Tuesday of last week, it arrived at about 8pm. Here's the breakdown of what was purchased, and delivered, from Patrick:
C5 corvette automatic/corvair mutant and parts pile: $800
included, upon investigation:
1 complete set of c5 wagon wheels 17/18
truck intake, throttle body, and manifolds
all wiring and computers needed
dash parts (incomplete)
2x 17x9.5 c4 sawblades
2x skinnies for the front
extra stainless corvair trim
wheeltub panels?
A power steering line
a radiator
rollbar hoop
3 seperate mouse nests
tetanus
tow strap
10x 80lb injectors, new: 100
stainless longtubes/x-pipe exhaust, no mufflers, new unknown brand $200
to this we added:
CAT turbo: free
bus intercoolwer and piping $26
seats: free
20191022_213129 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Wednesday morning, we started unpacking it to see what all was there, not there, undone, and needed. I began to regret many of my life decisions up to this point that day....
20191023_085147 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_085159 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_085218 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_085323 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_085344 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_085357 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_085405 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_085418 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
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20191023_085631 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_090538 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_092550 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
so, enough with the parts packages. I got it unloaded, and started looking at the carcass I was left with to create a beautiful creature from. Its definitely not a finished body swap. Not by a long shot. Since that's the biggest hurdle, well start there.
Trunk (previously the engine bay) is actually probably going to be this simplest. Except for closing out the wheelwells, its all flat. Much like it would have been in the c5.
20191023_085636 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_085641 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_085647 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
next up is the interior area. Its bad. Really, really weird shapes and lots of oddities. The goal in my head is to have a finished, complete red interior with black carpets. Corvette dash and console, custom door panels, full cage, full HVAC, all the luxuries. Hell, a stereo too while were being extravagant!
So here's what we have to work with. (by the way, if you have spare dash parts and console parts for cheap/free, let me know!) what we have to fight against here, and what I see as the biggest hurdle, is the firewall to corvair junction. There's a few inch gap everywhere that needs sealed up, blended in, and made nice. I really don't know how I want to do that yet. I also need to figure out where all the wires, clips, etc go. No idea. In theory its a complete 2000 harness, that is good. Hopefully someone has a good diagram.....
20191028_091242 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_090547 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_090740 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191028_114648 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
underhood is where the magic will happen. What was under there was a truck 4.8 that has had open intake ports, exhaust ports uncovered, no oil filter, no dipstick or tube. Unknown how long air has been getting in like this. Most of the bolts underhood are either missing or finger tight, near as I can tell. Abs pump is gone, lines just hanging there. Lots of wiring to nothing. Accessories gone, but corvette crank pulley present. Plenty of room though!
20191023_085232 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191023_085237 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
so, the first step after unpacking was cleaning. To do so, I packed all the ports and holes with paper towels, then sealed with duct tape. I grabbed the truck manifolds to test fit. Looks like they will be perfect for a front mount turbo install. They do, however, slightly hit the brake booster. I intentionally installed the intake backwards so I could get the parts of it that are never cleaned with the pressure washer. Came out pretty good. We need to add coil, wires, and gaskets to the aforementioned accessories. And a starter. And a million other things.
Anyway, we hit everything with purple power and a pressure washer. Every inch that was readily accessible.
20191028_091359 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
while I had the pressure washer out, I did the whole car, and changed the skinnies to the wagon wheels up front. Car has drilled and slotted rotors and fresh pads!
20191028_114648 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
while at the challenge this year, I scored a pair of free seats. Unknown brand, unknown provenance, but the price was right. Even had sliders! After pressure washing, I decided to see how close the dash pad was to fitting (will need trimmed about ¼ on either side to fit the a-pillars properly) and then tossed the seats in to see if they fit (they do!). I had to sit in it and make vroom-vroom and boost noises afterwards. Its one of the commandments, I think.
Screenshot_20191028-120853 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20191028_113500 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
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20191028_113525 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
so that's where we are at for now. The next few steps are mostly parts procurement (water pump, alternator bracket, dash parts, etc), and focusing on the first three areas of work: steer, stop, start. In that order. I should learn FAR more about the car in the process of those first three areas, and the third area will be by far the most complex, as it touches essentially every inch of the car near as I can tell.
i love this picture
