57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Hello all, at Ogre's suggestion i decided I better start a build thread. First a little about me, old guy upper 60's, haven't done much of this kind of stuff since before i got married long time ago. Marriage, kids and business took all my time for all those years.
Now for the current project, my sons friend had done a lot of take apart and had started the body work enough you could see it wasn't near as bad as some of you guys start with but needed more. Was a running basket case, cab without doors that ran and got on my trailer. Heres a poor pic the day i drove it off the trailer into my shop.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Welcome aboard
What are your plans for it?

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Wasnt sure just where i wanted to go the project but knew it needed cab corners, lower hinge pockets ect. Pretty regular stuff. The old 235 ran pretty good, you could see head had been off and probably redone at some point as the paint was gone on it only, probably at least a valve job had been done and maybe more hard to tell, good oil pressure, started easy cold, not hardly any smoke, decided to keep it, and add a T5. Old stock rear end had a lot of slop when i turned the yoke back and forth, pinion leaked and wheel seals leaked. I found a ford 9" from a early 70's pickup and plan A was to switch them and go with stock leaf springs and eventually give the front end a mustang II front suspension. Plan A wasnt a bad plan but being a guy that just cant leave pretty good alone I really wasnt happy with plan A. Watching the builds on the forum provided a lot of ideas and things to think about. Did I tell you my body work skills suck? I struggled along as I found more things here and there on the body to fix. Continued working on the cab, couldn't find a place to stop and before long interior was stripped, fuel tank, wireing and all, no turning back now. Sorry i'm not very good at stopping and takeing pics. Some time dureing the cold snowy winter reading build threads here and everywhere i could find them. The C4 builds really intrigued me, but had kind of pushed it out of my mind as being to much work and money. Then craigs list popped up with a complete rear suspension for a $100. Advertised as a 44 from an '87 stick shift car, next day i braved a snow storm to go see it, turned out to be a 36 from a '85 car, but for a franklin i brought it home and it was game on.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Welcome.
Kim

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Guess i better add to my build thread and at least get a little more current.
After the C4 rear was found i went on the hunt for a front suspension, found 1 from an '88 so now I had the start of what i wanted. So next was to pull. The cab off and strip the frame of all unneeded parts and miserable rivets, was kinda crusty so off to a sand blaster to clean it up. looked at different methods and kits to mount both front and rear and decided to try and build my own mounts. With the help from several members here, a few do overs i got both front and rear mounted.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Some more

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Looks real nice.
Kim

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

You're off to a good start!

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

lookin good

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Very cool.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Nice.
Subscribed.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Guess i better continue the saga, the old 235 was crusty, greasy, and dirty. After much scraping, brushing, brake clean, and more cleaning i gave it a paint job, wish i would have had a little more paint at the time, seems a little thin inplaces now. Sants Clause brought a few goodies to bolt on. I made brackets for the alternator and PS pump, plumbed hot water to the intake maniflod. Made spacers for the carb tops so my air cleaners would clear and carb linkage to fit.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Another

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Next came setting motor in to make sure everything will clear

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Nope that wont work, it will after i raised the motor and trans an inch

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Seems everybody doing a C4 R&P has to rotate the lines so clear, so after reading and asking questions here I undertook the task, wasnt to bad, seems to have worked, jury will be out until i put pressure to it.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Engine looks real nice.
Kim

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

HEY! ive got a 2003 gmc sierra rack and pinion in my truck, problem is the company that makes the kit wants $550 (with shipping to send me a new one). However i can go down to napa and buy one for $200 bucks but i need to rotate it 180 degrees. How did ya do it?

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Not sure what your R&P looks like, mine has 2 rivet kind of fastners that held the steel tube to the cast aluminum about in the middle. I undid the lines and teased out the rivets with a hammer and chisel, screw driver, vice grips and what ever was handy at the time. They screw in with very coarse thread, about a quarter turn and the come out. Then I turned the steel tube with a pipe wrench to where I thought it would clear, redrilled the holes in the aluminum side and hammered the rivet screw deals back in. Then I massaged the original lines to where they would hook back up.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Very nice!

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

A little more on the mounts i made for the rear suspension, plan is to use theoriginal leaf spring, some say they ride kinda hard, will take my chances. The wish bone mount and the pinion mount were pretty straight forward, dog bone mounts were a little tougher to make simple and look good.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Another

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Side view with shock mounts, i created a small pile of scrap iron makeing these, several different versions i didnt like before i settled on these.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Next detail was i needed to mount an oil filter, original was a cartridge filter that hung on the intake manifold. I wanted to go to a spinon filter, always hated the cartridge ones. The 235 of my vintage is not a full flow fiter system its a bypass system so special considerations were needed. So off to the Inet to do the research, Inliners, Tom Langdon, Deves Tech all helped to figure out what was needed, anybody interested drop me a line, i think i have it right. Made a bracket and found a place to mount it so it is accessable and out of the way. Bent a couple lines and made the proper oriface.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

SVR - Everything looks great!

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

thanks, mine looks about the same, ill pick one up and give it a try.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Looks real nice.
Kim

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

One of the things I wanted to figure out before I mounted the cab was the brake master cylinder. Original plan was for a vacume boost master to operate the C4 brakes. I wanted to use the original pedal and after looking at several 7-8" boosters advertised as useing the original pedal, i was haveing trouble convincing myself the small booster with the limited vacume of my 235 would end in a happy situation. i decided a hydroboost system would be the best alternative. More research, reading, help from members here and a few trips to a couple of junk yards I came up with a mustang cobra hydroboost as one that should work. I wanted a remote reservoir and the plastic one it came with would come off pretty easy. I needed to make some fittings to accept lines from the master to the reservoir. A little measureing and lathe work I came up with these.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

I made them out of 1/8x1/2 brass pipe bushings

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

To mount the hydroboost I layed the original on a piece of 1/2x3 flat iron and marked and drilled holes to match the original mounting and pedal pin. Then made a piece to mount the hydroboost to and lined them up and welded them.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Have since added a gusset to strengthen the thing, now all i have to do is make an adjustable pushrod from the pedal to the hydroboost that allows the pedal to sit in its proper position. Will do that after the cab is on.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Nice work on the hydro boost.
Kim

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Next up was getting frame on wheels so i could put the cab and body work back together to checkwhere the wheels aligned with wheel openings.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Body and fenders on, when i blow it apart to finish the welding andfinish work i plan to move the fron axle slightly forward maybe1/2" or so, will do some more playing around by moveing a tire forward a bit to get a better idea.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Next is putting the bed back on to check rear wheel alignment and spaceing for rims and tires. Bed wouldnt fit between tires without makeing some mini tubs or spaceing tires out about 1.5" on each side. Decision time, lots of measureing and sleaping on the issue. It looks like with an 1.5" spacer on each side the tires will clear both inside and out. Waiting on a couple spacers to test this idea, thinking mini tubs will be a better solution, we'll see.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Mean while i wanted to continue solveing the puzzle what fits where and how its supposed to fasten to what with what fasteners. I needed to cut out my inner fenders to clear the C4 upper control arms. I missed on the first one, had to weld some back in.

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Passenger side

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

Looking good.
Kim

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

I got the rear fenders mounted with some 1.5" wheel spacers and they put the tires right where they need to be, no tubs needed. The tires are 285 40x17 on what corvette advertises as 9.5" with +56mm back space. So if my calculations are right the 56mm less the 1.5" (38.1mm) means a +18mm back space 9.5" wheel will keep the tire in the same place. That sound right?

Re: 57 Short Box 235 5sp C4
 

To clear the R&P steering i had to raise themotor and trans an inch, so now trans needed a bit more room in the cab, had to modify the trans cover to make room.