Sue's 59 Corvette project....

[TrifiveRichard]

Looking better and better all the time. Keep up the great work!!

thanks Brian, there seams to be a lot more detail changes on this corvette than on the 56 we finished a while back.

[TrifiveRichard]

Go man, go. Want to see videos of you two driving this beautiful, modern Corvette.

we’re making progress a little at a time, Paul. I still have some details to finish up before wiring, then we should be able to start it up.

[TrifiveRichard]

Lately, been working off some of the many details needed to finish the Corvette. Concerning the body, all external stainless and chrome are on, with the exception of the grill bar and teeth. These will be installed after the a/c lines are run to the dryer. The inside and outside mirrors are now in place, and the power antenna is mounted and the drain line connected. The sill plates are also temporarily mounted in place.

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The convertible top frame has also been assembled, and the front tack strip bonded. Still need to bond the side window strips and the rear bow strip.

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Inside, the receiver and heater/air conditioning controls have been configured and temporarily mounted, along with the trim. The console they attach to will eventually be covered in leather, just wanted to make sure everything fits.

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At this point, the major remaining items before wiring include installing the Vintage Air evaporator unit and the gauge bezel. The heater control valve is being mounted under the passenger fender, behind and above the splash apron. The only other reasonable option was in the engine bay, but I really didn't want it visible. A mounting bracket was fabricated and the feedthroughs made for the stainless-covered CPE (heater) and PTFE (a/c) lines.

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The next activity is to measure and build the evaporator lines to the engine bay, mount the unit and connect the lines. We're getting there, a little at a time.

[WagonCrazy]

Important...all the hidden stuff nobody sees...but is highly relevant. Good work Richard!

[TrifiveRichard]

Thanks Paul. I’ll keep at it, and it all will eventually get done.

[BamaNomad]

It's looking good Richard!

[TrifiveRichard]

Thanks Gary. Just a couple more items before wiring.

[Custer55]

Looking good. Getting closer to completion every day!

[TrifiveRichard]

Thanks Brian. Went to the paint store today with a sample of the interior leather for them to match. Turns out, that’s not the easiest thing to do. The cameras/computers apparently work best with high gloss paint, and not so good on low gloss. It took them a little over a half hour, but they did a good job matching.

[TrifiveRichard]

Decided to hold off on mounting the evaporator unit under the dash until the majority of wires are run. There isn't a lot of room, and there's no pressing need to mount the evaporator unit now. Instead, been working on getting the gauges and supporting electronics mounted. The gauge cluster is a custom fiberglass unit made by the interior shop. The gauges are Dakota Digital and were configured specifically for the bezel and are interconnected with ribbon cables. The speed/tach gauge is connected to a Dakota Digital VHX box that provides data for all gauges. A bracket was made to mount the VHX box above the driver kick panel speaker.

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The sensors are connected to the VHX box. Dakota Digital also makes a BIM-01-2 unit that interfaces with the OBD-II port and simplifies obtaining much of the gauges data. In order to maintain access to the OBD-II port, a splitter cable was purchased. This connects to the engine OBD-II connector, with the BIM-01-2 box connector, and leaves a port for OBD-II use (DLC label in the picture). A home was found for these, brackets were made, and they are now mounted. As can be seen in the picture, there's not much room.

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The next item was painting the interior items that won't be covered in leather. The major items are the gauge bezel and the steering column. The color Sue chose for the leather is shown in the picture below. The spray out was used in order to select the right amount of flattening agent to match the leather, which has very little sheen.

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At this point, it was paint time, and then installation of the gauges and switches. The bezel is just about ready to install, along with the steering column.

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A little work has also been done on the electrical, including running the battery cables thru the spare tire fiberglass with a Delrin block previously machined.

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Making progress, although there's still a lot of details yet to do!