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ZR1415

Original Poster:

17,999 posts

250 months

Sunday 31st August 2003
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I made the journey up to the workshops of "Jeal&Sons" to meet Geoff and talk about the progress of the engine mods and also to clean up the engine bay.

Armed with rags,cleaning fluids,scrappers and some elbow grease i set to work,BOY! to think i pride myself on how clean i like to keep my car and baring in mind ime always cleaning the engine bay,i was prepared but none the less still surprised on how filthy some parts of the chassis where.

Still with the motor out now was the time to clean up,for a car 13 years old the chassis was untouched,just some flaking paint in a few areas.
In the time i was there i guess i cleaned about 80% of the bay and on my next trip in a couple of weeks i will finish of before i start touching up the paint work on the Chassis and attacking brake pipes,steering and suspension etc with wire wool.

>>> Edited by ZR1415 on Sunday 31st August 22:14

ZR1415

Original Poster:

17,999 posts

250 months

Monday 1st September 2003
quotequote all
The problem with engine bays is that we only ever look at"the bay"from one angle and everything that gleams on top takes your attention from the grime(fluids,dust,grit etc) that lurks in the shadows,and yes it did look like an "Old wrecker" with the motor out.

I think before i take a car for an engine out job again wether it's me or someone else doing the job i will get the engine bay and the underneath steam cleaned,just so i can make an impact and get the jet of steam in the awkward areas.

Geoff's ok with you wanting to clean up as he is an enthusiast as well as in buiseness ,he even helped me with a lead light,i took with me loads of rags,brushes(the ones used for washing up),a scraper,you can use different size flat head screw drivers to scrape in tight areas(making sure not to scratch of the paint),a 2inch clean paint brush to get rid of the dry dust and get in awkward areas then i wiped all the areas clean with a rag daubed in engine cleaner before wiping off residue and shining with dry rags.
One thing you will notice are all the yellow ok signatures on the chassis.

The chassis is galvanised so there is no chance of rot but one other thing i will take advantage off is to clean brake and petrol pipes that are normally hard to get to with the motor in,i will use wire wool and one of those little brass wire brush's for the unions.

ZR1415

Original Poster:

17,999 posts

250 months

Monday 1st September 2003
quotequote all
My car will be there for a while yet as some of the parts will take around 6 weeks to arrive,when steam cleaning your engine bay dont let the top half of the engine get wet as between the plenum and the valley are the starter motor and other electrical items,try to just get the chassis particuly the front crossmember(under the rads) as this takes the brunt of the road dirt,hopefuly see you up there.

ZR1415

Original Poster:

17,999 posts

250 months

Thursday 4th September 2003
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Nice one Brett,sounds like your getting to know your way round a LT5,its reasuring to know there are some jobs we could do.

when will the pump be in the UK?,have you asked Geoff about the history of your motor?

Thanks for the solvent i will leave it by my car then Jason can put it to use aswell,hopefully see you at Capel.

ZR1415

Original Poster:

17,999 posts

250 months

Friday 5th September 2003
quotequote all
Nigel jet washed my rad by putting the nozzle near where the pipes come out on the passenger side of the rad shroud,and boy!,you get a lot of crud caught up between the rads.

There is a possibility that geoff might have seen your car even though its been on mainland europe,he has done quite a lot of work in Gemany,did your car go straight to germany in 1990?,what is the production No of the car?

As for history ,i had no history with mine either,it went to Germany in 1990 came to the UK in mid 98 then i bought the car in may 99,the first owner came from Carlisle but only had the car for a few months(i bet the brakes scared him S**tless,they were so bad i replaced them moreless straight away with Brembo's),besides history counts for nothing when the cars come from another country,most vette owners i know want the car because they really WANT the car and unless there is something blatantly wrong then they are going to part with cash.

Good thing about working on your own car is you can see where others might have taken the odd short cut.

>> Edited by ZR1415 on Friday 5th September 10:02

ZR1415

Original Poster:

17,999 posts

250 months

Sunday 7th September 2003
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Ive just orderd the lexan glass hatch it weighs in at 15lbs as appossed to 47lbs for the stock rear hatch..This diets working out well so far.

ZR1415

Original Poster:

17,999 posts

250 months

Monday 8th September 2003
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Have you seen the cross brace that go's across the underneath and stiffens the chassis also the camber brace for a ZR1??,ive been trawling some sites while ive been off and found some interesting things

ZR1415

Original Poster:

17,999 posts

250 months

Monday 8th September 2003
quotequote all
found some stuff on http://store.yahoo.com/corvetteforum/c4-group-purchase.html
Looking forward to getting the rear lexan glass hatch from ecklers,should imagine it will take around 4 weeks to arrive,@ 15lbs in weight they might even put it on air-freight.

>> Edited by ZR1415 on Monday 8th September 10:23

ZR1415

Original Poster:

17,999 posts

250 months

Thursday 11th September 2003
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I only thought Kurt White was into transmisions?,you learn some thing every day,did you get your water pump thru him?