1998 CORVETTE DONOR - 10/19/12
After contemplating a pallet of salvage parts for 5K, new parts for 11K or a used Donor car for 10K, I had a hard time figuring out the best strategy. The thing that sold me on dropping the cash on an entire car was that I'd be able to control (to some extent) how parts were removed, what I'd get and what I'd make back selling the rest. After ordering the GTM I immediately started the search. About a month went by and after looking at every crashed vette in the country (It seemed) I nearly gave up hoping to see a new one posted somewhere that fit the bill. I ran into this on Ebay. The car had a meeting with a light pole that sliced through the front left bumber and hit the corner of the front frame. Truth is, I think a crow bar, some paint and a new bumber skin and light would have fixed it. The guy (Guy is his name) from FParts even cleaned it before I picked it up. It took a few days before I had the guts to pull it in the garage and tear it apart. Two weeks later I had all my parts, an attic full of ebay items and a trailer full of unuseable frame members. The final blow was an 18" sawzall, a broom and a dustpan. Don't get me wrong....it was it or the GTM and I don't have room for both. I still feel bad when I look at these pictures. Here's the accounting:
Donor Corvette $9,9951.00
Time to tear down: 2 weeks (Calendar days with a full time job. It goes pretty quick)
Parts sold to date - Return on investment: $7500
Parts remaining to sell:$appx $2000
Total cost of GTM parts + extra wiring, hardware etc: $451.00
LS1 ENGINE ALSO SOLD - INSTALLING LS7
To remove the engine and transmission, it was much easier peeling the car off a little at a time
At this stage I dropped the forward cross
member. The cross member engages the engine mounts, lower
A-arms and suspension. You must support the engine with a
cherry picker and the cross member with a jack. They separate
when you remove the engine mount bolts. The assembly is
pretty heavy and I had to lift the front a little to make
room. At this stage, the aft section of the car was getting
lighter so it was easier and easier to manipulate things.
Still, I always kept the jack stands and 4X4's under the frame to
keep from getting pinned under the car. No matter how light it may
seem, getting pinned in the wrong position can turn a good day into
a bad one.
In the above
photo I was getting to the back of the engine to see where the
brake lines and wiring was clamped to the center torque tube
attached to the transmission. Once I knew where they were, I cut
out the floorboards and body to gain full access to the bolts
attaching the bell housing to the torque tube and engine. I was
tired of being under the car so I went in from the
top.
Sawzall's are
great. You should buy one.
Although I've decided on an LS7, the LS1 was impressive when I
drove the car. This engine is a work of art combining
performance with quality and durability. GM did a good job on
the LS1 and anyone who uses the LS1 from a Donor will have plenty
of excitement. These engines can easily be pushed into the
power range of an LS7 (500+ HP).
