63 Corvette Graveyard POS to Restomod Build
 

I purchased this 63 convertible project site unseen on my Birthday this past December. I was told it had a small rust area in the birdcage, the body was in good condition, and the chassis was solid. :shakehead: None of that was true. Just a reminder to never buy a car without looking at it in person!!! I know better, yet i trusted the guy since he sounded knowledgeable and nice over the phone :warning:
[IMG]http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...psb3adf454.jpg[/IMG]

Chassis: SRIII Still making final decisions for the build

Body: The body will remain stock overall, but i plan to add wider rear quarter panels and use the 67 big block hood. IM going to switch the front end back to a 64 unit.
Something fishy is going on here! Looks like somebody took the front of the passenger sill/rocker channel and installed it on the rear of the passenger side.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...2f25c8a6-1.jpg

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ba2994-1-1.jpg


Problem area #1. Looks the same on passenger side. Fortunately, the outer area is still solid. I can see it through the holes. i poked at it with a screwdriver and hammer and it did not puncture or flake.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...fce720bd-1.jpg

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...b5830643-1.jpg

The worst area is at the bottom of the driver's door hinge pillar. The area in the front, from the sill to about 2.5" up is more or less worthless. Ill fab up some new metal and weld it in these places once all the glass is removed.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...2d873b0e-1.jpg

Two weeks ago I decided to do a little exploratory surgery. It took around 3 hours to remove the front end. Somebody was all over this car previously, which sometimes makes it more difficult to repair.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...psf72a19a7.jpg

The rust in the birdcage is concentrated in the lower areas. The tops of the pillars look good overall.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps07acdf28.jpg

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...psa30b1f29.jpg

2/17/14

The car needs to have all fiberglass removed to repair the birdcage, so I am slowly removing pieces as I can.
Here is what was left of the internal body mount support on the firewall end piece.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps2f42b827.jpg

The rust is a bit worse than I thought, but it is still repairable. However, i did post a wanted add for this pillar if anybody has one.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...pscb91d64c.jpg

Here is some of the outstanding work that somebody did in the past...apparently they did not have a clue how to weld or did not have the right equipment to weld. That glob is a pile of mig wire.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...psa116dd9c.jpg

2/20/14

I managed to remove the firewall after a long battle. I didnt realize there were 3 rivets hiding under the mass of bonding adhesive in the middle of the firewall panel at the cross over section between the wiper cowls. To say it looks like a bomb went off in the garage is an understatement. If you attempt a project like this, you better have a lot of storage space.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps2d3e352e.jpg

The passenger side channel and pillar were replaced already and somebody did a really crappy job of patching the section in. They also did a really crappy job of welding the z-bar back in place, so i broke it loose. Ill need to take some measurements off the split window to make sure i weld it back in correctly.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...psdffca4b6.jpg

The fiberglass was literally holding the driver's side pillar in place. If i rock the pillar back and forth a few more times, i have no doubt that it will break. Fortunately another forum member has a pillar he is going to sell me. This one is repairable since it is only rusted at the bottom, but it's better in my case just to replace the entire thing.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...psf8a7090c.jpg

I find it interesting how the rust is concentrated to only the lower portion. I believe this must mean that the car was driven for a long period of time in area that had salted roads. The way the metal is corroded reminds me of salt air damage I see at the Gulf Coast.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps6d51162d.jpg

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps34abe562.jpg

My arse is going to hurt from this purchase for a while. However, i will eventually enjoy bringing it back to life and will make something special out of it. :cheers:

2/21/14

I had to fix the z bar where "Cletus" had cut it from the center connecting bracket and the passenger hinge pillar while replacing the passenger rocker and pillar from another car. The gray pillar fiberglass dated march 1965 on the passenger side, the 6 holes in the sill, and the dark green paint still remaining on one portion of the pillar glass indicated that the frame graft was from a 65 Donor. The connecting bracket was cut loose and then welded back on crooked. I cut it loose and then drilled out all spot welds.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps6afb44ac.jpg

Weld through primer and plug welds. I smoothed out all the plug welds after all welding was completed.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps2b18e02b.jpg

After drilling out the sheered off glove box support bolts from the z bar, I mounted the dash frame and glove box surround/support to help locate the correct position of the z-bar, cross bar, vin bar...whatever it is called.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps100c3a59.jpg

After welding the bar back in place...One small step in the right direction!!!

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps714c78a6.jpg

Next I fabricated a piece of steel to reinforce the rotten drivers side pillar and welded it in place. I then removed the Birdcage from the frame and floor pan. Im going to order the luggage stop metal tonight and I will put it in place next week. After that I will address the pillar and inner windshield frame.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...psd9491df2.jpg

The cage is sitting crooked here because one of the rocker brackets is still in place on the front driver's side.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps9be75934.jpg

67 chassis will be going on ebay tomorrow with the front end, quarters, and the 65 small block hood. The frame is pretty rough, but the rear end is a BB differential out of a 68, the trailing arms are nice, and so are the front a arms and brakes. Springs are nice and firm.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps31071175.jpg

Strip dance! She is parked on the 67 chassis that i have for sale for the time being.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps526e7ebb.jpg

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps1c1cf27b.jpg

Proud of my welding work here, especially considering i accidentally had the gas off while welding. for some reasons it looks like there is a crack in this picture, but there isn't. The z bar had been cut from the flange/tab by someone previously when they "repaired" the birdcage.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...psa289e038.jpg

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When money is involved, trust no one. A many of people will sound intelligent and well versed in whatever it is they may be trying to scam you with when they want your money. Shoood, family sometimes can't be trusted. So you know you can't trust a complete, total stranger most often. Nonetheless, seems you've got lots of work to do. Being a convertible and all, it'll get major points when finished. Good luck!!

Heck of an under taking. Good luck!

Will this one be black like the coupe?

Midyear Corvette coupes are actually more valuable than the convertibles currently. Times have changed!

I'm thinking super dark blue with a ghost stripe on the 67 stinger hood.

I like that better :thumbsup: It's not that black looks bad. Hell, it looks great. It's just too common like red on these cars, IMO. Milano Maroon is also a great color that's not common at all. I'm sure it'll look great no matter what you do. Good luck!

Really? I never see black 63-67 Corvettes. It was the most rare factory color, but i assume you are referring to non matching paint colors on restomods. I see a lot of maroon cars. My father has a 66 427 maroon car that i restored a few years ago and the 66 i built into a restomod last year, which i painted dark blue, was maroon from the factory. The majority of the restomods i have seen are either silver or red.