restore or walk away?

Grumpy

The Grumpy Grease Monkey mechanical engineer.
Staff member
chevelle said:
Pretty rough shape but it is a 63 split window.
There is certainly enough to go on.
Would you restore it? ?


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I suppose its a mater of assessing what your time is worth,and how much money and effort your willing to devote to the restoration, luckily, most of the parts are available if you checking account balance can handle the financial strain, because it will take a good deal of time and effort, but it will be something rather rare and almost unique when its done IF you take the time to do it correctly and use the correct components.
if you have a garage to use while you work on the restoration, and if you realize you,ll probably need $20-$45 K in parts, (not close to concourse level but drive-able) months of detailed research, and over a year or two of devoting at least a couple nights a week too the project, and more than likely be forced to replace a great deal of the car that you currently assume is salvageable, you can and most likely will have one really nice and rather rare Corvette when its done.
or put a different way, ID start with a complete dis-assembly and parts cleaning, taking a detailed inventory and ordering every corvette related catalog, you can locate and Id certainly get 4 12 ton HF jack stands and look into a new frame and suspension.
now I've done several of these projects and at least in my case it took 2-3 years for each to complete, and be aware many vendors are under the mistaken impression that O.E.M corvette parts were all manufactured out of sterling silver or gold bullion ingots, and priced that way.
Id certainly find an original shop manual and youll obviously be forced to learn welding body work, fiberglass , electrical interior, paint and body and drive train restoration.

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IF YOU NEED CORVETTE PARTS,
SOME ARE SIGNIFICANTLY CHEAPER ,
AND EASIER TO LOCATE USED

https://www.corvetterecycling.com/

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/rust-information.15177/#post-86845

https://corvettesalvage.com/

http://www.contemporarycorvette.com/

https://www.vette2vette.com/

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c1-and-c2-corvettes/3638571-body-is-off-finally.html

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...3-roadsters-and-split-window-coupes-left.html

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...lvage-yards-sources-for-parts.2807/#post-7251

https://play.google.com/store/books...O1&gclid=CKKovq60wtECFaZEMgod4rMHsw&gclsrc=ds

http://www.ecklerscorvette.com/1963+corvette+parts.html

http://www.zip-corvette.com/63-67-c...pre-assembled-front-end-assembly-gray-pm.html

http://www.parts123.com/corvettecen...htype=51&_ga=1.246299847.259693666.1483129847

http://www.corvettemagazine.com/tech-articles/1963-1967-corvette-instrument-cluster-rebuild-2/

https://www.paragoncorvette.com/s-969-c-2-1963-67.aspx

http://www.zip-corvette.com/63-67-c2/body-fiberglass.html
 
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I would like to inject a small bit of advice concerning a restoration mistake I made that was easily avoidable, but it can happen here and there.
In the past, I have purchased through the mail, car parts for soon to be started restorations although sometimes purchases could be close-outs, discontinued inventory or rarely seen deep discounts that prompted me to grab something to save a buck or 2.
Here's where my screw-up occurs. On more than one occasion I ordered something and when it came in I knew exactly what it was and placed the package with all the others for the project or shelf stock.
Well when the time came around to use the parts I sometimes found broken or missing pieces (not my fault), or maybe it's not the correct part from what was ordered. When this was discovered, it was a total loss. Who is going to believe me? Sometimes it's been 2, 3, 4 and in the case of my 1971 Sting Ray it's been 8 years and counting to get the parts out.
So the lesson is obvious, always check things as you receive them and before parts are put away.
 
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