Arrow Frog

Picture courtesy of Eddie Savage (originals at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nowin/sets/72157629619160680/)

The Arrow Frog is a 1969 Corvette Stingray (C3 or 3rd generation Corvette).

It is a convertible with a small block 350 (originally 350hp) updated with HEI and aluminum heads. It has factory side pipes (only in '69, other years are aftermarket). The gearbox is a 4 speed Muncie T10. The car was originally Monza red but has been repainted Viper yellow.

For an old car, it packs impressive features including 4 wheel disk brakes (vented in front) and fully independent suspension. Of course the rigidity of the chassis is extremely weak, it is nose heavy and has tons of torque steer which makes it a handful to drive at the limit.

But it is a blast to drive and it's amazing to see how advanced that car was for its time. The seats have no support whatsoever and you only have lapbelts so it is really hard to Autocross but we sometimes take it out just for fun!

But it is also very nice on the road as the princess can attest! And that sound... don't miss the acceleration at the 1'20 mark in the video :)

Some projects on the Arrow Frog

Changing the heater core is a real pain as you have to take the whole dashboard apart and quite a bit in the engine bay too. But it's always better than a leak in the car! Other project that came shortly after was putting an aluminum radiator to replace the stock one that couldn't cool down the car during the summer month. 

Redoing the soft top was also a pretty big project that took about 2 months. Between repairing the frame and then putting the new top on, that was a long project but hopefully there is plenty of documentation on the web to help you through the steps!

As you can see on that picture, that is the last project in the house, the barn is being build in the back! Yahoo soon a proper garage :)

Some bodywork had to be done on the front driver door after the propane tank for the barn heater tried to get in the car without opening the door! The bumpers were painted also when I got the car but I went back to the original chrome, it looks so much better. Also the deluxe louvers were a very expensive options that the previous owner never put on! But now the car also wins at car shows :)

The last major undertaking was rebuilding the heads in the spring of 2013. The valve guides went bad and the car was leaking oil through the seals. It turns out that the heads had teflon valve seals that were sealing too well and didn't leave any room for lubrification of the guides. Thanks to Dick from D&D machine shop in Easthampton MA for the great job at rebuilding the heads.

And thanks to my friend Shiraj to help me with the heads unmount/remount while I was handicapped!