With the front clip and firewall of the next problem was sourcing replacement parts for the birdcage, the rocker channels are easy to fabricate, so it was the front end i was looking for, posting on several forums in the UK and US i had no luck, i looked on a well known auction site and found a windscreen frame for sale, i contacted the seller and suprisingly he had a scrap Vette in his yard.

This is a picture of the 'Birdcage' the highlighted section is the parts i needed to purchase to repair mine.

Due to the size of the section i drew up picture showing where i wanted the cuts making to compact the size for shipping and make welding it back together easier.

The cuts were made and photo's of the frame sent over to me from Calafornia, these parts would take approximately 4 weeks to get here, but i have plenty to keep me occupied.

With the repairs to the birdcage on hold i turned my attention to the engine and chassis, i stripped the engine down and decided as i needed new pistons, rings etc, i would rebuild as a 383ci, more on the engine build later.

The chassis was stripped down, suspension, diff, half shafts, drive shaft etc all needed a clean up and repainting.

Surfing websites i noticed that most people renovating were using a small barrel shaped sandblaster to clean up components, at this stage this was a must as shipping out parts to be blasted would be expensive in the long run, and i would need a compressor for cleaning up and spraying at a later date, i purchased a 150litre 3hp compressor with 15CFM (12.5CFM free air) capacity and 10 Gallon sandblaster.

These would be put to good use during the next few months.

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