1975 Plastic fantastic aka Corvette

[Scott Liggett]

GM is famous for the washer-theory - that they'll spend time finding a way to remove a washer because they factor it over hundreds of thousands of cars.... but still, this is a low-production sports car; telling racers that they have to spend 40 plus hours to correct a factory condition is a really good way of convincing racers to use BMWs.

Car company bean counters main job are just these things. It's nothing new. Go back to when the Pinto was ramping up for production. The famous gas tank explosions and subsequent law suits. It was all over a part that would cost the car around $12 per car to fix. The bean counters figured the amount of cars built, the cost of the part added to the cost of building the car. Then they did some adding what the likelihood of an accident causing an explosion, the amount of deaths caused in these situations, then the likelihood of lawsuits by surviving family members, the cost of the lawsuits and possible losses. In the end, they figured it would be cheaper in the long run not put the $12 part on the car.

What they didn't count on was the publicity of the car problems and the deaths. The news stories really threw a wrench into all that accounting done by the bean counters. Because of the all the news stories, they ended up having to do a recall and putting that $12 part on all the Pintos they didn't think was worth putting on the car during the time of the manufacturing.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Summit paint. I was asked before what I thought. Here it is - don't ever buy paint from them. The paint has terrible orange peel, runs if you look at it wrong, and is the wrong color. When confronted with being wrong, their first words "oh, we need to send you a color chip because you can't judge by what you see on the screen." Which they did, and they didn't send me the color chip for the color I bought. When I point this out to them (now two weeks later), they have an interesting response because, now, after I got the chip, they take a two tack response 1) that the color in the shadow is the correct color (I sent them the picture that's in my avatar) - Dark Candy Apple Red; and 2) that they can judge whether the color is right by looking at it through their monitor.

I violated my own rule, never buy paint online, and here's what happens when I do that.... damn me trying to save money.

Here ya go Summit - I told you I'd advertise for you.

Did I mention that all I'm asking for is a refund of the cost of simply the paint? There was also a third argument that went - well, it's paint, so we did nothing wrong

[JOES66FURY]

I like the color, looks good on it.

[Russell]

yeah the runs and orange peel bother me more than the color being off. Where you able to cut and buff the runs and orange out? imho red is one of the hardest colors to match

[SuperBuickGuy]

in hindsight, I should have just stopped and gotten better paint....

anyway, after something like 30 hours sanding, cutting and buffing - this is what it looks like


yep, still a few runs, little orange peel, and I still need to spend at least another 10 hours buffing.... maybe even a couple hours sanding first.... anyway - it does look good, even in person.

and in other news, I got the headlight doors to open (and close) correctly (woohoo!!!)

[Scott Liggett]

Every car that comes out of the factory has orange peel. Every one. So, you did just as good as the factories.

[JOES66FURY]

Man, I really like that friggin car. The side pipes make it. The color looks good too, not too bright...might look really good with that center bulge in the hood blacked out...just tossin' that out there...track day car and all...cut down on the glare and what not lol....

[SuperBuickGuy]

Man, I really like that friggin car. The side pipes make it. The color looks good too, not too bright...might look really good with that center bulge in the hood blacked out...just tossin' that out there...track day car and all...cut down on the glare and what not lol....

I need another 2" over the engine.... so there will be a larger bulge soon That hood may be painted flat black

[JOES66FURY]

great minds think alike....

[SuperBuickGuy]

So I get a response from Summit, they'll give me a discount if I buy more paint from them. I responded that I expect they'll get a discount in people buying their paint given my extremely negative review of their product..... this paint sags worse than the pants of guys at a hip hop concert.

But at least the manufacturer decided that their paint met their standards - as it's crappy paint, it's really no surprise about that.

[SuperBuickGuy]

There are days when I know God is watching over me.






I spent the evening installing mufflers in the side pipes, and it was not going well. On my list was replace the carb and fix the bend in the fuel line (yesterday, I was having trouble with the idle circuit balancing... so I figured I'd change carbs to one I know works right)...
So I put it on
and run into problems

no picture, but they're solve - I changed the outlet on the heater hose....

So I finally get to start it up, and it oils down the floor.... wtf? mind you, I had to cut screws that started, then cross threaded half way up the screw... so it just wasn't my night

Until the thing blew oil across the floor on my lift. There's no reason it should have blown there. I didn't do anything which would have caused it to blow... yet it did, where I could fix it, and without blowing up the motor (or worse) doing it out on the road(course). Did I mention I was planning on going running it at a road course tomorrow?

[Deaf Bob]

How do you break those adaptors?
They are not unbreakable... But I have never heard of one breaking..

[SuperBuickGuy]

How do you break those adaptors?
They are not unbreakable... But I have never heard of one breaking..

and why then? I did nothing with the oil system. Changed the oil a month or more ago, the engines been heat cycled dozens of times since...

and me neither, I'd never seen one break

[Deaf Bob]

and why then? I did nothing with the oil system. Changed the oil a month or more ago, the engines been heat cycled dozens of times since...

and me neither, I'd never seen one break

Lift hit it? Naah.. Would have a deformed filter housing...
I have bashed them and the new filter ALWAYS held oil! Knock wood .

[langleylad]

I had a oil filter ( Ford 390 ) ballon on me and oil down the road one morning while I was warming it up . It was the oil pump that caused it to happen .