My Blue 1968 Corvette

[CaptainK]

This has been on a slow burn project for a long time now - I'd not driven it in over a year prior to these photos. It all started with the starter motor dying back in late 2017 and as it was winter I wasn't going to drive it anyway so I set about ordering parts .... which ended up getting more parts and more etc and turned into a bit of a project.
So in mid 2018 after collecting parts, I found a local garage that loves V8s etc, and the main guy running it has huge passion. Alas, they are busy with "normal car work". I'm not fussed about the time it takes, and they said they'd do the work when they get time - so progress has been VERY slow, and unfortunately they've found lots of problems with my Vette along the way that really needed to be fixed - hence delaying the slow project even more. The worst of this was some person over in the USA at some point before I imported it had tried their hand at electrical work and really bodged it up, including using kit kat wrappers as electrical insulators.

So it went in for:
New carb
New intake
New headers
New custom exhaust
New starter

It then needed a lot of new suspension and bushing parts, a lot of re-wiring, fixing of a lot of interior stuff, fixing the side pipe covers, putting new 17 inch American Racing alloys on it, and some other stuff that I've forgotten over time.

Anyway, for my recent big 21st (*cough*) birthday I arranged with them beforehand to make it driveable so I could make V8 noises on my big day. Below are the pictures of my day out. I'll add photos at a later stage when I get some mechanic based photos that they have been taking over time. Or maybe just my own better photos when it is finally finished.

 

[Norm]

What can I say.....nice!!!

 

[Roscobbc]

Some subtle touches - both rear and sidepipe exhausts - twin outlets in each sidepipe? explain please!
Slotted and drilled disc's!

 

[Forrest Gump]

Awesome!
Looks like it's been worth the wait.

 

[CaptainK]

Some subtle touches - both rear and sidepipe exhausts - twin outlets in each sidepipe? explain please!
Slotted and drilled disc's!

The discs on there are not my doing - its what the car came with when I imported it from the USA back in 2016. The brakes themselves are manual brakes and still somewhat pants. Next year I intend to put retro-fit power brakes on it.

The rear exhaust pipes are actually fakes. Again, when it came from the USA it had gaps at the back that looked weird, as the exhaust is actually all coming from the side pipes. The side pipes now are all new / custom made and we went with a dual circular exit instead to be different - it is all fed by just one pipe per side as normal behind the side pipe covers, but just exits via dual circular outlets on each side.
The rear pipes are just there for cosmetic reasons and don't actually do anything functional, however in the long run (year or two) we are planning to have a proper dual setup using electric exhaust valves to change the flow of the exhaust. So when I want to cruise slightly quieter I can flick it to exit all at the rear, or when I'm in town or at shows etc I can make a bit more noise by going to the side pipes. All controversial I know, but its the little custom things and allows me to have the best of both worlds - side pipe look and noise (which I love) or a little bit less noise when cruising.

I'll get pictures of engine bay and other stuff as time goes by - but bear in mind the slow progress so far, it might be a while before I put more photos on here. However, it does all need to be done by the end of this month though as I'll be using the Vette as my wedding car shortly afterwards.

 

[Ddave]

Looking good! I'm amazed at the number plate similarly too...

 

[CaptainK]

Looking good! I'm amazed at the number plate similarly too...

I've seen loads of similar numbers plates to mine - including FMA435F (one number higher than mine) on something. Basically its what the DVLA were dishing out for imported 1968 vehicles for a while "FMA xxx F" reg plates, just incrementing the number part.