Plastic Fantastic 76 Corvette

[SuperBuickGuy]

tomorrow I'll power it up... not done, but I can make sure I'm not releasing smoke....
did I ever mention I hate wiring?

case in point, I had to trace and find a wire so I have a tachometer signal. Then forgot I needed to have 2 wires connected

I may now weld with brass often, but its welding rod works great for fishing wires

need to add another bank of relays and fuses...
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what's left?
power the water pump
radiator system and fans
brackets for PS pump and alternator
oil pressure sender
solve the MAP sensor dilemma... probably just a wiring choice but it needs to be done.

[SuperBuickGuy]

onto new brackets

which doesn't yet solve the problem - but it's a step

when I do my next BBC, I'm going to either embed the magnets in the balancer or run a reluctor wheel like they did on the 8.1 and 632 motors....

[SuperBuickGuy]

so I did get FiTech's 'update' .... tried it tonight. I feel like sending them gold stars.
problem one, it doesn't actually clear

problem 2, it's not square to the throttle

problem 3, pretty sure it won't work in an optimal situation (e.g. one without an automatic)


not their problem but I also don't think it clears the hood...

there has to be a better way, and it'll be me who builds it. As for FiTech, they're still in business even with all the negative publicity - good for them, poor suckers.

[SuperBuickGuy]

a bit of wiring accomplished
how I wire... bare wire connectors covered by shrink tube

and wiring in a MSD solid state relay. runs 2 fans, water pump, and fuel pump

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[SuperBuickGuy]

Sensors work, fuel line leaks (well, after I swapped the lines)

remove sensor for now

start on accessories



It does pop.... which means I have spark and fuel, just not at the right time. Add to this that I zero lashed the rockers - and I have a couple steps before it truly makes sweet noise (like putting a cooling system together and making the accessories work).

I have questions about spark control... and I need to spend some quality time understanding what I need to do.... but still, it will run.

is it enough that I'll do Optima this year? probably not. I might sign up for Portland - but I'm leaning strongly against it, I don't want to be in the same rush I was last year that resulted in not enough testing and too much breakage.

Merry Christmas

[SuperBuickGuy]

and now it runs... onto cooling
90% prep, 10% work.... tonight I got started by cutting down a knife die to use in my press. For those curious, I have FAR more money in dies then I do press....

knife die is a die that will bend 135*... this is the bottom of the die I cut
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so here's a visual of why I'm doing this.... I now have 4" above the radiator to run the intake. The old piece is on

what came out of the bending process - it'd be nice to have a CNC, hydraulic brake but for now I have a BFH

after cutting and bending and pounding

lots of fitting... here, I made a mistake, I should have flattened the knife brakes before I bent the 90* front bend.... now it won't go into the brake

before I made the shroud fit

test fit

where I finished.... lots more to do such as blow holes to allow air into the bottom of the radiator

[SuperBuickGuy]

I caved. I'm running Optima again this year in Portland. Love the track, hate the location but it's my home track. I wish I could run Thunderhill and/or Leguna Seca - but I won't be ready....

[SuperBuickGuy]

two envisionings tonight. Hmm... spellchk doesn't like that
First.. where to put the reservoir

need to make a hole

here it will be



then onto the radiator - more specifically, the air intake


move it 30* then it works just fine

still don't know what air cleaner, so this is back in play - my first C3 Corvette had this for an air cleaner because, even though it was a SBC, hood clearance was an issue.


the first C3 I ground up built - and, since it's story time, it's the car I bought the flares for but couldn't convince myself to cut it up to put on the flares.... dumb dumb dumb dumb - except this car would eat that one's lunch - it had all the bolt ons that Optima seems so enamored with..... *shrug*

[SuperBuickGuy]

forgot to mention - the problem I had with updating the turtles for the Team Plus sensors was I needed to update my USB driver.... I hate computers

[SuperBuickGuy]

story time with FedUp.

To bring us up to speed, FedUp did a 20 mph driveby on Saturday - all while pressing the 'recipient rejected' button on their handheld.*

According to FedUp, they saved me having to file a claim when they drove by my house. That I didn't reject it, rather, the package was damaged. When asked if they planned to add that 'reason' for the driver, their answer was "it's already there"

alrighty then.

So here it is, lesson learned. In talking to Jegs for the 4th time this morning, I found out that if I call my order in that they can send via UPS for the same price. That would be call-in Monday through Friday between 9 am and 5 pm eastern time.

That said, Summit needs the same thing - after all, unless you call in your order, they'll send it from Georgia just because the AI told them to - but if you call your order in, then you won't have a problem (yeah, right)

It's a brave new world, folks.


*out of professional courtesy, I wonder at what FedUp did on the truck to my house to damage 3 AN fittings... after all, it had to be on the truck rather then somewhere on the route because they would have 'caught' it before the 2 week late delivery.... ah, the mysteries of life.