No problem, I also have the "bread box" and other parts, going from my memory which isn't what it used to be. Oh yeah, I have exhaust parts too, only cost would be shipping, which may still be a deal breaker to ship down to you, but just let me know.
@Wiz02, I never know what I'm going to need but one of my favorite things is doing exhaust. I bought OBX stainless headers for the car and it wasn't all a bolt-on project. The headers have a thick flange but the original manifold had large bolt bosses so everywhere something mounted on the manifold I had to fabricate thick wall stainless tubing spacers.
Pat, my first try was the one with all the extra turns that weren't needed. The second one was an attempt to fix a bend in the wrong direction, resulting in a kink. I used about 5.5 feet of the 25-foot coil so I'm happy. It was definitely a 'fun to watch' process. I clamped one handle of the tubing bender in a vise so it wasn't crazy time. I also quit after the second try and picked it up again the next day -- a little rest helps my mood and attention.Bob Edison figured out over a thousand ways not to make a light bulb. You only figured out 2 ways not to make a Vacuum Line. I am impressed...and with one hand tied behind your...well you know what I am saying...
My Motto: If you are dumb enough too try something you have the opportunity for success. If you are too smart to try you will never succeed.
Nice work!!!
Hint if you ever get into Solid Modeling or good ol'fashion hand layout, 50% is a great starting point for Neutral Axis development (Assuming minimal deformation of the tube through the bend area).
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Next up is the exhaust air supply line. The original line connected to the exhaust manifold with a flared end held in place with an oetiker clamp.
This connection was almost impossible to seal without a pair of Knipex oetiker clamp pliers. Mine are a few years older so it's embossed with SYSTEM OETIKER rather than FOR EAR CLAMPS.
I needed these pliers because they were the only ones I could find with side jaws and the location down in the side of the engine right next to the A/C evaporator housing made plain jaw nippers impossible to squeeze. The side jaws were the answer to my exhaust leak.
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So THAT's what they're called! I sold thousands of them back in my HD parts days. Still have a few as well the HD factory tool. This is from over 40 years ago!!! Even today, I could still tell you the part #'s for them too (now, what did I have for breakfast?
You are very kind Alan. You are also right about that 710 pac. It didn't seal very well so I replaced it with a blank one.
@Squankum, I added a DIY Montgomery Ward central A/C system to our house in Wappingers Falls, NY so I know how to do it. Doing it in one day, not so much, so I called the man. They hung a new air handler/evaporator unit in place of the old one and replaced the 34-year-old drain pan (unlike the two previous companies). They built new supply and return plenums at each end of the air handler. The large duct exiting the back of the right side plenum is the new supply duct to the two bedroom/bath wing of the house.
Roger, the collection I picked up from Amazon called them "ear clamps" and Knipex changed the name of their pliers to match. Had Chevrolet used the lightweight ear clamps, I wouldn't have needed the fancy Knipex tool. The arrow at the top of the photo is pointing to the outrageously expensive clamp in question and it's an order of magnitude beefier than the others. By outrageously expensive, it's $15.89 +tax +shipping from Eckler's. Unfortunately, they are out of stock there so I'd have to try eBay.So THAT's what they're called! I sold thousands of them back in my HD parts days. Still have a few as well the HD factory tool. This is from over 40 years ago!!! Even today, I could still tell you the part #'s for them too (now, what did I have for breakfast?
Kirk, when I was focused on the '72 (around 2013) I was replacing rubber hoses with flexible braided stainless. A 20-foot length of -8AN was stupid expensive (just like today) but discovered a 25-foot coil of 304 stainless tubing on McMaster-Carr was $53.30, which was aboout the same price as plain copper tubing. Back then I never thought to look for anything else.
@Squankum, I'm sure the German car manufacturers have a fancy hydraulic tool for those clamps but us peasants doing our own repairs feel blessed using the Knipex tool designed to make us feel competent.So that's what those pliers are for!
Bought a pair at an auto parts store decades ago, said they were for CV boot clamps, but they sure didn't crimp the squeezy zone on my German car's CV boot clamps like the axle factory had done, and never could figure out how they, uh, worked, especially the sliding anvil (?) in between the jaws.
How did you know about my my evil Master welding plan?@Wiz02, I never know what I'm going to need but one of my favorite things is doing exhaust. I bought OBX stainless headers for the car and it wasn't all a bolt-on project. The headers have a thick flange but the original manifold had large bolt bosses so everywhere something mounted on the manifold I had to fabricate thick wall stainless tubing spacers.
Had to fabricate a new alternator brace because the original brace wouldn't clear the #1 cylinder exhaust tube. Decided it needed to be polished stainless because I had the MIG set up with 98/02 Ar/Co2 gas and solid stainless wire. Not a pretty sight but I'm a better grinder/polisher than welder. Don't wait until you're 63 to try welding.
@Wiz02, I know there are more than a few folks on the Garage Journal with the same evil plan.How did you know about my my evil Master welding plan?
Holy cow Batman! That's some transformation. I hope to follow in your footsteps in the near future.@Wiz02, I know there are more than a few folks on the Garage Journal with the same evil plan.
Welding is one of those things I always wanted to try but it was always out of reach (cost first, time second). I started with the $89 HF box, fearing I would fail but willing to gamble that much. Discovering it was a useful tool, I jumped up to an Eastwood MIG (because it came with a spool gun for aluminum) and shielding gas. Suddenly I was certain I needed a TIG and Eastwood's cheap DC unit got added. Being lazy, once the Eastwood MIG was set up for stainless, a HF MIG came home with me and it's set up for carbon steel.
FAIR WARNING: Once you have a welder, you may dream up crazy projects. After installing a complete Magnafold bolt-on stainless system for the '72 Corvette big block, I changed my mind and converted the system to a center-outlet quad tip Frankenxhaust.
Start with this puzzle:
Make it into this with your welder:
@Squankum, I was bad at arithmetic in school. I got low marks on tests all through grade, middle and high school. In college I had a professor who discovered my incorrect answers were almost always because of transposed numbers (I think he used the divide by 9 rule). It was too late for me to pursue an engineering degree but I loved working with engineers to turn their designs into descriptions. One of my favorite projects at IBM was a servo-hydraulic system for building computer components (chips on pinned substrates).
Kirk, last time I started it, graves were opening up.
@Wiz02, a couple of posts on CorvetteForum and articles linked to them sent me down a couple of rabbit holes.
Rick, thank you for the kind words. Growing up reading car magazines I admired all the chrome on the show cars. In my dotage I've sent a few parts to a local chrome plating shop and I've purchased a couple of chromed pieces (A/C compressor cover & alternator). No way I could afford to have all the engine parts chromed. Luckily, the Corvette has a lot of aluminum and even set of magnesium valve covers. Every time something had to be removed or repaired, I polished it before putting it back. Started out with a completely stock engine when I bought it in 1991:
I learned you don't use a lot of heat, just enough to get it a dull red. And the sand has to be REALLY dry.
Kirk, I appreciate you calling me regular but I don't think I'm the only one posting. Could be I'm the only one not outside enjoying the warm summer weather. When I finish the '87 and a couple of other projects I'm going to get back to work on the '72 Corvette and that might **** me into a black hole.
@Wiz02, I saved a lot of money doing the polishing. All that time took me away from some expensive mods to the other cars. I've never had a problem with the pellet but went out a minute ago to check. There was a little brown residue but it came off with a fingernail.
Great to hear that your dash is still working. Making the interconnects is pretty straightforward, however, I imagine that finding replacements for 35year old electronic chips is something else entirely. Only good thing is that the electronics are pretty simple compared to what is in today's vehicles.@Wiz02, I saved a lot of money doing the polishing. All that time took me away from some expensive mods to the other cars. I've never had a problem with the pellet but went out a minute ago to check. There was a little brown residue but it came off with a fingernail.
Oh yeah, the dash. I forget when but I had to send mine out to be refurbished and it has held up well since then. I could be wrong but I think I paid around $600 including shipping around 10 years ago. More places are doing it now and it appears the price has come down. I also re-did the information display but did that job myself. It had several open spots in the copper lands. Zip Corvette sells them for about $25.
@Wiz02, from the limited research I did, the Florida sun and my failure to drive the car with the top up fried the displays. It was pretty bad but I was sure I could do the repairs myself. Then I added up the price of the components and letting someone else do it seemed like a good idea. If it needs to be done again, I'll spring the $235 for the DIY kit.
Gerry, thanks for that. Looks like Amazon has a small ingot of 158-190°F melting bismuth alloy for $23.99 and I can make a double boiler with some tin cans. Not going to use my olive oil but I know where I can get my hand on a bottle of cheap canola oil.
Rian, between the Rezin Rocket and the Lonesome Cowboy Roadtrip, I don't expect you have time for much commenting but thanks for stopping by and the kind words.
Kirk, I have a decent size bag of sand but it's been sitting outside in the weather for a long time so cooking it could take quite a while.
Cody, on the average sunny day, a cookie sheet of sand sitting on my driveway would probably do a good job. Liane won't allow a toaster oven in the house. She believes it always ends being a mail drop spot and sooner or later starts a fire. At my age I pick my battles carefully.
Philip, kiln dried sand is what I'm looking at. I have the small HF pot as well as their small cabinet. I don't use that much so a 25# box of HF's #80 glass bead media for $40 lasts a long time. I plan to try Northern Tool's Black Beauty one of these days (50# bag for $12).
Tom, the answer is yes and that means I consistently make things hard for myself.
@tj675, I wasn't still looking but a collection of "stepless" clamps will be delivered on Friday.
