2018 - New Master Cylinder, Rocker Panels, and Wiper cover reinstall
So a new trend with the Corvette seems to be jamming in a lot of visual and/or functional chunks of work right before the annual Rod Run To The End of the World. This year appeared to be no exception, with a few items standing out that I could wrap up to improve the overall look and performance of the Corvette.
SSBC Polished Aluminum Master Cylinder
A statement I've heard a few times is that once you start replacing parts that look bad with fancy ones, everything else around it starts to look worse as well. In the case of my corvette, the overhauled engine bay with the new polish aluminum alternator and high end carb made my rusty iron master cylinder an eye sore. It also didn't help that it was one of the first things you would see looking into the engine bay from the side. So, it had to go.
Research indicated that the Wilwood master cylinder just wasn't the way to go. At one point I had my eyes on an aluminum version of the OEM master cylinder, but when I went searching I couldn't find it. Instead I found the SSBC Billet Polish Aluminum master cylinder. I decided to take a leap and go for it, and I was surely not let down. The brake feel at this time is excellent, now fully bleed with DOT 4 fluid throughout the system. It also looks great in the engine bay. Unfortunately, now everything else around it doesn't look nearly as nice!
C3 Rocker Panel - Carbon Fiber!
When dealing with the first major engine failure, I removed much of the engine in advance along with the exhust to try and keep the repair costs as low as possible. In proceeding this way, the original rocker panels were removed, and unfortunately it was readily apparent that they were damaged beyond reasonable recovery and would likely never look good again. The rocker panel also consisted of two pieces that were a nuisance to install especially with the sidepipes in place.
While researching alternatives I was pointed towards Stingray Composites. The owner themselves said they could do black carbon fiber with a metal strip that should all blend in fine with the Corvette. Needless to say, I am pretty damn exstatic to install this on the Corvette, as I think it will be a sublte detail that will look downright awesome.
Wiper Cover
The 68-72 Corvettes have an entirely overbuilt and prone to failure wiper setup. Engine vacuum operates a mechanism that opens a panel above the wipers, and then triggers a switch allowing the wipers to work. There's something akin to 36 points of potential failure in the system, and when trying to get functonal wipers, I simply removed the panel. This of course looks like garbage.
Alternatives include a full length hood but unfortunately for me a full length hood isn't the best solution since the only full length options are for a higher rise hood. Personally, I think the high rise hoods look a bit 80's meth dealer to me and less classic Corvette.
Another option for the wiper door is this product, which should mate with the OEM style hood and create a gap for the windshield wipers to still work. I find this particular option to be a potentially good one since the long hood would still expose the junky looking area where the wiper mechanism lives right now.
In the meantime, I intend to just reinstall the panel, and manually activte it when I need to drive and may encounter rain, and then put it back down just for car shows.