The new 2017 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport combines a lightweight architecture, a track-honed aerodynamics package, Michelin tires and a naturally aspirated engine to deliver exceptional performance. The Grand Sport Collector Edition features an exclusive Watkins Glen Gray Metallic exterior with Tension Blue hash-mark graphics, satin black full-length stripes and black wheels. the new Grand Sport combines a lightweight architecture, a track-honed aerodynamics package, Michelin tires and a naturally aspirated engine.
With Corvette Racing in its DNA, the all-new 2017 Corvette Grand Sport is a pure expression of the car’s motorsports-bred pedigree. It was introduced today at the Geneva International Motor Show.
Lightweight architecture and track-honed aerodynamics
An engine offering an estimated 1.05g in cornering capability and up to 1.2g with the available Z07 package
Coupe and convertible available this summer in U.S. and fall in Europe
Grand Sport Collector Edition available later in model year
The option that, perhaps, makes the most sense is to rebuild the existing engine. These days there are so many rebuilding scenarios, it can make your head spin and really lighten you wallet. With each one of the scenarios brings with it even more decisions and a host of mathematical calculations.
The major concern is just how bad it might be in the block. You can see much with just the heads removed, but what I could see of the cylinders and piston heads, seemed serviceable. Scored cylinder walls – bad; just trashed bearings – not so bad. This is the first unknown you need to know. From this point you’ll know the cost of just making it run again and how much $$$ you need or have left in the budget for any upgrades.
For me I don’t think I’m in this for just a ‘repair’- e.g. bad bearings – replace them and snap it back together.
Option 1: Rebuild it just like it is. Simply get a $600.00 kit and replace everything and put it back together – same heads, same intake nothing changes other than the knock goes away.
Typical 351C Rebuild Kit
Option 2: Rebuild it better. For my 351C 2v, the simplest way is to add the kit and give it more room to breath. Add a 4 barrel carb and matching intake.
Option 3: Rebuild it bigger. Have the engine bore to 0.030 or 0.040 and find the matching kit (you can buy the rebuild kits to match the new bore) and add a 4 barrel carb and matching intake.
Option 2 and 3 give you more decisions you’ll have to make. How much horse power and torque will this changes make? Can you existing stall converter and transmission handle that increase? (My concern as I have C6 automatic) Will you need to change the gearing in the rear end to optimize the new power? Will this new power impact handling or frame/body? (The concern here keeping that body from twisting/rolling – my Mustang still has the sub-frame – being a unit body – installation of sub-frame connectors is on my list.) You are looking at a few Benjamin’s to make this all happen like it should – all based on the basic rebuild direction.
So these are some of the considerations I’m weight now for #ProjectSportsRoof.
I’ve done all the clean up and all the adjustments necessary to get a good reading on the health of the ’72 351C engine in my 1973 Mustang. The next step is to check the compression. First up was to warm the car a bit and then pull the plugs. Here’s what the …
This is the wrap up on the compression testing for the 1973 Mustang w/ a 1972 351 Cleveland power plant. You’ll might have notices that I referred to the remote tester, which is my code for remote starter…yeah…that’s it!!! All of these tests were dry test and I should have done a …
It’s pretty cool to happen upon a car show in the course of running weekend errands. I normally have a calendar event for the major shows and/or the ones I plan on attending. But now and then I see one in passing, and of course I am compelled to stop and usually do. Sometimes there are some real gems. By gens I mean cars you don’t see at the average car show as they may not be in top condition or even restored at all (that doesn’t stop me) and the owners would enter them.
You don’t need shiny paint to go to a car show. Here’s #ProjectSportsRoof at its first car show.
A couple of weeks ago I picked up my son at his place and we took care of some business. I always have my ‘old car’ radar on and it went off as we passed a little church. We had finished all of our tasks so I stopped. There may have been 15 cars in the parking lot with hoods up and doors open. True to form there were a few cars that one rarely sees at a car show.
This awesome Fox-body Mustang Vert was in the line-up:
Fox-Body Vert w/ Whale Tail!
Oh MAN!! Look at that plumbing!!!!
There was this 1964 Chrysler 300 K. You don’t see many of these at a show. Love that it’s a 2 door.
’64 Chrysler 300 K
Cool Steering Wheel!!
Here is a rare sight!!! Mercury Comet Caliente VERT!!!!
This Comet is in O.K.shape
This cars is nicely preserved and a little body work has been done, but still very nice car.
But this next car was my favorite as unlikely as that may seem, I’d buy this car and I’d show it big time!!! Check out this 1974 Mustang II:
I think it’s a sharp little car!!!
Nice wheels!!!!
Yeah..that’s a V8 – 302!!
Still lots of room under that hood.
Interior is so awesome.
You can tell that this car was stripped and restored. It was painted with, even the interior, with a white rhino lining/satin like paint. It is just amazing and I’m was impressed.
Other duties happen outside of working on #ProjectSportsRoof…like yard work!!!!! While attempting to tame the foliage in the backyard on Sunday, my electric hedge clippers became self-aware and in true Terminator fashion, exacted revenge on two fingers on my left hand – index and middle. (Yes I have pictures and no I won’t post them here.) Pretty sure I taught the neighborhood new curse words.
Of course this necessitated a trip to the ER, much to my dismay and my wife’s. It took the doctor a fair amount of time sew them up – 31 stitches and to pass the time the doc and I discussed cars – specifically his new Tesla. So over all it was a nice break from the average weekend routine and I scored some pain meds to boot!! (HA,HA).
I’ll be out of commission for the next couple of weeks so maybe I can catch up on some blogging. Might be a bit optimistic, considering how long it has taken to just type this post!!!
Note to self: Don’t throw out the next door hanger for a landscape service.
I am slurring my typing, meds are kicking in …..SO…thanks for reading.
Thanks for checking back on #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m about the finish the cuts and
fitting for the right rear foot-well that was rust all the way!!!! Final Fit for foot-well …
Thanks for checking back on #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m about the finish the cuts and
fitting for the right rear foot-well that was rust all the way!!!! Final Fit for foot-well …
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I run my car projects much like I run my IT projects. You always have to know where to start and know the end game. As with any project that isn’t being built from scratch, in other word, you have to work with what you’ve got, …
After spending $$$ to get my 2v heads done right and after driving my 73 Stang for about 50 miles, the Cleveland has developed a knock in the bottom half of the engine.
It’s not uncommon when restoring cars that an undiscovered issue pops up and changes the entire project plan. But the dilemma I have now has multiple facets.
First there’s what to do about the engine. Rebuild it if possible? Replace with a short block, reusing the 2v heads? Buy a crate engine? Or set it on fire in the driveway? Each one of these options have it’s own inherent hurdles and impacts the timeline differently.
Second there’s issue with the old conundrum “Well as long as….I might as well do the ….” In this case it read like this… “As long as the engine out, I should, really, redo the engine bay.” That’s has is own timeline with the cleaning and sanding and priming and painting and replacing clips/fastener….etc.
So let’s discuss the engine.
There are a few “known knowns” (thank you Donald Rumsfeld!!!):
The current 351C engine isn’t original to the car – in fact the car was born with 302. Why is that important? I don’t have to worry about the matching numbers thing, that ship sailed sometime ago. Basically anything goes.
Not rebuilding/replacing is not an option.
Budget. Although there is no set dollar amount, there is restraint how much can be spend in a given time.
Then there are the “known unknowns”
Is it the cam?
Is it just the bearings?
Are the cylinder walls serviceable?
What do I want this engine to be?
Options: (just a few)
Option 1: A friend of mine suggested a crate engine – just order one from Summitt Racing or Jegs. Make all the power I want.
Ford Racing 363 C.I.D. 500 HP Boss Crate Engines – $8439.97
– Discussion: $$$ (Could stop right there with this one.) Getting a 400+ HP turn-key crate would be just awesome. In my option that is what these Mustangs were meant to be. (ching-ching) Getting tons of power to the rear wheels with the current automatic C6 transmission will required a possible rebuild and an upgraded torque converter. (ching-ching again). But having a Cleveland in the engine bay is way cool!! I grew up in GM family… there weren’t a lot of discussion about Ford product and anytime I heard “Ford talk” a 351 Cleveland engine was mentioned. I do like the look of it under the hood the are wider than the Windsor family of motors. Keeping it a 351C V2 will be less expensive and you can make good power from it if you do it right.
– Conclusion for Option 1: Not gonna happen!!
Option 2: Find a good used 351C and install that
– Discussion: This is a good possibility. That’s already happened to #ProjectSportsRoof. The 302 was replaced with a 351 (whether it was a Windsor or Cleveland is not known) as this was the engine the previous owner hauled it out of a field with. As it turned out that engine was seized and the current engine was found and installed (along with the used C6 trans). It may be tough to find one. If and when you do the mileage shouldn’t be a known unknown and you need to determine the condition as best you can by listening to it run. If it is just sitting on the shelf, would you perform a “trust-fall” with the seller? Bottom line is a used engine “is like a box of chocolates”…you might end right back up where you are now. Frankly this would be my last option.
Old Studebaker dealership buildings tend not to attract the attention of big-city mayors or generate headline news these days. One in Phoenix, however, has proved the exception to that rule when demolition began on it earlier this month, prompting preservationists and that city’s mayor alike to condemn the developer responsible.
Designed by architect W.Z. Smith and built in 1947, shortly after Studebaker introduced its new postwar cars, the Stewart Motors Co. building – named after the dealer that built it in the heart of Phoenix’s Auto Row along Central Avenue – incorporated a turntable in its glassed-in corner showroom along with numerous Streamline Moderne elements all rendered in brick, with nary a wagon wheel in sight. As described on Modern Phoenix, the building created “a joyful dialogue with the streetscape, which is pleasant to enjoy both on foot or by car.”
Many Phoenix residents, however, probably know the building better for its subsequent tenant, Circles: Discs and Tapes, a locally-owned record store that put go-go dancers on the turntable to attract teenagers cruising the Central Avenue strip during the Sixties and Seventies. Despite leaving many of the original features intact during renovations to the building, the owners of the record store never applied for historic status for the property before closing it in 2009.
In an effort to preserve the building, the city’s Community and Economic Development Department and local preservationists began to negotiate with Empire Group, the developer that intended to place a 19-story apartment complex on the site. According to Downtown Devil and Robert Graham’s City Views, Empire had earlier in the year proposed a design that maintained the street-facing facades of the Stewart Motors Co. building, meanwhile asking the city for a tax break for its project, but threatened last month to tear the entire building down as a negotiating tactic.
“While the developer denies that they have any plans to demolish the building within the 30-day life of the permit, they made clear in a public meeting… that they would seriously consider complete demolition of the building if their request for property tax incentives from the City is denied,” Graham wrote.
This isn’t the only dealership left. The A.E. England Motors Inc. (1926) was remolded and is now part of the ASU campus and had a few other business operation from there. Like wise with C.P. Stephens DeSoto Six Motor Cars (1928). $250K was spend on that and it’s now called DeSoto Central Market and has bar and restaurant housed there. The old Lincoln Mercury dealership (built in 1947) has a automotive repair conducting business there.
Thanks for checking back on #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m about the finish the cuts and fitting for the right rear foot-well that was rust all the way!!!!
Final Fit for foot-well.
This video is pretty comprehensive so I’m just going to just let it roll.
A couple of things worth noting. The “flap” what was clearly not going to work and leaving the sheet metal running up the side of the transmission/drive shaft tunnel was going to give too much flex in that panel, as the welds would be pretty high. It’s important to have that solid because as most must guys and gals know the Mustang of this vintage only have sub-frames which lease the floor as the most important body stabilization part of the car. I will eventually put sub-frame connectors under this beast.
In case you are wondering what that electrical wiring is to the right of foot-well that is for the seat belt switch which when pressure is applied to the seat bottom there must be a connection completed by the seat-belt male end and female end to turn off the “Seat Belt” light and or buzzer.
I have a lot more coming up on the floor pans so stay tuned!!!!
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. We beginning the actual work on the vacuum system on the projects 351C starting with the valve assembly distributor ( the …
I know, I’m getting slow at getting these posted for the 1973 Mustang, but here is the next part. I’m beginning the cuts on the repop floor panels.
Like I mention in the video, I”m doing this all in my driveway and garage – it can be done!!!! Unlike my 1970 Mustang (which started out in better shape) which most of the work on the body was complete, thanks in part to a careless young driver plowing into the back it at a stop light, in a body shop. While it was there I had the entire car painted.
I’m using a dremel to make the necessary cuts and the Work-Mate table allows a lot of angles to clamp down the sheet metal while I am cutting it. The painter’s blue tape works great as marking off the cuts and you don’t have to be ‘too’ precise, but you have to be close!!!
Here you can see the first cut. Now eventually I realized that I didn’t really need the ‘flap’ and I cut it off.
The ‘humps’ are actually where the seats bolt down and you have to keep clear of those with your sheet metal and welds.
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. ….. You can see my 2007 C6 and the 1973 Mustang (#ProjectSportsRoof) and my son’s 1991 Chrysler Le Baron vert and …
Feb 6, 2016 … #ProjectSportsRoof Floor Pan Rust Removal Video 2 – Duration: 2:07. Tim Sweet No views. New. 2:07. 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1 for sale with …
It’s not often that the normal day in the life of a Director of IT includes an opportunity to drive a 1929 Detroit Electric. But this is exactly what one of my days included just this week.
The car has taken years to restore and is period correct in almost every aspect. As you can see in the video it might need a few tweaks and I am finishing up the clock for the interior.
The Detroit Electric Model 97 (1931); Electric cars represented a significant part of the automobile market in the earliest days. As today, electrics suffered from a …
