Jack aus Maine möchte mit seiner 66er C2 Europa bereisen - Tipps?

[ZEH5didditz]

Hi Jack. Are you safe of Juno? We heard it is a terrible blizzard runing over NY, Maine and the east coast. I hope you and your family are safe in a warm livingroom.!! The next spring will come...
Greets Dieter

[Jack Panzica]

Gary Ramadei is working on the rear end and I should have it by late April. (Great Rear End Man) lol

What started as a stuck plug has changed into a Under body restoration.

First the plug would not come out, then the rear end blew, and before you know it project creep.

Well I finally got the plug out. I had to remove the welded muffler pipe and header pipe, and after many failed attempts, I used an Irwin stripped bolt remover socket. I heated the plug, I put penetrate on it, I froze it.

I had to remove the pipe to be able to hammer on the socket, once on, I could use the long ratchet to remove it. Out it came see photos.

The #4 body mount bolt is the one that has me working hard.

Got the parts out of car



Car ready for additional work



Seats have to go





Here I go..and it came out



See the plug and socket





Now fun with # 4 body mount





Cleaned up a bit

[Jack Panzica]

Hello to all,

We left off with the bolts soaking and all the rubber peeled away on # 4 mount.

I went out this afternoon to soak the bolts again and while there I picked a bit at the bushing sleeve and bolt.

I decided to give the bolt a little bit of a turn. The result, the bolt came out with the nut . The nut capture cage is not rusted , but the frame mount and and mount reinforcement was rusted, one turn and out it popped.

I will let you all give me advice on what to do next. I do not weld !

Mount with rubber still on it



Bolt and nut with bushing sleeve



Frame mount and nut cage



Side view

[Porter]

Hi Jack,

know this place of the car too.
Don´t want to know how many doesn´t.



Good Luck , ...........

[Jack Panzica]

I went out to the garage , forgot to change my clothes, I was just going to spray a little more penetrate on the bolt holding the reinforcement plate.

Well I could not resist putting a ratchet to the bolt. I forgot to take the deck off and just reached in . It took a while to get the right extractor socket on the bolt . 9/16 to big , 1/2 to small. You must be able to hammer the socket on to really get them to work.

After 10 minutes, I put my big wrench to it. The one that I am always told not use. Well one click at a time the bolt came out. It took about 20 minutes to get it out, not hard , just one little click because of the tight space.

I was them able to remove the rusted mount reinforcement plate . Once removed , I will be able to put a small piece of fiberglass over the hole to hold the nut in the cage. The cage was not rusted . The new reinforcement plate for the # 4 mount will secure the bushing to the body.

I will then be able to fabricate a retaining plate for the # 4 frame mount which had a rusted out hole. The mount is good. I will get the plate welded to the mount once I have the car on the road.

I was very fortunate to not have a rusted out deck hinge area. All the rust was in the wheel well, except for the retainer bolt. It was only a few inches away from the rusted bushing.....

Here are the photos

Ratchet in place with a little hammer to hit socket on to bolt



View of position of extraction



The rusted plate # 4



49 year old bolt with very little rust



The old bushing and plate



# 4 mount after clean up



Close up of nut and cage - rivets still holding it in with very little rust



View from below of mount

[6TVette]

Jack

German car manufacturers take cars with high troublefree milages back and refund the owner with a new current Modell. You should contact Bowling Green and ask for their comments to this.

Your Vette is a Celebrity on ist own and worth to be exhibited. Including tear and wear and your seat covers.

Good Luck

[Jack Panzica]

As you all know, this started out as a stuck plug on my tranny. Well the rear end blew and I got a chance to take the rear down to Gary Ramadei, in New Haven CT. He is one of the best re-builders in the country.

He did my steering box and now the rear.

Here are the photos of Gary at work doing a preliminary inspection of my rear. As you know, it was a mess after blowing up a few months ago.

The posi unit would not come out even with the side yokes removed. Gary will use a case spreader later in week to spread the side walls of case so that the bearings and posi can be removed. We tried with a pry bar but could only get it half way out.

I will have follow up photos as Gary sends them to me next week.

The end result will be a rear that will go from 3:70 back to the original 3:36 that the car was born with.

The arrival



Proper mounting needed to work on rear



Cover is off and that look is not good !



You expect me to fix this ?





Oh my ! what do we have here ?



Need a big wrench to turn the unit to get at snap rings




Got them off after a bit of work




Pry Bar did not work



Needed a big hammer to get the side yokes to come out, usually they side right out but the case is a little twinkled



Side yokes removed

[Jack Panzica]

I have been fortunate to own the car for 45 of it's 49 years. 46,000 miles on it when I bought it from original owner. Now pushing 300,000 and 4 restorations, visits to 48 states and 15 European countries.

Not bad for an old sports car

Jack

[Porter]

Not bad for an o.. No: not bad for a real Vette-Owner







, .........

[Markstingray]

Hy Jack,

Your car is really great. It was a good experience
Driving it as we met last time!