“I went to my old friend Ray Godman [a high-performance mentor in Memphis for at least 50 years] for a remote vacuum booster/master cylinder, stainless hard lines, hardware, and fittings. When it came time to replace the fuel lines and fittings as well as those for power steering, well, Ray helped me out again.”
It was important to Trent that the cockpit, interior, dashboard and gauges retained their original appearance, so Randy began with the positioning of the LS1 motor and transmission so that the stick shift sprouted from the stock location. The Hurst shifter gives it an old-timey performance look.
Fabricated frame mounts retain stock cylinder-block insulators. Randy crafted a crossmember tab and attached it to the original X-frame to support the tailshaft of the T56 and fabbed mounts for the clutch slave cylinder, hooking the pushrod to the original clutch pedal. What would he do about the old cable-driven tachometer? Simple. He sent it to Palo Alto Speedometer in Palo Alto, California, for an electronic conversion but retained the original face, needle and housing. Slick.
He had the original radiator reamed and steam-cleaned and it works way better than he’d expected. The large air opening at the front of the car and an abundance of room on either side of the engine ensures terrific air circulation abetted by the LS1’s reverse-flowing
cooling system. Randy: “In 100 degree heat, the engine runs at 180-190-degrees. When the weather’s cooler, like in the 70-80 degree range, Trent has to block off about 40 percent of the radiator just to keep the engine warm. A thermostatically-controlled electric fan surrounding the radiator comes on if there are long periods of idling in traffic.”
The engine pulls sustenance from an original GM pump and fuel sender unit in the stock tank, thus requiring a new fuel line and return line. For the accessories, he fabbed a power steering pump mount and utilized an alternator mount, drive belt, and idler system from Street & Performance in Mena, Arkansas. He incorporated the ECU that came with the 305hp Camaro engine and to complete the circuits, he used an S&P wiring harness.
Trent wanted the Corvette so Leigh could get in and drive whenever she liked, to get groceries or haul one of their three kids to and from. Randy finished the Corvette a little more than more than a year ago and since then the couple has piled 14,000 joyous miles on it without incident. One look at the undercarriage is testimony to that.
Randy shared a little bit of what’s to come from Creative Auto & Fabrication (www.creativeautofabrication.com), : an LS7-urged tube-chassis ’65 Riviera and a Toyota xB toaster that’ll vibrate with a 750hp turbocharged 4-cylinder backed by a 5-speed and rear-wheel drive--all of it appearing as if it was born that way.
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