Jan 1, 2014
340
576
Calgary AB
VetteCoins
6,987
Car
77 Corvette L82
Province
AB
Hey guys,

Hope everyone is doing ok inspite of Covid right now.

It's that time of the year again and I've decided to do one last winter project thread this year. One last hurrah before I've completely finished my Corvette. I don't know if I'll ever truely be done with this car but I may leave it alone after this year and finish saving for a house and maybe a new project car to give my Corvette some company :).

This winter I've decided to paint my car. I'll also be doing some body modifications that will keep the spirt of the 77 Corvette but will make it look meaner and cleaner. The way I think GM could have designed it if it weren't for crash regulations.

With that being said I will be making the front bumper-ettes flush with the bumper. I will also be adding a turbo high rise hood but I will likely be glassing in the NACA ducts. Next I've ordered some 2.5" flared quarter panels that retain the same lines. Lastly I've ordered a new fiberglass rear bumper and I will be opening up the bumperettes and widening them to run the exhaust through them. I got some dual double walled 3.5" exhaust tips. It should make the rear end look a lot cleaner than it does now. Then I'll be replacing the pudgy C3 rear lettering with the lettering from a C5 corvette. Hopefully all of those changes will help it to look a bit wider and cleaner.

Once I'm done with the body work I'll epoxy primer the body, fill, then apply a 2k high build primer and sand that down. Once that's all done I have a buddy who has an enclosed trailer so we'll load it up and take it to the body shop for the rest of the painting. I'll likely be going with a dodge viper gunmetal pearl or some dark silver that flashes bright silver in the light.

In addition to painting the car I'm also getting a new custom aluminum fuel tank that will be baffled, and have an in tank fuel pump. It'll also be around 25 gallons replacing the small 17 gallon tank. I'll also be going with some flow forged wheels with 275/35/19 up front and 315-325/30/19 in the rear and I'll be installing a keyless entry remote.

If I have time I have some other little ideas but these are my plans right now. Here are some sketches I did of what my car will hopefully look like. I'll keep this thread updated on my progress this winter.
 

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Hey guys,

Hope everyone is doing ok inspite of Covid right now.

It's that time of the year again and I've decided to do one last winter project thread this year. One last hurrah before I've completely finished my Corvette. I don't know if I'll ever truely be done with this car but I may leave it alone after this year and finish saving for a house and maybe a new project car to give my Corvette some company :).

This winter I've decided to paint my car. I'll also be doing some body modifications that will keep the spirt of the 77 Corvette but will make it look meaner and cleaner. The way I think GM could have designed it if it weren't for crash regulations.

With that being said I will be making the front bumper-ettes flush with the bumper. I will also be adding a turbo high rise hood but I will likely be glassing in the NACA ducts. Next I've ordered some 2.5" flared quarter panels that retain the same lines. Lastly I've ordered a new fiberglass rear bumper and I will be opening up the bumperettes and widening them to run the exhaust through them. I got some dual double walled 3.5" exhaust tips. It should make the rear end look a lot cleaner than it does now. Then I'll be replacing the pudgy C3 rear lettering with the lettering from a C5 corvette. Hopefully all of those changes will help it to look a bit wider and cleaner.

Once I'm done with the body work I'll epoxy primer the body, fill, then apply a 2k high build primer and sand that down. Once that's all done I have a buddy who has an enclosed trailer so we'll load it up and take it to the body shop for the rest of the painting. I'll likely be going with a dodge viper gunmetal pearl or some dark silver that flashes bright silver in the light.

In addition to painting the car I'm also getting a new custom aluminum fuel tank that will be baffled, and have an in tank fuel pump. It'll also be around 25 gallons replacing the small 17 gallon tank. I'll also be going with some flow forged wheels with 275/35/19 up front and 315-325/30/19 in the rear and I'll be installing a keyless entry remote.

If I have time I have some other little ideas but these are my plans right now. Here are some sketches I did of what my car will hopefully look like. I'll keep this thread updated on my progress this winter.

We will be watching Cody. Thanks for sharing. :thumbs:
 
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Looking forward to seeng the play-by-play cody. I don't beleve you when you say "then I'm done". We are never done..........
 
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Looking forward to seeing the play by play and the final product. I love the paint me picture. 😂
No spoiler????? I think that would really finish it as a custom. Even a subtle one like the 68-72. Sorry, just thinking. 🤔
 
Looking forward to seeing the play by play and the final product. I love the paint me picture. 😂
No spoiler????? I think that would really finish it as a custom. Even a subtle one like the 68-72. Sorry, just thinking. 🤔
Thanks guys. I'm super excited. I've got my drawings almost done for the custom gas tank so I'll be sending that to my buddy tonight to start so he can start fabing it up. I also got my new quarter panels today so I'm excited to check them out when I get home.

I am definitely interested in your ideas. Ziggy, I have definitely considered a spoiler but I couldn't find a design that I liked. I did Photoshop a photo I had to see if I could customize a different spoiler but I'm not sure how much I like the design. I would love a picture if you have one. I quite like the LT1 spoiler but I've only seen one on a car like mine and it looked great from the back.

I'm also considering making a custom side skirt that will deflect air away from the rear wheel. They do have an LT side skirt but I don't really care for it's design.

I'm also going to be making some custom T-Top inserts to gain some headroom.
 

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Hey guys,

Got my quarter panels today and they're a bit different than what was advertised. The ones on ecklers website show the exact same picture as the one of custom image Corvette's website. So naturally that's what I figured I'd be getting. I still held them up to the car to see what they look like. I do like that they have a front kickout and the rear mud flap. That would make my custom side skirt much easier to make. It only sticks out 2.5" from my original fenders right now and will likely only sit 2.25" out once they are glassed in. So I'm kind of liking them and may keep them.

What do you guys think? Bare in mind those are not my final wheels and the new wheels will sit just in from the front of the flare.

I'm also attaching what the flares look like on the website.
 

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Hey guys!!!

Big news!!

I have removed my gas tank and measured and designed my new gas tank and sent it off to my fabricator buddy. The new tank will be about 25gallons and it sits about 3.5" lower than the original tank but still sits within the frame for the most part except for a section in the middle.

I was removing my gas tank shield to repair the holes in my rear deck for my luggage rack. I've decided to delete the luggage rack because I think it looks pretty ugly. I do like the nostalgia of it but it's a pain to clean under, ruins the lines, takes longer than I'd like to set T-tops up on it. As without the rack on the rear I have these stupid plugs.

Anyway, I dropped the shield and I found my build sheet in amazing shape stuck to the backside!! You can read all of the details and everything it came with. I know some of these like the gymkhana suspension only 700 or so 1977 Corvette's came with that option. Are there any other rare options on this car?
 

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Hey guys,

Slow progress so far. I removed my old gas lines because I needed a bigger return line for my FiTech system and figured I'd run a new supply line while I was at it. I had been running the factory 3/8 supply and 1/4 return but from my dyno run we found there was a fueling issue. I believe running a smaller return was the cause of the problem or it could have been my fuel pump. Either way I'm glad I removed them as there is a spot on our cars underneath behind the floor pans where the lines make two 90's. There's a little pocket that collects dirt and retains some water, and it caused the lines to rust pretty badly. I'll be replacing the lines with -6AN PTFE braided lines the whole way.

I then measured and cut the rear crash bar so that I can run the exhaust though the rear bumper. I only cut as much as I needed to then hammered the rest of the metal out of the way overlapping itself. My hope was that by doing this I would gain a little more room for the exhaust without taking too much strength out of the crash protection. It took about 40 minutes each side with a mini sludge hammer and 4 foot crowbar to fold the metal out of the way. That's 40 minutes of the hardest swings out can muster. This steel is stupidly strong which is a good thing.

I also enlarged the holes in the tail light mount so that I can run 4 brake lights instead of two brake lights and two reverse.

Next, I'll be taking that crash bar off, then I'll start prepping it, the frame, and the gas tank shield for paint.
 

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Hey guys,

I think I'll try to make these updates weekly for consistency.

I finished disassembling the rear end this week, then I cleaned and painted the frame with my combination of POR15 and zero rust. I've talked about this before on another thread but I'll say it again incase someone missed that thread. I've found that using POR15 or zero rust by themselves works ok but I've found a better technique that can hold up to the strike of a hammer or the harshness of brake fluid. I prep the part to be painted with wire wheels and sanding discs. I clean the part with rubbing alcohol or mineral spirits then give one last wipe after it's dry to remove any dust. I brush on the POR15 with a bristle brush. Don't use a foam brush because the POR15 is sticky and it will disintegrate the foam brush leaving foam trapped in the paint which makes it very rough. I wait about 1.5 to 2 hours then go back and spray the part with aerosol zero rust. I spray it when the POR15 is tacky but not dry so that the layers bond together and don't sit on top of eachother. I then leave it to dry at least a day, and it will fully cure in about a week so if you're assembling parts try to wait a week if possible. I've found this produces a nice semi gloss/semi matte finish that is extremely smooth and looks powder coated.

I also prepped the fiberglass deck when I was stripping the frame so after I finished the frame I did the first layers of glass. To prep the rear deck I very crudely sanded big grooves on the top of the deck around the holes with a drill and sanding wheel. Then sanded the bottom of the deck by hand with 80 grit. I'm starting the glassing by applying two layers of fiberglass under all of the holes. On the big antenna holes I applied two layers underneath and one layer on top to ensure a strong adhesion between the layers. Next I'll fill the holes with some chopped fiberglass and resin and then two more layers of fiberglass mat. The purpose of the groves on top is to make the fiberglass structural. That way, when I sand down the fiberglass I am left with fiberglass extending beyond the hole and overtop of original fiberglass. That way the holes will never reappear.

After I finished the fiberglass I went and picked up the new tank that I designed and my buddy built. It's approximately 25 gallons and sits 3 inches lower than stock which gives it a lower center of gravity. I designed it to utilize the factory mounts by having a long mounting tab on the rear that sits on top of the frame and two side tabs that extend out to where the factory lower gas tank support bolted. The tank fit like a glove! I'll have to drill and install an in-tank fuel pump as that got missed on the build and I have to figure out a new gas tank filler as right now it's just a 2 1/4" tube with no threads sticking out of the tank but I have a cool idea for that.

Hopefully my fuel lines will come in this week. I had to change some plans as my 6AN lines were on backorder, I cancelled thar order and ordered some 8AN lines and fittings instead which may work better anyway.

I'll also be finishing up the fiberglass then painting the crash protection bits. I'm undecided on reinstalling the gas tank shield. It's a bit of work to prep and paint and I don't see too much point because in 1978 they deleted that shield so I don't think it did too much. Having it off reduces a little weight and makes everything easier to access but in the event of a fire I would loose some protection. What do you guys think? Do you have any suggestions for an alternative the shield that would help contain the flames in the event of a fire?
 

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noticed you are running a fitech system, was wondering which one you have, and are you happy with it?
am looking at changing to the 3 deuces system

thanks George
I have the meanstreet 800 because I have plans in the future for a supercharger which will bring me around or over the 600hp mark. Plus, I figured if I ever change things up, I didn't want the fuel system to be a restriction for any build.

I'm very happy with it. Runs great, amazing fuel economy, instant starts, and lots of adjustability. I will say with any fuel injection system you may not be happy with it at first because it will point out flaws with your build that you never knew existed with a carb. If you have a manifold leak the unit will be nearly impossible to get setup right which my dad who's also running a FiTech learned. I also had the wrong pre fuel filter. I had one for a carb not for EFI and I found that out on a dyno run. Turns out that filter cost me 20whp up top. I'm also having some weird fuelling issues that I believe was because I was running too small of a return line.

All of these issues were pointed out by my FiTech not as a result. From what I've researched the Holley Sniper is the alternative choice. It has less adjustments and more so just learns by itself. The FiTech learns by itself but you can go in and fine tune things yourself if you wish. Holley snipers have a little less HP ratings and I've heard of more seriously failures. FiTech had a few issues in the beginning but that was the fault of their command center fuel canister which they have since corrected. FiTech also uses factory GM sensors so it's cheap and readily available if you need a new temp sensor or O2.

Hope this helps.
 
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