Great car and a great read! Looking forward to more adventures, along with reports on the Holts car show and the Pontiac.
I'm totally on board with the four speed. For now I can't afford it with everything going on. The chevelle is going through a frame off and the nitro coupe is going through its normal off season rebuild. The vette is not going to be raced just a cruiser. There are no sacred cows in my shop. I will take a torch to anything. For the first time I'm keeping a car stock or in this case as found.
The holtz show was fun. The car was parked with the common folk not in the special vette area. Of course everyone wanted to buy it for nothing. Everyone asked when will it be restored because you can't leave it like that. I said this is how it will stay. It's been to several more shows. At Georgie porgies it was parked next to a frame off 56. The guy with the 56 couldn't understand why the 57 had a crowd around it and not his. He got so pissed he moved it to the other side of the show.
So this is what I have. I used brake cleaner and a wire brush to clean it as much as possible. It's still not very legible. I tried a few different angles with and without the flash. What ever it is it's going back in once the gaskets; fluid and seals are changed. A new shifter will be installed to replace the sloppy original
If it's G15 that works. G would be July if I have this correctly. The car is a early 57. The last number doesn't look like a six. Who knows. If you stare at it long enough after a few beers it kind of starts to possibly be a six.
Your 3743368 main case was used starting 1958 thru 1960. Didn't look at '61-2. Your main case is dated J 15 9. Which is October 15th 1959 and likely started life in a 1960. Your side cover will likely be 3731911. The '56-7 main cases had casting #3845122. If you have a trans originally installed in a Corvette then the tail shaft hsg will have 3 drilled and tapped bosses on the left side near the end to mount the floor shifter. If so the casting number is likely 3737450 and is likely vented. '57 had the same tailshaft hsg and vented but didn't have a casting date until later in production. The '56 tailshaft hsg (3722946) and early '57 (3737450) were not vented or have a casting date.
I've heard this sort of comment many times like the experience you had. Like the guy that spends a fortune on a car and expects to constantly be validated.....by getting a plastic trophy or plaque. I still can't believe there are so many immature adults among us.
Yup when a car is more than sixty years old, hard saying how many parts have been changed. I guess the trans had been changed.. put a 4 speed in it
Thanks rumblgutz. I have part of the original trans it looks like. That being the tailshaft. The old farmer did have a 60 vette that was rolled prior to getting the 57. I have gone through all the parts and found several others from the 60. He told me he took off what ever he could save off the 60 so I'm not surprised. It is nice to know what's original to the car. Should the car have a white or black shift knob? What I pulled out had black. The repro is white
I will look tomorrow. It has the shifter bosses and vent. I will have to look for a date. This is the best pic i have right now. What years had a black knob if any?
Nice to see you making progress on the vette but i have a question that doesn’t relate to the Vette is that the engine block from the coupe if so I just want to say whoever welded it up the hole in it done a fantastic job as from this pic I can’t tell where it was as I remember showing it to you at outta sight drags glad to see your doing well hope to see you there this year
It is that block. The rebuilding after the crash thread covers the repair in detail. Have a great holiday season. See you at the track.
This week's fun involved new gaskets on the trans. It was leaking so now was the time to fix it. A new clutch and shifter were also put in. All parts were scraped; wire brushes and sprayed off. I hate slimy parts. Next up will be replacing all of the side trim. What remains of the trim is dented or broken. It will be alot of fun gaining access to the nuts.
The passenger door trim is on. I didn't know my arms could bend in so many ways they are not supposed to. Each piece has five studs that slide in the trim. The frustration level goes sky high trying to keep them in place. I put one piece on with the studs through the door. Then I duct taped it in place. Then I could get the nuts on from the inside. I'm calling it quits tonight. I need a beer after all of that. I will get back on it tomorrow. I also need to replace the door handles. The drivers side button broke. That should be even more fun. I'm doing the work sitting on the floor. It's not bad as the floor is heated.
I got the trunk latch adjusted so it locks. The new door handles along with all of the trim are on. Squirrel had some M/T rims laying around so I bought them. Looking for fronts 15x6. A new clutch and drive shaft went in. The entire heater was either replaced or fixed. You need heat in Wisconsin. The new shifter with a white ball was put in. So many other things were done over the winter. It's ready to drive. Its come a long way.
When working on projects like trim, I usually wonder how it was done on the assembly line. Like a headliner! A couple people walked along the line, popped it in there and it looks perfect. Me? Hours in the El Camino, I can reach the whole thing sitting in the driver's seat. Ah well, hard work pays off. Your 'Vette is coming along nicely, hope you get some road time soon.
...Everytime that I've messed with a headliner I've thought, man I wish I could just roll this car over on its' roof and work on it like that!!
the posi is in with new 3:73 gears. i had a bad vibration between 30 mph and 45mph. turns out a wheel was out of balance. its all fixed. runs so smooth. lots of miles were put on this summer. with the cooler temps already here the hard top might need to go on soon. this car is so much fun to drive now the hard work was worth it.
Looks really driven sharp...and I'm sure it performs just as well...the car was fortunate to have you take it on...congratulations...I know your still ironing out some things but it's surely putting a smile on your face...
I know that with your busy schedule, you probably cant take the time to drive the Vette to the drag week event at South Carolina. It would be great to see your Vette next to the cool Vette, that @squirrel and his kid are driving cross country. Barn find meets up with reassembled basket case, so great that both of these cars are saved and being enjoyed!
The Jalopy Journal
