DFD

CaleDeRoo wrote: ↑Sun Sep 06, 2020 2:36 pm The car is looking awesome

Fantastic work.

I really enjoyed the updates Huckleberry, you and your dad are outstanding restoration dudes and you chose a beautiful car to build up. Love that thing!

! Beautiful car, cool to have it right where it was built as well.

Just a few quick updates on some tweaks and adjustments:

The rear differential cover has consistently leaked differential fluid no matter how many times we tried to seal it. So, my dad decided to replace it with something a little bit better:


It is a cover made by TA Performance that has a support girdle for the axle bearing caps. Plus, it comes with both fill and drain plugs to make fluid changes much easier. The thick aluminum flange will ensure no more leaks, and my dad thinks it looks a hell of a lot better than the cover it replaced.


This particular cover has a lower profile to help clear the panhard bar, but after articulating the suspension, we still needed to shim out the bar and grind the cover a decent amount.

I also decided to take a shot of the engine bay, because why not?


I didn't get any pictures, but on the 4th, we changed out the upper control arms. Originally, we had installed a set of arms from Southwest Speed. The upper arms were too short, and as a result, the front wheels still had a bit of negative camber even without any alignment shims and the arms bolted directly against the frame. Since then, Classic Performance Products started offering their own set of control arms, so my dad bought a pair of their uppers. After the install and playing around with some alignment shims and a level, the steering feel was greatly improved. My dad is going to take it for a full alignment in the coming weeks and signed up for a car show on August 7th.

Car is bad ass. The drain plug on that cover is tiny. How does this thing drive?

Desertbreh wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:10 am Car is bad ass. The drain plug on that cover is tiny. How does this thing drive?

It drives well. The turning radius is large, but that's too be expected. The suspension is still very compliant over bumps, so it is a very comfortable cruiser. I really want to get it on a dyno and see how much power that 5.3 is making.

Engine bay looks really dope. Simple and clean.

The engine bay is incredible. It's modern but looks period correct without adding stupid fake air cleaners and whatnot. Outstanding job.

Acid666 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:17 pm Engine bay looks really dope. Simple and clean.

Muchos gracias. Simple and clean is the way I like it.

Detroit wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:20 pm The engine bay is incredible. It's modern but looks period correct without adding stupid fake air cleaners and whatnot. Outstanding job.

Thanks. That's exactly what I was going for. I didn't want to try and make the LS engine look like a Gen I SBC, but rather make it look like something that could have rolled off the assembly line had the engine been available back then. It's also why I used all factory parts for building the engine, aside from the pushrods. For whatever reason, the stock pushrods were too long by .050". Go figure.

My dad decided that he wanted to change things up a little in the engine bay. He asked if there were any different valve covers that we could get as he wasn't too keen on the fuel rail covers anymore. I told him that there are valve covers that come with a faux cover for the coil packs, and showed him some pictures. He decided that was the route he wanted to go. Initially, he ordered a set of covers from Jegs, but they interfered a ton with the brake master. So, after looking some more, I saw that Holley offers a Ford-style valve cover, and what piqued my interest is that the coil cover is canted back:

You can see the corner of the Jegs cover peaking over the Holley cover. This, combined with the fact that the actual valve cover height of the Holley is shorter than the Jegs cover, had me hoping that, at best, the Holley cover clears, and at worst, would clear a different master cylinder.

As it turned out, we won the "at worst" lottery and had to source a thinner master cylinder. The Corvette master was simply too wide. Luckily, after much, much searching, I was able to find a 1" bore manual brake master cylinder that fit the bill. It is a drum/drum master for a 1967 Impala. Now, I know the Impala has disc brakes at all four wheels, but the drum master cylinders just have a valve in the ports that needs to be removed. Luckily, those valves don't get installed in the newer replacement masters, so they will work for disc brakes. Of course, the front line going from the Corvette master to the proportioning valve didn't line up with the new Impala master, so we had to bend a new one.


I also took advantage of my new lift and bridge jack to bleed the brakes.




However, the end result is that the cover clears the new master.


I had to clearance the valve cover so that the throttle cable wasn't kinking at some weird angle. The clearancing is only done on an aesthetic part of the cover.


The other thing that needed to happen was changing the fuel rails. With the factory rail, the fuel line was sitting on the coil cover, and it meant that I would have to disconnect the fuel line any time I needed to remove the cover, which would be for every oil change at a minimum. So, I ordered new fuel rails from Summit Racing.


With all of the concentration on the master cylinder clearance, I never looked at the other side of the engine. When I finally did, I saw that the heater hose was patiently waiting for its chance to screw us. In this case, there was no thinner anything that would fix this issue. So, out came the rotary tool.


On top of this, we needed to switch from the D514A Gen IV coils to the D580 Gen III coils due to the Gen III coils being a little more compact. I found that the D514A coils stuck out of the coil cover holes whereas the D580s remained fully tucked in the cover. As a result, I did not have to try and get the cover around the coils while also trying to navigate around the heater hoses and master cylinder. The only other thing I had to do was notch the rear spark plug hole to help get the cover around the heater hose. I also made a cardboard template for welding up the notch.


At this point, I was ready to drop the valve cover off at a friend's to get welded.

Once the welding was finished, it was time to drill the covers for the Chevrolet script emblems I purchased. These are actually dash emblems for the 53-54 cars, which I selected because I like that the script is different from the typical Chevy script, and my grandfather had a '54 way back when. I made a template out of cardboard to mark the covers.




With the prep work done, it was finally time to paint the valve covers.








The final bit was extending the mounting tab for the dipstick tube.


And the final result:

Huckleberry wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 7:57 am Once the welding was finished, it was time to drill the covers for the Chevrolet script emblems I purchased. These are actually dash emblems for the 53-54 cars, which I selected because I like that the script is different from the typical Chevy script, and my grandfather had a '54 way back when. I made a template out of cardboard to mark the covers.




With the prep work done, it was finally time to paint the valve covers.








The final bit was extending the mounting tab for the dipstick tube.


And the final result:

That’s a sexy look! That orange plays nicely! 10 out of 10 would fuck!

I was always obsessed with painted valve covers growing up. Idk what it is about them, but it just pops to me compared to chrome!

As always with a classic, you have to tinker to find the right setup, but that’s part of the fun right!

Looks great!

J-Ho-Fo-Show69 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:01 am
That’s a sexy look! That orange plays nicely! 10 out of 10 would fuck!

I was always obsessed with painted valve covers growing up. Idk what it is about them, but it just pops to me compared to chrome!

As always with a classic, you have to tinker to find the right setup, but that’s part of the fun right!

Looks great!

Thanks. I am quite pleased with how they turned out.

I also am not a fan of chrome under the hood. I think it looks rather tacky, personally, and I also shudder to think about the amount of time spent on polishing every little piece. I much prefer color that pops and quickly wipes clean.

These pictures feel like the first time I saw a pair of tits… I don’t know what I’m looking at, but it makes me all tingly.

SAWCE wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:11 am These pictures feel like the first time I saw a pair of tits… I don’t know what I’m looking at, but it makes me all tingly.

Looks fantastic man. You are an artist, no doubt.

SAWCE wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:11 am These pictures feel like the first time I saw a pair of tits… I don’t know what I’m looking at, but it makes me all tingly.

The whorange with that Chevrolet script is

More master details from master of details.

SAWCE wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:11 am These pictures feel like the first time I saw a pair of tits… I don’t know what I’m looking at, but it makes me all tingly.

Love it man!