1960 Corvette 283-290 F.I. Survivor

[TimG]

Wow, that was not pretty inside.

[napa68]

Originally Posted by TimG

Wow, that was not pretty inside.

Tom (who does my T10 work) said it's the WORST he's ever seen by a good margin

[Too Many Projects]

Clearly, among the remaining "survivor" Corvette's around, that must be communicating thru the earth like elephants, that they NEED to convince their owners to get them into Tim's hands, if they want to be brought back to their rightful best.

[napa68]

Boy oh boy.....talk about service. I just got a call from the engine builder. They knocked the engine apart last week, and got everything inspected, measured, cleaned, and parts ordered.

The bores were .010-.012 out, so the new pistons will be at .030 over. The crank just needs a polish! The flywheel needed hardly anything in terms of resurfacing. The new pistons will yield a 10.5:1 compression ratio, new Eagle rods, timing set, and new valves / springs. I sourced an NOS 097 Duntov camshaft and I am sending that out to them today.

This could be on the dyno in a couple of weeks!

[TimG]

Tim, were the connecting rods OK?

[napa68]

Originally Posted by TimG

Tim, were the connecting rods OK?

I had made up my mind already to change them. He offered to check them and upgrade to ARP bolts. Rather than pay Steve to check and diagnose, the Eagle rods are a notable upgrade in these engines.

[Too Many Projects]

Highly doubt a starter motor has enough torque to bend a rod, but, luckily, it was the impetus to go further with diagnosis and open the engine and fuel injection unit.

[big gear head]

Mitch, I've seen a few rods bent by the starter. My uncle had a 396 in a '68 Camaro. He blew a head gasket and a cylinder filled with antifreeze. It bent the connecting rod pretty bad when he tried to start it.

[Too Many Projects]

Wow, that's a little scary to think they bend that easy. Maybe they are only built to withstand torque going down and not up...

[napa68]

A progress report from yesterday.
I have elected to put an educated eye on the fuel injection unit. Little did I know (after a conversation with an acquaintance) there is a good F.I. guy (Brian) here in Wisconsin. He trained with, and later bought much of the inventory and equipment from Jerry Bramlett.

https://ramjetsthatrun.com/

Brian has jumped right on the unit to disassemble / internally clean, and mechanically restore the unit. Brian gets the idea I do not want any cosmetic enhancement (aside from a good cleaning) externally.
Here, he vapor honed the fuel bowl to remove the residue inside the bowl, installed a new spill valve and balanced axle link


He also found the needle and seat assembly was not tight in the plate (one plus turns out from being seated). The float height is now set


Brian has a "mule" 63 he uses to live test and load the engine to ensure the units are tuned under load. His 57 "mule" arrives later this week (the intake manifolds are different between C1 and C2 plenum's for those who do not know)

While that part of the equation is moving along, I got to start cleaning the engine compartment. With how quickly everything seems to be falling into place (engine, trans, F.I.) I best get things on my end moving as well. He are some more pics of the dry chem and where I found it.



Air intake tube to the air cleaner


So after a soap and water washing, followed by a light steam cleaning......this is what I came up with




The further I get in this car, reveals this car has had an amount of fluffing in the past. I'll try to unwind some of that. As I had mentioned before, this car is not as "pure" of a survivor as others that have passed through my hands, but still a great original car. My end goal here is just a good old car, that has been maintained. Most all original fasteners have been found in their respective locations.....largely undisturbed. When complete, I feel the car will be a great, largely original car, that will run hard and can be enjoyed without having to fuss over it.