1957 Corvette Super Sport

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Yesterday I spent a few afternoon hours to reinstall the Fuel/Temp gauge pod, Ign switch(which had to come out to access it). It's pretty tight up there behind the custom cluster and my neck hurts but it was worth it. Both Gauges now work properly. We're happy we were able to salvage the 2 original gauges.

I also had to install some thick gaskets for the 4 door pillar switches. Both Door Safety lamps and Courtesy lamps work better now that the switches are set outward a bit. I used thick ~1/8" cork and made them using a x-acto blade and my hole punches.

I have yet to install the safety fuses and will do that soon, but for now this concludes all of the electrical tests, repair and completion work. Starter and Generator/Regulator will be obviously tested before/during first start. I'll polarize the generator once the new battery goes in and hardwired. Soon to come.

Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Yesterday we did some engine prep work. We primed the engine oil system. With valve covers removed, he was at the drill, I was at and under the dash to read the Oil Gauge and check the fitting in back of it for leaks. All fine. Nice steady pressure and great flow out of the pushrods. We'll go through a lash adjustment at some point too. Since this is a fuelie and we had the distributor out we had to plug the Tee oil fitting at the back of the block.

There also was some cleaning and buffing of some interior pieces. We have to pretty the car up as much as possible without overdoing it as we have to try to preserve the original facets of this car. It almost feels like we're partially preparing it for Bowtie evaluation, albeit knowingly resulting in a epic failure in the Exterior Section and other categories....i.e. new paint, new etc. It'd probably do well in the Interior category though. I wonder how this car would do in Judging? Let's see.....it's a '57, no wait, it's a '56, no wait, it's a multi-model year, 60 year old Restomod with a valid one of a kind GM Vin tag. Maybe it could go in the new Modified Class. That'd be a hoot.

We're doing all of this and more to prepare the car for next months' showing at the Amelia Island Concours. The present plan is that it will be going there, barring any unforeseen delays or venue changes.

Yesterday I also was checking out the details of the floor pans. It is amazing what the Styling/Experimental Shop did to fabricate them. They are a one piece beaded aluminum insert. It goes from above the firewall edge, where the top of the carpet would go in stock form, to the shallows of outer lower seat frame area then up to and becomes the Step Plate. There a chromed brass complex trim is attached to finish it off at the forward face of the Step Plate area then up and over out to the stainless steel stock sill plate. Check out that 90* bend on the small trim where it heads to the sill plate. These are chromed brass. I'm certain it took some work to get that sharp bend made. For the pans, they must have taken sheet aluminum stock, run it through a roll beading press, every 3" or so, then they may have made a wooden mold or form to press the entire assembly in some sort of hydraulic fixture to form it. Then the entire piece was anodized.

To install the pans, the floor is first covered with a 3/8" thick plywood. Then thin wooden slats were glued down to support the raised flat surfaces between the beading, then the pans were installed and held in place with small oval head screws through the perimeter chromed trims and leather floor pad chromed trims into the plywood.

These photos were during the disassembly showing the thin wooden strips glued onto the 3/8" plywood sheet, the edge of that just in front of where the seat track would be on each side.


This is what the floor pans looked like after removal. The driver's side was badly damaged from the accident but reworked, salvaged and reused. It was re-anodized after repair.


Here are more detailed photos after reassembly many years ago. We have to reattach the floor pad chromed trims later on both sides after some cleaning of the pads. No shoes will be allowed in the car. I'm thinking some nice crystal clear floor mats would be a good idea.








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[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Yesterday we had a good day preparing for first start.

I installed my Main Fuse modification. I removed the Black Feed wire to the Ammeter(Driver side terminal from the back view). This is the Solenoid Bat+ feed which powers the car, within the Engine Harness. I assembled a 30A Inline Glass fuse holder with soldered round terminals at each end. One terminal end attached to the Ammeter input, the other terminal end connected to the Black Feed wire round terminal. I used a short #10 machine screw with toothed lockwasher between the two terminals and another lockwasher under the nut. Insulation sleeved with heavy gauge heat shrink tubing. This modification will protect catatrophic failure of the electrical system. The only drawback to this method is that the Main feed from the Solenoid to the Fuse is unprotected, however everything after the fuse, through the ammeter and beyond, is protected against a dead short.


We did further checks of the electrical and mechanicals, all good, then installed and connected a fully charged battery in the tray. We added the proper amount of a 50-50 mix of coolant with distilled water to the radiator. A few drips out of the lower radiator hose at the water pump neck which we'll deal with later. We then added about 4 gallons of non-ethanol fuel to the gas tank.

Before installing the distributor, we wanted to prime the oiling system again, this time after using the starter to rotate the engine between the #1 and #6 positions to ensure lifter oil flow through the oil galleries. This also helped prime the fuel system. We opened the hard fuel line fitting at the Fuel Meter and verified engine fuel pump was functional after seeing a fuel flow at the fuel meter line while cranking. No fuel leaks. So far so good. We then set the balancer timing mark to the #1 firing position at timing tab TDC.

We installed the distributor, set rotor tip to #1 cap position with a few degrees of advance by eye, installed cap and attached the plug wires to the cap. We connected the distributor oil line to the block fitting. A afterglance showed we may be off a tooth on the distributor gear but after spending a lot of anxious time getting that base clamp bolt installed we said.....no big deal, we can play with that later. We then installed a cable to the High Pressure pump and gave it a few spins to verify it moved freely. It did, so we connected the cable permanently with its housing between the distributor and HP pump.


We then had some problems which delayed first start. With IGN ON, we had voltage to the ballast resistor and ignition coil. Strangely, during crank, no spark. We had fuel, but no spark. I verified no coil spark using my inductive timing light. So I simply connected my voltmeter to coil +, and during crank no voltage. With IGN to ON, voltage.

Now I haven't really done much ignition diagnosis on pre 1958 models lately and had to take a look at the wiring diagrams. I was thinking the Solenoid "R" terminal wire or solenoid itself as the culprit. But on the 1956 and 1957 models, this configuration is different from what I was familiar with on the later models. There is no "R" terminal on the starter, only the Purple "S" terminal for Crank from the IGN switch.

I got under the dash and verified BAT to IGN(Brown wire) when key ON. Then in START position, IGN went away. Then after a quick look at the wiring diagram, which is pretty useless, I figured out that the switch "IGN-2" terminal has a Green wire. A quick check told me this wire is the IGN ON source during crank. I learned something new. These cars use the Ignition switch as the source for the IGN ON function during Crank.

SO I did a simple test of the now unwired switch using my ohm meter. The IGN-2 switch terminal showed no continuity to BAT during Crank/START. Problem found. The Ignition switch is bad. This was the original switch with just over 4,000 miles on the car, but 60 years old, and likely corroded internally. I pulled the switch and played around wiggling the key and saw partial continuity, but mostly open on the IGN-2 terminal.

We had several original switches on hand. I tested them and found a good one, cleaned it up and installed it in the dash. All fixed. We now had spark during crank.

We cranked again and got a few spurts of life from the engine.

By this time, it was near dusk and since we did a fair amount of cranking, with a fair amount fuel was likely injected into the engine during our attempts to start, so we stopped for the day. We wanted the fuel to air out and evaporate, so today we will pull all plugs and check for any wetness and clear the cylinders of any raw fuel.

This made me think..... When diagnosing a fuelie's ignition system, it appears that fuel will continue to be injected into the engine during crank. Is that the design? Or am I missing something. Then I remembered past stories about vapor lock, fuel dripping from the injector nozzles into the cylinders and how the early fuelies had that problem.

I'll be over there later today and we will continue to attempt first start after we verify a dry engine and oil level.

More to come.
Rich

[Bruce B.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Rich ,
I believe that fuel will always go to the injectors whenever the engine is cranked, except when the throttle is fully depressed and the microswitch on the top of the unit is closed. On my early 57 the starting procedure when cold is to tap the gas pedal and then crank the engine and it will hopefully start. When the engine is hot the gas pedal is fully depressed and held down until the engine starts.
I sure you are aware of this but I thought I would give you my 2 cents.
Out of curiosity is there a anti-siphon valve in the fuel unit?
Bruce B

[James G.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Rich ,
I believe that fuel will always go to the injectors whenever the engine is cranked, except when the throttle is fully depressed and the microswitch on the top of the unit is closed. On my early 57 the starting procedure when cold is to tap the gas pedal and then crank the engine and it will hopefully start. When the engine is hot the gas pedal is fully depressed and held down until the engine starts.
I sure you are aware of this but I thought I would give you my 2 cents.
Out of curiosity is there a anti-siphon valve in the fuel unit?
Bruce B

I agree. Engine sounded flooded to me. Remove plugs. Use compressed air to clean puddles in cylinders. Be careful with possibly hydraulic problems. Check oil level on dip stick. If it is overfull, could be gasoline in the pan. I have seen oil pans blow up. The Injector needs an anti siphon valve installed that will prevent hydraulic. You don't want this problem. Connecting rods break and bend. John DeGregory can help and others.

I love all your work here. I know it is not a ''stock'' item, but I would add a electrical cut off switch like we use on race Corvettes. It turns ''off'' everything

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Bruce/Jim, Thanks for confirming and for your ideas.

Bruce, no anti-siphon kit on this one.....yet.

Yesterday by mid day we were back on it. We pulled all plugs and they were wet. Dried and cleaned them, cleared the cylinders, oil level fine with no fuel smell. Reinstalled plugs and verified plug wire order. All good. We tested operation of the microswitch which was good and verified operation when pedal floored. I happen to have a anti-siphon valve kit I got from JD a while back for another car I'm doing which could come in handy. I'll suggest it.

We decided to check valve lash again so that took a while but found some issues. Buttoned everything back up and rechecked all we could think of.

Then Success.

Video links in next post.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Getting a car like this up and running again after such a long time is extremely rewarding. It's been about a 60 year wait for the car, and about a 20 year wait for my friend John. It doesn't get much better than this.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Restart after break in.....

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

After about 30 minutes running time. We had a few small leaks but overall very good. Engine at normal temperature and running well.

We will likely get to the next stage today and check mechanical movement. Maybe even go for a ride.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Yesterday morning I decided to open up the failed ignition switch. I had it fixed in under a hour. I have a photo sequence I'll post up in another thread.....Here.

After I got over to the car late morning, we did a quick movement test under power and it actually moved. First time since 1958. No ride though.

We then decided to hold off from other mechanicals then tackled many other small things that needed attention.

The Fuel Gauge reading was wrong and suspected the sending unit. The tank and sender is original, but 20 years ago the tank was professionally cleaned. We pulled the sender, was in remarkable condition, and found the problem after releasing the 3 tabs on the rheostat cover and opening it up. The wiper contact was dirty. Fixed it using fine sandpaper and then a light cleaning of the coiled wire resistor. Tested good with a ohm meter over the full float sweep range from apx 0 ohms to apx 30 ohms. Reinstalled, tested and all good. We have about 3.5 gallons in the tank and the reading showed a tad under 1/4 tank.

Since we had the seats out I did a cleaning of the aged leather with Glyptone leather soap and water then a application of Glyptone conditioner. Seats smell like new leather again. This certainly helped rejuvenate those tired old blue hides. I noticed the cloth tags on the back of the seatbacks and got a few photos. Both dated 7.30.56. This helps identify when the GM Building Display Car was modified in the Styling Dept to become the Super SPort, some time between August and November of 1956.


Today I have to go up to my chrome shop about a hour away which did quick turnaround for me. The blue leather floor heel pads have chromed brass trims and plates which we brought up there last Tuesday. They had them done by Friday morning. When I get back to the car we'll install those to finish the interior work. We have both original pads which will go back in the car after a cleaning and conditioning. The trims will hold them in place with trim screws into the floor.
Old photo of the Pass side pad.....


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[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

The Toe/Heel pads are reinstalled.

Before reinstallation. The blue leather has a unique stitched pleating feature. The trim shop likely spent a bit of time on these. There is a gray rubbery vinyl-like backing, which to me, appears identical to the backing used on production decklid outer lid tabs. The Passenger side is marked with "2".


Here they are completed. The chromed brass trims and plates are held to the floor using #6 stainless steel oval head Phillips sheet metal screws.What I thought would be relatively easy, turned into several hours of time to put them back in.

Passenger side.


I'm wondering if Betty Skelton was sitting here with high heels on as there are a few small impressions in the leather.


Had to get a photo with the door lamps lit too.


We pulled the steering wheel to make it easier to install the Driver side pad and trims. We had to R&R the gas pedal in the process, which is held to the floor using 2 bolts through a custom bracket with a notch to mate with half of the heel pad. Nice detail on their part. I also installed the chromed brass horizontal trim over the top edge of the aluminum pan near the firewall.


Before installing the steering wheel I took a few photos. The small chrome bars at each spoke are wider than stock and are held in with small screws on the backside.


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[Bruce B.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Rich,
What is the diameter of the steering wheel, it looks smaller then the stock 17" wheel?
Bruce B

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Rich,
What is the diameter of the steering wheel, it looks smaller then the stock 17" wheel?
Bruce B

Bruce I'll put a ruler on it next time I'm there, but I think you're correct, it does look like around 15" or so.

Similar wheel on the Jerry Earl SR2 so they may have had a template.



Rich
PS Sadly, Jerry passed away this past October. He was 86.

[Bruce B.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Rich,
Was Jerry Earl, Harley Earls grandson?
Bruce

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Rich,
Was Jerry Earl, Harley Earls grandson?
Bruce

Bruce,

Jerry was the youngest son.

https://article.wn.com/view/2016/10/15/Design_legend_Harley_Earls_last_surviving_son_dies/

Harley built the SR2 for him to distract him from the Ferrari crowd in 1956. It was originally white/blue stripes. When it went back after it's racing stint I was told they later put a 327 in it and other changes too, like the 58-60 tail lamp housings, etc.




Richard is the Grandson.

http://www.harleyjearl.com/mission/

BTW, The SR2 wheel was modeled from the actual Super Sport wheel if I remember correctly from past discussion. That's why they look the same.

Rich