1971 Corvette Hot Rod Build

[Arrowsmith]

Hi folks. I had a bit of a run in with a forum member and I think I'm going to take a little hiatus from posting. Take care...Wayne

[lowmile]

We are all pretty much family here, a little dust up every now and then ain't the end of the world. Look forward to you resuming.

[Arrowsmith]

It's been awhile. I'm back....at least for a bit...

I've spent a lot of time waiting for parts, some small, some big. I have a good size order at Al Knoch for door panels, carpet, OEM underlay (not jute), fresh sun visors (I don't like the appearance of the originals), some new interior hardware and so on. Al Knoch Interiors in Texas builds the parts to order. An order like mine, where the door panels are being fabricated on original style fibreboard backing takes approximately 4 weeks from beginning to end. I think it's because I have to get in line. FYI, Al Knoch is the best there is when it comes to Corvette interiors. And since my interior pieces aren't here, I've moved on to other things.

I installed a new MSD Ultra 6 on the bracket I fabricated. I used a conventional Ultra 6 instead of the 6AL because I don't need all of the AL features, plus, the wiring isn't nearly as bulky as the 6AL wiring. Here it is wired up:



In the wiring process, you can see the coil wires along with the trigger wire for the distributor (on a Weatherpack connector). I tried to make this look like GM built it this way (heat shrinks with no bulky plastic crimp connectors):



I went through the original tach drive distributor. I checked the bushings, set the end clearance (it was out by a mile), recurved it, installed an adjustable vacuum advance canister, installed an Accel cap and rotor along with a single Accel point set. I've used old fashioned points to trigger MSD boxes for a long time, and they work very, very well. The points only act as a switch, so they last forever. Plus no condenser is used. The only job of the point set is to tell the MSD box when to fire the coil. "Stone Age Tech"...



The only issue right at the moment is the tachometer drive. There's a nylon bushing for the tach drive cross shaft gear inside the distributor and it's worn. I'll have to replace it, but it's not a big job however I'm waiting on parts. FYI, I prefer ACCEL caps and rotors. There is a huge difference from a high performance perspective. Here's the "nearly finished" distributor:



Since I'm still waiting on parts, I finished the carburetor. It's very (Very!) basic: A Holley 850 double pumper. My setup is simple too: Guess on the front power valve (switched to a 5.5 - Sharpie scribbles on the bowls are the jet and PV numbers); Guess on the jetting (it may well be a jet number or two rich); Install a plug in place of the rear power valve; Up the back jetting six numbers (to compensate for no power valve), Check the shooter numbers; Swap out the brass floats for notched nitrophyl jobs; Eyeball and set the float height; Add jet extensions to the rear; Disable the choke; Set the four corner idle mixture. Done! It should fire right up with fuel in the bowls:




Finally, I installed a set of shallow billet hub caps on the wheels. My preference over the bulbous plastic jobs they're supplied with:



Car is still available for purchase (once the interior is done) as a very comprehensive (and pretty $$$) roller. I've exorcised all of the demons, and honestly, I'm pretty sure you'll find it's one of the nicest chrome bumper C3's on the planet.

[RPOLS3]

Glad to see you back. Thanks for sharing the progress. Looks great.

[napa68]

Glad to see you back around Wayne!

[dykstra]

Agreed! Car is looking great and glad you're back posting. I enjoy your threads.

[Arrowsmith]

Howdy! I’m back with a little more. My Al Knoch interior order won’t ship for three more weeks or so. As a result, I’m doing odd jobs on the Corvette. But let’s back up for a bit:

I should have posted these earlier and then a question came up previously on ignition parts. I’ll share my observations. You’re free to disagree, but before you do, buy the respective pieces and compare them for yourself….

First picture: Jobber rotor for a Delco distributor on the right. ACCEL rotor for the same distributor on the left. The jobber rotor is junk plastic. The ACCEL rotor is an alkyd material. Note the blade. It’s far longer than the jobber piece. It’s screwed in place. Not so with the jobber part. The ACCEL arc ribs are deeper and wider. Plus, it’s way heavier.



Second picture: MSD cap on the left. ACCEL cap in the center. Delco cap on the right. All three for Delco distributors. MSD caps are manufactured from DuPont Rynite material. The ACCEL cap is manufactured from Alkyd. I use ACCEL or MSD caps and nothing else.



Third picture: Flip them over. The MSD and ACCEL caps use brass posts (the alloy on the MSD cap appears to be different). Yes, aluminum may initially be a better conductor, but it tends to erode quickly especially when high spark voltage enters the equation.




Fourth & Fifth pictures. Note the contact button in the Delco cap. Note the contact button in the ACCEL cap (second image here). It’s much beefier than the Delco button. Some caps use a carbon button. The ACCEL piece is brass. The contact spring is also stronger.





Sixth picture: I’ll just lay this out here and you can decide. Popular (Very Popular) BlueStreak point set on the left. ACCEL point set on the right. FYI, I always use ACCEL points.



Once again, I won’t argue with anyone over this. But…the ACCEL points are much more robust. Simply buy the pieces, compare them and make your own decisions.

Back to the Corvette:

Since I’m waiting on parts, I decided to bench test the lamps and electrical gauges in my Corvette cluster(s). I figured it was way better to do this now rather than try and chase down an issue when it’s all buttoned up.



Eureka! The dash lights all work! The gauges work. Even the rebuilt clock ticks like it should. I’m pleased.



I’m in the process of re-restoring the center cluster. I painted it again (and again, and again…L-O-L). I’m finally ok with it. I just have to reassemble it …carefully.



And this brings me to two steps forward and one step back. When I took the distributor out of the car, I found the tach drive bronze coupling was installed loosely….very loosely. Additionally, the distributor had a ton of end clearance (lower gear), which I fixed. During the distributor rebuild-recurve I also discovered the cross-drive gear thrust button was worn pretty badly. When I assembled everything, and lightly tightened the tach drive coupling, the cross-drive gear bound up and the shaft would not turn. A new button arrived this week and I installed it. Unfortunately, zero improvement. To me at least, it seems like the cross-drive gear is engaging too deep. I guess I could drill and tap the distributor housing and use as set screw to establish the clearance (thrust clearance) but I’m hoping to find a better solution. Perhaps my drive gear or the coupling is buggered up? Or maybe both are?

Ideas Please?

[Too Many Projects]

Looks like there should/could be a wave washer on the base of the distributor housing for the drive housing to seat on. Maybe missing, just add one and see ? They are usually quite thin.

[Arrowsmith]

That could very well be! Let me do some digging! Thank you. W

[Arrowsmith]

When I go to one of my old Chevy parts catalogs (I have a few L-O-L), this is what I get, and my tach drive has all of these parts, installed in the proper order:




Still baffled...