The other obsession: old Corvettes

**Raceman** · 07-28-2002, 07:56 PM

But after being apart since 1994, now it rolls again

**Techno** · 07-28-2002, 08:16 PM

I noticed a problem with that car. Its not mine!

You have alot more patience than me- want to fix my broken spindle?

Your working on cars and neglecting boats. I'm working on boats and neglecting cars. Hmmm.

**Raceman** · 07-28-2002, 08:51 PM

What year is your car? I've got the GM tools to do spindles 63-82. Only thing I don't do to my cars is the rear ends as far as ring & pinion set up. Maybe I'll climb that mountain next.

**Talon2.5** · 07-28-2002, 09:44 PM

man!! ya even have another in the background there and i can only DREAM of getting ONE, very nice!!! very nice!!

**Raceman** · 07-29-2002, 06:14 AM

Skip, the other one in the background is a 67 435 roadster with every piece of the original drivetrain, right down to the dated ignition coil, distributor, voltage reg. and carbs, and of course engine, etc.. It's unusual to see one after 35 years and not have to chase a bunch of components to get the "numbers" right.

The problem is, it needs a complete resto too and if I get started on it now I might not wet a boat for another year. So for now, it rests in the corner, collecting dust and providing quality shelter for a few spiders. Maybe next year.

**BarryStrawn** · 07-29-2002, 09:32 AM

Raceman,

Depending on how rough that '67 is, some folks appreciate an surviving original car more than a restoration. One thing is for sure, there are fewer each time one is restored. You can always restore it in the future but you can never make it original again. Sometime it seems the old car hobby has turned into a contest to see who can buy the most reproduction or NOS parts to go with their title and build sheet.

Barry

**Techno** · 07-29-2002, 03:01 PM

Raceman, I've got a 68. Broke the spindle in a parking lot, I have good luck that way. I figure to pull the whole unit and take it to a garage to do the push pull thing. Eventually. Already have the spindle and bearings.
Part of the problem is just where to stop. Should I do the other side? Do the bushings in the back, fronts been done. Change the U-joints on the half shafts. That kind of long road stuff.

I did this to my boat, now I'm rebuilding it. Got the mid in my trunk for dis-assembly and polishing during lunch.

**Raceman** · 07-29-2002, 05:17 PM

Techno, there're a couple of ways you can disassemble the spindle assembly. If you pull the trailing arm it can be tough to get the front bolt out if the car's salty. You've gotta pay attention to the shims there too unless you're going to re align. You can pull the bearing carrier leaving the trailing arm in the car, but it can be hard to separate there too. I just took one apart off an old parts rear I got and it was kinda rusty and I had a tough time with it. I can't imagine what the salty ones are like.

One of the most critical areas in the old rears is in the yokes in the chunk. It's a vishus cycle. As the spring sags with age the rear camber goes negative. The more it goes in that direction, the more pressure it puts on the yokes and causes them to wear where they meet the pin through the center of the carrier. The more they wear, the more the camber goes negative and the more the pressure increases. I've seen em wear past the groove for the internal snap ring allowing it to pop off. When that happens the yoke can be pulled out of the housing without disassembly. By that time the u bolt nuts on a non HD unit are usually eating the yoke seal. Ideally the yokes should have almost no feelable side movement when you pull on the tire at top and bottom as if you were trying to change the camber. We just feel em by hand with the car jacked up. If you've got much over about a sixteenth movement I'd do the whole rear while you're at it, spindle bearings, bushings and all. The nice thing about the new poly bushings everybody's selling now is they can all be done with hand tools. The old type required a press on the strut rods and a special tool for the front of the trailing arm.

**Raceman** · 07-29-2002, 05:27 PM

Barry, unfortuately I don't have a survivor caliber car. The 67 Roadster in the background would've been real close if the original paint had been salvageable. I almost hate to paint it because the body's so virgin it's a shame to cover it. The interior will have the original seats, which are very nice, as are the dashpads, but the carpet was ruined and the door panels had too much cracking to live with.

Several of my cars are unrestored with the exception of paint, but that's the big exception. I just can't seem to find a decent original paint car that I'm interested in that's for sale.

**BarryStrawn** · 07-29-2002, 08:53 PM

Sounds like a plan. Your description of the complete original drivetrain in a 435/427 made we wonder if you had found a real garage queen that was presentable. Couldn't imagine one being together after all these years if had been driven much. But your other post explained that.

That Vega was really sweet! Fix that puppy up for trips to visit the rich relatives

**Raceman** · 07-29-2002, 09:14 PM

Barry, I've been pretty lucky with the original engines over the years, it's original paint that's been elusive. The restampers are so good now, I'd hate to have to say for sure that one's original or not without pulling a head, but I found most of my old stuff before they got as sophisticated. The Vega's long gone. The picture here is actually taken at the place I sold it to. It sat out by this old shed for years, but I haven't seen it lately so it may've been scrapped by now.

**Raceman** · 12-27-2004, 09:37 PM

Well, the green car's had a bad day, or week, or year, or whatever. What a complex combination of bad luck/stupidity/combination of errors and other factors, maybe including a ghost or curse.

First, when I got this car, I already had the original engine, which was rebuilt and on a stand for about 10 years. During that time, it was stored in a building that I first ran a business from, then closed and rented the front out to a tenant, keeping the rear for storage. A couple of years ago we decided to pull the chassis and detail it, and re unite the original drivetrain with the car after all these years. Although the engine had been assembled for all these years, with it's inside climate controlled storage, I decided not to open it, but rather just stick it in the car. I've done similar things in the past with engines or cars in long term storage with good results.

With all the stuff in and hooked up, I stuck the primer in the distributor hole and spun up the oil pump with the drill. The drill loaded, but the guage showed 0 oil pressure. Having seen this before with oil pressure guages in old Corvettes that sit a lot, I unhooked the copper line from the side of the block and hooked up an AutoMeter Guage temporarily. It showed 60 lbs on the drill. Initial start up and high idle run in to break the camshaft and lifters in showed good oil pressure. Dreading tearing out the dash to screw with the damn guage, which involves dropping the steering column, and fighting the wiring harness which attaches firmly to the rear of the instrument cluster with no slack, I just took the temporary guage back out from under the hood and hooked the defective guage in the dash up so there wouldn't be an oil leak, with the intention of fixin' it soon. (CRITICAL MISTAKE #2). Actually, I didn't know that CRITICAL MISTAKE 1 had been made YEARS earlier.

I've always done all the engines and manual transmissions in my old cars myself. I've let employees help and do non-critical work in re-installation, but as far as internals it's always been all me, and I've always been picky to the point of genuinely tickin' off some of the machine shop guys, by checkin' to see if the clearances in bottom ends, and piston to cyl walls are what I've asked for, and when they've proven not to be, makin' em re-do and in some cases even buy replacement parts when they've screwed stuff up. Anyhow, 10 years later, and not bein' able to sleep for several days from stewin' over it, I still don't have an explanation for CRITICAL MISTAKE 1, but without #2, it couldn't have happened.

Several months back we were gonna drive the green 67 to a Cruise, about 10 miles from home. It's only had MAYBE 75 or 100 miles since being put back together. About a mile from the house the engine seemed to tighten, then the dreaded squeel, all within about a half second of each other. Although I've had friends turn bearings in big block Chevies, it's never happened to me, and certainly not in one of MY engines.

Back in the garage it went until Christmas day, when we decided to pull the motor out. This would involve takin' the car to my son's house since he's off for a week and willing to help, and my garage at home is a jumbled mess. I decided that rather than pay a roll back on a holliday, I'd stick it on a tow dolly that I have and just drag it the 6 miles to his house. Winchin' it on the tow dolly, the damn strap broke, releasing the car, and letting it roll into our custom van that we ride our dogs around in, which was parked downhill from the Corvette loading attempt by about 2 carlengths. Our recently adopted Rottweiler, just back from a trip to the store was still sittin' in the van, not wanting to get out yet. I think the impact gave her whiplash, or scared the crap outta her, but 2 days later she still won't go anywhere near the van. The Corvette's bumper went bumper to bumper with the van and the rear corner got the grille, a turnsignal lamp, and trim piece on the van. Thankfully, the Corvette was virtually uninjured except for a paint chip about the size of a nickel on the rear corner, but no glass trauma whatsoever. About 30 seconds after the impact, it dawned on me, I can't feel the fingers in my right hand and my wrist is hurtin' like hell. The hook on the winch strap had hit me when the attaching strap broke. I was afraid to look. The pain was intense. I felt for blood and guts with the other hand and didn't feel anything. My daugter in law walked up and looked and started gaggin'. I had a knot about like a golf ball on the right side of the wrist, and my little finger was stickin' almost straight out to the side, and I couldn't feel it at all. (two days later, it's okay, sore as hell, and still swollen................. back to the car fiasco)

After several hours of very carefully pullin' the engine from a car that's basically show detailed it's hangin' on the cherry picker. Step one: pull the drain plug. One little spurt, then NOTHING. OMG, panic................... am I stoopid' enough to have run this engine with no oil? No, I thought, I primed it with the drill, then ran it for over half an hour at about 2K to seat the lifters and it had oil pressure. AND, it was driven maybe 100 miles BEFORE it failed. I pull the dipstick and it shows full, and the oil looks new just as expected. I stick a screwdriver in the drain hole and it spurts again, then stops. A couple more sticks and the same thing. My son, who's lookin' at the hole says "something's trying to come out". We pull it and out comes a little glob of something that looks like wool. Next I pull the oil filter canister off (the 67's have the old can type that has a filter element inside). The outside of the element is covered in this mystery fiber, and it's completely plugged. Next we pulled the pan, and it had probably close to a quart of the same junk, and it's up through the oil pump screen, and we can pull it out with pliers. I'm figurin' somebody must've stuffed this crap in through the distributor hole while it was in storage all these years. The path was clearly FROM the oil pan though the pump and on to the filter. I'm thinkin', who coulda'/woulda' done somethin' like that? Today, after another restless night I pulled the intake, and the reality set in....................................... SHOP RAG, and from the volume, probably more than one. Reminants of it are wrapped around the camshaft, shredded to oblivion by the time the remnants got to the bottom and went through the oil pump gears. Who knows if the oil filter bypass let some of it recirculate for more shredding until it turned to the wool like substance. The path is clear now. Apparently a corner dropped in the slots above the camshaft, wrapped around it and was shredded and spit out toward the pan. I'm still at a total loss. I've heard of surgeons leaving tools and cotton swabs inside a patient, but I can't think of any way that I had shop rags laying in the lifter valley under an the intake, and certainly not how I could've left em there.

The bad news: busted van, busted paint on rear of Corvette, damn sore wrist, scored crank, one gauled piston at wristpin, a lotta work mixed with anxiety of wonderin' if I'm dumb enough to leave shop rags inside a motor, (can't imagine them being there in the first place) OR if somebody with access did something nasty intentionally.

Good news: One bearing damaged, but didn't spin in block, no major damage to ORIGINAL ENGINE, no glass damage to Corvette, no broken bones.