what did you wrench on today??

[Nessism]

Couldn't find your engine on the JEGS website. Doesn't matter though! It's super cool!

[Rob S.]

did get my '68 Corvette...

Wow! What a beauty! I'll never forget where I was when I first saw the new Vette. Summer of '68, with my camp group in upstate NY at a dude ranch. This thing came flying around a curve, the driver's side roof off. None of us knew what it was.

[nvr2old]

Couldn't find your engine on the JEGS website. Doesn't matter though! It's super cool!

That's strange, Ed. Usually all it takes is a search under 383 and it pops right up. Mine was a black painted block with aluminum heads and chrome valve covers.

[nvr2old]

Wow! What a beauty! I'll never forget where I was when I first saw the new Vette. Summer of '68, with my camp group in upstate NY at a dude ranch. This thing came flying around a curve, the driver's side roof off. None of us knew what it was.

Thanks for the kind words, Rob. I too was blown away the 1st time I saw the new C3 in '68. I was only 13 at the time and bought this one when I was 20. I drove it year round for 5 years because it was the only car I had after selling everything I owned to get the $3500 I needed to buy it. That was a lot of money in 1975..lol. The looks I got trudging through 2 feet of snow with that car were priceless.

[nvr2old]

That is gorgeous, Larry.
As low-key as a 425hp Vette can be with your rims and grill work.

I've always liked the stealthy look of this car, too, Steve. It's subtle on purpose. Thanks for the compliment.

[oldGSfan]

Helped my friend primer his '55 Corvette in a rented booth. It's a V8 from new but the one in it is a hodge podge, a '60 283 solid lifter with a '57 Rochester FI unit, has a Muncie 4 speed and is all refreshed mechanically to a high standard. He has a huge stash of history, late 50's and early 60's autocrossing trophies and many pictures of his dad with Zora Arkos Duntov. Zora became friends with his dad after seeing him at shows and said it was how he wanted to build the Corvette but it was a struggle with management, has pictures of them driving it together. This is the first high build coat, looks like a Mary Kay car until it's sanded (turns gray). Took about 4 hours to mask it and mix/paint, clean up.

Quite hot in the booth and exhausting, but fun and a great learning experience as I'll be doing my '54 Willys wagon at some point. He has to now fill pinholes etc, then another coat of primer before the white topcoat.

More info and history here, my friend's quite a guy, and a good writer too.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c1-and-c2-corvettes/3837238-update-on-my-55-a.html

[grcamna2]

oldGSfan,your friend with the 55' Corvette is doing a Full restoration on that car:is that his for keeps? or is he doing that prior to selling it ?

[nvr2old]

Nice 1st Gen Corvette..and a fuelie to boot. Mine was in that stage before painting it black. It's a ton of work to get a nice finished paint job on a fiberglass car. Please post up a finished pick or 2. Thanks for sharing his progress.

[oldGSfan]

It means a lot to him as it was his father's. He's not doing for resale. I'm hoping he'll adopt me as he has no kids.

oldGSfan,your friend with the 55' Corvette is doing a Full restoration on that car:is that his for keeps? or is he doing that prior to selling it ?

[oldGSfan]

That's for sure, all sanding by hand.

A couple of years ago he rebuilt this, sent the FI unit to a specialist that has a few engines on stands to tune them and it is really nice and strong.

Nice 1st Gen Corvette..and a fuelie to boot. Mine was in that stage before painting it black. It's a ton of work to get a nice finished paint job on a fiberglass car. Please post up a finished pick or 2. Thanks for sharing his progress.

[ddaniels]

Put a much taller windshield on the FZ1, adding about 8 more inches of height over the stock one. Just got tired of the wind blast coming home from Bedford. National Cycle bubble type. So far I'm liking it.

[Big Block]

Finished tuning the 750 I believe. Unfortunately the nice stock pipes had a couple loose baffles and made it impossible to tune correctly so I had to install the fart pipe on it. Not a fan but the bike runs great now. Also had to install a KLR650 m/c on it as the stock m/c has a bad pit inside of it.

[Grimly]

Just this afternoon, putting a new tyre & wheel on the 850.
Bloody caliper was dragging on one side.
Wtf, how did that happen. Couldn't see how it was occurring until I noticed I'd put in one of the top-hat sleeves rase for below.
I mean, I've only fitted a hundred front tyres to these bikes, so can't blame unfamiliarity.

[oldGSfan]

Started in on my '66 Norton N15CS pile of parts (mostly there) after sorting out the bill of sale details. My 16 y/o son enjoys the Allen Millyard videos (as do i) and has taken a keen interest in this one after I sold his XT350 he never got to ride - I made 1K profit after refreshing it and that went toward his first vehicle, a nice 1st Gen Tacoma. I told him if he works on the Norton he can have it. Seeing the motor apart so he could see the relationship of the moving parts was a good primer and stoked interest too.

I can't afford to restore it as parts are too expensive and hard to find. Plus it already has non-standard, but really beautifully done paint. I'll use what I can scrounge and improve weak spots. My forks are shot but are 35mm so I am thinking GS750 single disc wire wheel will be a good upgrade to that single leading shoe drum, for example. We got the various nuts and attachments off the primary and timing side using leverage (him sitting on the engine for some) and pullers I had, heat, PB blaster, even employed an oil filter wrench to hold the stator to remove the nut. Also I got the pinion gear off the timing side of the crankshaft using tire irons and heat rather than an expensive single purpose tool. Split the cases and discovered a crack at a barrel stud, a replacement on the way for $75.

A big thanks to member RustyTank for the Whitworth tools and manual!

Hmmm what does this do?


First couple hours work


Crack! Commando spare I have could work but would be extra effort for the ignition (magneto) drive.


The pile part


The painted bits, hand lettered and striped

[grcamna2]

oldGSfan,that crack in the crankcase around the cylinder stud looks like it needs a repair with Tig welding and then carefully smooth-over it to give it some cosmetic restoration.