1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Grill Tab on Front Nose Valence

You are amazing! You found a bag of tabs, what, by the side of the road?? ?

You never know what's along the road in Florida.

LOLOL

Actually, I found them in Norway.

Rich
ps Do you want the short or long version of the story?

Okay Okay....short version......Well, not IN Norway, it's there now though. It had a replacement GM upper and lower valence done in the early 70's. A Indiana Farmer's wife backed their 18 wheeler full of grain going to market into the '67 nose and crunched it a little.

All GM valences after '67(I think) had tabs for 63/64 grilles(which had 3 upper tabs). Whoever did the work then didn't cut the tabs off.

I did.

[Richard M.]

Re: JP Stevens, Dimmer Grommet, Horns

Headlight Buckets all done and ready to go back in the car. All 4 bearings/balls were seized to the shafts. All better now.

Related question thread Here

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[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Grill Tab on Front Nose Valence

You never know what's along the road in Florida.

BTW, You're right.....Some strange stuff down here.

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[Richard M.]

Re: Telescopic Steering Column

Since the transmission is all set and back in the chassis with the body soon to be reunited, working alone yesterday afternoon and evening, I decided to tackle the Tele Column. It did not lock in position properly, had a loose upper bearing(side play), and in need of a new directional switch since the wiring was melted in several spots.

I had never dug this deep into a 1967 Tele Column before. I had some background in the '65 version with a buddy in the past but forgot more than I remembered. I went to the CSM and it was very vague. The archives here came to the rescue.

First off, I need to personally thank Jim Shea for his excellent White Papers, diagrams, and repair advice. I could not have been successful with out you Jim.....Thanks!

These are 2 of his documents that were a great aid....

http://jimshea.corvettefaq.com/?p=975#attachments

Basically, the Tele function would not lock. I found that wear was the culprit, and used Jim's advice to use a ball bearing at the top of the lock rod to allow the lock-pawl to grab the outer shaft with best force.

Some internals for reference and some details.
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The fix...
PC240001.jpgPC240003.jpgPC240004.jpgPC240005.jpgPC240007.jpgPC240008.jpgIt now locks as designed.


The upper bearing side play, as Jim describes, is also due to wear and maybe a deficiency in it's design, caused by the outer bearing race to slip inside the hub housing. Jim suggested peening the top lip or epoxy to hold it in place. The top lip must be cut away to access the bearing or replace. This bearing was fine, just loose inside the housig. I decided to try a "re-press" of the housing lip over the bearing. It worked perfectly.

Here is the before.....I marked the inner and outer bearing cases, and the housing lip. Rotating the center spins the outer. You can see the gap below the lip to the outer bearing race.
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1st pic is pointing to the inner race, 2nd to the outer race, 3rd is the housing lip.
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Here in the 1st pic you can see how the outer race, which should not move, has rotated CW when I rotated the bearing inner race(i.e. the steering shaft). in 2nd pic you can see the gap between the outer race and the housing lip. 3rd is the profile of the lip.
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After.....I used a backer socket then 2 different pusher sockets to compress the lip down and against the bearing outer race. I tested it and it's perfect. No movement any longer. This will eliminate the excessive side play in the steering wheel.
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I will also replace the lower bearing.

The directional switch had some previous issues. Melted wires. Rather than removing the telescoping forward housing to pass the harness connector out, I decided to remove each wire terminal and slipped the wires through the escutcheon. The new switch has a brown connector, so I will simply remove that and replace with the original black Delco connector. I will also reattach the original red BPM label to the new harness.
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After a cleanup, internal lubrication and repaint of the column assembly with a semi-flat black it will be ready for reinstallation.

Rich

[Donald O.]

Re: Telescopic Steering Column

Rich,

I've been rebuilding my 67 non-tele column and have to agree, the CSM is useless when it comes to repairing the column. Plus, all the vendors parts for a rebuild are wrong as well in that I thought I was missing the black collar with two screws, nope, its for a tele-column. Aarg!

What color is the final clamp just away from the rag joint? Is that to be semi-flat black as well, or should it be bare steel (with a spritz or semi-flat clear rust inhibitor)?

Do you have any detail photo of the bracket and attaching screws that sort of locate and seal off the "firewall"? The AIM shows a it as having screws with thw washer behind the bracket, mine has the washers as integral with the screw. Mine did have the goop (or dum dum) around the screw holes. Did your bracket exhibit any remants of an adhesive between the bracket and the foam seal? On mine I can't tell if it was used there or if the foam just self adhered after 48 years, no glue was called out in the AIM. Is the column bracket and the attaching clutch return spring bracket both also semi-flat black?

Don

[John H.]

Re: Telescopic Steering Column

Rich,

I've been rebuilding my 67 non-tele column and have to agree, the CSM is useless when it comes to repairing the column. Plus, all the vendors parts for a rebuild are wrong as well in that I thought I was missing the black collar with two screws, nope, its for a tele-column. Aarg!

What color is the final clamp just away from the rag joint? Is that to be semi-flat black as well, or should it be bare steel (with a spritz or semi-flat clear rust inhibitor)?

Do you have any detail photo of the bracket and attaching screws that sort of locate and seal off the "firewall"? The AIM shows a it as having screws with thw washer behind the bracket, mine has the washers as integral with the screw. Mine did have the goop (or dum dum) around the screw holes. Did your bracket exhibit any remants of an adhesive between the bracket and the foam seal? On mine I can't tell if it was used there or if the foam just self adhered after 48 years, no glue was called out in the AIM. Is the column bracket and the attaching clutch return spring bracket both also semi-flat black?

Don

Don -

The two dark phosphate screws attaching the firewall bracket have captured free-spinning washers - that's why they're called out as "screw assembly" instead of just "screw". That bracket (including the welded-on column clamp), the super-duty clamp just below the spring, and the little return spring bracket were flow-coated black primer, so they're semi-flat black.


StrgColClamp.JPGCluRetSprgBrkt.JPGClutchRetSprg.JPGClutchSprgRetainer.JPG

[Gene M.]

Re: Telescopic Steering Column

Rich,
I'm sure you found the original column bearings to be more of a child's play toy quality than something one would put in a Corvette. I did a bit of modification to the securing hubs and installed slim lie ABEC grade bearings. I don't recall the ABEC grade, but almost anything is better than what was in there. As I recall (and each year it gets worse) the '65 column was much easier to find bearings for. But I also do remember the lower bearing required a custom made hub to fit the column tube on both '65 and '67. The lower '67 is a much bigger bearing. My columns are all std so that may change one's method of attack.

I would repair and piece in original harness wires as most of the replacement wire insulation colors are not even close. Merry Christmas

[Richard M.]

Re: Pine Needle Pitch Crevice

Dan, I'm glad John posted those photos. Thanks John, it's a great aid for me too. I have the column firewall cover restored but ironically I found the flat clutch spring bracket in a bag today that needs cleaning, along with the bolts with integral washers. I should take a few pictures before I work on them.

Gene, Yes the bearings are not a great quality for sure. Very flimsy design IMO. However they both are in good serviceable condition, however I'll change the lower as that sees the most weather. I will have to come up with a proper seal(s) as they are not reproduced as far as I know. Even LIC doesn't show them.

The switch wiring, I agree, is very different from stock as can be seen in the photos. The tracers on some of the 2 color wires are not parallel, they're spiraled. I was looking at it last night when I took the terminals apart on both to swap plastic housings......and I did in fact shake my head a little in disappointment about the wires. However, the original harness burned wires are where they pass under the wire cover, and being a telescopic column, I don't feel good about a repair in there. But I'll give your idea some more thought when I get back out to the car.

Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: Pine Needle Pitch Crevice

Just for the record, there was a good discussion about this cars' Muncie transmission oil leak in another thread ..... Here

[Richard M.]

Re: Pine Needle Pitch Crevice

A few more tidbits before the day gets busy...

The original switch wiring was dissected. I will not repair this one.
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I moved the black connector to the new switch and will use that.
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The steering coupler, aka Ragjoint. I am using a new box coupler with the original upper housing. The original joint is quite tired and has a broken copper lead. This can cause electric shocks to the driver when blowing the horn as the human becomes the ground path.

As you can see, the bolts supplied with the reproduction are course thread, wrong markings and wrong configuration......just plain non-typical. I will re-use the original sleeved bolts. I will need to open the holes in the rubber to accommodate the originals. Also notice the rivets differences between the two. Not sure if will attempt a re-squish or not.
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===

[Richard M.]

Telescopic Column Shaft Painted?

Don -

The two dark phosphate screws attaching the firewall bracket have captured free-spinning washers - that's why they're called out as "screw assembly" instead of just "screw". That bracket (including the welded-on column clamp), the super-duty clamp just below the spring, and the little return spring bracket were flow-coated black primer, so they're semi-flat black.


[ATTACH=CONFIG]67335[/ATTACH]

John, et al,

I see the standard column pictured in your post appears natural finish. Would that be true of the Telescopic column as well? This one is black but previously painted when worked on in the past.

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I have the entire Tele column pieces painted and ready for reassembly(when the bearing arrives today) .

Thanks,
Rich

[Donald O.]

Re: Telescopic Column Shaft Painted?

Rich,
On my 67 standard column, the shaft is not natural, but to my unpracticed eyes, it appears to be a grey. It was definitely coated or finished with something. In my uneducated guess it looks like it was parkerized or such. Your tele shaft also showed some of this grey. I'll bet that since both columns were made at the same plant, they both were treated the same.

Don

[Richard M.]

Re: Water Pump Rebuild Needed

Rich,
On my 67 standard column, the shaft is not natural, but to my unpracticed eyes, it appears to be a grey. It was definitely coated or finished with something. In my uneducated guess it looks like it was parkerized or such. Your tele shaft also showed some of this grey. I'll bet that since both columns were made at the same plant, they both were treated the same.

Don

Thanks Don. I'll may a PM to Jim Shea.

[Richard M.]

Re: Telescopic Column

"Thanks Don. I'll may a PM to Jim Shea." Apologies for the horrible grammar in my earlier post.



I sent a PM to Jim Shea but no word back yet. (Actually I think it may have been a Email through the message system here, but it doesn't CC the sender, so I hope Jim got it)

The steering wheel had 6 loose screws holding it to the hub. Yesterday, when I removed the hub to repaint low gloss black like the rest of the repainted column, I noticed the backside of the spokes and in the slots of the spokes.......there was black paint overspray. You can see the overspray on the backside and around the hub mount area where it was masked. Very unusual. Whoever painted the column in the past did not remove the 6 screws from the wheel to separate it to paint the hub. Hmmmm, a quickie respray?. I sometimes do that on a riveted hub/wheel assembly like on the 1956 to 1962 cars, but on a C2, 6 screws and it's off. I've never seen this done on a C2 wheel hub!
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I cleaned all spokes on the back and in between the slots to free them from paint using acetone, and painted the hub. I was shaking my head the whole time.
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I had to wait a extra day for the lower bearing, but as it turns out, when things go sour, it's just another pickle of the process. I was sent the wrong lower bearing. Well, it may be right, but to me it's wrong. I worked with my vendor and sent comp photos of the original but no word back yet. The bearing is supplied to them from LI Corvette. It has no inner race and exposed roller bearings to contact the shaft directly. It's this one....
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I did however come across a NOS part I discovered in a box of stuff I had stashed away. It's GM bag is a bit tattered and the part# ink was light, but it started with "78xxxxx", says "ONE BEARING" on the bag and looks just like the one I removed, so I'm confident it's the one, Group 6.521 Part# 7800407 which is listed as the lower bearing for 67-68.
This is it. 3rd pic is NOS left, Original right. last pic is the replacement with no inner race. I left it in the bag for now, to be returned later.
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I also fixed the Tele lock problem by installing a new lock rod, which is 1/16" longer so it's perfect now. I do not have to use a ball bearing fix at the rod end or a tack weld. The replacement may be made a tad longer to overcome internal wear. That's a good thing.
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All column pieces now restored, repainted, and just needs assembly. New directional switch, new rag-joint & coupler at steering box, and all supporting hardware and assembly pieces ready.
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And....thanks to my good friend John, I've been on the hunt for a pair of original front bumper brackets with the "H-in-a-D" stamped manufacturers logo for the last few weeks. John had a pair and handed them to me the other day. All he asked for was to swap 'em for the nicely painted repros I took from the parts-pile that were on the car............and a cup of coffee at Lakeland next month!

Just media blasted and will get painted up with some other items later.
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There's more, but I gotta' get back to my tasks, as today is the BIG day. My goal is to have the body reunited to the fully restored chassis,,,,,,
.
.

TONIGHT, NEW YEAR'S EVE...... BEFORE MIDNIGHT!!!! (BTW, this car's name is ........MIDNITE)

Wish me luck.....
Rich
p.s. there will be NO adult beverages served during this process.

[Richard M.]

Re: Telescopic Column

Warning......If you are hungover, do not read this. It's too long! Go get coffee, recuperate, and read it later.


Well, Sadly I must report I was unable to get the body reunited to the chassis last night. I ran into a few show-stoppers. Plus......

At around 8:30 PM my wife showed up with our take-out supper. After a half hour later I was heading back out to the shop when I caught something on TV as I was walking by, sat on the couch........and it was all over! I had forgotten I was up since 3AM, but my body didn't. I woke up a hour ago.

Earlier in the day I had my checklist made up with about 10 things I needed to do before body-drop. But I missed one, and this one required two people. I had totally forgotten about the interior luggage stop. This is the steel horizontal panel behind the seats and just forward of the jack well. Some time ago I inspected the 8 large flat-head rivets holding it to the body. At that time I knew I wanted to just drill them out and replace them as a few were a bit loose. If you push on the metal and see the rivet end move around, it's in need of repair. I had forgotten all about this repair. BTW, this is a common problem, and more apt to happen with convertibles versus coupes.

There are only 2 ways to replace these rivets, the wrong way, and the right way.

The wrong way, albeit structurally sound and better than looseness, is to use 3/16" diameter pop rivets, inserted from the cabin, along with wide back-up washers on the underbody side. One cannot get a pop-rivet gun to fit the awkward space from underneath to insert the rivet from that side, so the head is inserted from the cabin side. This works, but is not typical of original. If the body is on the car this is a preferred, easy method.

The right way is to use original type wide-head flat soft rivets. However, this requires help. Someone needs to hold a heavy backer plate under the car against the rivet head while the riveter, armed with a air-hammer squishes the end against the metal panel. I couldn't ask my wife to do that. It's a tricky job for the "back-up" person as the space underneath is tight and only about 4" deep to hold the tool. THis is best done with the body off of the car. I have never attempted this on a midyear with it's body on the frame.

So I called my son who lives 20 minutes away and had the week off from work where he builds satellite antennas. He always helps when he can, but he has a wife and 3 children so I hate to bug him. He came down sick Monday and sounded terrible on the phone. After a catch-up talk, he apologized that he couldn't come over. I wished him well. My other friends close by were tied up with other more important things and couldn't help. I waited a while and did some other things on the list. Then I remembered that my good friend and Corvette guy Warren(he's had many, and a nice '65 and a '66 right now) said that if I ever needed any help to just call. He comes over on occasion to help or use some of my media blast equipment. I called. He was at the Dr's office with his wife's check-up appointment and said ....."SURE, right after I get outa' here! I'll call you when I get her home."

A hour later Warren called and arrived shortly afterward. We rolled the car outside. It was about 82*, humid, sticky and sunny. Warren decided to be the back-up guy, under the car and in the shade, lying down on some blankets. I'd be inside at the gun. BTW, Warren is in his 80's, acts like a kid and just a fun guy. Always joking. We're good friends. Two Carlisle's ago we both took and drove my '07 C6 Corvette to Carlisle together. 1000 miles each way. We did the trip up in one driving day/night. He did half of the driving and is sharp as a tack. We reminisce about that trip often. Especially about the part when the 18-wheeler almost took us out of commission on some highway somewhere while I was driving. That is a story in itself.

I drilled out the old rivets and we finished up the task in about 20 minutes. A real PITA to get them backed-up in that tight spot. The there were a few clips and the accelerator/splash shield bracket that needed fixing up while I had all of the tools handy. Those 2 little tidbits took a little longer. Needed to clean and paint the pieces and wait extra for drying time due to the weather.

Finally I was able to roll the car back into the air-conditioned shop. Then I continued with other tasks. I had to prep the right inner skirt for some blackout. Then decided that the left skirt should be done too since it would be a mis-match. Before I knew it it was late afternoon. MY wife came out to help with some other tasks, and we were just ready to bring it back outside for final engine bay blackout.........and it started to RAIN, heavy RAIN.

So I started some other tasks to knock off the list, got involved and before I knew it it was too late and too dark to take the car outside. I covered every thing I could, cranked the AC up high, masked the engine bay and covered the entire car and shot it all inside. I had to leave the garage doors open to keep the area ventilated.

Soon afterward is when my wife showed up with dinner, after which I crashed on the couch, and the quest for Midnite's Midnight party ended.

Happy New Year,
Rich