My '76 restoration (long post)

[greg75vette]

I don't even know what to say except I admire and fear what you're doing here.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I don't even know what to say except I admire and fear what you're doing here.

there's a reason they're known as those crazy canucks

 

[denpo]

I don't even know what to say except I admire and fear what you're doing here.

Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment if you please :rofl:

 

[mrvette]

I don't even know what to say except I admire and fear what you're doing here.

Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment if you please :rofl:

Just put in a lightbulb in place of the fuse, when it don't work, the light bulb lights, not the fuse.....:harhar:

 

[denpo]

Here is the my led dimming wiring:



Notice the dark green wire is now directly connected to the pair of brown wire.
It used to be at the place of the black wire.
It's just that now it doesn't go through the resistor.

Of the 4 wires of my own connector :
A pair (red/black) goes to headlight variable resistor, now disconnected from the rest of the switch's circuit.
Of the second pair (yellow/black), yellow goes pick up the grey wire as it leaves the fuse box, as the black is supposed to send it back to the grey circuit.

For the sake of testing I made a dummy device that just closes the circuit. Probably this weekend I will plug in my prototype dimmer, and eventually will install a custom device that will read the resistor to dim accordingly.

Almost forget :
I took me a while to realize I was missing the switch ground strap. Used the tab instead. Wire goes to one of the gauge back plate screw.



I closed the whole driver dash back in. And now EVERYTHING works.
Flasher, emergency flasher, headlight, hi indicator, brake indicator, key warning buzzer, courtesy lights, switch courtesy bypass, backlight.
Variable resistor probed through my connector report the correct range (0-5ohm).
I'm all good. Finally.

 

[denpo]

This gonna be a pretty Xmassy post today.
Santa knows I've been a good boy.
He knows I've spent days polishing my SS trims















I did 600/800/1000/1200 (all but 600 are wet sanding), polish on hard wheel with black compound then polish on smooth wheel with green compound.
Both polishing have been done in two passes, one hard then one smooth.

Then test-installed the whole setup :


By the way if someone has a close pic of the screws that goes on top of the T trim, that would be cool.

So since I've done my homework, Santa made sure I receive all the cool stuff I ordered.

First is something I've been searching for a while.



Glass fuse to Blade fuse adapter.
I ordered a pack of 8 and only received 7, I'm sure they will sort this out.
How many time I broke the glass fuse while trying to remove it.


Next gift is a pair of DRL/Flasher combo.






I'm kind of torn. If I was listening to the crazy in my, I'd cut the bumper and put them in, same position as picture, just higher.
That would be cool, but those unit are not designed to work at such a steep angle. They are bevel shaped, just not enough.
With those mounted flush to the bumper, the light would be spread outward.
How bad would it be? well, I think I need to make some real life tests to find out.


Last gift, is a pair of exhaust tips.










They're called LT-1 tip, and I'm pretty sure it's a copy of some of muscle car era.
Never have the ebay warping syndrome?
When object have the tendency to grow or shrink out of proportions between the moment you order them and the moment you receive them.
Well, those exhausts are the exception that proves the theory.
The size is just perfect.
I don't have much backup to get the big picture, but I feel it will look cool.
I will probably screen mesh them.

I've also resumed bodywork, small repair/modification that I'll document later. I don't want to get into big stuff before I've sealed my interior.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

stainless, nice

I used to build kitchen equipment for restaurants out of stainless steel, and I spent the better part of a week designing and building funnels that looked just like those exhaust tips (for a pickle factory, for those who are curious)

thanks for bringing back some well-repressed memories :cussing:

alors Joyeux Noel

 

[denpo]

stainless, nice

I used to build kitchen equipment for restaurants out of stainless steel, and I spent the better part of a week designing and building funnels that looked just like those exhaust tips (for a pickle factory, for those who are curious)

thanks for bringing back some well-repressed memories :cussing:

alors Joyeux Noel

Thanks you Aaron. Merry Christmass to you and every one on the forum.

 

[denpo]

Happy New Year everyone!


Xmass holidays are ending and I'm can confirm the bodywork virus is back.
I didn't do as much as I could, mostly cleaning and mudding the door, remember I stopped at the front clip last spring.
Turn out what was just a detail because a major job.
Here is the thing, I has my driver side back door switch area severely damaged.
I suspect someone tried to slam the door without the striker pin installed.
Since I ditched the stock alarm system and the new one don't rely on those switch, I decided remove it as the complete surrounding needed repair.
And since I do that on the driver side, I have to do it also on the passenger side. Witch I took pic of.



Area just after cutting off the switch and grinding a contact area.





Masking






A small band of wet fiberglass backed with the usual resin+fiberglass powder mix. I've waited until it was well into curing.





I then dabbed the back side of the hole with some mix, then applied some fiber back with mix. I pushed the whole thing as far as I could.





Then sanded the whole thing off, down to the level in first picture. I just wanted a clean uniform backing for my actual glassing.





Masking again



Fiberglass, 3 layers, in one pass.



Sanding again, halfway through



Rough sanding done



I now got to fine sand and mud the area.

I'm really close to call a wrap on the repairs and the preparation of the body.
Now I got to seriously start thinking how deep in want to go in the custom bodywork thing.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

nice work....

I have the flares and the body panels for mine, but I'll admit that I'm finding it hard to get started because fiberglass work is so itchy

 

[damoroso]

Nice work, I especially like the electronics effort and the stainless projects! Winter's cold and long in the great white north eh? Seriously though, keep it up, it's coming along!!

 

[denpo]

nice work....

I have the flares and the body panels for mine, but I'll admit that I'm finding it hard to get started because fiberglass work is so itchy

Thanks!
I did start my resto one year later I would probably have gone for the CI flare set, they are awesome.
I don't get much of the itchy thing, full body combinaison, full face mask and obsessive vaccuming seems to do the job *finger crossed*

 

[denpo]

Nice work, I especially like the electronics effort and the stainless projects! Winter's cold and long in the great white north eh? Seriously though, keep it up, it's coming along!!

Thanks.
You bet it's cold. This year is loaded, shittons of snow and very cold for the season.
And yeah it's coming along, I'm reaching the point, if I wanted a vanilla Vette I could send it to the paint shop right away.
But no. It's time to do crazy things.:bonkers:

 

[damoroso]

Nice work, I especially like the electronics effort and the stainless projects! Winter's cold and long in the great white north eh? Seriously though, keep it up, it's coming along!!

Thanks.
You bet it's cold. This year is loaded, shittons of snow and very cold for the season.
And yeah it's coming along, I'm reaching the point, if I wanted a vanilla Vette I could send it to the paint shop right away.
But no. It's time to do crazy things.:bonkers:

Yup, whileimatititis!!! Combine that with cabin fever and watch out!! :rofl:

 

[mrvette]

Nice work, I especially like the electronics effort and the stainless projects! Winter's cold and long in the great white north eh? Seriously though, keep it up, it's coming along!!

Thanks.
You bet it's cold. This year is loaded, shittons of snow and very cold for the season.
And yeah it's coming along, I'm reaching the point, if I wanted a vanilla Vette I could send it to the paint shop right away.
But no. It's time to do crazy things.:bonkers:

Yup, whileimatititis!!! Combine that with cabin fever and watch out!! :rofl:

YUP, I remember the yankee cabin fever for 6 months every year.....there is a REASON I moved south, it's called SURVIVAL....:suicide:

 

[denpo]

Nice work, I especially like the electronics effort and the stainless projects! Winter's cold and long in the great white north eh? Seriously though, keep it up, it's coming along!!

Thanks.
You bet it's cold. This year is loaded, shittons of snow and very cold for the season.
And yeah it's coming along, I'm reaching the point, if I wanted a vanilla Vette I could send it to the paint shop right away.
But no. It's time to do crazy things.:bonkers:

Yup, whileimatititis!!! Combine that with cabin fever and watch out!! :rofl:

First bike ride to work this morning, -30°C outside (same thing in °F).
If you don't get your head cooled after that, you're hopeless (like me).:bonkers:

 

[1Michel]

First bike ride to work this morning, -30°C outside (same thing in °F).
If you don't get your head cooled after that, you're hopeless (like me).:bonkers:

Been there done that LOL

Not as cold as today but...



Girls on the handlebars were frozen along two fingers...


That day I still managed to burn a full tank of fuel, little over 300 kms
Oh I cheated a bit, I had a heated vest pluged on the bikes battery under the coat.

 

[damoroso]

It wasn't the cold that bothered me so much when riding in the winter, it was that slippery crap on the streets!! The sand was bad enough from sanding the roads, but that ice and snow in a turn and be.....exhilarating!!

 

[denpo]

Speaking of cold, we're reaching year's coldest day here.
In order to consider the doors complete I had to install the mirrors.

I followed the advice from Ignatz (CF) and fastened my mirrors again the door metal frame.
I had a drilling guide machined. For those wondering the angle is 8°.







Took me longer as expected as I realised the driver side mirror was bent. I reformed it again the passenger side mirror and trimmed a bit of the back of the mirror to make sure the mirror would not get stuck when rotated at its maximum angles. What the point of having a remote ft you have to unstuck it by hand.






On that pic you can see the bolt heads again the frame.



Those are the bolt I used. 1/4 coarse thread, 2".
I think I trimmed them down to 1.8"
Took some time, you have to get the length right down to a single thread, lot of install/remove.
I like those square hole head, a lot of grip.








the gasket : fat side up.



On the electronic front I've completed my breadboard validation for my headlight dimmer reader/led dash light dimmer project.
The PCB is eager to get printed, I just need to go pick some fine tune potentiometer before. I learned to wait to have all the needed components before etching a PCB.

 

[mrvette]

I have late shark mirrors on my '72, but mine are mounted way further forward on the doors, helps with visibility.....I even use small bubble mirrors also....

:smash:

 

[denpo]

Do you remember when I mentioned those cool fuse adapter I got for Xmass?
Well, I got a little sad update about those.



They come in pack of 8. As you can see, there is only 7 on the picture.
That's because I received only that much.
I didn't mention it at the time, I saw no reason to bash a vendor about something I'd probably get fixed.

Well, no so much.....

After I let him know I only got 7, he says he's sending me the missing one....
Two weeks later the replacement is not here (and to this day didn't make it), the ebay case is about to close and the guy's messages start to sound annoyed : he's sending me another replacement, with tracking #.
Allright then, let's wait again.
The tracked package arrive only to realise the UPS guys wants 26$ of brokerage fee before he hand me the package.
26$ buck for a mere 2.5$ part. Are you freaking kinding me???
Told the UPS he can keep his package.
I message the guy again, and he's all "I already paid plenty to get it fixed, what do you want me to do more".
Well I guess I want him to pay for the 26$, but looks like it didn't crossed his mind.
At this point I had enough, dropped the ball and gave him a bad review, no time to deal with incompetency.
So, if you feel like buying those "Automotive fuse adaptor 8 pack" on Ebay, don't say you haven't been warned.

***** UPDATE *******
02-10-2014:
I just received a package with not one replacement, but 12!, plus a corporate notepad and a pen.
I didn't ask for that much, but I appreciate the move, I'll take that as apologies.
Communication may not be their main strength but they still have a cool and unique product.
Case closed.

 

[denpo]

I just updated the previous post. Happy End.

 

[7t9l82]

let us know how they work.

 

[denpo]

let us know how they work.

As soon as I can reach the fuse box again I'll take pics of them installed.

 

[MYBAD79]

Good to hear that Ebay seller did the right thing..... Took a while though.... But now you have a few spares, that's good.....

Still winter in Montreal ? (Sorry, couldn't resist asking) .... :flash:

 

[denpo]

Good to hear that Ebay seller did the right thing..... Took a while though.... But now you have a few spares, that's good.....

Still winter in Montreal ? (Sorry, couldn't resist asking) .... :flash:

Alas, yes.
Now is the moment Montrealers start losing their legendary friendliness.
It's getting long. Won't get better until late March.:suicide:

That's why it's time to make a trip to the south. Stay tuned....

 

[denpo]

Car is stuck against the wall, here's all the room I have :



Gettin' serious...

 

[BBShark]

Looks like you are getting ready to flare the wheel opening? Somewhere I saw a good write up of that method. How wide are you planning?

 

[MYBAD79]

Why are you flaring it? Looks the tire fits just fine ?

 

[denpo]

Looks like you are getting ready to flare the wheel opening? Somewhere I saw a good write up of that method. How wide are you planning?

Larry, I'm betting your refering to this article on Corvette Fever right?
If the case, yes I've read it intensively.
If you got more sources, bring'em on

I'm gonna flare them by a little inch, just enough to wrap the meat.

Why are you flaring it? Looks the tire fits just fine ?

Alas no they don't fit. Even with the little machining to get rid of the spacers they stick out. Just enough to cross the line that separate custom from Bubba. Pics can me misleading, they look like they fit because the camber adjustment is out of whack.