Project: Love 69 - My Corvette Build Thread

[J. Chris Davis]

You're moving right along. Very impressive!

[wfo guy]

I have a cautionary comment to make. I used to be a chassis fabricator for dragsters. We looked at every single part and asked, can we make it lighter? There are some parts that can be weakened to the point of early fatigue. If you look at the heaviest as the worst offenders with the thought of how light is still strong enough for a complete life span as to match the rest of the components, you will save the most. I cut every fastener off to about 1 thread past the end of the nut in a torqued situation. Anything that failure could cause destruction or death was looked at with caution. Your project is looking good.

[vette427-sbc]

You're moving right along. Very impressive!

Thanks, Chris!

I have a cautionary comment to make. I used to be a chassis fabricator for dragsters. We looked at every single part and asked, can we make it lighter? There are some parts that can be weakened to the point of early fatigue. If you look at the heaviest as the worst offenders with the thought of how light is still strong enough for a complete life span as to match the rest of the components, you will save the most. I cut every fastener off to about 1 thread past the end of the nut in a torqued situation. Anything that failure could cause destruction or death was looked at with caution. Your project is looking good.

Thanks! Im trying to look at this with the same mentality... If you have any comments about something that looks questionable, I'd love to hear it!

P.S. I just swapped out a bunch of hardware on the chassis for the same reason as you

[the dan]

More updates please!

[vette427-sbc]

Suspension is mostly assembled and finally got some pictures with a decent camera!

[wfo guy]

Nice!

[the dan]

As much as I want you to hurry up and get your wheels, I don't want you to be able to roll it outside... hurry up and get wheels so we can make engine noises. Motor soon?

[vette427-sbc]

Not my exact tire size, but close! These are 325/30/19... the rears will be 345/30/19 and the fronts 335/30/18.

The drysump stuff showed up today also, Aviaid 3 stage, 2.5 Gal tank. Getting everything mocked up to figure out plumbing and placement for the tank, filter and cooler

the_dan will be here tomorrow with my billet cap'd fuel tank that he fabbed for me, AND his truck so we can roast tires before he puts these ones on his truck

[vette427-sbc]

Fuel tank showed up this weekend from DMP Fabrication (the dan)... to say Im impressed is an understatement! The end caps are billet with integrated mounts to distribute the load and the center section sheet aluminum is one piece to minimize stressed welded areas. Its also braced/baffled internally for the Aeromotive Stealth in-tank pump. Weighs 26 lbs with the pump. The bottom side of the tank is angled to follow the contour of the quarter panel to help get rid of the rear "parachute" that these corvettes have. It came out to about 23 gallons.

[FLYNAVY53]

very nice piece!!

[vette427-sbc]

Some small progress with the oil system...
Remote filter mounted, and should be rather accessible through the wheel well


Pan and oil feed plate mounted

very nice piece!!

Thanks! shame it gets covered up with the body on it!

[vette427-sbc]

Got my new brackets and some fittings for the oil pump today, so motor went in for mock-up. Its much tighter than I expected! Im going to need to put some serious thought into how this stuff will be routed...
As of now, the scavenge lines from the pan to pump are figured out. They are Earls Prolite 350 -12 with an internal spring. I thought I ordered -10 for the pressure side but apparently I ordered -8 instead... so pressure side will have to wait until next week.









Lines are separated because the Pressure-In line is going in between them

[the dan]

Hell yeah, Keep it moving!

[ekmxryda]

Nice progress.
If you are looking to protect that nice new fuel tank I would recommend Sharkhide.

http://www.sharkhide.com/mpinfo.html

[vette427-sbc]

Things got crowded on this side of the motor quick!







The scavenge-out doesnt have the internal spring in it yet so it looks a bit flat in these pics...
Both of the -12 lines coming through the motor mount will be getting a heat sleeve and a titanium heat shield to protect from the headers.
The pressure-out from the filter housing will go forward along the frame rail to the oil cooler, then back up the drivers side to go into the block.

Nice progress.
If you are looking to protect that nice new fuel tank I would recommend Sharkhide.

http://www.sharkhide.com/mpinfo.html

Thanks! I was wondering how I was going to keep it looking like this with the saltwater-air around here. Nothing is safe from corrosion!

[FLYNAVY53]

Been following since the beginning but I may have missed it....what are the SPECs on the motor? I'm a big LS fan, but also love a good GEN 1 SBC. The '64 I'm building has the original solid lifter 327....leaning towards just rebuilding that and adding fuel injection...really need to start a build thread at some point. Anyway, love seeing the updates!!

[vette427-sbc]

Been following since the beginning but I may have missed it....what are the SPECs on the motor? I'm a big LS fan, but also love a good GEN 1 SBC. The '64 I'm building has the original solid lifter 327....leaning towards just rebuilding that and adding fuel injection...really need to start a build thread at some point. Anyway, love seeing the updates!!

Thanks! Its a Dart SHP 427, Dart 215 heads, hydraulic roller (have to dig up the cam specs). It made 595 on the dyno, Im hoping I can hit the 600 mark with some light intake porting, tuning and the drysump vacuum... Ive also wanted a 427sbc forever (hence the username!) and I came across this motor for a price that I couldnt pass up. The only reason This car doesnt have an LS is because I plan to have this car mostly completed to take a road trip down the east coast spring of 2019. The LS would have delayed that with the extra wiring, tuning and cost of parts. Ill build a nice N/A 427 LS based motor in my spare time while I enjoy the car. My current daily driver is 5800lbs and 140hp. I need something fast in my life again ASAP

PS start a thread on your 64!

[ekmxryda]

Make sure you protect yourself, gloves, respirator, etc. if you go with the shakhide, the stuff is pretty nasty.
Would do it outside on a nice day so you can still work in the shop.

[FLYNAVY53]

Thanks! Its a Dart SHP 427, Dart 215 heads, hydraulic roller (have to dig up the cam specs). It made 595 on the dyno, Im hoping I can hit the 600 mark with some light intake porting, tuning and the drysump vacuum... Ive also wanted a 427sbc forever (hence the username!) and I came across this motor for a price that I couldnt pass up. The only reason This car doesnt have an LS is because I plan to have this car mostly completed to take a road trip down the east coast spring of 2019. The LS would have delayed that with the extra wiring, tuning and cost of parts. Ill build a nice N/A 427 LS based motor in my spare time while I enjoy the car. My current daily driver is 5800lbs and 140hp. I need something fast in my life again ASAP

PS start a thread on your 64!

Very cool. I hear ya on the LS....my 1972 C20 Suburban daily driver has a 6.0 LS in it and the cost of wiring/fuel injection/accessories/exhaust was more than the cost of the motor.

Don't know what your plans are for your road trip next spring, but if you make it towards Norfolk/VA Beach, give me a shout. If you're coming south from Jersey, the Cape May Ferry then down the eastern shore of MD an VA is a beautiful drive.

[wfo guy]

Most of us live in the reasonable budget world. One of my old friends used to say: it's no disgrace to be poor, just real unhandy. You're doing well.