First was to remove the original urethane rear bumper and replace it with one of our own in house GRP 1980 style rear bumpers. I think this really improves the look of 78/79 Corvettes.

Next was to fit a Pace Car style front spoiler, once again these are our own panels, and whilst not the easiest thing to fit, the fit is excellent, assuming of course there are no prior problems with the car…..

…And with this one there was. The front fenders had been cut away at some point in the cars history, not a problem for us though, we added the missing fiberglass back in and were able to carry on.

By this time we had started to deal with one or two of the mechanical issues. Here we have renewed the fuel hoses, union, and filter. Replaced the distributor cap and rotor arm, fitted new fan and power steering belts and replaced some of the poorly routed vacuum hoses. The plug leads need to be replaced and the heater has been bypassed so obviously a problem with the heater core.

The heater core getting replaced. We have also replaced the Mickey Mouse plumbing fittings in the intake manifold and fitted the correct Corvette heater hose fitting.

The old exhaust system removed and the new headers installed. If you must fit headers, these are the ONLY headers to fit. This is our Magnaflow dual exhaust system with ceramic coated Patriot headers. The fit is superb and they sound awesome.

The new plug leads going on, we always use these aluminium stand-offs when working with headers, it is the only way to prevent burned through plug wires, they look good too!

Having removed the transmission oilpan to replace the filter, a considerable amount of metallic grey sludge covered the inside of the oilpan. Bill had expressed an interest in our 700R4 4 speed auto conversion, so rather than spend money on this transmission it was decided to take the plunge and order the new transmission kit.

And if you're going to do that, you might as well do this, right?

This is the Steeroids rack and pinion conversion. This is a really nice conversion that eliminates any vagueness in the steering and gives the car a more modern feel, assuming everything else is in good order of course.

And for good measure, a set of Smart Struts took care of the rear end. These really improve the overall feel of the car and are one of the most effective upgrades around for sensible money.

The engine driven fan had previously been removed and replaced with a pair of electric fans but didn't have a very nice switching system, we installed a nicer relay setup with a temperature switch in the cylinder head.

With the mechanicals out of the way it was time to look at the interior. Here we have installed a heater reface kit to the heater controls. Not only do these look great and really refresh the dash. They also give the heater control a much more positive feel. It’s all good.

Next was to install a No-Mar dash kit. Now I have always steered clear of these as the majority I see are poorly installed and look tatty, but I have to confess, Ronni did a superb job of the installation and it really did look very sharp. The fit was good although she had to clearance the centre console a little to clear the ashtray door.

Carpets and hi-fi were next on the list. Here the new rear carpet has gone in, along with a new rear compartment set and a pair of 6x9 rear speakers behind the stock speaker grilles.

Ronni is installing the front carpet set and front speakers. These are to be hidden behind the factory kick panels.

1970’s Corvette seats aren’t that comfortable and Bill took advantage of a set of 79-82 seats that I had for sale. They are pretty scruffy though.

But not any more!! We cleaned and painted the seat backs and bases to match the interior colour and fitted a new set of mounted leather seat covers and new hinge covers. We also cleaned and painted the seat runners and fitted new carpet to the seat backs.

All that remained to do was wheel alignment, MOT and road test.

The engine bay looking a lot more like it. We replaced the expansion tank with a new one  and fitted a new air filter assembly.

II would have liked to replace the covered hoses. Firstly I don’t much care for the look of them and secondly it bothers me that you can’t see the state of the rubber underneath. Sadly I couldn’t convince Bill and the customer is always right, right?

The new interior looks lovely.

And that’s all folks! Bill had his own man deal with the paintwork. The car was certainly a lovely place to be when it left us, the new carpets and seat covers looked great and were very comfortable. The wood dash insert really popped and this Corvette performed with the best due to the Steeroids, Smart struts, and four speed auto combination.