1980 Corvette rebuild

[Grumpy 427]

well its been just over a year, and i have made some big strides. I am doing all the work at home in my 2 car Garage. The motor tranny and rearend were all done by reputable people in the field. Motor made 340 hp and 390 tq nice driver, the tranny is the stock TH350C and the diffy has 3.08 gears and new posi clutches. All new front and rear suspension as well as all steering components are either new or rebuilt.


Day 1 lol Car still at sellers house.

Day 2 in my garage.

I dove the car twice, then parked it and tore into it. Wasnt sure what i was getting into, but it sure wasnt nice.

Thought i would change the body mounts while i was at it, then the body had to come off the frame. Natural progression i figure lol.

 

[Grumpy 427]

Ok there are plenty of the destruction part of the build, you get the idea? Rebuild and shiny new parts to follow.

 

[Grumpy 427]

Ok now for the new and beautiful lolol.

 

[Grumpy 427]

The channel was an easy fix, i grinded all the rust away and metal prepped the area. glad i didnt have to replace it.

Had new larger plates cut, and i seam sealed them into place.

Took the frame, and had it sandblasted and painted.

 

[Grumpy 427]

Spent 5 days and nights scraping and cleaning he under side of the car. the majority was covered with a product from Canadian tire called EZ liner. dries smooth tough finish.

 

[Grumpy 427]

 

[Grumpy 427]

Dyno day, was very happy with the result.

 

[Grumpy 427]

Thats it for now, i will post more after Christmas once i get back out there.

 

[C5Howie]

Now thats a rebuild!

 

[Riley P]

That is excellent! Looks Great! Thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing the other pictures.

 

[Grumpy 427]

Thanks guys. its been a lot of work. I received the assembly manual this month, so now things will start to happen lol. Exhaust and tranny lines will be next, then the front spoiler and sway bar. Bleed the brakes, then the car can go back on the ground and i can get to the top side of the engine bay.

 

[Grumpy 427]

Oh one more for the night. I bought a set of aftermarket Manifold from a guy in Ontario. They have a bigger cross sectional area, and a 2.5inch outlet. I got my new head pipes reworked to accept 2.5inch outlet.

 

[C5Howie]

seems like a no expense spared build! Do you need to re-paint? I love the engine hoist to lift the body,is that the usual way it is done?

 

[Manny@Dasilva]

Thats some great work. Looks like its going to be a real nice vette once its done.

 

[Grumpy 427]

Well i sort of had a budget in mind when i did this, i had to pay a good buck to get the car, typical when a newbie buys a used vette. lol i should of done a bit more homework. The car was delivered in 1980 to a dealership in Richmond BC, then it made its way to Alberta and then to Sask.I found the build sheet on top of the gas tank, so that was a nice gift. The last 15 years of its life the car was owned by 2 brothers who basically drove the car, and nothing more. fixed it as it broke etc. Not to sound to arrogant, but to me i wanted the car so i bartered with the guy and got the car for 2 grand less than what he was asking. The car also came with a current appraisal so that determined the price too.

To date, i have around $14,000.00 into not including what i paid for it. So i figure i am on track. I have a few interior odds and bods to buy yet, but all the big ticket items are bought. The paint is decent, its a 7 out of 10, so i can live with it for now, and may paint it a few years down the road after i have driven it for awhile. I have alwoays wanted a vette since i was 16, and now i can say i built this one the way i wanted it lol. Or rebuilt it. I had a love hate experience with my last car, a 1977 camaro. It started out as a driver, and turned into a 1000 Hp pro street car that i hated towards the end. So i promised myself and the wife that this one would be fairly close to stock and would be something we could get in and enjoy together. I figure the money i have spent is an investment, and i can hang on to this car for the next 15-20 years and enjoy driving it and still get a good dollar out of it once i do sell it.




Here are a couple of old pictures of my camaro. It had a 468 BBC in it, motor made 708 HP and 622 TQ then i had a 300 shot nitrous kit. Motor made 1006 HP on the dyno with nitrous. A Coan power glide and a 9" rear end. Full cage, certified to 8.50 NHRA spec and was fully streetable. Best i got it to run at the time was a 9.65 @ 140 mph with full exhaust tailpipes and all. never ran it open headers, i thought run it on the track the same way i do on the street.

 

[C5Howie]

Love the old camaros! That one looks really nice,I suppose you sold it? Once again the Vette build looks like quality work. Cheers Howie

 

[Grumpy 427]

Yeah like i said i ended up hating what the Camaro turned into, so i sold it for half of what i had into it. Love the Vette. best car i have ownes to date, cant wait to get it on the road.

 

[Riley P]

Very nice Camaro. It looks like it was really well done.

I sold my low mileage '81 4-speed 350 Camaro Z to buy my Vette. Do I miss it? Not really. It was all original so I couldn't do anything with it and sort of lost interest. 175hp out of a 350 doesn't leave much to brag about.

 

[ctdrl-1]

That has been one of the most interesting reads I have had in a long time, thank you! There was actually a moment where I said "WOW" out loud and attracted some attention in my office.

Amaizing , simply fantastic!

Brent

WOW

 

[HLN A55]

Very nice Camaro. It looks like it was really well done.

I sold my low mileage '81 4-speed 350 Camaro Z to buy my Vette. Do I miss it? Not really. It was all original so I couldn't do anything with it and sort of lost interest. 175hp out of a 350 doesn't leave much to brag about.

It's almost impossible to believe that a 350 can be castrated to the point of making only 175hp when with simple mods, the ones in our cars can hit almost 500. The engineering division must have seriously researched how to keep the power DOWN on that one!!! regardless, i like that style 'maro with the 4 speed and in fact almost bought a black one at one point early in my car history. Was it really that slow though?? must have made decent enough torque no?