JCG Restoration & Customs 70 LT-1 Corvette
 

My new toy! It has been some time now that I have wanted to get into an early Vette.. I had been looking around & bought a 69 but really did not do anything with it other than just sit in my garage.. So around the USCA event in Thunder Hill I was sitting @ the shop wishing I could be out there racing with my friends but did not have a car built.. I have a bunch of started projects but just don't have the time to complete them.. So I opted to find a car that I could bolt on some parts & go out & have some fun racing.. I remembered this 70 Corvette that Mary Pozzi told me about up north.. So I called her & asked her about the car & asked to see if it was up for sale! I was in luck.. Mary had me on the phone with Jan & Speedy Knudsen within a hour but also have one of my friends from American Auto-X Jesus Villarreal in NoCal also knew about the car.. I always wanted a NoCal old Auto-x car.. So with the advice from Jesus I bought the car without even looking @ it.. Especially because it was an original LT-1 Vette

This is the memorable car purchase in my life.. Jan & Speedy were some of the greatest people I have ever met.. She boxed & labeled every original part that had been removed off the car.. She sent me pictures & made sure that I had all the information I needed with the before I left to Napa to go pick it up.. I also happened to be traveling the weekend that Speedway was having a SCCA Auto-x event in Crows Landing & wanted to test the car that weekend so they gave me a full tank of gas & installed a new set of Hoosier R7's! This car had been Autocrossed most of its life & was a bite tired & needed some maintance but still ran great...



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My goal for the car is make it a street car that I can race.. I wanted to bring something different to the USCA events & have always had a soft spot for old Corvettes.. I will update with changes as I find the pictures but in the mean time here is picture of me driving it in the rain in Vegas! Upgrades since purchase: Ididit column, Sparco wheel, new bolt on cage, Van Steel suspension, Moog Steering linkage, JRI Shocks, Wilwood Brakes, & Forgeline wheels.. I happen to be selected to get a new Legend transmission @ the Vegas event which is great with the new LS conversion I have coming.. My USCA Vegas experience! I had a great time @ this event.. Me & the crew busted late nights to get the car completed as best as we could & was not sure how the old corvette would do but managed to hang in the with the best of them.. The car performed great for its first event out.. I was a bit nervous driving the car on the road course for the first time because I did not know what to expect.. but let me tell that that is where I felt most comfortable driving it! The only thing that kept me from going faster was that the car was popping out of 3rd gear on the straights & had a hard time down shifting to 2nd gear.. Only managed to drive for 3 sessions & then my power steering pump decided to stop working.. I guess it did not like those long sustained stretched in 3rd gear up to 7800 rpm! The brakes worked awesome with the suspension.. The Auto-x was a struggle because it was a cold day out there & could not get the wanted grip out of the tires.. but still managed to place well.. The speed stop was also struggle due to not being my favorite thing to do.. I did not want to lock up my front tires & get flat spots..

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Nice job out there Cris, it was sweet hearing that thing fire up and run...

Where did you find that Optima pic online? i cant find their link to the pics they took this weekend...please dont tell me its facebook...lol

Mike

That's awesome, Cris! Congrats on the purchase. I'd keep it a solid lifter SBC just to be different, but I understand the desire to go LSx. Good luck with the build and competitions.

It sounds like this car has some history behind it and came from a loving home. With the caliber of cars you build its definitely in good hands. I'm looking forward to seeing more!

That's one great looking car Cris, congrats. I know it's going to be a handful by the time your done!

You should put a hemi in it...:underchair:

Cool car and neat that it's got the history. Have fun with it!

Sellers should have screened the buyers a little better.... :peepwall:

:lol:

Thank you Mike! Yeah all the action pictures I have gotten right now are from FaceBook..

I was thinking about keeping the SBC but 13.1 Compression ratio & have to run it on pump gas for 500 hp.. It just dosen't make sense when I can get 600 HP on pump gas out of a LS somthing.. I have a plan on keeping it looking vintage under the hood with a LS engine..

There is history behind this car & that is why I luv it! I don't plan on making it look super nice.. I just want something I can race the crap outta it & not worry about paint or other things

It will be something AL! as long as I am having fun..

I would "NEVER" put a Mopar motor in a Chevy!:)

I agree!! but they luv all the new changes that I have done.. Jan will be coming down to Camarillo one of these days & take a spin in it.. Or I will take it up to NorCal..

Love the 69 Cris!

First time I watched that Vette race was back in the 70s. The LT-1 was owned by a guy named Denny Greenwood....then Lynn Anderson....it's one of the reasons why there are 2 LT-1 Corvettes in my garage. You have a real 70 LT-1 there with great racing history. Speedy and Jan were great people to hang around with at the races.

I would go over the frame with a fine tooth comb looking for stress cracks and check the differential out....they tend to be fragile:thumbsup:

Very cool car. I will be watching this.

I love it! And a 13:1 SBC fits this car's attitude perfectly.

It is so cool that somebody know the history of my car! funny thing about this car that even though it has been raced pretty much of it's life.. they kept all the orginal parts... I have the orginal transmission & engine.. smog pump, carb, alternator, starter, intake, valve covers & etc.. They even had the protecto plate with owners manual..

The whole suspension & diff have been completely rebuilt.. I will show that progress later.. Here are some images of what the interior looked like.. Accusump in the car had me a little worried but now has been relocated.. The roll bar that was done by Maier a long time ago was re-done too.. It just was not that easy for to drive.. so the changes are being done to fit me as the primary driver..

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I will admit that the 13:1 SBC does fit the attitude of the car.. But I want to make it easy to drive on the street.. In SoCal we are blessed with pretty much great yearly weather.. plus my daughter luv's it when I pick her up from school in the Old Corvette! Here is what it currently looks like.. Have not changed much here yet..

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I am only gathering parts right now for the LS Conversion.. But promise I will be doing it in a traditional way.. Here is my set-up motor.. I will be running a single plane intake.. Plus Have these valve covers being made right now so that I can put the GM cross flag logo on it...Plus doing my belt drive system to fight the issue they have on pass side for heater hoses.. I will detail the engine bay.. Goal is to make all the changes & test the car.. then blow it apart for paint & detail!!

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getting busy
 

Cris,
You are hard at it dude!
Glad to see your early results.
Old vettes rule ....
Thanks for taking the time to give my father & I the shop tour the other day.
I look forward to hopefully seeing you at some USCA events this summer
Scott " Bubba "
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

1000hp still won't make you Danny Popp....

No problem Scott! Looking forward to seeing ya next time..

I totally agree with you Greg! but You also have to consider that you won't be faster than Jennifer Hobaugh in her old Miata!! :D

Miss ya!! OXOXOXO

Thats what I keep saying but keep getting stuck on the "make changes & test the car" part. Something about this is just soo much fun I just keep repeating it and cant seem to break the cycle. Details can come later when Im ready to park it for a while.

Talking to Danny@SEMA it seems his 72 has a destroked LS7 with solid roller cam.....probably makes mid/high 500HP output.....I see many people on here trying to build too much HP for the intended use of their cars. If your planning on autocrossing that Vette the LS7 should give plenty of power, going to a solid roller set-up will give you a little room at the top RPM range to over-rev between corners without pumping up hydraulic lifters. The problem I see with LS motors and high RPM is their oiling systems SUCK! You will need to pay attention to oil routing and massage the internal block passages to make a LS live at 7000+ RPMs for extended periods of time....on a Drag Strip you will never see the short commings, banging a motor against the rev limiter (if its set above 7000RPMs) like happens on a road course or auotX and you will discover the shortcomings of an LS.

I doubt that LT-1 will ever return to NCRS standards, if it were mine, I would go onto the Corvette Forum or NCRS Driveline and start selling some of those wanted parts....that windshield wiper motor has a rare 5 port pump unit on it....probably worth over $200 to a NCRS guy, the front grilles and headlamp surrounds on a 70 LT-1 are worth some money too if they are original.

The Ridetech 48HR Corvette (that turned into a 60+ HR Corvette because lets face it, its not as easy to build as an Fbody!) is a great reference on a decent C3 build. I intend to put a Greenwood 5 bar in my 72 LT-1 to deal with the rear toe change problems of the C2/3 Vettes, if your interested in info....Email me, I basically have 2 set-ups and might sell the extra one. This stuff was designed by Bob Riley.....pretty decent car designer.

Got some time finally to post what I did to upgrade the suspesnsion.. The car had already been set up for Auto-X but need to freshened up.. So I just went ahead & rebuilt the whole suspension with Van Steel, JRI Shocks & Wilwood brakes.. I built my own front sway bar.. Modified the the rear trailing arms so that I could run the shocks on the back side where the leaf spring would go for quick adjustments & spring changes.. The car already had a quick ratio steering box in it.. Very basic simple bolt on stuff with just some minor changes..

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The LS Conversion has begun! We already built the gas for the car.. Went ahead & changed the location by dropping it to get the center of gravity lower.. New thing we are doing in our gas tanks is Vapor domes.. Next step is to build an Aluminum radiator support using a C6 Corvette radiator to bring the cold air tube out the front of the car..

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Very nice, how is the rear spoiler attached/secured? Keep the posts coming. Thanks

https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=44704

Looks great, Cris. What's the purpose of the vapor dome?

Is there any updates?

very cool build!

I'm also curious of the vapor domes purpose?

The purpose is so that once the tank is full of liquid (no higher than the filler neck) there is a space above the liquid line for venting. Having this.space helps prevent the liquid from being sucked, or pushed, into the vent line.

Does there need to be a vent in the dome?

How is the rear spoiler mounted, thanks

Looks good! How's the clearance of your oil pan to your steering centerlink? My LS3 mock up in my 72 LT-1 dosent have much room unless I leave the motor sitting 1.5" higher than I would like to.......

Chris......one thing about your Vette......there should be some plastic Rock guards mounted to tabs on the front horseshoe bracket to prevent head light breakage.....these are commonly missing on C3 Vettes but, you might want to install some. Try Wilcox Corvette for these parts if you don't have them.

https://willcoxcorvette.com/corvette...ct-media-modal

Do yourself another favor.......since your not going 5 link.....you can notch and relocate the differential about 3/4" upwards to improve your half shaft angles.....once they go over center you get rear wheel toe-out which is a pretty deadly condition on handling. Take out the front differential bushing and machine a thin solid spacer. You might also want to look at Toms Differentials for the rear Xmember bracing kit they sold for drag racing...I would add some help to that part for a high HP application. Look at an old Chevy Power manual in the Corvette frame modification section and see where there might be possible shock body interference in the front frame pockets and see if you need to make that modification. It looks like you have the Borgeson steering box.....look at the Ridetech steering box brace.....it's a pretty nice part. There is lots of high polar weight loss if you redo some of the front radiator lower support "V" brace and bumper bracing along with going to the FIA style headlamp set up. Ridetech also went to a glass front bumper grille set up.....again a few pounds of high polar weight.....I'm thinking about doing a glass bumper and making it look chrome again for my Vette. If that Vette still has its tilt/tele steering column in it.....I'd get rid of it for autocross thrashing......at least go through it and tighten everything up or one day you will be met with a loud CRACK! And loose column.

I'm sure you probably have gotten past it but, I went to an Edelbrock water pump and welded in bungs on the top for my heater hoses to get upper control arm shaft clearance for heater hoses.....the Edelbrock pump has a cartridge impeller that can be taken out for housing welding. My drive set up is a modified Ventura Speed Shop LS drive.

Thank you sir for all the advise! I have been finding all the strenghts & weakness of my C3. I finally have it up & running & have been driving the crap outta my car.. Last week I had Danny Popp in town with JJ Furillo from Ultimate Performance getting my car dialed in.. Car is working great but woking making more changes..

Here are the shots of me driving my car @ USCA in Fontana last weekend.. with Streests of Willow & Camarillo Airport..

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Video of Last weekend action @ USCA in Fontana.. Excuse the cowboy driving but still learning how to road coarse & how to control this car..

Here are some pictures of the LS6 conversion with Legend Gear & Transmission.. Quartermaster clutch, JCG/Wilwood hydralics, JCG Tri-y headers with mufflers, C6 Corvette radiator, Custom tanks with plumbing..

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engine and exhaust makes it look like it belongs in an airplane.

pretty cool stuff chris

Love the headers!

Cris --- Did you sign up for the Ron Sutton Suspension Tuning class at SEMA??





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Thanks Vince! Having lots of fun with the old Corvette..

Nascar Tri-y cut up to make something.. I over thought this portion of the conversion..

No sir.. Skipping SEMA this year.. I will show up on Friday for OUSCI to support the Rozelle's.. But have heard great things about the Ron's classes.

So lately I have been having lots of fun driving C3's Vettes & have sold my Camaro's.. The 70 LT-1 is an awesome car but it has its limits of how much ore I want to modify without hurting the car.. The modification I made are all reversable.. I don't want to put a full cage in.. Eventually I will restore the car with big flares & the LS Motor.. So I am building a purpose built car that I can cut up! My 69 will be a nice, street, road race, Auto-x car!!

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That's going to be one awesome machine Cris. 69 is my favorite year for vettes.

you gonna chop out that ugly firewall and set that engine back anymore? :G-Dub:

I think this year will be an interesting one in Vegas for the Optima Event, the Hobaugh Vette is going to meet up with a certain Yellow LT-1. My money is on the C3 but, would love to see a battle of Brian, Danny, and Chad......I know Danny usually has sponsor commitments to drive other cars but, it would be great to see him pilot the C3 one year. Pretty soon people will wake up and realize the cheap performance to be had with a C3 Vette, I know my 72 LT-1 was about on par with our old C5 Z06 back in 2005/6 when both cars were being run at the same time. Admittedly the C5 was pretty stock besides some tuning, shocks and tires but, mods on the LT-1 (chassis wise) weren't that exotic. I did miss being able to mash a set of ABS brakes if the front tires were loosing grip, that ABS is pretty neat stuff! Great job on the car!