I like that steering box reinforcement! Keep up the good work, this car is coming along great!

Coming along nicely, Neil. Your brake line looks awfully close to the headers in a couple pictures. Is it? Keep up the good work!

Thanks! Yes, the Ridetech steering box brace bolted right on. The car is pretty twitchy with the Borgeson box, have you guys encountered that?

Thanks! The brake line isn't as close as it looks in the pics. The power steering fluid is getting hotter than I'd like though.

I know that it makes the car pretty responsive. Do you like the way it steers?

It's way better than stock, but I'd like to calm it down a little. Adding caster helped a bunch.

The debugging continues and I've started on the interior finish items. March is always a super busy month in Florida so not much time to work on the car. However, I fit the new Speed Hut gauges, re-colored the bezels and lower panel, pre-wired the gauges, and installed the upper dash. Next up is the center gauge/switch panel and console.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...scs4ampny.jpeg

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I really like those gauges. They have a stock feel to them.

Love the build!

Tim

Gauges look nice.

Looks good Neal

I was able to finish the under-dash wiring and button up the dash this week. The dash pad and shift console are new repros but I was able to save the driver and passenger lower dash pads and original center gauge cluster. I kept the wiring race car simple and located all of my power and grounds under the passenger dash pad for ease of serviceability.

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Love it or hate it, here is my swank race car interior that I completed this past weekend. I tried my best to retain a vintage vibe while using modern gauges. I even put a USB port in it. But.... no carpet, no insulation, no heat, no defrost, no AC, no headliner, no power anything... Perfect! : )

Next up is redoing my power steering lines and reservoir to eliminate fluid aeration. Then I will align the side glass and install the door panels and custom sill plates.

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Frickin love it Neil. :_party:

Neil looks good! I see a set of Naval Wings, I flew A4M and Harriers for the Corps. Retired after 27 years.

Those are my Dad's Wings. He was a career Navy man. We shared a common interest in cars, so it seemed appropriate. These projects consume an enormous amount of time and become very personal, so it's cool to be able to relate a project to the important things in life.

So here is attempt #4 at my power steering system. I chose a new reservoir from a company called Chase Bays who specializes in fluid transfer products for BMW and other import cars. They were the only company that made a reservoir with the baffling and size/dimensions I was looking for. It's a nice piece. This reservoir allowed me to get the suction line further away from the control arm and also place the steering box return line on the bottom of the reservoir. I also replaced the stainless PFTE pressure line with a rubber/swedged fitting setup. I had high hopes. The foaming/aeration problem seems better, but the fluid is still getting way too hot and the pump starts to groan when the engine comes up to temp. With this being a track car, I just bit the bullet and ordered a Derale stacked plate fluid cooler which I am going to mount in front of the radiator. This should add significant fluid volume in addition to the cooling unit itself.

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looking good

There is something I learned a while back regarding power steering reservoirs. The return line must enter the reservoir well below the top end of the the fluid level.

I learned this after I implemented a very expensive fluid reservoir, with an incorporated filter, but it had the return line coming in at the very top of the reservoir. And my system groaned like crazy. No amount of bleeding would improve it.

I finally called KRC, who's power steering pump I am using and told them which reservoir I was using and the problem I was having. They told me I should try a different reservoir with the return line coming in around mid-height on the tank. I tried it and voila, no more groaning.

Just a thought...

Thanks for the feedback. My original setup was the KRC reservoir with the return on the side and a non-vented cap. The groaning was the worst with that config. Adding a vented cap helped a bit. I swapped the KRC reservoir for the Chase Bays design which has the return on the bottom and the dual internal baffle design. The aeration has been reduced but the groan is still there and the fluid is still really hot. I think my headers are heat soaking the steering box because the groan is only there after a few minutes of driving when the motor is up to temp.

You could be right, a cooler might be a good thing. I did have a cooler installed both with and without the groaning in my system. I did not personally seem to notice any correlation with heat. So my problem may have been different. Here are some pics of my system:
http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/1...d-Thread/page2

How are you bleeding the system?

I am slowing refilling the reservoir. Then I am slowly turning the wheels lock to lock about 25 times with engine off. Then I start the engine for about 2 seconds and shut it off. Top off the reservoir as needed. Then I start the engine and slowly cycle the steering lock to lock. This is all with wheels off the ground. The reservoir is the highest point in the system. This process has always worked fine on other cars. Thanks.

Yep, that's how I do it... sounds odd that you still have air in the system to allow the cavitation. I agree with you that you're heating the system... can you wrap the headers?

I use a vented reservoir on everything... both lines are well below the fluid line, mounted as high as I can get it, with as straight a line into the pump as I can get... Bleed the way you do, and almost never have issues.

What a awesome build!

Wow, your truck is killer! Thanks for the tips. I got my PS cooler bracket fabbed up tonight.

Thank you!

I think I've finally got my power steering woes resolved. I started by taking a baseline temp reading. On jackstands, I brought the car up to temp and cycled the steering with no load. As the engine warmed up, I noticed the steering pump just starting to groan at about 150 degrees. Hot, but not THAT hot. I brought the car fully up to temp until the radiator fans kicked on at 180 degrees. I took another steering fluid temp reading and the fluid was 167 degrees. The pump was groaning with no load when I cycled the steering.

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I came to the conclusion that the fluid temp was not the culprit for the groaning because the fluid was simply not hot enough. However, I felt the temps were too high for a no load test (especially since I will be tracking the car). So, I went ahead and bought a cooler. I went with a 13x5" stacked plate style cooler and made a bracket out of 3/16" 6061 aluminum.

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I used the nylon braided hose with AN hose fittings for the low pressure cooler lines. I love the nylon hose. It is so easy to use and doesn't mar up paint like the stainless braided hose. Here is the final config with the Chase Bays baffled reservoir.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...scdjrtqdu.jpeg

Since I didn't think the temps were causing the groan, I swapped fluids from the Royal Purple synthetic to good old GM power steering fluid. I ran the same test again and the peak temp was only 118 degrees. That's a 50 degree difference with no load on the system! The pump is now also whisper quiet.

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I took my wife out today to put the first mile on the odometer. She took a couple videos...

Warm up/first mile:

https://youtu.be/3GL3l_42O0M

A little throttle:

https://youtu.be/KIt4_nGcDuU

Run through the gears:

https://youtu.be/18CMZxgTp8s

I got the door panels installed. I went with stock-style C3 standard trim panels, but I like how it works with the rest of the interior. I think I will probably end up powder coating the inside door handles all black or restore them to black/chrome.

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I went with some buddies to a couple of Cars and Coffee events this morning, so I guess it's officially a car at this point!

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Such a cool build. :thumbsup:

Enjoying the pics/vids Neil...look forward to more as well.

Love this build! I always liked this body style. One question for you:

Are you doing anything to project your head from that rollbar? Those low seats don't offer much protection in case of a collision?

Yes, I will be fabbing headrests.

New Owner
 

It's been a while since I've been on forums (maybe since CornerCarvers?). Anyway, it looks like Neil B last posted about his Corvette 5 years ago. Unfortunately Neil succumbed to Cancer early this year. He was a long standing friend, team mate and buddy since the early 90's we got into road racing together...met our wives together and grew up building cool cars. His widow asked if I would be interested in Neil's build. While I'm a Ford guy, I couldn't turn down this offer. I will be it's caretaker and provide project updates here. Will use this thread to research what's been done to the car, because it just landed in Texas. RIP Neil...we'll take good care of her.

Race in Peace Neil! ....March 11,2022

Thank you for letting us know about Neil.

Prayers for his family…

Very sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. Welcome to the forums and thank you for updating us.

Yes, very sorry indeed. No doubt Neil would approve of you keeping a part of his legacy alive and on the track! Thanks for keeping the thread going as well.

I’m really digging this car.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ee4dcc0d84.jpg


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