64 Vette….Rebuild 2.0

[76zimmer]

finished seats

I put new seat covers and foam in the seats. The old covers (originals) were getting worn in a few spots, and just didn't have that fresh look to them anymore....its something I put off for a while.

I got the trans back in, the drivetrain hooked up. Now I just need to finish the electric fan wiring , and come up with an alternator mounting to put it on the drivers side lower front. That should help to keep the belt on, and get it out of the way of headers and plugs from the pass side.

Pics of the finished seats:

Replaced the original burlap underneath, with some upholstery filler.

 

[76zimmer]

its close.....rump rump

 

[American84K5]

Subscribed!!

 

[76zimmer]

Fired up today....still have some issues to work out, but its good to hear it make noise again...I tried to upload a video, but can't get it from my comp. to upload.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Have to host it offsite. CK5 doesn't host vids.

 

[76zimmer]

NO AJ, I can't even get it to load up to Photobucket. When I pick the file to choose for upload (like a pic), nothing shows up. I'm sure I'm just retarded about the correct procedure, but I tried to do it like a pic, and the video must require different steps than a pic. I'll try to mess with it more, when I have some time.

 

[76zimmer]

lets try:



man, that sounds flat, and non-exciting.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

I likes it!

 

[76zimmer]

I got my small alternator today....105 amp, with 55 amps at 700 rpm.
They made it a one wire for me, put a v belt pulley on it, and clocked the housing to my specs for mounting it. I think it'll work out great. I need to fab some mounting brackets for it now.

 

[76zimmer]

I can't believe its been so long since getting to work on my car again...finally getting around to fabbing up a low mount alternator bracket that will mount off the lower 2 holes in the front of the block by the harmonic dampner, and using some ideas from Greg72's custom bracket.

I may make it a double plate bracket that will sandwich the alt. mounting in between the plates. This should eliminate any flexing of the alt. while at high rpm....This would be a good time to have a plasma cutter, but instead I'll have to use my reciprocating saw, and a few air powered tools to get it done. Good thing I'm not in the fab business.

 

[76zimmer]

I checked out a buddy's racing from a couple weekends ago, and caught this in his pics:









I WISH!!!!

meanwhile back at the ranch, still trying to get that friggin lower alt. mount made up....tried about 3 different setups now, and think I'm zeroiing in on one.

 

[76zimmer]

Got the lower alternator mount figured out, welded it up today, I'm going to clean it up tonight at work on the belt sander, then some Zinc Chromate, and a coat of Silver for the win.

I tried 3 different mounting bracket combo's and came up with this one. It seems to be more rigid design than the other two, and more compact also. I will run a tensioner rod up to the water pump.

Started out with a cardboard template, transferred onto a piece of 1/8" plate.

Also made a 1/4" plate for the inside plate that will be on the block. this gives the right spacing to align the belt pulleys. Here are the 2 plates with some pipe sleeves to prevent crushing the plates when bolting them up.

Bolted to the block to check alignment and square.

Heating up some 1/8" plate to wrap around the two plates for rigidity. I tacked it on one side then started heating it with a torch, and pulling it around the two plates. Worked out real well.

The piece after welding the plates together....looks like sh!t now, but I'll clean it up on the belt sander at work tonight.

 

[ryoken]

the bracket looks solid.....

LUV that vette, just not crazy about the rims...

 

[76zimmer]

Those wouldn't be my first choice either Paul, but love the wheels up launch

Finished the bracket part tonight at work....nice to have some free time, and I love it when they leave the shop door unlocked overnight

tomorrow I'll see if I can find some Spherical rod ends somewhere in town for the adjuster/tensioner rod setup.

 

[79rustyk10]

I like that bracket idea, might have to use that someday.

 

[76zimmer]

Yeah, well, it don't fit so good. When I trial fitted the plates on the engine with the alternator bolted between them, I didn't have the outer plate that wraps around the two plates on it yet....so that netted me about less than 1/16" clearance between the bracket and the balancer....so I'm fabbing up a new and improved version now. I'm also trying to make a small bracket that will bolt to the water pump and be an anchor for a tensioner rod....the way I do things it may be a couple tries at that one too.....I did order some spherical rod ends with studs on one end to bolt to the alternator and the water pump bracket. I'll use a turnbuckle between them for easy/quick adjustment.

 

[76zimmer]

Got the lower mount pretty good now...looks good, and fits good:

The upper mount for the adjuster rod is OK, but I think I'll make it thicker (1/4") so it doesn't bend, with the studded spherical rod end.

 

[76zimmer]

finally finished these up this AM...belt alignment is finally right.

 

[howdiy]

Everything looks good and that bracket is sweet, did Gary do that posi?

And yeah Side pipes with no side tubes do sound disappointing

We just got the Tom's axles, hopefully this doesn't happen again

 

[76zimmer]

Yeah, Gary did the rear diff. Really happy with it so far, but I haven't even run it yet, and in his own words..."Well to follow up on this build, it ended up in 70 carrier going into a C2 st/strip car. You can see it got the steel cap, 30 spline axles(fit to 005), but what you can't see is the case and new 390 gears were cryro treated for added strength. I don't know if there is a stronger vette 10-bolt out there as this has it all, next step is the full 12-bolt with 1350 axles and then the 12 bolt with 1480's"

Gary was a great guy to deal with.
I'll be happy to get to run this thing some before snow flies...then its back to work on the IronMaiden.