The Work Begins...
This poor car was too far gone to be restored and deserved to be rebuilt from the frame up.(August, 2001)
This is a picture of the car when we first brought it home.
Our plans were to model the car after the Greenwood or Owens-Corning road race Corvettes.
This is a picture of the car when we first brought it home.
We started by cutting the firewall apart from the rest of the body. Then we cut the door jambs out, and removed the rear bodywork from the cockpit frame.
The work begins
The motor is out
The front body work has been removed
The fire wall is out
The fire wall
A blurry shot of the fire wall
The cockpit frame has been removed
The old rolling chassis
The bodywork
Inside the rear bodywork
The floorpan and front fenders
Bodywork looks better in this shot
The new hood
The rusty body framework
After a lot of welding and repair work the bodywork frame & chassis were powder coated. (November, 2001)
The bodywork frame after powder coating
Time to start putting it back together
Where to begin?
Rear hub & emergency brake assembly
Inside trailing arm assembly
The rotors are on now
Upper and lower A-arms
Attached spindle
Left front brake rotor and hub assembly
Trial fit of front spring assembly
The steering linkage bolted on
Installed differential
Half-shaft installed
Differential assembly
Front brake caliper
Rear Bilstien shock in place
The brake and gas lines are on.
Differential assembly
Front anti-sway bar on
Shot of the rear brake and gas lines
Shot of the frame assembly from the rear
In exchange for a pair of Hooker headers Chris McDonald agreed to help glue the body back onto the frame. (February, 2002)
The frame is in place.
Inside the rear T-top area
Final alignment
Roof glued to framework
Firewall & rocker panel glassed back on
Rear panel riveted, fitting door jambs
Door jambs glassed back in place
Glassing the firewall and the floorpan back together
The resin is applied
The bottom received a good cleaning
Chris put a lot of work into this. Next he tackled the rear flares.
Nikki McDonald demonstrates how the flares will fit
This is the cutting line
The excess has been trimmed away
The flares go on
The bondo is applied.
We applied some primer.
The flare will need some more fine sanding
It was starting to look like we might get it back together! We took it home to work on it some more.
We tipped it up on some tires to keep it off the flares
The underside floorpan seam needs fiberglassing
The fiberglass repairs have been made
A view from the other side
We used the engine hoist to support it.
The underside, where the year was hand-written
A close up of the date 1-19-71
Heat sheild on the tunnel and a new battery cable
New metal cap on the rear body mount
The gas tank
Finally we were ready to re-attach the body structure to the frame. (May, 2002)
The frame before the body structure is attached
The body structure being moved into position
The body suspended from the hoist
The body structure is on the frame!
A shot of the rear flare
The firewall with the ac/heater hoses
The Vintage Air ac/heater unit
The Painless Wiring (yeah, right) circuit box
We blocked off the old heater & fan openings in the firewall
Heater/AC hoses
The engine wiring harness
To help keep the chassis from twisting and to have an anchor for the 5 point seat belts, we welded in a rear hoop. (July, 2002)
Rear hoop
The triangulation of the hoop for strength
Weld joints on the hoop
I fiberglassed closed the hole we had to cut to do the welding.
View from the rear wheel-well showing where we welded the rear hoop to the frame
Seat belt anchor & driveshaft hoop
The rear hoop looks pretty good painted
We welded in a seat mount/lap belt bracket
A front view of the seat bracket
The instrument panel wiring project
Close up of the gauge cluster
Instrument panel view
Close up of the tach and speedo
Instrument cluster installed with new CD player (covered)
Repaired odometer set back to zero
The tach just waiting to be red-lined
Doors are on the car
Radiator core support & bumper mounts
Another view of the bumper & radiator brackets
Headed back to Chris' shop to re-attach the nose
Now the real transformation begins. (November, 2002)
Checking fit of front clip before bonding to the firewall
Attaching the fender bonding triangle to the firewall
After several trial fittings, the front clip was bonded in place.
Then the work began on the front flares and the door seams. (December, 2002)
The driver side wheel opening is enlarged to fit new flare
Passenger side wheel opening is trimmed in the same manner
The cut off piece next to the new flare
Bondo coating over chopped matte layup
Front view with the new flares
The lines of the front and rear flares look great
It's a whole car again!
The 1st coat of primer is a fiberglass resin-based heavy filler primer.
The biggest pain in the rear was getting rid of all the old red laquer primer.
The rear filler panel is not installed yet
We filled in the openings under the rear grills.
Just finished the first two nice wet coats of all over urethane primer.
We had to convince these 68-69 style flares to blend into the '71 body.
The back side of the right rear flare
Chris dusted a black guide coat on top. (December, 2002)
Then it was time to wet sand. Any of the guide coat that remained was a low spot & was filled with micro light body filler, sanded, primed, & re-sanded until perfect.
Next is.....you guessed it, wet sand, wet sand, wet sand....
The rear filler panel is installed now
Here it is sanded down
Chris blocked the whole car in about 6 hours.
At last the final primer coat goes on.
Looking better!
Chris continues to work on the car.
We put on a coat of 2 part black paint & 3 coats of clear. This was the 'rough' coat!
Look at the reflections in this 'rough' coat!
The old tires sure look little in the new flares.
With the door jambs painted, we can mount the doors.
Chris & Dave critique the paint (or admire their reflections)
The black Shark pack is going to look awsome!
We will let the paint cure, do the fine sanding and get the motor in the car. Then we will shoot the final coat of black and clear.
Santa was good to us this year!
Isn't Christmas great?
What dreams are made of
Light weight Ram pressure plate
Steel roller rockers
MSD tach drive distributor (billet)
Moroso oil pan with trap door and scrapper
Modified Holley 850 double pumper on Edlebrock air-gap manifold
Anticipation!
Santa didn't get the big block to us until the 1st week in February. Guess that's our Valentine's Day gift to each other.
The "Big M" (M is for...)
Dart cylinder head combustion chambers
Intake ports
Exhaust ports
Valve springs
The Hooker headers are ceramic coated with crankcase pressure evacuators.
Ceramic coated Hooker header
Hooker with pressure evacuator
Close up of the welding on the evacuator
Our Vette did not come with AC, but living in Florida requires it!
AC condenser
Aluminum ground effects pan
Chris installed the 'Killer' electric headlamp actuators.
Electric headlight actuator motor
Fitting all the T-top trim pieces was a real pain. The windshield is in also. (March, 2003)
Installing T-top stainless trim
Passenger side
Visors and interior trim
The storage compartments, carpet & speakers for our new CD/MP3 player are installed.
Lap belt mounts reinforced w/ driveshaft hoop
Lots of storage room!
Seat belts bolted to the rollbar
Interior panels mounted around the rollbar
Corbeau seat & seat belts
Seat belt mounts on roll bar
The interior is finally finished. (April, 2003)
Interior shot
Door sill and interior door panel
Zora Arkus-Duntov Signature Steering Wheel
The work continues under the hood.
Windshield wipers
Wiper motor wiring
MSD box and water tank
Brake master cylinder
Radiator & fan
Big M is home! The dyno sheet is pretty impressive! Now we see how it all fits together. (April 24, 2003)
Checking the serpentine setup
V-belt compressor will be replaced by a serpentine one
Water temp sensor & heater hose outlet installed
Rear view with oil pressure fitting
It's starting to look like a Powerbook cover shot.
The Vette stands guard over its new powerplant.
The headers look awesome!
The valve cover breather holes for the evac system are not cut yet.
Breathers are in the valve covers
Okay, this belt fits
The line to the power steering reservoir & motor mounts are on...getting close!
We took the pan off to drill the hole for the temperature sender fitting.
Temperature sender fitting
Close up of the temperature sensor fitting
1/2" braided fuel line will be used to feed Big M, so we had a 1/2" fuel pickup line made.
The new 1/2" fuel line next to the old 3/8" line.
1/2" braided line to the Holley fuel pump
1/2" fuel line from the gas tank to the pump
Our custom made wheels are here! (May 02, 2003)
The CCW wheels are 18x10.5 fronts & 18x12 rears
The tires are radial Michelin Pilot Sports.
275x35x18 fronts & 345x35x18 rears
These ought to get the power to the gound
Trying a rear on for size.
A 3/4 shot of the wheels and tires
Mother's Day seemed an appropriate day to place the Big M in the car. There's still a lot to do before we can start it up.
Before putting the motor in the car we checked the fit on all the components.
It's looking good!
Not much space left up here!
The headers were beaten into submission
A lot of 'manipulation' was involved in getting the headers fitted properly.
Front view of the engine compartment
Can't wait to hear it rumble!
A view of the fuel lines
We missed Memorial Day, but now the car is on its feet ready to crank. (May 31, 2003)
The plug wires are on....ready to start it up!
A shot of the rear tires
The 4" air cleaner may be too tall
The side pipes have spiral baffles in them.
Checking the hood/air cleaner clearance
Click on the "Video" link at the top of the page to see video of the first start up.
1st time starting the car up. The side-pipes overwhelmed the camera microphone.
15 days until we are suppose to leave on the 50th Corvette Caravan! We have to get this baby dressed up.
Fine sanding the car
The stock wheels are on for the painting
Still some more work to do
The painting is underway! When the clear coat was being sprayed we sneaked a peek. (June 12, 2003)
A peek into the paint booth
The beast lurks in the smokey shadows
Unloading the car back at home
Lots of reflections!
The car has not been buffed out yet. That will have to wait until after the caravan trip.
Father's Day (6/15/03), we took our 1st drive up to Chris & Nikki McDonald's place.
Dave's dad watches as he buckles up
Front shot...ready to roll
Rounding the corner at Chris & Nikki's
Yep! Got that silly grin all over our faces
Side view of the car
Rear shot of the car
Dave next to his pride and joy
Twins...Killer (Chris' '69) and Bruiser
