Check out those A-Arms. More Jim Meyers racing art work. THE WELDS ARE IMPECCABLE!!!!!
SO!!!! As with every project there are some snags. Ran into a pretty good one this time though and a couple small ones. the larger one is that this car was wrecked at some point before Frank owned it! So I have a slightly bent frame section. I could just fudge it but I'm not! So we have or are installing the new front end as you can see. This is all bolt in. So tires go back on so the car can be flatbedded to All time Auto body and Al will straighten it out! Nothing huge but might as well do it right! Good thing is the front end will be done! When it comes back we will remove it and paint the whole engine bay and wheel wells! The small hickups are some missing or wrong parts sent. But next day air helps in that regaurd and all parts should be here tomorrow. Still Moving along!
So here is the new Front end in place. During the mock up portion of the "job". Couple little hiccups along the way so far but nothing earth shattering so far..
Engine Back in the car!
6/21/19 DONE!!! (for now...)
First test drive June 13th, 2019
Engine area looking good! getting very close to completion.
Ok so it has been a while but here goes! Another chapter!
As some of you know I recieved the most AMAZING gift I have ever recieved in my life. My old Boss, and one of the best friends I have ever had in my life and like my second father, Frank Malley GAVE me his 1962 Corvette! Thats right I said gave me. It's been 6 months now and it still hasn't quite sunk in yet! Unfortunately Frank is unable to drive it anymore having gotten an unfortunate vision problem. And Though the car is now in my posession it will alawys be "Frank's Vette". I'm just taking care of it and hopefully doing the right things he would like too! Thanks again Frank!
Since Bob and I lost the Camaro in Superstorm Sandy I have been looking for a replacement. Not once did I even dream that it would be a 1962 corvette!
SO, I no longer will EVER be looking for another hobby car! I have THE dream car. My forever car! I will and am very proud to own this, mostly for who its from! Besides how fucking cool it is. So we are going to do it right!
Frank has owned this car since about 1978 ish. It was repainted just prior to him buying it. he pulled the motor and painted the engine bay. The car was born with a 327 fuel injected motor. They were very unreliable motors so prior to Frank purchasing it someone had replaced the engine with a 70? something 350. For now that will remain. Though it will come out for some other upgrades but will be put back in FOR NOW! Frank took very good care of his car and it was his favorite toy (outside of his boating and fishing) Oh yeah and Ellen!
So starting today the Vette is Going to Ron "wingnut" Kwiatkowski's for some updates. And general maintenance. The decision is to leave the car exactly as it looked from the factory on the outside and make it a modern day driver where you can't see.
So follow along with the progress I am posting below. pictures and captions of the progress.
Day 1
The new steering system it's a set up for a 1989 t-bird!.
Looking good mon!
4/26 Rear end and wheel well all cleaned and painted.
New steering system being mocked up as well.
Trans is apart! rebuild kit comes in today! Getting closer!
New clutch is on the floor waiting for install. Fingers crossed maybe engine goes back in next week! New tires came in today as well!
Table full of parts from Jim Meyers Racing!
One side frame to bumper Brackets BEFORE
So look what Tony stumbled upon and now owns! A 1961 vette. We are starting a Vette club now! Anyone else want to join in? Hey Pipo Rumor has it you own a 1965 corvette. Is this true?
Pretty good shot of what is going on to this point. New front end frame installed temporarily with the Steering system also temporarily installed. We have also installed traditional motor mounts (side mounts) 62 corvettes came with front "plate mounts". Also original steering column had to be cut and two swivel joints added to make it all work.
All this is just the mock up stage. Once it is set up it will all be removed and the whole engine bay and frame will be painted and then the final install. So far so good!
There is alway something. SO, one reason I changed the motor mount configuration was because I had to add a power steering pump and I wanted to change the old school generator to a regular Alernator. So I moved the mounts and ordered a "kit" water pump (polished aluminum of course) and Chrome alternator and chrome power steering pump with chrome brackets and polished aluminum pulleys! The something I mentioned is that as usual they sent it missing parts and no directions. After a few phone calls and a few extra days all the correct parts are in and installed! Good thing we mock fitted everything including getting all the belt sizes because all this stuff has to be off the engine to put the engine back in the car. Would have sucked wrestling with all that stuff when the motor was already in the car!. So now its prep and paint the engine! A nice RED!
Quick wax job and painted the rims at Ocean Bay Auto Body. Thanks for the use of the lift Ted. You da man! (9/18)
4/24= New power brake booster installed. All brake lines done!
Outside Ron's Garage 3/8/19. And so it begins!
Ok so here it is! Basically front end is done! Ron has it all together! He is tweaking it out a bit but basically the Front end is complete! Next stop Al's All time autobody to straighten the frame a bit then as said before back to Ron's to remove it all and paint the engine bay and frame then back in she goes for good!
Car made it to All Time Autobody! It's on the frame machine as I write this. Should be back to Ron's on Monday! Main frame is fine. Frame was off at the front and at the rear! It got heated up with a tug here and a tug there and everything is perfect. Al picked up the car this morning an at 3 oclock he texted me these Photo's. It's all done already! Glad we went this route. with the new suspension and all the new stuff would have been a shame to be off a bit!
Thanks Al and your crew at All Time Autobody!
Painted, rebuilt, reinstalled! DONE!
This is Mark's chronology of the project
It is official! Now things come apart!
So here is the view from underneath with all the new suspension and brakes with the engine back in. Getting closer!
THE 1962 CORVETTE PROJECT!.
One side frame to bumper Brackets AFTER
Bumpers are off and out to the Chrome shop!
3/13/19 Well moving along quite well so far! Ron Kwiatkowski is great to work with and has the engine, Trans, Radiator, and entire old front end out already.Lots of stuff to go but it's in good hands! Anybody need any old Corvette parts? I got a deal for ya!
So I did and it's done! Frame and engine bay ready!
In the end it is supposed to look like this when its done. lets see how we do!.
Rear end complete! Sway bar and stabilizer bars reinstalled all new bushing kits on all. New shocks installed and completely rebuilt rear end and all new Brakes! 5/18
So first order of business is replace the whole front end steering and Brake system. This here is a "Jim Meyers Racing Equipment" Bolt in Independent Front suspension system. The weld work and finish on this stuff is like Art Work! It is almost a shame to paint it!
So this is out! This is what that New Jim Meyers Racing front end is replacing!. Thats a lot of steel!
Just off the truck from Florida in Septemer
Talk about your perfect fit! New steering set up. you can just fit a credit card between the frame and the steering shaft and the steering knuckle is about 1/4 inch from the manifold. Actually had to cut the bolt threads to make it fit!
So this is the "ADDED" support I told you about that Ron fabricated up. Since this picture Ron welded that up and finished up all the metal and fab work. It's time to clean it up sand it up and paint it up! The frame that is.
4/30 rear gears removed for overhaul, time to paint her up!
rebuild kit came in and Ron is putting it back together after I paint this. Trans rebuild is next!
Engine Painted Too!
Next start installing new power brake booster and start doing brake lines!
More Jim Meyers Racing parts. The upper and lower A arms and the Viking adjustable billet aluminium coil over shocks!.
But of course I did! Thanks Al at alltime Autobody in Point Pleasant Beach N.J.
Well the living room looks like a chrome shop! Bumber is back from Chrome and some loose parts I have or am polishing! Real nice job on the bumpers! They were pretty pitted! Nice triple chrome job!
Radiator shroud painted and ready for install
So Ron didn't like the bracket that came with the kit to hold the steering steady and I agree this is way better. He fabricated this plate and epoxied it and rivited it with steel rivits to the firewall. Sure hope I never have to remove it!
Da Boyz Car Club
So good progress was made this week! Sorry no pictures. As I said the car was in an accident sometime prior to Frank buying it. They did a "solid Repair" for back in the day but it sure wasn't very pretty when it came to some frame/welding repair they did. So since it came back from the frame straightening, Ron and I discussed it and decided, As Bob Stacy and I always said when we did the Camaro. "well we have gone this far" So we decided to get rid of the ugly. So Ron played fabricator, And cut out the ugly old repairs and put in new steel and it looks and works great! AND! This whole new steering system frame work came with tapped holes on both sides to acomodate the Original "front mount" motor mounts. (these kits are specifically built for C1 Corvettes) I decided to upgrade the mounts and eliminate the front mounts and put traditional side mount motor mounts in. Ron came up with an idea to utilize the holes and weld a piece of flat steel on either side of the frame and drill holes in them to line up and utilize the tapped holes that were now not being used! No real reason to do this except for just more strength. Basically just adding a 3 inch wide 1/4 in thick piece of steel running top to bottom welded to the frame. Ill try and get a picture up to explain better. So today! 4/6/19 Looks like the new front end was put in place for the last dry fit! This is a complete bolt in kit. So we put it up and we have a few little tweeks to do. But we should be dropping it down for the last time tomorrow and start the sanding and painting of the engine compartment area. Hopefully getting that front end in for the last time later this week!
Picture above is a decent work zone. Not a bad place to clean prep and paint vette parts. 70 degrees and boat traffic.