Engine refresh

[Varmintmist]

So it begins...



Got it up in the air and ran into the first problem. WHODATHUNKIT



Drain plug frozen solid, I am guessing cross threaded. Even holding it I was bending the actual radiator tank itself.


Cowling out. See the other problem on a 1969 350 man trans and no AC? Yep, wrong radiator.... ish. In 69 there was a strike and Corvettes went through an "if it fits it ships" phase. So while not the radiator in the assembly manual, it is the radiator.

Cowling adjusted by PO. Why??? No idea.

So the first parts, headers and clutch kit already arrived from Summit.
I am torn on the radiator. Go new and what is the quality? I am going to find a rad shop and see if its worth saving. It wont go back in if its questionable. At my age and planned driving of this I wont wear much out and I dont want to do this again.

Plan for engine is a refresh. It is original numbers matching and I like that, if it needs honed or taken 30 over, I can live with that. I'm old and have been as fast as I need to be 350hp is enough with whatever I get from letting it breathe a little better with headers and exhaust.

[GrapeApe]

Looking forward to following this project

[jkp]

That looks like fun. Sort of...

[Justsomedude]

Any day in the garage not wrenching on someone else's vehicle or an unsuspecting repair on your own is a good day. What always amazed me in my "past life" was how a .50 cent part could turn into a 3 day ordeal.

[Varmintmist]

In order,
Grape, its been planned as the next step. Life kept getting in the way. Bought it a little before retirement, that got postponed a year, cancer held me up for a year, wife losing her job and ins being on and off..... Still got the electrical and vacuum done, brakes done, fluids, suspension, wheels and tires... Its been a little slower, but going.

JPK, agree. I'm not a mechanic, but I changed a starter in a Holiday Inn parking lot. Still, its a 69. its 9/16ths or half inch. fuel air spark, the only computer involved is to buy parts or find stuff like why the radiator doesnt match up. The engine is secured to the car by 6 bolts. FYI, its going out to get rebuilt.

Justsomedude. Its a vette. There are no 50 cent parts. Still I bought it with this in mind, I dont actually care for wrenching, but..... I had one 37 years ago, had to sell it to eat in college. took a while to replace it. When its done its really mine.

[Bigslug]

Seems like a new version of the correct radiator is likely to be better than an attempt at refurbing not-to-spec, installed by disgruntled employees, but maybe there's a bit of classic Chevy mystique to what you have I'm unaware of.

Good on you! I spent a couple hours yesterday fiddling with Tie-Down Tetris under the camper shell on my Tacoma in preparation for a desert camping trip next weekend. That, plus checking the washer fluid, air filter, and tire pressure pretty much exhausted my work-on-cars motivation for the quarter-decade.

[Chiro1989]

Last oncologist visit was good?

[Varmintmist]

Bigslug. Well, thing is, it is the correct radiator. It is the factory installed one and is like the 1970 radiator. Post strike (approx july 69) the parts for Corvettes were being manufactured for the 70, when the strike ended, there were still 69's to be built. The Assembly Manual shows the 69 radiator which makes this interesting and kind of cool. Just a rabbit hole or weird history to run down.

Chiro, so far so good.

Got the radiator out, looked at the radiator support, its rotten. Not uncommon, but I was hoping...

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[breamfisher]

I had a 1969 Corvair. A last year car has a lot of weird parts that "aren't right" so for a post-strike Chevy, I wouldn't be surprised if it had the "wrong" part.

Having worked on modern cars, I miss being able to get to stuff. That, to me, would be a fun project.

[Justsomedude]

I was more referring to a simple seized or broken fastener that can turn a simple job into a large endeavor.

[breamfisher]

Every simple job is one, "Oh, poop!" away from being an ordeal.

[breamfisher]

Uh, I didn't type poop. I typed poop.

[breamfisher]

What kinda soft, liberal, effeminate site we got here?

[CPJ 2.0]

I’d put whatever radiator worked. Correct or not. Because there’s NO group of car nazis like the ones in denim shorts, New Balance, and a polo. It makes them cringe when “correct” parts aren’t used.

[jbp-ohio]

This place specializes in rebuilding Quadrajets for ethanol..... https://cliffshighperformance.com/





























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[Varmintmist]

I was more referring to a simple seized or broken fastener that can turn a simple job into a large endeavor.

Oh like pulling a radiator support with 9 fasteners you can get to taking a 3/8ths drive a 1/2 inch drive a electric impact a pneumatic impact some fire a bunch of penetrating oil and more than 2 hours?
Only snapped one...

[Varmintmist]

I’d put whatever radiator worked. Correct or not. Because there’s NO group of car nazis like the ones in denim shorts, New Balance, and a polo. It makes them cringe when “correct” parts aren’t used.

Yes there are, the NCRS

Not going for show car, but driver that is mostly correct, mainly because making stuff fit back in there is hard enough and there isnt a reason to not use the one that is made for the engine and set up. To go to the early 69 style I would have to add a expansion tank. However the much simpler late 69 trying to be 70 because the parts were manufactured for a longer strike is also correct.
The headers, larger pipes and hush thrush mufflers wont be correct, along with the already installed Sirius ready blue tooth compatible radio, headlight relays and whatever else I add because I want to. Cowling might be patched if I can get a reasonable price on a functional one.

[Varmintmist]

This place specializes in rebuilding Quadrajets for ethanol..... https://cliffshighperformance.com/

The guy who is giving their recommendation Lars, is a member on a vette board I am on and has forgotten more about quadrajets than most people will ever know. Because of him I am keeping an eye out for a 69-70 QJ body. The one on mine I am guessing is an 80's generic QJ, there is a differance in performance.

[Varmintmist]

I had a 1969 Corvair. A last year car has a lot of weird parts that "aren't right" so for a post-strike Chevy, I wouldn't be surprised if it had the "wrong" part.

Having worked on modern cars, I miss being able to get to stuff. That, to me, would be a fun project.

Yep, not "wrong" but not in the assembly manual. I have one.

Its kind of nice, so far I have used a 5/16, 1/2, 9/16, and a 5/8ths, thats it. Only thing I plugged in was the PC so I could listen to some Sirius XM.

[breamfisher]

Yeah, not having to buy tools because you don't have the right dingus is pretty sweet. When the alternator on the wife's car crapped out on a Sunday, I had to use YouTube to see what else to loosen and remove so I could get it out. You can't even do a brake job on modern vehicle without a special compressor for the emergency brake setup.

I miss the older cars.

[Jay]

Nice!
I happened to recently sell a factory GM aluminum “snowflake” intake manifold from a similar year Corvette or Camaro. I bought a newly built engine from a friend and he had that intake on it. It wasn’t what I was going for on my project and the cam in it was too small for what I wanted, so I tore it down, put in a bigger cam and lifters and an RPM Air Gap intake manifold.
355” SBC, 10:1 compression, World Products heads, Comp XE 274 cam. Nothing fancy. To go into a ‘76 Chevy C10 short bed. The original 350 in the truck was unfortunately replaced with a ‘79 smogger 305 at some point in its life. So swapping the engine is a must for performance. I’ll also be swapping the cab. It’s rusted pretty bad and has very little floor pan left. I have another cab that is in great shape and has solid floors.

Summit should be sending me a Christmas card this year. And I’m expecting a call from Larry Potterfield to see if I’m still alive. I can only afford one expensive hobby at a time…

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[Bigslug]

I’d put whatever radiator worked. Correct or not. Because there’s NO group of car nazis like the ones in denim shorts, New Balance, and a polo. It makes them cringe when “correct” parts aren’t used.

I think it was the show Scrubs that made fun of the Porsche owner outfit of Porsche Jacket, Porsche Driving Gloves, Porsche Sunglasses. . .and Porsche Sock stuffed down the front of one's pants for "bulge effect".

"Fully correct" has got to be one of those really hard calls to make. I mean. . .an original 8-track tape player would be super cool, but who would want one from a practical standpoint?

[Varmintmist]

"Fully correct" has got to be one of those really hard calls to make. I mean. . .an original 8-track tape player would be super cool, but who would want one from a practical standpoint?

Its amazing the lengths the folks who want to play NCRS go. Not my thing. Not going to modify what works because I dont wanna either.

[Japhy]

All this discussion about correct parts brought to mind the JC Whitney catalogs of yore.
1938-1969 fits all*

*with adapter plate

[Varmintmist]

Found a best price on a USA made rad support. coffmancorvette. Within driving distance, which I found out there is a Summit racing within also..... I can spend money faster.... No wrenching today, was on the treadmill by 7:10A and just finished canning black raspberry jelly 20 min ago. This retirement stuff makes for long days.