Corvette Moves Home!

Final thing left to fix in the garage was the floors. Most of the driver side had to be replaced and the passanger side also needed new sheetmetal in the seatbelt retractor pit. We started by cutting the driver floor out.

This way we got a nice Flintstones model :) The picture also shows a section of the wonderfully crafted exhaust pipe. We made plans to change the first part of the exhaust when the car would be running again.

My friend started working with the passanger side when I noticed that the missing floor worked as an excellent access hatch for the steering column wiring. As the turn signals were not working, I checked the connector. The main wiring harness and column harness connector was held together with cable tie and after I removed it, I noticed that they didn't fit together at all. None of the wires made contact. No wonder the turn signals were not working.

I figured that most likely someone had changed the steering column from some other model year and the connectors had changed. After wondering for a while, I had to cut all the wires and build a new connector. I was a bit disappointed as the turn signals still weren't working. Most likely the flasher had broke so I ordered a new one. One new working thing though was the braking lights! Unfortunately there also was a new safety feature: front brake lights!? When the brake pedal was pressed, both front turning signal lights lit up. Must be some innovative American invention. But as they weren't exactly legal in Finland, they would have to be removed later.

While my friend was welding, I also cleaned the seats a bit. Their brackets were stuck and the seats couldn't be moved. After adding some penetrating oil and hammering them a bit, they worked perfectly.

After a few busy nights of welding, my friend had fixed the passanger floor:

Build a sledge:

And used it to fix most of the driver side floor:

Now only the seatbelt pit on the driver side had holes. Unfortunately we didn't have time to fix it so it would have to be done later. Then we just set the wheel alignments correctly and started driving home!

We had to drive about 10 kilometer to get the car home. Luckily it was not snowing even though temperature was below freezing point. The Corvette seemed to run pretty well even though some electrical gremlins did appear. Headlights worked but the rear lights turned off after 5km. I would have to check the rear wiring harness later.

Without other problems, we got the car home for the first time in 22. December 2009!