Exciting day - rebuild of 78 coupe

johng

johng

CCCUK Member
It's actually a very thin coat of silver, which they then cover with clearcoat to stop it tarnishing.. They do look good, my only concern is how durable it's going to be. The place that did it is Home - Chrome Spray they do lots of bits for cars, which they insisted on showing me and they were confident that it will last. Job is now done and I'm planning to do a write up for the magazine with a bit more detail.

IMG_20240223_134934.jpg
 
teamzr1

teamzr1

Supporting vendor
You think that paint is going to be able to handle exhaust temps closest to engine about 600 plus degrees
will not discolor or peel ?
 
johng

johng

CCCUK Member
That's why I got them to silver the inside of the covers as well, so that it will reflect radiated heat coming off the exhaust. If it ever stops raining here, I'll take it for a drive and measure how hot the covers get. Fortunately there is quite a big gap between exhaust pipe and cover at the front where it will be hottest.
 
CaptainK

CaptainK

CCCUK Member
Wowzers! That looks really good. I'm impressed with the shiny "chrome" look of them. With my sidepipe covers they don't get that hot at all, even when I've been using the car for a while.

Now you just have to be concerned about the front wheels pebbledashing the front curve of the side pipes. Urgh.
 
CaptainK

CaptainK

CCCUK Member
johng said:
Yes I am pretty concerned about that. I'm not sure whether to make (or buy) a set of these mudflaps https://www.mamotorworks.com/corvet...1977-c3-clear-acrylic-splash-guard-set-602320 or to get the front section of the covers covered in paint protection film. I've found a place nearby that will do it, but they say to wait 3 weeks for the clearcoat to fully harden before they will do it.
Click to expand...
I'd like a set of those clear mudflaps for my 1968 - those listed are for 70-77, but they say they are easily removeable. Be great for my 68 so I can have them on when driving to shows etc, then take them off when I'm there. Would save a lot of cleaning as even if I drive through any water just at "idle in 1st gear" speed, then the sidepipe covers get splattered.
 
Roscobbc

Roscobbc

Moderator
CaptainK said:
I'd like a set of those clear mudflaps for my 1968 - those listed are for 70-77, but they say they are easily removeable. Be great for my 68 so I can have them on when driving to shows etc, then take them off when I'm there. Would save a lot of cleaning as even if I drive through any water just at "idle in 1st gear" speed, then the sidepipe covers get splattered.
Click to expand...
Even more of an issue with 68's and 69's due to far less enveloping wheel openingsVette rear.jpg
 
johng

johng

CCCUK Member
Don't know if it will be the same for 68 and 69's, but I'm not going to be able to use the mudflaps on my 78. My tyres already get close to the bodywork when I turn the steering, if I extend the mudflap any further inboard than the body is now, then it will definitely get hit by the wheel. I'll be getting some paint protection film put on instead.
 
johng

johng

CCCUK Member
I got around to fitting the new jets and rods to my carb this afternoon and it seems someone has been butchering it in the past. Not only were the rods the wrong size (diameter wise) they were also from an earlier carb and were the wrong length as well! That probably explains why the hanger arms were bent up to pull the rods back up out of the jets. The more concerning fault is that the top of the carb is quite badly distorted, probably from over tightening of the mounting bolts. Rather than fixing this by flattening the top section, Bubba has attempted to file the centre section of the carb body to match the arc of the top section and not terribly successfully. I've had a go at removing some of the distortion on the top part to try and make it match the butchered centre section better, but it's hard to tell how successful I've been until I get it all back together and try it out.:(
 
johng

johng

CCCUK Member
Finally got around to having my air fuel ratio measured today, as part of an MOT test, to see how my carb alterations have worked out. The good news is the only fault found with the car is that the reversing lights come on in neutral as well as in reverse. I'll need to adjust the switch. The bad news is that my AFR appears to be in excess of 18:1 both at idle and at 2200rpm. Is it even possible that it can be running that lean yet still seem to be running fine? Is it possible that I've got an air leak into the exhaust which is causing the lean reading? I'd imagine that exhaust back pressure would push fumes out rather than suck air in. My fuel consumption is still the same as it's always been around 17mpg.
 
johng

johng

CCCUK Member
Not sure, haven't had time to take them out yet. Thinking about it I doubt it is air getting into exhaust, as I have the same reading on both sides. More likely a vacuum leak somewhere.
 
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