Welcome to the fifth of six total installments chronicling the transformation of our old "carny" Corvette into the ultimate C2 Vette Rod. Last month, the crew at Corvette Restoration AZ installed the 393 stroker motor, five-speed transmission, and HD radiator/fan assembly. In this issue, we will install our chassis, suspension, brakes, and rearend. The final element of our build will be covered next month, which will detail all other components of the interior and exterior, trim, stereo install, final wrapup, and test drive/shake down. Let's jump into the build.
Up & Under Here's a view...
Up & Under
Here's a view of the lefthand fender showing Vette Brakes & Products (VBP) awesome Performance Plus suspension, including their fiberglass, fully adjustable, transverse front spring. We also installed their front disc brake conversion kit with cross-drilled Sport front rotors and heavy-duty steering links. We used VBP stainless steel brake lines and tubular A-arms. Flaming River provided a brand-new steering box and Hedman Hedders provided us with their trick SBC side-dump ceramic headers (and A/C bracket), which exit directly into factory-type reproduction side pipes provided by Corvette Central.
Front & Center We also installed...
Front & Center
We also installed VBP's tubular upper control arms with aluminum cross-shafts that not only look great, but are also super strong and lightweight. Bilstein shocks, provided in the VBP kit, are mounted at all four corners. The left valve cover was removed from the engine to notch out clearance for the new VBP power brake booster, exposing our rolling rocker arms. The Vintage Air Frontrunner System is a compact serpentine belt system that really complements the front of our JD Machine stroker motor. Weiand provided a high-flow aluminum flow pump to circulate coolant. The new power steering pump with an integral reservoir was provided by Detroit Speed & Engineering and is a compact well-engineered unit. Flaming River also provided us with a Borgeson universal joint to connect their brand-new steering box to their killer polished tilt-steering column.
Crossmember Magic A slight...
Crossmember Magic
A slight modification to the front crossmember needed to be made to clear the lower pulley. We simply notched out adequate clearance for the pulley and belt, included a little wiggle room for the engine to move under extreme load, and welded a pocket in place of the notch.