Graham’s Corvette Blog and Studebaker bits ‘n’ bobs

At some point the car was left out side and the T top leaked down onto and into the console. The lighter and ashtray got a good wetting and were toast. water got down into the shift supporting plate. It sat in the hollow and caused some serious surface rust. Fortunately not enough to need replacement. Other areas around also got damaged. I cleaned off the scale and coated it all with Fluid Film. Not pretty, but functional and hidden from view.

A real bowl of spaghetti under the console. I need to check it all out and know what all the wires connect. The relay on the right is for the alarm system which is not operational. I have yet to find the switch to turn it on. To the left of it are two connectors taped together that have been jumped at the factory. They are for the intermittent wiper system – not a option the car has. The big brown thingy to the left is a noise suppression device for the radio. A lot of the messy wires are for the radio and need some serious fixing to clean up and replace taped connections with proper soldered joints.

I don’t know if it’s factory stuff, but the carpet underlay is 1/2″ foam. That will get replaced with up-to-date sound deadening mat later on.

The large relay/timer at the back of the console is for the rear window defroster. That will be tricky to test out without frost on the window. I need to test all the stuff under the console before re-assembly.

I was able to get the car on jack stands, but it was tricky as I couldn’t get the jack in from the back. The exhaust was in the way. So I had to go in front of the rear wheel to get to the rear cross member in front of the differential. Works OK, but a bit of a fussy job and it’s not as easy as it used to be scrabbling around under the car getting the jack stands just so.

So I bit the bullet and bought this jacking equipment. It’s a Quick Jack system built in the US – better quality. The units sit under the frame and a separate pump (top) is used to raise and lower.

Here it is up to the first stop. The second stop will put the wheels about a foot from the floor. there are rubber blocks between the jack and the frame. You get small and big sets of blocks and you can buy an attachment to get another 6″. Quite steady. My only beef was getting the hydraulic hoses to stop leaking. Especially the ones at the cylinders. I put it down to inexperience with hydraulic systems.

The car came with 454 emblems on the hood – someone’s dream. I replaced them with the correct L48 as can be just made out on the rear of the hood.

Also the tires are new Firestone raised white letter outline. It’s a wonder I was able to drive 350 kms on the old 40+ year old tires! While I was at it I had the rims sand blasted and painted them in silver.

After a thorough cleaning of the carpets (came back pretty well) I needed to dismantle the console to get at the rusted cigar lighter ( future power point). Turns out someone had to replaced the console side panels and they used what they had at hand – wall panelling!

I’ve restored three Studebakers and a Dodge truck and I must say parts availability for Corvettes is way better. These side panels and almost everything seems available. There are two Canadian outfits – Corvette Depot and Northern Corvette – which makes purchases less expensive. Don’t get it wrong, parts are available, but they’re not giving the stuff away!

Just purchased this Corvette on Kijiji. It was in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It’s history is uncertain. The seller bought it from a local owner who had five Corvettes in his collection. This one had been in storage for 20 years. The odometer shows 44k, but it might be 144k.

The car was prepped for sale. Quick black paint job, new calipers all around, air cleaner, cap and wires and a quick cleaning. The interior is filthy. The drivers seat is toast and the passenger is from an ivory interior – this unit came with the doeskin interior.

The engine got me home – just! Lost the PS. The pump ran dry and burned off the belt. Fortunately the pump wasn’t seized and I got it back in operation with a new belt. At the same time it began to misfire. Found out later the new plug wires weren’t routed correctly and three were burned and cracked by touching the exhaust manifolds. It ran fair at 90km and it made the last 150kms thankfully.

Home and tucked in the garage. Now the work begins 🙂