1971 Corvette Hot Rod Build
 

My NCRS Top Flight '71 Corvette has been in my hands for a week. I've had a chance to go over it and figure out what I'm doing. It became crystal clear the car has to come apart. Not only were the fasteners loose on the rear camber adjusters, the left hand exhaust is falling off loose, some of the bumper bolts are loose (ditto with a number of other parts -- some critical), the shocks (original) are soft, the steering box weeps at the pitman seal and car wet itself..:) ....the rear main seal leaks. This explains the wonky clutch. In the end I found roughly 3 dozen things that need attention and I haven't had the car up in the air long enough to have a really close look.

With that in mind, I've decided to blow the thing apart and check everything. And while I'm at it, the plan is to build it into a mild, stock appearing hot rod.

Given that plan, I'll have a pretty good chunk of original parts for sale down the road. That includes an engine, two sets of wheels and tires (one set 1971 correct with almost new 54 year old tires), interior parts, exhaust parts and so on. If you have a "want list", keep me in mind!

Here we go....

https://i.imgur.com/N3zSQGHh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/L4LGbVOh.jpg

So how big it going to get????????

Brezinski always had a nice "stock" appearing cylinder head package

Cool!!

The plan is to clone my old LS6 car from way back when...:)

Little addenda:

I hold absolutely zero animosity toward the original restorer. The cosmetics on the car are outstanding. He did the very best he could with his abilities, his tools, his knowledge and his shop equipment.

He knew there were mechanical issues with the car and pretty much told me that. I just didn't know what they were and perhaps he didn't either.

It's all part of the hobby. And I love spinning wrenches.

W

I'm going to be following this too, yay!
Anthony

Thank you! It will be slow going. I have to be double careful here because of the cosmetics (top and bottom). :). So please bear with me?

Awesome! :drool:

Subscribed!!

Bold Plan!!
Going with a "Day Two" look underhood or stealthy stock look?

That is a really good question. My old LS6 had headers (which this will have) and it had M/T valve covers. On the outside, the old blue car had five spoke cast wheels (IIRC, they were Superiors, but today's cast five spoke ET's look almost identical). It will have ET's. I'm torn on the engine look...but Day 2 seems to be beckoning....L-O-L

I have a few not great Instamatic pix from back then. I'll dig them up.

W

Here are three not so great Instamatic pix I found in an old album. Things to note: You can't see it, but it had a Lakewood scattershield behind the big block. The clutch was a dual disc (stock) setup. You can see the M/T valve covers. And if you look closely it had a trailer hitch! That won't be going back on. It also had an aftermarket eight track tape player with headphones (you could hardly hear it through the speakers over the sound of the big block). That won't be going back on either...L-O-L. I had planned on switching it over to an L88 hood and an open plenum L88 intake manifold. I sold the car before that happened. But I think the new incarnation will have those induction parts.

Basically, this is the blueprint. And by the way, my heart still goes pitter-patter when I see these old photos (for more reasons than one). :)

https://i.imgur.com/ob49Vfvh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/0GT9Bcmh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/vLmq0avh.jpg

Moving right along...

Hour and a half spent on the little red Corvette this afternoon. Everything is unhooked topside. Need to get the starter wires and exhaust manifolds unhooked and then drain the fluids. At that point I can get to work yarding out the Muncie. In case some are wondering… roughly 1/2 the fasteners were loose (even the tach drive cable...yikes). Somewhere along the line someone took the distributor apart and didn’t install any shims (don’t need them…right? :)). Has about 1/4 inch of end play. When I started it before it idled pretty well but today when I winged the throttle it was breaking up right away. 😉....Hmmm..

Also, ordered a new crank and rods from Molnar today (Tom is a great guy and he's forgotten more about cranks and connecting rods than many in the business know). I already have a set of Mahle 4.500-inch bore pistons. Since I don't want to mix gas, this engine will be a little bigger than the LS6 converted to an LS7 I had in the blue Corvette. This one will be a pump gas friendly 509. It should amount to the same thing in terms of power.

Having fun...

https://i.imgur.com/LXHdTvWh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/gO05so2h.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/z9DMlKhh.jpg

Way cool! Big block coming soon :)

Giddy Up, Giddy Up 509? L-O-L

W

That has a nice ring to it:burnout:

‘

Awesome everything, looking forward updates as you go through it.
Car itself has had quite the life so far but is lucky also looks happy to have landed in your hands.
:beers:
~ Pete

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----Lots of nice really clean small block stuff to defray costs too! Bet someone here can use them....Bill S

I hope so! Selling stuff usually finances a good size chunk of my builds.

W

Since you are already going non original engine and a 509 BB to boot, Day 2 under the hood should be mandatory...:laugh:

Love the look!!

😀 I sure can’t argue with that! But back in the day I was pretty attached to Chevy’s Green Pages (“High Performance Parts And Modifications”) manual that would eventually become the Chevy Power Manual. So I was never enamoured with Super Coils, fly air cleaners and so on. This car will be a mix of high perf Chevy and select aftermarket pieces just like my old one. :)

I meant like your Blue one, headers, valve covers, open cleaner. I did have a Mallory unilight electronic conversion on my '70 Chevelle in the mid seventies with their coil on the firewall, but that was it.

We’re on the same page Mitch! Thank you. W

Can't wait to see how this comes out as I'm a huge C3 fan as well as Day 2. It's gonna be awesome when it's done, I can tell. Thanks for sharing.