Sue's 59 Corvette project....

[BamaNomad]

OK.. we DO have a forum for 'Non-trifive Chevy Projects', so Over the next days/weeks I'm going to try to pick up with this project thread and get it off the ground. We'll begin with when the bought the car in October 2017. This was the day she returned from trailering the car back from Ohio where it was purchased, and here it is resting after being driven into the shop. Sue's desire for a 'older Corvette' began after she and TrifiveRichard had collaborated on his '56 Chevy HT, and when it was finished she wanted to DRIVE it a lot more than Richard wanted it to be driven (He may want to comment on this part!)..

Here they are posing in front of the '56 HT just after completion...
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She wanted an older car which was updated with all the modern conveniences along with 6-spd manual trans and modern HP engine, and after some consideration she decided it needed to be a 1st gen Corvette, so their search culminated in the purchase of this car.

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[TrifiveRichard]

If others on this forum are interested in following the corvette build progress, ok by me too.

Any comments?

[BamaNomad]

Sue wanted to drive/enjoy it for awhile before we began ripping it apart, so she did... up until it stranded her one day while driving thru town! At that point (June 2018), she and Richard decided it was 'time' to begin disassembly and after a few days it looked like this...
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Another day or so of stripping more parts and it was nearly ready for a 'degreasing'...
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[567chevys]

If others on this forum are interested in following the corvette build progress, ok by me too.

Any comments?

Yes Please do


Thanks Sid

[carls 56 (RIP 11/24/2021)]

so cool, nice progress.-------->you know what's coming!!!!!!!!!!!! what you do after lunch?

[BamaNomad]

We completed the disassembly and then applied some degreaser to the greasy/nasty parts and then pressure washed the body to prepare it for stripping the old paint..

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[BamaNomad]

Stripping the old paint...

After assessing the fiberglass and seeing some old (not so good) repairs to the front clip, Richard and Sue decided they wanted to replace some/most of the front clip, but the rear portion mostly seemed good, so we first chemically stripped the top layers of paint and got it nearly down to the fiberglass, then they had a local 'bead blasting' (or soda blasting?) company to come and strip the remainder of the paint off the rear clip..

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Richard had already ordered the needed fiberglass parts from Sermersheim's Fiberglass. Sermersheim has changed names (https://scorvette.com/) as a result of the original founder/owner passing away, but they have done the best and most correct fiberglass parts for early corvettes for many many years, using the correct formulation and press molding the parts just as Chevy did in the 50's. Richard and Sue knew they wanted the best fiberglass people doing the fiberglass work, so they had the parts shipped to Masterworks Automotive (http://www.mwauto.com/aboutus.php) in Madison Heights, MI as they would be taking the car there for the fiberglass work.

[BamaNomad]

Some more 'catching up'...

Right after purchase of the '59 Corvette Richard ordered a chassis from Corvette Corrections in Seguin TX so that it would be ready when they needed it. Richard had experience with Art Morrison as he put one of their chassis (with 9" F rear) under his '56 Hardtop, but Richard had also gone with me to Seguin, TX when I retreived my Corvette Corrections chassis for my Nomad, and he got to see how their chassis are built and met with Billy Dawson and his wife Sherry and their crew there in Seguin and he chose their chassis for the '59. To get the chassis a little sooner, it was agreed that Billy would build their chassis in time for the large NCRS show in Florida which is held in January each year, he would use their chassis for 'display' during that show, and we would meet him in Mobile AL on their way back to Texas, which we did. We met Billy in a hotel/restaurant parking lot very early one morning and unloaded the chassis from his big enclosed trailer to our open trailer (after changing out Billy's tires/wheels for some 'rollers' we'd taken with us).
The following photos show Billy's dual rail custom frame mounting the C4 Corvette front cross member/suspension and RnP steering, brakes and rear suspension/diff. Richard chose the Dana44 option for his rear and got the 3.45:1 rear Posi gearing. The final photo shows the chassis loaded on our trailer ready for the 350mi trek back to Huntsville.

https://www.corvettecorrection.com/c-1-frames/

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Dana44 rear in chassis (Copy).JPG
front suspension and engine mounts (Copy).JPG
Emergency brake routing (Copy).JPG
On trailer ready to go home (Copy).JPG

[BamaNomad]

Before the '59 Corvette was transported to michigan for the fiberglass work, Richard and I discussed whether it should go on the 'original '59 Corvette chassis', OR the new custom Corvette Corrections chassis. I was concerned about the effect of doing fiberglass work atop the 'new' chassis and I felt that Billy's custom chassis would match up to the Corvette body just fine. But of course Richard had the decision to make and he wanted the body repair and adjustment to be made atop the chassis it would live on. So we mounted the body atop the new chassis before it went to Michigan... Here are some photos showing the body mods necessary to fit to the Custom Chassis, which were limited to a removal of the front of the spare tire carrier (to clear the Dana 44 IRS differential) and some trimming of the inner fenders to clear the new C4 front suspension.

The original frame was in good condition with the only significant rust being the 'battery tray'. If anyone needs a good early chassis (frame, suspension, etc) contact Richard and he would probably deal on it. Richard also has a decent chassis that came from his '56 HT (California car), and also a front subframe/suspension from his '69 Camaro that are all occupying space in the side yard of his shop...

Original '59 Corvette chassis...
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Adjustment to the spare tire well to clear the rear differential IRS
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Trimming of the front inner fenders to clear the front C4 A arms...
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And now the body is ready to be sat down upon the Corvette Corrections chassis.
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We adjusted the shims for the mount positions and bolted the body down to the new chassis for the trip north. Richard addressed the concern of keeping the new chassis clean by covering it with a plastic sheet before final body mounting.

[BamaNomad]

A couple of months later the fiberglass replacement and repair was complete by Masterworks, and Richard and Sue made another trip north to retrieve the car. Here are a few photos of the finished fiberglass repair and replacement.

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As is viewable from the last photos, Richard had the shop *recess* the body for the front/rear emblems rather than have them sit atop the body.

[BamaNomad]

With the return of the car to it's shop in Huntsville, Richard spent a bit of time fitting the jewelry (headlight and taillight bezels), bumpers and bumper brackets, windshield frame, grill etc to the body...

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[Rocketman]

Wow. That is going to be quite a car. That is not a low budget build for sure. Thanks for sharing.

[BamaNomad]

No, not a low budget build but neither was their '56 HT!

Here are photos of the new LT1 engine and 6spd transmission (Connect n Cruise package) that they ordered.
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And lest I gave you the impression that Richard wtih a little help from me did all that earlier work, here's a photo of Sue getting involved in disassembly (removing steering column)... and she got a little dirty too, yet could still smile at the camera!

PS. She chose the engine and 6-speed Tremec trans as well, and she drives one daily, as she loves to row thru the gears manually!~


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[Al_Dente]

The smile doesen't even look fake. That's a good sign that your help isn't going to simply walk away.
Are you going to chuck the plastic covering on that engine (some claim that such trim pieces trap heat) or does the plumbing underneath look almost as ugly as that on my former Audi turbo-Diesel of which I ended up chucking the plastic?:

[enigma57]

Thanks for posting the Corvette build here, Gary! This is top drawer all the way. The new chassis will make a world of difference in ride, handling and braking. And the subtle changes recessing the Corvette emblems to be flush with the body lines will not detract from the character of the car appearance-wise.

I'm lovin' it!

Harry

P.S. >>> Does the original chassis have the 3" wide brake shoes and matching drums? Or were those used in C-2 'Vettes in the years just priour to the use of disc brakes?