearing, the heater core is out and the new one installed. The job is about 80% done right now though. I broke a small white plastic clip that holds a door adjuster apparently. I did have both pieces, so I superglued them together and hopefully if I'm careful when I reinstall it, it will hold. It doesn't seem to be under a ton of pressure so I'm hopeful. This job, as you would expect, is really designed for a contortionist. I've done worse, but it's not fun in any way. The rest should go back together reasonably simply though.

I'm looking forward to starting work on the motor again so it feels like we're making progress. In hindsight, we got taken on this car. I believe the previous owner knew exactly about the heater core and head gasket. Hopefully we'll be able to get it going and still get our money's worth out of it on track though. I'm still optimistic. Good thing is we still have several months to pick at it.

-BP