I've been working on my 63 convertible for a few months, and I finally got the rear suspension put together and converted to 5 lug. Here are a couple of pictures of the project. I'm a big fan of patina, so I'll be leaving the body alone. I plan on putting a set of TSW Watkins wheels on it (18s front and 20s rear) I'll be starting the front end conversion to QA1s and disc brakes in a couple of weeks, and I plan on posting lots of pictures of that when I'm done. There are pics of the control arm modification, and some mock up pics.

Chad Guthrie
Rives Junction, MI
'63 convertible

This will be a fun project to follow!! Go for it!

MODERATOR
Sea Mountain, between Charleston Harbor and Coos Bay! SW Oregon Coast
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I got started on the front suspension over the weekend. I have the shock mount done, and it wasn't too much work at all. I had to remove part of the lower spring retaining ring, open the area where the shock bolts will go in from the top, and weld the shock mount to the arm (it just had 4 or 5 spot welds on the bottom) since it will now carry all of the front end weight. I have new upper and lower ball joints on the way and new lower control arm bushings coming too. I really want to get it done and drive it before summer is over, so I'll be rushing to put it together with plans to take it back apart this winter to clean and paint everything that I don't get to now. I have Tom Knoblauch's dropped hub mount on the shelf ready go go on the car, along with C5 hubs and drilled/slotted rotors and s10 calipers.

Chad Guthrie
Rives Junction, MI
'63 convertible

progress!

MODERATOR
Sea Mountain, between Charleston Harbor and Coos Bay! SW Oregon Coast
Click HERE for My Website...Click HERE for My TechPages!
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Slowly but surely I'm getting there. I hope to have the upper control arm bushings this week, then I can install the hub mount and disc brakes.

Chad Guthrie
Rives Junction, MI
'63 convertible

I bought a set of dropped hub mounts from Tom Knoblaugh a few months back, and finally have everything ready to assemble the front suspension. I cleaned everything up, replaced all of the bushings and ball joints, painted all the parts and the underside of the car while I had the suspension out. The first pic is of the parts that are going in the car. The hub mount comes with the necessary mounting hardware and uses the stock steering arms and corvette hubs which you have to order separately. the rotors are 4wd s10, and the calipers (which will be here in a couple of days) are also s10 parts.
I want to say that the parts from Tom are very well engineered and bolted on with absolutely no issues. Well worth the money spent.

Chad Guthrie
Rives Junction, MI
'63 convertible

A few more pics of the parts on the car. The parts are just mocked up for now, I'm sure you'll notice that the coilovers are missing. Tomorrow I'm picking up a tool that mounts inside a tire and bolt it to the car. It allows you to slide the tire in and out to determine wheel backspacing. I left the coilovers out so that I can articulate the suspension with the tire in to determine ride height and wheel backspacing. I'm going to run 18x7 wheels on the front, and the tool will help determine what else will have to be done to minimize rubbing and clearance issues.

Chad Guthrie
Rives Junction, MI
'63 convertible

Ready by Summer??

MODERATOR
Sea Mountain, between Charleston Harbor and Coos Bay! SW Oregon Coast
Click HERE for My Website...Click HERE for My TechPages!
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That's the plan. I should be able to order the front wheels in the next week or two. I bought a used rear disc brake kit from Crawford recently, so that's my next project. Summers still a long ways off here...

Chad Guthrie
Rives Junction, MI
'63 convertible

That rust would freak me out, but everything else makes this car look like a wonderful project. I look forward to watching the transformation.

Joe


1964 Spyder Convertible, Laurinburg North Carolina
Restoration Website: [www.corvairspyder.com]

Neat project!

I will be watching to see what mods are made to fit 18" and 20" wheels/tires.

Is that why you installed the coilovers?

Dean F. Gemberling
Columbus, Georgia
Heart of Georgia Corvair Club Webmaster
Springfest Webmaster

1963 Rampside w/305 V8 - Built by Ken Arnold in 1998

That's part of the reason, I really like the idea of being able to set the ride height exactly where I want it while being able to adjust ride quality to some extent. What I really liked about those is that the spring rides in the factory upper spring pocket, so I didn't have to fab an upper mount to make it work. I honestly think the mods to fit the wheels/tires I want will be very minimal, but I'll know for sure soon.

I dig the rampy!

Chad Guthrie
Rives Junction, MI
'63 convertible

I'm no body guy and I've been looking at this repair for a long time sizing it up. I finally took it on last week and I think I did a pretty good job. I tried to make the cut so that the bumper would hide the seam and the bodywork. I have the first coat of mud on but haven't sanded it yet. When I put the car in the barn I put the rear kind of close to the wall, so the pictures aren't that great. the first pic is of the rusty panel. The second one is after I cut the outer sheet metal and the inner structure, after drilling a boatload of spot welds. The third one is the repair panels with the rusty parts laid on top of them.

Chad Guthrie
Rives Junction, MI
'63 convertible

Next pic is of the inner structure welded in. Then the outer sheet metal spot welded in. I filled in all of the welds before I skim coated it. The last one is the first coat of filler before sanding. I'll get it smoothed out and then I'm thinking about spray bombing it with white chalkboard paint to try to blend it with the rest of the car.

Chad Guthrie
Rives Junction, MI
'63 convertible

That’s awesome! I’m actually in the process of doing the same. I have everything I need but I wanted to ask you; who re drilled the rear axels and drums?

Thanks,

Darrin

Thanks Darrin! I drilled them myself, using an S10 rotor as a template and a drill press. You'll have to weld one of the holes in the axle before you drill them. There was a post on the other forum where I saw a guy who did it, if you search spyder bolt pattern change I think you'll find it... lots of good pics and advice.

Chad Guthrie
Rives Junction, MI
'63 convertible

This weekend I got some help around and put the powerpack back in my car. While it was out I painted the engine compartment, fixed up and re-taped the wiring harness, and cleaned up the engine a bit. I have rebuilt the carbs and cleaned up the fuel lines and other items, I just haven't put them back on yet. Once the engine was in I installed the rear swing-arms and the disc brakes Leveque disc brake kit that I bought from Crawford. I'll be borrowing a wheelworks.com wheel fitment tool from a friend so I can figure out what size tires and wheels I can run. I really wanted to put 18's on the front and 20's on the back, but 20's are just way to big. I'm probably going to end up with 17's front and 18's back. This is taking way longer than I planned. The pics show a 16" tire up front and a 20" in the back, those are just what I had sitting around here.

Chad Guthrie
Rives Junction, MI
'63 convertible

It is coming along!
Keep up the posts.
Oh, and it is nice to know that somebody LOVES you!

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WA. state, 1 mile south of the Canadian border, I am not at the end of the world, but you can see it from here.

Looks sweet!

Hilarious Mel!! I forgot that was there . Thanks Johnnya!

Chad Guthrie
Rives Junction, MI
'63 convertible