While the body was being done, my dad had plenty of time to make the engine nice and pretty. One of the fuellie heads was cracked, so they were sent off to be fixed and have new springs and valves installed. The rocker covers were polished up, the intake was sandblasted to bring back the original raw-aluminium finish, and a new cam, lifters, new rings and bearings were also installed to freshen the engine up. At this stage I did not want any more power, I just wanted to make sure the engine was as new as the rest of the car so I would have no problems. My search for more power would come later.
Once the engine and gearbox were installed back into the chassis, we were almost ready to drop the body back on the frame. This was in October 1996, almost twelve months after I started the restoration. A new, shorter Hurst shifter (donated by my good friend Frank from Massachusetts) sits atop the rebuilt Muncie gearbox.
This photo shows the new steering box. I had Greg Morris, one of Sydney's foremost
experts on Corvette steering conversions, manufacture a completely new steering system.
I did not want a standard 58-62 steering conversion, and after a little
experimentation and research, he came up with a very nice solution. He started with
a steering box out of a 1971 Corvette, and we mounted it on the outside of the right frame
rail. The frame had to be sectioned to fit the new steering box square. The
idler arm (shown in the picture below) is also from a '70s Corvette. The drag link
between these two components was custom made, and needed to be x-rayed and crack tested to
ensure it would comply with the strict Australian auto modification rules. Greg
spent many hours making sure the whole setup was correct, eliminating the bump-steer that
the previous two steering systems had.
This photo shows the Corvette idler arm mounted on the outside of the left frame rail.
Also, the hydraulic clutch (which is the normal setup for left-to-right conversions
on the early Corvettes) was left in place.
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