I added some pictures at the end, as I've made some more progress. I got the new header pipes welded to the factory cat-back, installed my Hurst shifter (and a spiffy new boot), an R-D Racing Cross-Frame, and new brakes (rotors, pads, SS lines & speed bleeders).

http://bradprestonmusic.com/Photos/Ve ... ect_Spring2008/index.html

Now if the weather will cooperate, I'll be driving it tomorrow :toothy8:

Mate looks like youve dome some great work there, should run great ;)

How was the install on the Hurst? I've been thinking of getting one, but am a bit intimidated by the install

THE HEADERS LOOK GREAT PLUS THE OTHER WORK YOUVE DONE
SHOULD SOUND NEAT IN THE EXHAUST DEPARTMENT

I'm impressed. Looking good.

Thanks, guys!

Mekanik, the Hurst install wasn't terrible, but a few parts were a PITA. I had a helluva time getting the wedge out of the shift knob. The rubber boot that covers the top of the shifter opening had a ton of glue on it, which made removal a bear - once I got it off, I spent a good amount of time just cleaning that crap off (I used lots of WD-40 and some denatured alcohol). Some people have trouble driving the drift pin out of the shift rod linkage - mine was a piece of cake, just a few taps and it was out, and the same going back in. I used a bungee cord to hold back the lower rubber boot when disconnecting/reconnecting the shift rod - not much room to work in there. Getting the shift rod aligned to slip back onto the transmission rod was also a challenge - my wife tried to help (lifting the shifter a bit), but I wound up doing it myself. At one point while trying to align it, I accidentally knocked the transmission into another gear where the shift rod recessed into the transmission a bit, but thankfully it was easy to pull back out. At any rate, it can be done, but be prepared to be patient. And wear blue nitrile gloves - the shifter mechanism is a greasy SOB.

I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of this project - and plenty of sore muscles and cuts and scrapes. And I know my car much better now than when I started - it's quite a piece of machinery!

A couple other random notes:

I'm pretty happy with the exhaust - at my age, I wanted something with a little rumble, but civilized. Sounds great at WOT, and barely louder than stock at cruise.

I found that when installing the Cross-Frame on my '96, I had to grind a little bit out of the frame seam next to the parking brake cable in order for the cable to tuck back in there. And I found it easier to use the Cross-Frame itself to install the nut-serts, rather than using the little backer tool they provide. I just drilled the holes, put a bolt and flat washer through each of the bolt holes in the Cross-Frame, threaded the nut-serts onto them, and lifted the frame up so the nut-serts went into the holes I had drilled. I used my floor jack to hold the Cross-Frame snugly in place while I tightened the nuts. Saves at least one step in the process.

One other thing about doing all of this work myself - I've done a good bit of cleaning as I've gone along, something most repair shops wouldn't take the time to do. The engine compartment and undercarriage isn't show-car clean, but I'm sure it hasn't looked this good since mile 1.

Pics look great!

Matthew

Mate it all looks like a high standard of work, and you know im not easily impressed.

One thing i noticed though, the O2 location on the headers, is it at the top of the collector?

Thanks again, guys!

Case, yes, the O2 bungs on the collectors are at the top, angled forward a bit.

Nice lookin work Brad.....

Should be smooth sailin' to Pa. this summer.

Gary

No worries mate yeah, thats what i thought when i was looking at them. Do you think it would be able to read the gases from all 4 cylinders each side setup like that? Not that it really matters a great deal, itll still work ok, just a great potential there for split BLMs being that its sequential injection.

Definitely something to watch for - I think I'll pull the plugs after I've put some miles on them to see if they all look uniform.

Will depend abit on which cylinders it takes the biggest reading from, cause they will all run abit different. The sequential injection goes even for all 8 cylinders at about 14-15% throttle, still fires them in timed order, just even for all instead of compensating for differing flows.

The tubes aren't equal length, so I wonder if that will have any bearing. Anyway, it seems to be running great, feels stronger than before, especially in the mid-range.

tuned headers are such a black art... they HAVE to breathe better than the stock iron manifolds.

Looks GREAT!!!! Where did you get the trick red radiator hoses??? those are neat!

tuned headers are such a black art... they HAVE to breathe better than the stock iron manifolds.

Looks GREAT!!!! Where did you get the trick red radiator hoses??? those are neat!

Thanks Andy! I got the hoses from silhoses.com - they were kinda spendy, but they're supposed to be excellent hoses, and I liked the look.

I bought an AFSB targa bar a while back on that other forum, and finally got to try it out today. Man, that thing is sweeeeeet! The car seemed even stiffer than with the fiberglass top.

Quote:

Which bar did you get Brad???

The R-D bar???

Gary

Looks like you did a nice job. Great pic.

Quote:

I got this one - bought it used for $300:

http://www.prostreetcustoms.net/CorvettePage.html

My wife likes it, as it gives her something to grab onto - LOL!

Quote:

I was almost afraid to ask Brad.....Glad that's the one you got.

IMO the R-D bar is just ugly....

Gary

I agree - I don't care for the square tubing on the R-D version. I'm sure it works just fine, but looks pretty fugly.