Rebirth of a Vette...              

Before and After

Since we did not have enough money to spend on our racing program, we decided to spend some on restoring our 1971 big block Corvette.  (Like that was going to be cheaper!)

August, 1988

1971 big block Corvette in 1988

June 28, 2003

 

We originally purchased the car in 1988.  It was in pretty bad shape then, but it was a 454 with a 4-speed.  This was before we started racing and it had been a while since we had something fun to drive.

Dave drove it for quite some time and in the early 90's we painted it black.  The car was in need of a frame-up restoration badly, but in 1992 we acquired our first race car, a '68 Vette.  So of course the '71 had to beg for attention.

 

 

For the past few years the poor '71 has sat in the corner of the race shop while we went from racing the 1968 Vette to an 1985 tubeframe Irv Hoerr Camaro to the 1993 Riggins' Olds Cutlass we race now.  Somewhere along the line we picked up a new frame for the '71 and it sat in the race shop a year or two along-side the Vette.

With the big 2003 Corvette 50th anniversary celebration at Bowling Green, KY looming ahead of us, we decided it was time to give the neglected Vette a complete frame-up street/road race rebuild.  A big factor in our decision were Chris & Nikki McDonald, new friends, who were doing a similar rebuild on  their '69 convertible.  Watching the progress on their car was an inspiration to us and we've made plans with the McDonald's to join the 2003 caravan to Bowling Green.
 

 

The work begins...
The work begins The motor is out

We cut the firewall apart from the rest of the body, cut the door jambs out, and then removed the rear bodywork from the cockpit frame. (8/01)

 The front body work has been removed

The fire wall is outThe 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. (Nov. 01)

 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 lines and gas lines are on
 Front anti-sway bar on Shot of rear brake lines and gas lines   A 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. (Feb. 02)
 Setting 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
 Chris applied some primer  The flare will need some more fine sanding

It's staring 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 02) 

 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. (7/02)

 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 that the Vette is back at Chris' shop, the real transformation begins. (Nov. 02) 

  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.  

 The front clip has been bonded on

Then the work began on the front flares and the door seams. (Dec.02)
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! This front door gap was almost 2" wide before Chris worked his magic

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.

 Looks pretty neat all one color...for a short time anyway Chris had to convince these 68-69 style flares to blend into the 71 body. The back side of the right rear flare

Chris has dusted a black guide coat on top.  Now it is time to wet sand. (Dec. 02)

 Next is.....you guessed it, wet sand, wet sand, wet sand.... The rear filler panel is installed now

Any of the guide coat remaining is a low spot & must be filled with micro light body filler, sanded, primed, & re-sanded until perfect.
Here it is sanded down Chris blocked the whole car in about 6 hours.

At last the final primer coat goes on.

 The T tops are set on top for painting
Looking better! Chris continues to work on the car

Chris put on a coat of 2 part black paint & 3 coats of clear. This is his '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.

 Isn't Christmas great?

Santa was good to us this year!
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.   (Mar. 03)

 Installing T-top stainless trim
Passenger side Visors and interior trim Lap belt mounts reinforced w driveshaft hoop (last in pic row 21)

The storage compartments, carpet & speakers for our new CD/MP3 player are installed.

 
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.

(Apr. 03)

 		 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. (4/24/03)
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.

 Front view of the motor 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!  (05/02/03)

18x10.5 fronts

18x12 rears
These ought to get the power to the gound Trying a rear on for size.

The tires are radial Michelin Pilot Sports.

275x35x18 fronts

345x35x18 rears

A 3/4 shot of the wheels and tires

Before putting the motor in the car we checked the fit on all the components.

 It's looking good!

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.

 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.

 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

May 31, 2003

1st time starting the car up.  The side-pipes overwhelmed the camera microphone.

Click on the player below to see video of the first start up.

The side-pipes overwhelmed the camera microphone.

Click here to see video

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. (6/12/03)

 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