Good news

Disassembly of the engine has begun and it looks really clean inside. Hopefully, my friend Mike will chime in and tell me what he thinks at some point.

There are no signs of bearing play or anything in the rotating assembly getting hot, so the crankshaft should be in good shape.

Everything looks great, just really dirty with dried-out seals.

With some luck, all this needs is honing, bearings, freeze plugs and rings to put it back together.

The Schneider racing cam will have to come out as well, of course. This aggressive cam does not allow this engine to make enough vacuum to operate the headlights etc. and will not be very friendly for the sort of life this car will lead, so a stock cam will go in.

The steering column was painted black today as well. Once these parts cure and all the other parts are collected, this will be assembled and set aside.

Rusty from not painting in a while, the main housing ended up with a couple of runs which was disappointing, but they are oriented where they will not be visible once this is installed in the car.

Second stand

A friend has been borrowing an engine stand for about two years, so instead of asking for it back, a new one was purchased.

First, the heads will be pulled and sent to a local shop for work as engine parts are collected.

NOW we're done

The retainer for the speedometer gear sleeve came in today after taking a tour of much of Arkansas via the postal service.

The transmission is 100 percent done now.

What is 'original'?

 

The tilt-telescopic steering column that came with the car was restored years ago, but it's very possible that it is not original to the car.

It is dated in such a way that it is very possible that it was on this car when it was new, but the fact that this car has not one other option makes that suspect at best. It's very possible that, like so many other Corvettes from this time, a nicer tilt-tele column was added from another car and the one added just happens to bear a plausible date code.

Being honest, this is what I suspect.

For that reason, this standard column is being restored for possible use.

It was disassembled and the process of restoring the pieces has begun, starting with sandblasting the tube and dealing with all the rust pitting.

That said, the tilt-tele that came with the car has clearly been with the car for decades. Does that make it 'original' enough to leave it?

This might take some thought.

All together now

Save for the speedometer gear sleeve retainer, which is still in the mail, the transmission is all together. Partially filled with gear oil, this is ready to install onto the car.

It looks amazing but better than that, it seems to function perfectly with no leaks.

Show quality

These shift forks were advertised as being 'show quality' and normally this sort of thing is not true, but in this case it is. These are super nice and were not much more expensive than the ones of lesser quality.

Forks on the road

The transmission is nearly assembled. The 1-2 and 3-4 shift forks are on the road and headed this way.

The side cover, reverse light switch, part number tag and brackets for the reverse lockout cable are all here and ready to put on.

Putting the rear housing on and getting the shift fork for the reverse gear into the groove on the reverse gear was a lot easier than expected. It is a blind process, but it lining up very quickly and it all came together on the first try.

The speedometer gear sleeve went in and looks good, but its retainer fits poorly so an NOS one was ordered.

My father donated to the cause a seal driver kit that he bought but never used. It came in clutch to install the rear seal.

All in all, this is coming together very well and it looks amazing. The parts needed to finish this should come this week, so this should all be together this next weekend.