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DIYGUY
10-19-2012, 08:43 PM
Finally happy to join you guys here. I actually didn't know about the GTM until about 4 months ago but I was sold pretty quick. What a neat car. I 'd been looking for a car and was thinking about restoring an older 60's Corvette. After having done a 1970, I can't say that I enjoyed the cleanup and restoration of the old stuff. Also, I built an RV7 and am into the aviation stuff (My trade) and thought the GTM was the best of both my worlds. Mainly cars and planes. Anyway, it didn't take long before I made the order. I recieved the kit two weeks ago.

I Just brought the Donor home today. I spent several weeks looking at salvaged vettes and then last Saturday I did a casual check on ebay. Contemporary Corvettes (FParts) had a clean 98 black convertible that took a hit square on the front left bumper. It looked like it hit a stop sign because the damage looked like a cut through the bumper and directly into the forward most frame end and left light. The rest of the car was beautiful....almost to the extent I thought about just fixing it. Anyway, it has 98K miles and it's very clean. I figured I'd sell whatever I can down the road. I'll probably not use the engine....although it runs great as I found out today after taking it for a quick spin. That LS-1 is a pretty darn strong engine. I've been dreaming of an LS-7 but the LS-1 had me thinking twice this afternoon. Still, I'll likely remove the engine and sell it to stick with the plan.

I need to check my build number. I think it's somewhere near 410 but I'll post it in the future.

By the way...I don't have many extra hands around. I went to Lowes and found a drywall scafold and used a bunch of pulleys and an electric winch to hoist the body off and on. I had to space the scafold by 1-2 inches in width and used square steel box legs to extend height slightly to straddle the car and get the body up high enough to work on it. Here's a few pictures.

John

timmy318
10-19-2012, 08:46 PM
Where you located? Be glad to help a little here and there!!!

DIYGUY
10-19-2012, 08:48 PM
I'm down in Southern Maryland - Mechanicsville. Thanks.

sk7500
10-19-2012, 08:57 PM
Gotta love that "New Kit" smell in the shop.

Kempo
10-19-2012, 09:02 PM
Welcome to the forum an the comunity. This place is full of great people willing to help. It seems you have started with the right foot by getting a donor in such good shape. Happy building.

kabacj
10-19-2012, 09:20 PM
Hey John

Welcome. Good idea with the body lift setup. I have taken the body on and off a hundred times. I wish I had one of those. Currently my wife helps me lift it on and off. She loves that.

Very nice donor car. Almost a shame to tear it up.

You are going to love this build. Its more fun then a resto in my opinion. Nothing is dirty or rusty. And all your work results in something really special. I am not done with my build and I cant wait to start another one.

Congratulations!

John

VD2021
10-19-2012, 11:38 PM
Welcome John.

DIYGUY
10-20-2012, 06:40 AM
Thanks all.

Yes, for a few reasons I went with the whole car idea but it's hard to see through Ebay. Price wise, the car fell between a kit of all new donor parts and a pallet of salvage donor parts. The gamble was whether things were clean enough to use or sell if I didn't. The picture that caught me on this was the damage shot and the engine. In both, (And they always blanket everything with Armorall) I noticed that the colors of the plastic, cables, metal, hardware etc didn't have the typical age staining that occurs after years of daily driving in wet conditions. That and the limited damage was about all I had to tell myself to pick this one.

A thing that might interest you is that I walked around the FParts yard (Courtesy of the guys at Contemporary Corvettes) and had a chance to see all the parts and their operations. There is truly an amazing collection of modern corvettes in various stages of salvage. From what I saw, it would be fairly easy to assemble multiple GTM kits of fairly high quality. I saw suspension set after suspension set....all in good condition. The only thing I made note of was that after stripping the primary interior parts, the remaining stuff goes outside. I'm sure they have many......many interior sets and everything else warehoused. There are multiple buildings on the property full of stuff from the cars.

A thing I learned was that GM isn't accommodating repair shops with parts to the extent Insurance companies opt to repair the Corvettes. I could spend about $1500 and do a DIY fix on this car. This is something everyone should consider. You could really get a deal on a Vette (For the wife maybe) by buying a salvaged one and fixing it.

John

Kalstar
10-20-2012, 07:07 AM
Welcome to the fold. Good luck on the build and never be afraid to ask even if you think the question is silly. The GTM is not a
"snap together" model in a box, lots of cutting, triming and customizations. But when done, you truely have a one of a kind.

Happy to help where I can.....just ask.

Jim

VD2021
10-20-2012, 07:15 AM
I paid $4500 for my donor (2000 coupe with 64k miles). It ran perfectly and had no MIL. It had front clip damage. The headlights and fog lights even worked.

I've used more from the donor than everyone and still my donor has paid for itself. I sold the LS1 and some of the larger parts, traded or given away parts, have some parts left to get rid of yet. So your labor brings very good ROI especially if you start with a great deal on the donor.

Good luck.

Presto51
10-22-2012, 07:05 AM
Welcome to party John. Always nice to see another Maryland GTM buld happening. We're here to help so just ask