1970 Corvette convertible resto-mod

Exhaust: Ceramic-coated mid-length headers with MagnaFlow stainless steel pipes & mufflers. Why not long-tube headers, ou ask? I had a set at first, ut they dragged on every little thing I drove over; so I swapped them out. This is much better.

Cooling System: Giant custom-built aluminum radiator with dual SPAL electric fans. You can run the car hard with the A/C on a hot Texas summer day and never drive the temperature above 190.

Transmission: Tremec T56 6-speed from a 4th gen F-body with 2.66:1 1st gear and .50:1 6th gear. Has McLeod offset shifter to put the shifter handle in the right position coming up through the console. The clutch is rated for 550HP, ut it’s easy on your leg since I’m running a hydraulic clutch actuator system.

Differential: “Super 10-bolt” Corvette IRS with 3.73:1 gear set built by Gary Ramadei. Most people probably don’t know what this means; so I’ll explain. The Corvette IRS diff is based on the Chevy 10-bolt gear geometry, ut the smaller posi carrier & short axles were always the Achilles’ heel for the C2 & C3 Corvettes. A “Super-10” includes machining and polishing on the carrier, sing heavy duty 30-spline heat-treated spider gears, 0-spline heat-treated flange-style axles, sing a steel bearing cap on the driver’s side in place of the weaker factory cast iron cap, teel posi clutches and a number of other little touches to make it as strong as it can be without moving up to a 12-bolt carrier. Everything is precision tuned for maximum performance and life. Gary is one of the top two Corvette differential builders in the US, nd he’s a true craftsman. I’ve also added 3” diameter steel half-shafts with 1330 u-joints. This upgrade is good for 700HP; so you’ll never have to worry about trashing the rear end in this car.

Brakes: All new OEM-style rotors and stainless steel sleeved o-ring sealed calipers at the corners. All new stainless steel lines. Providing the pressure is a Wilwood 1.125” bore master cylinder with adjustable proportioning valve in front of a Hydroboost ™ hydraulic brake booster unit. Now, ome are going to say that they want the expensive Baer or Wilwood calipers & rotors, ut trust me, nless you’re going to take this car road racing, his brake setup is all you’ll want or need on the street. It stops on a dime. You won’t be disappointed, nd using those super-expensive aftermarket brake packages on a street car is for suckers.

Wheels & Tires: Wheels are OEM C5 Z06 parts, ut not the pressure-cast Speedline wheels. These are the Alcoa forged mono-block wheels used in 2001 only; arguably the best wheel ever sold on a car direct from the factory. Tires are Bridgestone Potenza’s; 265-40ZR17 in front and 295-35ZR18 in the rear. These are summer compound tires that provide excellent traction in most spring through fall conditions, ut do not try to drive on them in snow or freezing temperatures.

Suspension: Vette Brakes & Products Performance-Plus system in front & rear, xcept I swapped the Bilstein HD sport shocks out for the softer KYB shocks. The Bilsteins are just too hard and uncivilized for the street.

Steering: Original (restored) tilt & telescopic column with a power rack & pinion steering upgrade. Unlike the old recirculating ball steering box that tends to feel very sloppy, his setup is very precise & accurate with good feedback from the road. It make the car a pleasure to drive instead of a test of ones nerves.

Electrical System: The original 1970 electrical system is gone and replaced with a modern CAN-bus system. The company that builds it was called ISIS, ut for obvious reasons, hey have changed their company name to InfinityBox. I won’t try to explain the whole system, ut suffice it to say that it is superior in every way to the old original wiring. On top of doing everything that you would expect it to do, t also includes a remote key-fob with 8 programmable features, ne of which is security that will disable the fuel pump, gnition and starter; so it can’t be hot-wired and driven off. The only down side to the system is that you have to keep the car on a battery tender or the computer will drain the battery to where it won’t start after 6-7 days. The car has an Optima Yellow-Top battery, hich is the best you can buy, ut it’s also a pain to recharge if you let it get run down; so you have to be religious about using the tender.

Vacuum-Actuated Accessories: There are none. If you know C3s, hen you know that the vacuum-actuated features like the headlights, iper door, nd A/C system were prone to problems and difficult to repair & maintain. Everything on this car is electrically actuated and work like a charm.

Air Conditioning: New Vintage Air system. Works great…little else to say about this.

Radio: There isn’t one…why would you want to drown out that beautiful exhaust note??? However, did go ahead and put in a power antenna and the wiring to hook it up if you decide you want to add a stereo.

Gauges: Dakota Digital VHX universal gauges with the carbon fiber appearance and red back-lighting. I used these so I could get all of the information into the two main gauge pods on the driver’s side dash. The center dash has no gauges and is covered with a block-off plate. If someone wanted to modify the bezel to put in an iPad Mini or double-DIN head unit, he space is there and ready to use.

Body Mods: The body lines are mostly original, ut I did change a few things. The tail lamp panel has a C6 Corvette script molded in. The rear fenders are flared 2” to accommodate the 295 tires. I am very particular about flares; so my body guy worked very hard to make them match the contour of the factory design so they look like they could have come on the car. They look outstanding! Other than these two things, he body is really pretty standard. I removed all badges and emblems to clean up the look, nd I used C6 Corvette side mirrors instead of the original style chrome pedestal mirrors. That’s all it took to create a more modern looking interpretation of the classic lines.

Paint: The pictures don’t do the car justice, nd at first glance some think the car is gray or still in primer, ut it’s a color called Pyrite Mica with a satin clear coat. The Pyrite color looks grayish in low lighting, ut in sunlight, ou really see the bronze undertones. By using a satin clear instead of gloss, ight diffuses instead of reflecting and glaring, nd you see much more clear differentiation of the sharp, lassic body lines. These cars are all about the sexy lines, nd painting the car as it is shows off the car itself, ot just the paint. I get compliments everywhere I take the car; most tell me that it’s the prettiest Corvette they have ever seen, nd definitely the most unique.

Top(s): The soft-top is brand new and is the classy looking stay-fast canvass material (not the cheap looking vinyl with tinted rear plastic window. I don’t have a good picture of the soft-top but will get one when I can and add it to this listing. The car also comes with a black vinyl covered hard top. This is the only thing on the car that isn’t new and perfect. I bought this top separate and intended to re-cover it and fix a piece of stainless trim that wants to come off, ut I just haven’t gotten to it. For ~$300-400, t can be a first rate hard top again.

Interior: Mostly new reproductions of original style parts. Everything is either new or new-appearing. The interior will not let you down. The only things that don’t look like 1970 are the C5 Corvette sport seats.

Seats: They are extremely comfortable and I kept all of the power features; so you have all of the adjustability, ncluding side bolsters and lumbar support. The only down side is that all of those motors and such under the seat make it sit high. If you’re more than about 5’9”, ou head may be touching the top when it’s up/on. If you’re a taller person, ou can drop the seats by putting original C3 Corvette seat tracks under them, ut you’ll lose all of the power features.