While the frame was off at the chassis shop getting straightened, we went on a shopping spree for suspension and other materials we would need to get the chassis ready for a body. The body was nowhere near ready, but the chassis parts were getting over whelming in their ability to take up space ... The new rear trailing arms:
The factory wheels are 15x6 wheels... and they look ok... but, I want more meat under there though. The stock trailing arms really were not designed for much bigger than that. After a brief search, I discovered the above. They are offset trailing arms that allow for wider wheels and tires. They came with black poly bushings.
After all the other rear trailing arm parts were cleaned up, they got a coat of clear paint to keep them looking good. The idea was to keep the parts that the factory never put a coating on looking like they didn't have a coating on them. In order to keep them from rusting again, we used a semi-gloss clear that was designed to go on bare metal.
All the casting seams were de-burred and cleaned up as well. Then all the parts for the rear differential and suspension / brakes went back to the guy who pulled them apart for us.
This is what we got back: The new trailing arms and the cleaned up and new parts already to go:
The rear differential with new 3.08 Eaton Posi-Track installed:
And the half shafts after we sand blasted them and masked them for a coat of Stainless Steel color paint and then a clear coat over all of them...
I have a press, but the guy wanted to put the U-Joints in for me, so I let him. It would have been a pain anyway. They are tight. The shop did some amazing work. They saw real quick that the parts were vastly different than when we first brought them the parts. They kept everything bound up in clean rags and newspaper to keep from damaging the paint on the parts. I have nothing but good things to say about those guys.
We actually found them by accident. We were just calling around for local shops who could take the rear trailing arms apart for us, as we didn't have the proper tools, and really didn't want to buy them either. This shop was the only one who said yes with out hesitation. Since we only cared about dis-assembly, we really didn't care too much about the rest. The more we talked to the owner and his guys, the more we decided to let them do the rebuilding of the parts we could not.
Also, the back half of the differential housing is known for cracking. So, this one got the later year one that was a little more substantial.
-Dave
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-22-2011).]
After media blasting the chassis, it was air blasted out and rolled over several times to get as much media and other stuff (because I could not identify it) out. The chassis was placed in the garage, upside down initially, on saw horses and the floor was covered in card board. The floor was also wet down with a spray bottle where needed. The entire chassis was wiped down with tack rags and then we got to work painting it. I originally wanted to powder coat it, but no one in town had an oven big enough. I ended up using a 2K urethane over a self etching urethane compatible primer. There were some bare metal areas that got touched up later (where the jacks stands and saw horses were).
The result was a durable gloss black that I am happy with.
After the first coat:
Final coat done and dry:
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-22-2011).]
Assembly began. The chassis was taken off the saw horses and put on urethane covered jack stands. All threaded bolt holes had taps run through them to clean the threads of any paint.
I'll start with the back. The rear differential gets mounted to a cross member (differential carrier support, I think is what it was officially called). The cross member has two huge rubber bushings that we pressed out and installed new ones into, after the paint of course. Neither of us like the rubber bushings. The later model C4+ all had solid mounted cross members (kind of like the pre-88 fiero Vs the 88's engine cradle), so why not this one? We couldn't even find poly versions. All the bushings on the car are now black Poly, except those two.
Luckily, someone makes a stiffener plate kit for it.
To make the rear suspension match, new adjustable camber links and a new mono leaf spring round it out.
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 08-06-2011).]
those trailing arms are wierd they dont capture the bushing all theway around like a stock one I wonder how bad they flex with the upgraded suspension, I have same setup.
So I assume the car is already completed? Jsut by the way you always talk about the assembly in the past tense...
This is some beautiful work you are doing on it! It has been YEARS since I helped with a frame off Resto.. I always wanted to do one for myself.
Thank you. No, the car is not complete. most of the pictures I have been posting are from about 3 years ago. I just felt like posting a build of the car from what it was to where it is, and the people on this forum are way nicer about it than the Vette forums. Many on the Vette forums are of the opinion that their opinion is the only opinion that matters. I have no beef with it, but it explains why so few on those boards are posting how or why they did what they did. If it doesn't fit in the mold, it must be wrong.
Also, posting in the "after the fact moment" is helping me remember what got me to where I am on it. I could have just written it all out in MS Werd!, but then no one else gets to see what's going on.
-Dave
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-22-2011).]
Well, I for one Thank you for sharing it with us!! I just LOVE to watch stuff like this! Keep up the good work and you will be enjoying her on the road in no time!!!
those trailing arms are wierd they dont capture the bushing all theway around like a stock one I wonder how bad they flex with the upgraded suspension, I have same setup.
IDK, your's is better. You have the adjustable mono spring. I want to go with that one, but I bought this one before I found out about that one. Instead of returning it, I just went with it.
The only real difference I noticed, was that they were not boxed. They are pretty thick (3/16") steel plate, however. Once the car is on the road, I guess I will find out.
-Dave
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-22-2011).]
The original front suspension was in good shape, but needed work. After adding up what was needed to rebuild them, it was not much more to get all after market. The rear was aftermarket, why not the front ! Really, it was for the ability to adjust it. I can now adjust the ride height and spring rate, without replacing parts.
The original fronts:
The chassis with the new set around it: When we were done with the chassis painting and had it setup on jack stands, we placed all the parts around and near their destination location. Card board lined the floor until wheels and tries were put on.
The front got all steel tube A-arms with an adjustable mono spring. The original coil springs were suspect anyway. The only issue with this setup is that the bumper mount that runs under the front cross member has to be modified to fit.
I would classify myself as wanting a car to handle well. Handling is more important to me than the "how fast is it" part. Not that I could care less about the fast part. I subscribe to the "turning fast is more fun than going fast straight" philosophy...
-Dave
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-23-2011).]
Once the front suspension was put on, we got started on getting the steering back on... The new steering. I am not a fan of the old school steering with Gear Boxes and Pittman arms. Rack and Pinion is much better. The original system was power steering, but that was about the only part I liked about it. Yeah, I know it worked, but it was very sloppy. And, if the belt went out, good luck getting the wheels to turn. The old steering was boxed up after removing. It will just be stored for the In Case situation...
The old:
The new Steeroids system: It keeps the car with power steering, but with a rack.
Everything was supplied and the brackets fit perfectly.
Tie rods: Every tie rod / turn buckle / adjustment point on each side was assembled with each side getting the exact same amount of turns. This helped later on when we had to give it a pre-alignment.
Brakes... next
-Dave
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-22-2012).]
I would just like to say that this thread came along at a very fortuitous time. I was just not feeling too much connected here lately with my fellow forumites, but thanks to this thread, my inter-spirit has been replenished. And i'm not even a car guy! Well, not the one I want to be able to afford to be, anyway.
Thanx!
[This message has been edited by Boondawg (edited 07-23-2011).]
I assume you mean the four that hold the mono spring on? They are grade 5 and they came with the kit. They are only torqued to 8-10 ft. lbs. or 96-120 in. lbs. The pivot bolt above handles all the weight, so the four bolts can just hold the spring in place.
-Dave
adding: I went through many of the pictures I took of this project and added the torque specs to bolts for future reference (call me OCD or something... ). Pictures like this:
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-22-2012).]
The entire brake system was filled with a silicone type brake fluid about 15 years ago. The calipers were rebuilt at that time. So, there was not much to do as far as the rebuilding of the calipers. Inspection of them showed they were fine. The entire brake system was in great shape, just needed cleaning and made aesthetically better. The master cylinder was not the original one either, but after all the part exchanging, I could care less.
The stock 66 system did not have a proportioning / combination valve. The 67's are where they started to do that. We plan to add in an adjustable valve. Certain parts of the brake system are not complete, as other unfinished parts are required for their completion.
What they originally looked like: Rear:
Front:
They are the same (piston size and function), front or rear. The difference from front left to right / rear left to right is the location of the lines and bleeder screws.
All the rotors were also in great shape. They were measured for the rotor surface and were still near new, even though they were original. We knew they were original, due to the rivets we had to drill out to get them off the hubs.
The rotors were put on my friend's lathe and cleaned. We used emery paper on a steel block or a scotchbrite pad so as to be sure the surfaces stay true without removing any material other than the rust. Then, the rotor hat got a light coated with silver brake paint. The front rotors had a hole in the side of the hat, so that distinguished the front from the rear.
The calipers: They had surface rust that came off with a scotchbrite pad and they were coated with several coats of silver brake paint. The pistons were checked for rust, the cylinder bore was checked as well. They were completely rust free.
All the brake hardware, bolts, pads, and flexible brake lines were also replaced as well. The lines were capped as needed.
All the stainless brake lines that run the chassis were cleaned up using polish. There wasn't any rust, so they just got the other stuff off them. The master cylinder was in great shape as well. So it got similar treatment to the calipers. We saw no reason to re-install the rivets that hold the rotors on, so those were not replaced.
-Dave
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-25-2011).]
After putting some old shoes on it, we wheeled it out of the garage to see what it looked like.
We needed to clean up the garage after the chassis was rolling. Now that we could move it, we could start getting it ready for the power plant and gear box.
If you noticed, the engine is moved to the passenger side of the chassis. The two holes in the transmission cross member are for the exhaust (if it was rear exhaust). Side pipes just didn't use them and ran along the frame at the outside.
-Dave
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-25-2011).]
After the engine and transmission came out, they were separated.
The distributor was pulled, and an oil pump primer was installed. It was just to plug the hole. The compression was tested and all of the cylinders tested fine. All were well within 10% of each other. So, the engine was just going to get a refresh. Also, the engine was rebuilt many years, but not very many miles ago. The water pump, oil pump, oil pan gasket, timing chain and sprockets, chain cover gasket, harmonic balancer and pulleys, exhaust gasket, fuel pump, and accessories would be replaced. The internals were pretty clean.
The sheet metal parts (oil pan and timing chain cover) were de-greased and sand blasted.
The block was cleaned down, de-rusted using POR-15 products, and repainted (Chevy Engine Orange , I wanted to go black, but I guess there is enough black on this chassis ). All holes and ports were plugged or capped as needed. A lot of the old accessories were left on for this, since they were getting replaced with new anyway... The new oil pump was already primed, and is ready to go.
Then it was transferred to an engine dolly that we modified so we could mate the engine with the transmission while on the dolly.
It was about this time that a decision had to be made. Keep the 2 speed Automatic or go to a manual. The stock was a 4 speed M20/1/2 Muncie. We want better fuel economy, as this car was built when gas was 15 cents a gallon. The stock powerglide was not going to cut it. It got about 18-19MPG on the freeway, downhill, with a tail wind. The final ratio with the transmission still was not much better when it came to looking into the M2x. So, after researching the 5 speed options in the TKO series from Tremek, we also found a company who made a kit to install the transmission. They modded the shifter position to come out the side of the gear box. The TKO series all come out the top, based on the center line of the transmission. The issue for the Vette is the shifter position. The shifter position has to be on the side of the transmission. Now it came down to the ratios in the TKO. That is when I came to the fiero community to inquire as to which one to go with.
After receiving the TKO-500 transmission kit in the mail, we had to open it to inspect it...
The flex plate was smaller than the flywheel, so a new starter was going to have to be purchased, not that we weren't going to anyway. Other than that, the kit was very complete.
But, opening the shipping box and seeing the transmission in it was nice !
This kit was very high quality. The new drive shaft was dynamically balanced.
Flywheel, Clutch, and pressure plate installed on the engine. The pilot bearing was just that, a needle bearing, instead of a brass bushing. I have mixed feelings about it, but...
The bell housing was mounted on the engine stand that the engine was on. The transmission was then bolted to that. We assembled the transmission parts while it was on the stand.
After the transmission was ready, we brought it over to the engine on the engine dolly for them to shake hands !
The nice part about this setup is, the TKO has cable and electric outputs for the speedometer. We plan to add cruise control using the electric output and run the speedometer off the cable output. There is still some debate on whether to keep the original speedometer, or replace it with a new style, like something from Stewart Warner. The original speedometer will be rebuilt either way. This was prompted by the want to go with 17 inch wheels vs. the stock 15 inch wheels. Currently, we are at 50/50 to keep the original gauges, but rebuild them all or replace them. 17 inch wheels are a definite, however. I'm not a fan of mechanical gauges, but these look nice.
well, enough of the interlude. Back to it we go...
The power plant and gear box were not on the dolly for long.
All engine and transmission mounts are black Ploy.
Randomness odd fact: this setup is technically a Mid-Engine Rear Wheel Drive vehicle. The engine, in it's entirety, is between the front and rear wheels (the whole drive train is), and the driven wheels are the rear ones.
It was also nice to know the engine's oil pan cleared the steering R&P.
The exhaust manifold was sent off to Jet Hot after we de-burred them, and cleaned them. We got them back a couple days earlier. Time to install them too. They were nice. They coat every bit of the part. inside and out. The prior valve covers were temporarily installed until the "Corvette" script one were polished (that was a pain...). The oil fill port (black thing with a PCV in it at the front of the engine) has been changed out to a new chrome one. The engine was also timed to Cylinder 1 TDC at this point.
The original transmission was cleaned up, and put in storage.
More to come
-Dave
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-27-2011).]
I have been editing posts and adding pictures that I think further explain something or add to what I was trying to get across. Goal was to keep as much quality in the pictures as possible.
That engine would look great in a Fiero I love those valve covers.
I got an 86 fiero SE a couple months ago that is going through a restoration as well... It was intended for the wife. It needs a drivetrain. Maybe I should give her my 85 and keep her 86 with that engine for myself...
She would not like me for that. I could almost see her expression when she gets home from her deployment...
<shudder>
-Dave
I hate polishing stuff...
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-26-2011).]
As mentioned earlier, the distributor had points. It also has a mechanical Tach output. Well, I hate points, but I need to keep the distributor for the Tach output option. As jetsnvettes2000 posted earlier, an electronic points conversion was the way to go for this resto-mod.
Points :
The new electric pick-up. the disc above the red box has magnets embedded in it spaced for the V-8. It basically takes the place of the octagonal collar on the distributor shaft that would break the points open. I added the black dot on the red box to point to the center of the pickup so as to better pre-time it to 0 degrees, as the screws that hold it down have adjustment to them. This does keep the vacuum and mechanical advance system intact. The springs for the mechanical weights were replaced with factory replacements.
Mechanical Tach output...
I also marked the Cap with the cylinder number to also help aid in re-installation. This was the cap that was on the distributor when it was pulled. A new one will be put on later. The rotor is new, as the threaded studs coming from the disc are what hold the rotor on.
I R^2 the gear so I could get to the thrust washers to adjust the play in the shaft. End result, a rebuilt distributor. Easiest part of the whole resto.
-Dave
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-27-2011).]
Originally posted by IFLYR22: Maybe I should give her my 85 and keep her 86 with that engine for myself...
She would not like me for that. I could almost see her expression when she gets home from her deployment...
<shudder>
-Dave
Wise man... Realize NOW while she is thousands of miles away... that she would very likely use her training as a killing machine on you to rectify any wrong doings!!!
Wise man... Realize NOW while she is thousands of miles away... that she would very likely use her training as a killing machine on you to rectify any wrong doings!!!
Ha ha... Yup. I was born at night, but not LAST night!
-Dave
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-27-2011).]
Now that the drive train was on the chassis, the new drive shaft could be installed. Pull the plug out of the transmission out put, and insert the yoke. Then position the universal joint and put the U-bolts in the differential.
The fluid levels were either filled or topped off at this point as well. Engine got basic Dinosaur 10W-30 oil for now. The transmission got GM Syncromesh. The differential got synthetic 75W-90 oil and an LSD additive.
Now, awaiting the exhaust system...
-Dave
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-27-2011).]
Yeah, the Fram filter was only for priming the oil pump. It was cheap, and quick. It is on there till the day the car gets started and after it's initial tuning of the carb. After that, I was planing on a Wix or Mobile 1 and an oil change to synthetic before it goes back on the road. Conveniently, my Fiero (remote filter) and the Vette use the same filters, Wix 51515.
Needle bearings are not nice to remove if you have to. This one went in very tight. I just suspect the next clutch change may require more effort than normal to get the pilot bearing out. I'll agree that they are nicer on the drive line than a brass bushing.
-Dave
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-27-2011).]
Not long after the exhaust pipes came in the mail, they made their merry little way over to the chassis for a test fit. They are aluminized steel with internal baffles.
The original exhaust pipes were rotting out. They were rear exit standard exhaust. Trash can filler now. Barely needed the sawz-all to cut it up to fit in the can.
Once we liked the positioning and fit of the side pipes, they were removed. They got a coat of high temp paint from flange to baffle and were allowed to dry / cure.
Then the heat wrap went on. We filled a bucket with water, and dropped each pipe's wrap in. They were pulled out and then they wrapped the pipe while wet.
End result was this; A tightly wrapped exhaust side pipe.
Once they were dry, which took a while, they were then coated again to seal in the wrap from moisture and debris. It took 100 feet of 2 inch wide wrap to do the two pipes, 50 ft each pipe. Also, the insides of the pipes from the last baffle to the tip is coated with purpose paint.
-Dave
[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 07-27-2011).]
The re-construction actually had us working on different sub-components and parts on the same day. We often worked on a chassis component one day, and a body component later that same day.
My goal with this thread is keep the chronological order of it intact, but separate the build into chassis and body.
The clutch actuation system was being done at about the same time as the distributor install. And this was done at about the same time as the exhaust system was being installed. And this was done while running the remaining plumbing for the brakes and fuel delivery.
Many of the engine accessories were installed at various times as well. Most of the bolts and fasteners through out this build were assembled using anti-seize or a locktite as the situation required.
The distributor was installed with it's cleaned up vacuum advance installed as well:
This allowed us to start running the ignition shielding and wires.
Fuel line from tank to engine mounted pump was run:
Clutch linkage was installed, or at least the chassis parts:
The ignition wires were test routed and the supports for installed for the shielding:
The plug wires get completely hidden by shielding and covers. They are routed down and under the block.
!
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