Direct from Crazy Town

A set of handmade ribbed heater hoses came in today. If that does not say "this guy is a little crazy," I don't know what does.

Weight

A set of thick valve cover gaskets were purchased and bonded with RTV and placed under a few socket sets for weight onto a flat table to cure.

This set of covers — with a oil fillter hole meant for the correct rubber filler plug — were picked up for a song years ago at a local swap meet. These are becoming difficult to find and are very expensive now when they come up for sale.

Once they cure, these will be set aside again until the engine is ready to be reassembled.

Bringing the heat

The two small 1 1/16-inch heater hose clamps are correct NOS clamps with a fourth-quarter of 1971 date stamping. The set of four larger 1 3/16-inch clamps are as close to what was on this car as could be mustered, complete with a very light gold dichromate wash applied here in the shop to at least make them look correct.

Reproduction heater hoses was ordered as well. These are supposed to be ribbed and marked correctly with two-letter broadcast codes for the car. Lots of vendors offer a popular and attractive set that bear the GM logo, but they are not correct for the Corvette.

A set of correct radiator clamps will be tracked down and purchased next as we continue to save for the engine rebuild.

Noise

The points and condenser shield came in. It was polished, electroplated and installed into the distributor to complete the assembly.

This otherwise mysterious cover was normally discarded by owners after the first tuneup and was only available when a complete distributor kit was purchased. Its purpose was to shield the car's radio from interference created by the ignition system, something explained by the decal found beneath one of the pieces.

Finding a replacement was nearly impossible since this assembly was not offered separately and it has no GM part number. This NOS one came up for sale last month online. It was probably set aside and not installed by someone who ordered a complete overhaul kit. 

Fine glass beads were used to remove the surface rust before it was electroplated and polished again.

The decal explaining its purpose was even glued back into position, though this and honestly the assembly itself will likely never be seen again.

The is actually a person who is selling one of these unused decals, but we were able to reuse the original one.

This is now complete and ready to be installed into the engine whenever it is finally assembled.

It would have been nice to have found an NOS vacuum advance, but those can be $300 or more and they are never in great shape. This service replacement one will have to do.

There's a guy

There's a guy who recreates the part number collars that came on Delco distributors, complete with custom date codes, for $40.

Bargain.

The white stripes

These vacuum hoses that feature a white stripe are reproductions of the originals that operate the vacuum advance on the distributor. They probably should not have cost anywhere near as much as they did, but what are you going to do?

Rattle can rattle can

After so long painting with a paint gun there was some reluctance to go with a rattle can paint for the engine. Yet, this is a two-part urethane engine paint from Eastwood is supposed to feature a nice fan tip for a paint gun-like finish. They are proud of their products — each can is $52 — but their products have proven to be worth it in the past.

We'll see.