Hot Rods I finally got an injected 1961 Corvette !

Dang! Any C1 Corvette is bucket list car, much less a fuelie with history!

 

I had a friend that bought a injected 61 Vette , his dad sent one of his tractor trailers to pick it up at factory. He drove it one time brought it back to his Dad's garage and we pulled the engine and tranny and put it in his 32 Ford 2 dr. sdn. When we got the 32 finished we tried it out , man that ran like a raped ape . He got a stock 327 and put it in Vette and sold it !

 

That is definitely a round about way of getting an engine for a hotrod but if you have the money and you can do it go for it!


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Is that Deuce still around?

 

Yes , that deuce is still around he still has it , but he died a couple months ago with a deuce collection that he was selling off.

 

Might the '61 Corvette actually have been a '62? The 327 didn't exist until the fall of '61 for the '62 model year.

 

Come to think about it was in the fall of 61 . Just talked to a friend who helped work on the deuce . he said the reason they picked it up with a trailer was they weren't released to the dealers yet . His dad had pull with Chevrolet upper management and got one released . Later when the son went in the Army he took the deuce and had the suspension and axle chrome plated and interior rolled and pleated for a surprise when he came home on leave .
!

 

That is a nice dad for sure. Sounds like they might have had a little money too.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Not very exciting but we got the backing plates off. I planned to change the king pins next. Or at least inspect them. They are really really tight.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I was not aware that Chevy used these for break shoes.
I’m still not sure what my plan is for brakes. Disc brake kits aren’t cheap and have clearance issues with the fuel injection.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Do NOT throw any part of that brake system away. BIG money.

 

Looks like metallic brake shoes. It was an option back then. Don't really work well until heated up. We may be able to work out if your car was originally equipped with that option.

 

For some reason I thought the big brakes with the metallic linings were wider?
I don’t think it’s a big brake car. the drums and backing plates are standard brakes.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

There was an option for big brakes and there was another option for just the metallic shoes.

 

Scott, the kingpins probably need the rebuild kits which they sell through Corvette Central and other vendors. Hope you have a torch to heat things up if they are tight. I would bet that the kingpin is going to be difficult to remove without heat and a big hammer. I saved old kingpins which I saved to use as a drift punch since they are pretty hard-if you need one let me know as I probably have a couple old ones. I never had success with freeing them up and always ended up rebuilding them. Not that difficult but they do not slip out all the time either. I have had a couple I removed and heated them and put them in my press and they still did not come out. You may have a better chance though with your with the dry climate they lived in. Let me know if you need any advice. Don't even think about removing the kingpins without a piece of threaded rod to go through the shock mount holes-I prefer using 3/4 threaded rod as it fits just perfectly. You can double nut the ends so that it makes it easier to tighten and loosen the rod-just my .02 cents.Also it would be my advice to save all of your brake parts and buy one of the front disc brake kits. They do make a difference in my opinion if you want to drive the car in a spirited manner.

Those may be the metallic linings. I removed some years ago and they were well worn on one side so car must have been a joy to drive. When I bought my red car out of Yucaipa California (when I lived in SoCal) the guy included like 8 large moving boxes with spare parts. One box had some big brake parts which I ended up selling and trading to Mike Ernst who owned the Gulf Oil 62 Vette record holder in like 1985 or 1986 (that Gulf Oil car is now worth like $5 million I think). If I had those same parts today they would be a bit more pricey since I had some of the elephant ear parts as well and some pieces of the duct work.

 

Let me add one thing to the replacing king pins. Have the bushings HONED for the pins, not reamed. Honing leaves a crosshatch pattern for the grease to live in. Also, you can achieve a much closer fit by honing.

Just my $.02 worth.

 

Bruce, you are correct to hone the assembly moreso than the bushings but it is a really easy deal with these old Vettes compared to some of the old kingpins in the old cars from the 30s and some 40s. Once the support and spindle are cleaned up a brake hone can finish the process and grease is your friend with these kingpins. I would not modify the bushings at all. The bushings are more of a slip fit as opposed to pressed in and you install them as is on the new shafts that come in the kit. The outer perimeter of the bushings have grooves for the grease and the grooves since they move will find the grease that is shot into the zerk fitting. I believe the more critical point are the shims that should be added with some thought in mind. In the rebuild kits they give you a few shims and with trial and error you can get to the feel you want. You will find that not all of the shims will fit so you find the ones or combination that gives you a fit without unnecessary slop. Once Scott gets to that point I can give him my two cents

 

That makes sense. My buddy has big brakes for his 62 and I knew what all comes with them. That’s why I was questioning that GM made metallic non big brake shoes. That part I was not aware of.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Depending on the changes your car has gone thru in it's life we may be able to determine if it was originally equipped with metallic from new.

 

I have never replaced the kingpins/bushings in a Vette, although I have done many 37-48 Ford spindles. But if we are talking about using hand reamers and hones to do the job, I have to disagree with the honing and not reaming suggestions. Honing will follow an out of round condition if it exists after the bushing has been installed. Reaming, if done correctly, will remove out of round. And if you use a ream with a guide, you can also insure that the bores of the bushings are in line. If you feel that you need the "roughness" of a hone, then leave .0005-.001" extra after reaming and follow up with the hone.

 

Chris, the kingpin bushing setup from the old Fords which I did as a kid on my grandfather's old cars and the Vette spindles are completely different animals. I only agreed with Bruce's assertion of reaming in the sense that it is better to have a nice finish for the bushing to ride in in the spindle. If your spindle supports are out of round in a Vette it may be time to find another set and try and figure how in the hell it happened in the first place. If your spindle is out of round I would be scratching my head. The kingpin shaft does have maybe an interference fit on the spindle support (the long arm that goes north and south) but rides on movable bushings in the top and lower portions of the spindle itself. I have replaced a number of them and have a few on the shelves and have never seen one out of round. If I did I would be saying "wowser". The abuse to get to that point would be impressive abuse. Old Fords with press fit bushings were famous for it so a ream was necessary. When the time comes maybe Scott can take a few photos or I will get some old parts and maybe an old rebuild kit off of the shelves.

Since my cars are both raised in stance I have to get the caster just right without going too crazy. I shoot personally for 5* or a little more (by adding the aluminum 2* shims). My 60 chassis around 9* I believe but it was used for drag racing and probably has problems with the steering wheel return-goes straight as an arrow though I am sure through the traps. I also have played with how to change camber by bending the supports and made a tool to bend them in my press. The real factory approved method for changing caster and camber is by moving the little cam in the upper support arm which only has a limited adjustment. You remove the zerk fitting and install a little hex key and turn away. It can only do so much in the way of adjustment. Generally good enough in most instances if you are just driving on the street at a normal or lowered stance. In playing with it, I have had to remove the spindles and spindle supports so many times (and the bushing and shafts) that I could do it with my eyes closed. Once you get the spring compressed and hope that the shaft is not jammed in the spindle support, it is really an easy deal. When it is jammed then heat and a BFH helps drive the old shaft out of the spindle support. If it was out of round it would most likely drop out-that is often not the case. Like I said when Scott gets to doing the job maybe some pictures will help.

 

Thank you for the advice Jim and GearheadsQCE! I’m sure I’ll touch base again soon with the king pins. My only experience with kingpins is with my Model A but with that I just cleaned them up and re installed for mock up.

I just got the driver side shock off and now I’m looking for threaded 3/4 rod which I have somewhere......if it didn’t get made into a sword or weapon of some sort by one of the kids! Lol


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Friday night fun!


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I’m not a numbers guy but this is pretty helpful on of the some of the details.
Although we could probably upgrade to color photos some day.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

No Components Remain Stock=NCRS

 

Scotty T, that would make for an awesome license plate frame. Lol
I think my 5 spd, and scatter shield would disqualify me right off the bat! Lol


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I know a guy who has a white '63 or '64 roadster with a ZZ crate motor and torque thrusts - He is a super friendly, easy going, gregarious guy. He goes to some of the Corvette gatherings and gets treated like a leper. He told me part of the reason he goes is because of how self-righteous some of the NCRS crowd acts towards him. He likes that his car puts their panties in a bunch. I'm not normally one for needling people, but I'm aware of how anal some of the NCRS crowd can be.

Me? I love a tastefully hotrodded vette... keep 'em comin'

Gotta56forme/Scott

 

"clearance issues with the fuel injection" Would that be the power booster/MC? I suggest that you consider non-power disc/drum brakes. My '56 Chevy came with a popular aftermarket power disc brake conversion, it made any maintenance on the driver's side of the engine a pain and looked terrible in IMO. On top of that it didn't feel like the booster was doing anything but messing up the "feel" of the brakes. I pulled the booster and combination valve, replaced the M/C and rerouted the lines cleanly with an SSBC prop valve in the rear line. It's perfect. A nice simple system that stops great with great pedal feel. Another example of K.I.S.S.

 

I just put in an order for decals with that phrase!

 

If you are having trouble removing the king pin, try putting a jack under the control arm to give it some support.