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76 project

327K views 1K replies 73 participants last post by  brent319 
#1 · (Edited)
hi all. I got my first (and last) corvette last week and am pretty excited. It is a '76 that once belonged to Bob Wallace at 'vette magazine many years ago as a project car. I think it was probably one of the first LS1 swaps at the time. The car got a crate LS1 and 4L60E and Bowtie Overdrives did a lot of the work on making it fit, but the project was never finished and the car was passed around until it wound up at Custom Image Corvettes and eventually with me.
How this all came about was really strange story. I will TRY to keep it short.. but here goes.
About a year ago my wife said we should get a "fun" car in a couple of years. I have always admired the lines of C3 'Vettes since I was a kid, but did not (and compared to most of you.. still don't) know that much about them so I hit the internet each day reading all I could. I became interested in a LS swap so I hit the forums to gather info. I noticed that this one guy kept answering everyone's questions and really knew this stuff. He even had parts. I wished I could find somebody like that in Iowa. Yea, right. Iowa. Then one day I clicked on that guy's profile and found that he not only lived in iowa, but he lived around the corner from me. "it's a small world after all...."
So I walked over to his house and introduced myself. There was Kaos in his garage. Man, I was blown away by that car. I had seen it on the internet all the time and even mailed Chris McDonald to tell him how much I loved that thing. Then a few weeks later when I figured out who Josh was I realized that exact car was around the corner from me. "It's a small, small world"
Josh and I talked and I was impressed with not only his knowledge of cars, but how happy he was to stop what he was doing and talk to me. We kept in touch and then a few months ago I started my "internship" with him. I went over there with the intention of sweeping floors and fetching wrenches, but Josh is a great teacher and has given me years of insight in a few short months. It started with "fiberglass 101" and has continued from there.
Somewhere along the line I got sucked up by all of the fun and wound up buying the '76.
We are working on getting it on the road and will be able to hit it a lot harder soon. Right now priority 1 is to get Kaos back to Rob, and getting flares out to folks.
*****
On to the build so far...
I got the vacuum parts stripped off of the lights. Being from Iowa I can't believe how little rust there is on this car! We will do an electric conversion on the lights down the road.
frontstripped by brent hagist, on Flickr
Josh and Adam got the wires all hooked back up and I replaced some of the sensors. After working through the night, it was almost ready to run, but the sun was about to rise and I had to rush out and go to work. I stopped by after work and got to start it up. There are no seats or carpet inside the car, so sitting on the floor with open headers was a pretty rumbly experience for me.:laughing: Here's video of my first running of the LS1:

I brought home the interior parts and cleaned them up. They were pretty ugly looking when I got them there, but once 10 years of dirt was washed off they looked pretty good.
88470aa8 by brent hagist, on Flickr
Josh is working on modifying my water pump and when he can get that done, the radiator will go in and we can run it a bit more before we tear it all out, clean things up, and stuff some new goodies on this old shark.
So far it has been a LOT of work. I am glad I did the "internship" so I had some idea of what I was in for. It ain't like Overhaulin where it gets done in an hour. But it has also been a lot of fun along the way. Here is a video my wife is not so proud of:

Hopefully more to come soon
*****
EDIT: Fixed broken links.
 
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#3 ·
Man did you stumble into a fantastic situation. You are so lucky to live so close to Custom Image and have Josh pamper your new found ride, I would love to be in your shoes. If I lived closer, he would probably already have mine there, but I don't and will have to find the time to build my ride, myself.

I'm sure you will have one bad ass ride, once you have finished it, and you will have an experience working with Josh and Custom Image that most of us only dream of.

Can't wait for the updates.

Riggs.
 
#4 ·
Wish I had someone to come by and learn with me on my vette!:lookinup: I have 2 sons that will help me if I ask but they have other things going on and are not into the vette.:huh: guess it involves WORK. Not that they are lazy they just are not into it.

Keep up the good work looks like you have a handle on it. Also noticed you have been a member sense sept. 2010 and just 4 posts:huh: Josh is going to have to work on that with you.
:cheers: Mark
 
#5 ·
Hey Brent...welcome the Corvette family. It was a pleasure to meet you as well when I was there in Iowa.

I am very much looking forward to seeing your vette and many other vettes with some awesome flares on them.

Thanks for the help you have been doing on Kaoss :thumbsup:
 
#6 ·
Yea, I have been lurking around here for quite a while reading every post in the C3 section and some in the others. This place has been great! Since I have been here to learn, I have not had much to contribute, but appreciate all the info. I have gained from it. It was here that I figured out I wanted a LS1. That would have NEVER happened if I had not figured out (also on here) that the guy that could make it happen for me lives a block away. So thanks to all of you guys (and gals) and also DC. Also Al Gore for inventing the internet :laughing:
Rob: It was great to get to meet you also. Last summer I was admiring pictures of your car in Florida. After dinner I will go help josh work on it in Iowa. How cool is that? As far as thanking me: Without you, I would have had a pretty cool 'vette. Instead I will have a 'vette with bad ass flares and wheels. So thank you!
 
#8 ·
Awesome story and welcome to the site (A year late)! :cheers:
 
#9 ·
Not too much to report. Things are pretty busy at custom image trying to get Kaos out the door and also trying to get parts sent to folks. When I can, I have been stripping parts off of the 76 and bringing them home to clean and paint during down times.
I pulled my first steering column yesterday, and got the steering box loose. When they did the original swap about 10 years ago they did not have the parts for the conversion available that we do now. They fabricated a motor mount that straddles the steering box. I guess it will come out somehow, but I ran out of time figuring out how. I hope to get to that today. There are pictures in the original article here:
http://vette.automotive.com/130163/vemp-0205-1976-chevy-corvette-stingray-ls1-engine/index.html
I am going to try to get the vega wheel pulled off this weekend and get the column painted as well as the bell housing. The body mount bolts are soaking so the body may come off next week.
There should be a huge box coming from VB&P next week.
Stay tuned. When time is freed up, I hope things will be moving quickly.
 
#10 ·
Hey Brent...that Lakewood bellhousing and block saver plate look very familiar :thumbsup: Glad to see they are going to a good new home including the trans for which I know you will enjoy especially after I just had it completely rebuilt and the gears lightened in it. Keep us posted on your updates and thanks for lending a hand on Kaos.
 
#11 ·
long day..

My alarm went off at 04:30 yesterday so I could go to work. I was still over at Custom Image this morning when it went off at 04:30 today. That seems to be happening more and more and when it does Josh and I yell "TIME TO GET UP!"
I pulled more stuff off of my car. I got a front crossmember pulled so we can pull the body soon.

I gutted the interior some more and got the brake pedal and booster loose getting ready for the six speed conversion.

I was thinking about all of the new stuff that is going under the car and realized that about the only thing left under there that was not going to be new is the brakes. I was looking through the VB&P catalogue (my new favorite place) which was sitting on a red blanket. I was looking at one of the pages and then thought "wow, what a bad-ass car... wait a minute" I lifted up the blanket and took this photo and thought "is this cool or what?"

Later I was thinking about how the back will look when it gets Kaos flares and Kaos wheels. Some lucky guy is about to get some flares shipped to him, but I borrowed one for a minute and hung it on my car. It looked kind of silly with the stock wheels, so I borrowed a Kaos wheel and stuck it on there.
HELL YEA! That's my car! :partyon:
I couldn't really get a good photo of it, but it looks sick. It is not in its final stance by any means, and the stock suspension is still under there so the camber is way off, but Josh approved :)

It will be a little while before we can get around to actually putting mine on, but I can't wait.
 
#13 ·
I lifted up the blanket and took this photo and thought "is this cool or what?"


It looked kind of silly with the stock wheels, so I borrowed a Kaos wheel and stuck it on there.
HELL YEA! That's my car! :partyon:

Wow!!! Kaos flares really do look awesome on another vette. Can't wait to see more vettes with some bad a$$ flares running around.

Its awesome how the wheels & trans from Kaos/Killer are going to your soon to be awesome ride. That flare looks like it already fits perfectly.
 
#12 ·
Damn Brent, those flares look killer on there. The quality of the flares looks out
standing, I have to say, your killing me now, I was pushing back the paint and
body work on my ride, but now after seeing another set of Kaoss/Misstress
flares, I am itching to get a set on mine.

I really think your going to have one Bad Azz ride when your done.


Riggs
 
#16 ·
I made this movie tonight.

I know a lot of you guys have done this before , but it was a big deal for me since I never thought I would ever in my life pull the body off of a car. The frame looks really good. I will post some pictures when I have a chance. Right now.. SLEEP!
 
#18 ·
I'am about at this stage, it's exciting to get the body off after all the work.:thumbsup: You have lots more energy than me but i'am like the little red caboose I will get there. Keep up the good work :D Mark
 
#20 ·
Yea, things are moving pretty quickly. Partly because I am really excited to get it done, but also because time is not on my side. Gotta get it done while Josh is here!
I went over to the shop last night with the intention of working until about 10:00 since I was really tired from working late on it the night before. Well as you guys know, things don't always go as planned. By the time I got home and showered it was 2:30 a.m. I get up at 4:15 so the plan to catch up on sleep failed, but the good news is that I got the frame stripped clean and I am going to leave here soon to take it to powder coat.
I putzed away on it for quite a few hours and then Josh came over and helped out at the end and things really flew off the car then. The only problem is they were coming off so fast I don't know if I will remember where they came from later on. :laughing:

I am off to load up the frame now. I am going with a gloss black. The frame is smooth enough that I think it will look really good.
The sad part is that my car is moving along quickly, and other things are getting done in the shop, but if you look in the back you can see the Mistress still waiting there for her turn.
Hope to get a lot done this weekend. Hope you all have a good one!
 
#22 ·
I remember the motor goes in front....:laughing:
I just got back from Custom Image. I built a dolly for the 76 at home last night and did not get over there until about 1:00 A.M. Somehow it became 8:00 a.m. and I headed home. My wife is on the porch drinking coffee and I should probably go to bed.
I took the 4L60E off of the LS and got it on a stand and we lowered the car on the dolly so we can put the whole thing on the lift and get it out of the way. By midweek, suspension goodies should be here and the frame should be back at the same time. I was going to leave the brakes alone, but decided to go ahead and replace them too. Where do you draw the line?

 
#24 ·
What's the plans for the LS, Super charger, turbo's?
Nothing like that. Josh mentioned that we could throw a cam in it in no time, but I don't think I will even do that. Just a good exhaust and intake to start with and then down the road if I get bored or have too much money I could throw it at the car. I don't think either will happen any time soon, though.
 
#25 ·
I got over this afternoon and got the rear end pulled apart. I worked on taking apart the front, but got to the part where I think you need a tool to pull off the control arms and had to quit. I freed up some parts that I can clean up and powder coat next week.

Don't tell Josh, but before I left I cleaned up the shop a bit :)
 
#27 ·
I was working at the shop yesterday and Josh asked if I could help him with something. We go over to his truck and he opened it up. "unload that, it is YOUR stuff" Happy birthday to me, it was the mother load of VBP goodies.

I got everything except the brakes. That was another nice surprise. Josh had them powder coat 'em red, so I am guessing they might be another day or so. I got it all unloaded and accounted for. Can't wait to put it on the frame. It should be back from powder coat tomorrow.

I am headed back over now to clean up some parts and powder coat stuff. The parts that we are reusing seem amazingly clean so I hope it won't take quite as long. I am sure it will still take a while, though.
 
#28 ·
Wow!!! You were not joking about ordering all those parts. That is going to be fun putting all brand new parts on a nice clean bare frame without any grease and everything so easy to access.

Those powder cost guys on your frame were lightening quick turning that thing around.
 
#29 ·
I got over after work today and got some old parts boxed up to go back to VBP. I got the diff. split open and cleaned up the mess I made tearing old stuff apart. Yea, Rob, it will be a treat to put new and clean stuff back on it. I can't wait for that part.

I am going to head back after dinner and a quick yard mowing. There is this black 69 convertible at the shop and Josh found some stuff I can do to help out on it tonight. ;-)
 
#30 ·
It must be Christmas, look at all those goodies.

Man things are moving pretty fast for you, I wish I could make
that kind of progress on my project, I just never seam to have
enough time.
As fast as things are moving, you might get to drive it this summer.

Any additional spy photo's/video's of the "Black 69". LOL


Riggs.
 
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