Assembly of the chassis

We started on the chassis.  Here Dan is installing the fuel line.

Brake line in the rear is installed.  Notice the original green clip with the Anchor symbol.  The brass brake fittings are also original.

Original brake line fitting with the "W" Weber manufacturer mark.

Original brake line clip with the Anchor manufacturing mark,

Rear brake line hold down clip.

Front brake line clip.

Setting up the rear for installation.

Punches for the rivets in the ball joints.

Pat and Tony working on riveting the ball joints as they did in the factory set up.

Completed upper control arm with rivets.

Chassis components

April 2019 - assembling components and building the chassis

This week we're building many of the components for the chassis and beginning to bolt them on.  At Tony's Corvette's, the process to restore a Z06 car is very involved and detailed.  We're striving to not only rebuild the car, and to ensure originality of components, bolts, nuts and washers that match what was placed on a vehicle built in the same time period, June 1963 - after 56 years, some of those parts can get replaced with general service maintenance.  The 1963 Corvette was a new design and many items could change from month to month as they modified design to operate better.

To figure out the proper installation of items on this car, we checked the Corvette Assembly Manual (AIM), Tony's book on Z06 corvettes with many original, unrestored car pictures and lastly, we reviewed Tony's database of pictures of unrestored cars with the similar VIN as my Z06.

Working on the interior, dash pads

By mid March, we have a good start on the interior.  Since a previous owner died the dash black, we had to pull the old vinyl off and replace with new vinyl.

The original dash.  After removing the pads, you can see the original red that wasn't dyed with the black.  We first tried to remove the black dye, but it wasn't possibly without ruining the material.

Dan pulled off all the old vinyl, and prepped the dash frame for the new red vinyl.

New vinyl goes on....it's not an easy process to lay flat.

Completed...still lots of work to do when installing.

Carpet is in.

Behind the seats, the jack/tool box area is completed.

Dash now with the dash pads and the instrument cluster.

The body is progressing well

The paint is curing very nicely. Body components coming along well.  Dan Devito is leading the effort.

We're targeting a factory finish, so this means leaving some orange peel in the finish rather than buffing it out, in particular, below the belt line of the body.  The factory buffers typically didn't lean down to buff below the belt line.

This is inside int he jack box, recently painted red to match the interior.

I love the taillights of the '63 vettes.

Headlight adjustors in, getting ready for the bulbs.

Dan admiring his work on the body.

The interior is next on the schedule over the next few weeks.

Frame painting completed

Dale at Autobody Dimensions  painted the frame (underside on top) in satin black (semi-gloss) and it came out beautiful...Tony and I inspected after each coat to ensure proper coverage.

Dale got a work out painting both sides of the frame.

Tony in the background observing and ensuring all areas were covered.

Coming along nicely.

The paint flowed on very well.

We rolled the chassis back across the street to Tony's shop.

We use this paint for touch ups to the frame