Jim
That is one wicked ride!!
:hail:

The body work continues on the 64 Convertible.

A nice touch is the POWERED hood lift now being fitted

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Mike is also working on the gaps to insure the perfect fit and finish. In these pictures you can see the work being done to the front end in conjunction to the headlight buckets so that the fit and gapping is just right

http://i46.tinypic.com/166vyt.jpg

http://i45.tinypic.com/10i9owx.jpg

Now that the rear wheel wells have been custom made to fit my wheels, allowing the folding convertible top to fit in place, the body is once again off the Street Shop Chassis to continue the body work

http://i45.tinypic.com/50id52.jpg

Starting from the bottom, Mike is smoothing out the underside of the wheel wells:

http://i48.tinypic.com/m9awhy.jpg

http://i48.tinypic.com/291j782.jpg

From my last conversation with Mike, the Corvette is nearing the point for the primer to be sprayed!!

The Roadster body is nearing completion. There are many hours of hard work to massage the fiberglass back to perfection. If all goes well, it will be in the paint booth within the next 7 to 10 days (doors and deck lid will be fitted to finish off) !!!!

http://i47.tinypic.com/2n9yf6c.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/209jb88.jpg
http://i49.tinypic.com/2lup3rq.jpg

In the meantime, I am working on the restoration of the interior dash items. I began with the glove box door restoration.
The chrome surround is in decent shape so I spent a couple of hours carefully masking the chrome, particularly around the edges. While not a hard task, it is a tedious one.

Here are a couple of pictures of the door masked with the old paint removed:

http://i48.tinypic.com/a9n6gw.jpg

Now in Primer:
http://i50.tinypic.com/25ai106.jpg

And finished with SEM Euro Trim (a satin black finish);
http://i47.tinypic.com/24ycwom.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/vyb6hh.jpg

With the paint completed and the other parts back from black powder coating, it was time to re-assemble the glove box door with the new aluminum piece and emblem.
http://i45.tinypic.com/2mmw9w5.jpg
http://i49.tinypic.com/1255r3d.jpg


Tomorrow, the shift console will be masked in preparation for paint. And, if I have the chance, the chrome shop has finally finished my dash cluster so I may run up to pick it up first thing in the morning.

Dan
---------------------------------
www.vetterodder.com
www.facebook.com/vetterodder.com

I love this build! Awesome.

Looking good! :cheers:

I'm typically not a fan of red but this Victory Red is turning my head. Good color choice. Do you plan on a black stripe for the stinger hood?

Of course!! A nice gloss black for the stinger.
Thanks for the comments. :thumbsup:

Well, after the much needed body work, primer and often under-appreciated block sanding, the time has come to squirt the Victory Red on the body. Without further ado, here is the 64 Roadster after paint (cut & buff to be done next).

Mike – you have outdone yourself!!

:unibrow:

http://i50.tinypic.com/35mmk34.jpg
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I've been following this build and all I can say is you've really done a super job! Congrats and it's going to be a lot of fun to drive.

Thank you so much !! While the overall vision and design is mine, there are others who are doing the hard work. I dismantled the car, took care of project managing chrome and powder coating and restored interior items only.

I cannot wait til she is done !!!!

I really like the guages. Great work on the whole car. I almost bought one of these body styles several years ago. This one makes me wish I did.

Awesome job with the gauges! That car will be a stunner when it is all done.

The kids (no school), my Dad and I had the opportunity to see the Corvette today and drop off the parts that Mike will soon need to complete this RestoMod build. The color looks amazing to me but it is really hard to distinguish in the photographs under the bright sky. What has been done in 2 months is amazing but there is plenty of work left to complete in the next month and change. Given that my old 1958 Roadster took 4 years for my Dad and I to finish (with no comparison to the quality of this 64), I can wait another 30 to 45 days (Does that sound convincing enough???).


http://i48.tinypic.com/125ryag.jpg

http://i50.tinypic.com/dya9l0.jpg

http://i47.tinypic.com/xp1si8.jpg

Here is my Dad:
http://i45.tinypic.com/33o5th3.jpg

....and my great kids...
http://i48.tinypic.com/zuns4p.jpg

:thumbs:

I can read your son's mind
" I can't wait till high school and this is me infront of my ride to the prom! "
Its coming out awesome, I love everything you've done. Its going to be one awesome perfoming ride!

I have been very busy with the day job and have not had much time to post any updates lately. Fortunately for me however, Mike continues with the final assembly of the 64 Roadster.
It appears that I will have the Corvette completed by Thanksgiving – which is really wonderful.
The weather in Florida is nice and cool so driving this baby is going to be oh so much fun!!! Here are a couple of shots of the interior. There is a lot of wiring in this Vette with the A/C, cruise control unit, ECM for the LS3, the push button start electronics, and stereo. It is tight behind the dash.

http://i50.tinypic.com/18f8z9.jpg

http://i50.tinypic.com/vzwmmv.jpg

She is finally done !!!

http://i47.tinypic.com/21j5bg2.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/2ekir6t.jpg
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Very nice, now get out and drive it :cheers:

Looks great! Congrats.

beautiful and useful car, just beautiful

Beautiful !!!

That is going to be so much fun to drive you'll never get outta that car !

One thing to think about with hydraboost in these cars - that's a bunch of weight hanging off the bracket. Have your builder add a reinforcement plate behind the glass firewall between the pedal cluster bracket. If you don't you'll crack the paint and glass pretty quickly from all that system mass bouncing.

Fantasic work and we look forward to the huge smoking tire burnout video ! :thumbsup:

Jim

The hydroboost or vacuum pod mounts through the firewall to a bracket that not only hangs the brake pedal but ties into the dash frame work and holds the steering column as well. It's plenty well supported. You can see the bracket in the interior shots on the previous page. There is very little that is supported purely by the fiberglass body on C2/3 corvettes.

This Vette is awsome :thumbsup:

:clap:

Exactly!!!

But thanks for the advice.

Congrats on making it home. Be patient on the break in and debugging. Sometimes it can be a real pain even with a fairly straight forward build such as your car. Enjoy the ride :thumbsup:

Christmas Video ?
 

OK, been a month !

Where's the smokey tire burnout videos ??????

Just a little one ?!?!.


Jim

:lateral:

I was thinking more along the lines of "Ferris Bueler's day off" when i looked at the son's grin lol!!!

Hey, whoever said restoring a car was tough!!! Send it out, polish a few trim parts, go for a ride!!!

Love the results, also love the pic with your daughter, i remember my first ride with my 3 girls when i finished the Camaro (altough it took 5 years for me to get to that ride lol!!) cool moments.

Hope you enjoy it! Very nice!!

Lead.

Yeah, read his son's shirt..."I'm that dude." It's probably more like, "Hey, I'm that dude with the awesome red 64 Corvette. Yeah..umm, that's me alright." :rofl: :rofl: Car is beautiful by the way. Very tastefully done.

She is all done
 

I have spent some time working out the details in the past couple of months. First I will give you a quick run down of these items and then I will give you a summary of driveability / performance, etc...


1. CLUTCH - The biggest focus was on the clutch setup. I started out with a mechanical clutch where the geometry was not quite right making it a bear to operate. I took the plunge and had the clutch upgraded to a hydraulic set up and could not be happier.

2. Transmission - I have no issue with the TKO 5-speed. When the clutch set up was being installed, the mechanic noticed that the the builder had placed two shims at the mount pushing the tranny up against the tunnel where only a thin sheet of paper would fit. They removed 1 shim and the result was spectacular in the ride comfort as it took away a small vibration the car had originally.

3. Radiator - The Dewitts runs great in South Florida - even in traffic. The only change here was that the supplied Spahl fan was incredibly loud. I ordered the quiet version but to change it out was a bigger job than I thought as the fan was riveted to the cover plate of the radiator - the plate welded to the radiator itself. In order to change out a simple fan, the radiator was removed from the car, the welds cut, the rivets removed and replaced with bolts/nuts, a re-weld of the plate to the radiator and finally the 10 minute replacement of the fan. Now at least, if a fan goes bad, it is very easy to unbolt and replace.

4. Pulley System - The provided pulley system needed work as it squealed like a pig. Mike Coletta did a great job with what he got here and changed out the idler and used a shorter belt to compensate. As many will tell you, if you do a project like this, use the Vintage Frontrunner system if you want a trouble free install.

OK - so now, the ride:
1. Great handling
2. Great stopping power
3. Super dependable - The LS3 seems to be bullet proof
4. COMFORTABLE - I have gone out for 150 mile rides and always feel fine afterwards
5. It is the best of both worlds - classic design with great modern features

When I first got the car I was unsure about whether or not I made the right choice - but that was predicated by the fact that I had to deal with the gremlins mentioned above - which is quite normal for any project. The first few months I worried about what might break or what else I needed to deal with to get it perfect - OCD. In time as I addressed the gremlins I could finally appreciate what I really had in my possession.
This is the best riding Vintage Vette I have ever had the privilage to drive and own. It is as close as I could get to a full modern ride with classic design.

I have 430 HP with no modifications and for me it is plenty of power. On the highway, I can accelerate in fifth gear to pass others or change lanes with ease. The chassis - suspension set up allows me to accelerate from 0- 100 without any shaking/vibration that the original setup would suffer through. The 5-speed shifts very smoothly (like any modern car) and is a joy to run through the gears. On longer trips, the cruise control has been a great benefit to rest my right foot.

I was caught in the rain and the top was good but these cars were never really set up to keep the water completely out. - so be it. The a/c, heat and defrost have come in very handy.

NO REGRETS - this was the right choice for me.

What is next:
I will have the DSE headlight kit installed next week

http://i39.tinypic.com/313otj5.jpg

Glad you're liking the car and getting to enjoy it. I think that's the biggest reason we do what we do to these cars.

Nice update
 

Your satisfaction will continue to grow, nice job on the car and enjoy your summer of driving.