My '76 restoration (long post)

[denpo]

Here diagram that show what I did on the seams.

Initial state : fiberglass and the pink factory glue





Remove the seams




Grind the border




Form the groove with epoxy+fiberglass powder




Glassing, several layers




Then sanding

 

[denpo]

I too noticed the use of painter tape but didn't really understand it's use. All of my glass work was a total mess compared to what smart people were doing.

Can you explain how to exploit the tape?:confused2:

Steve, do you see in the diagram above how the tape tells me when to stop?
Without you'll never now if you left too much, leaving a hump, of ground to deep, forming a "crevice".
When you start grinding the tape itself, you know you have to slow down, make sure your sanding block stays flat again the tape.
Grind until the tape is all gone, when you just start sanding what was under the tape, you just a the right level.

I hope I don't sound, too professorial. :huh2:

 

[denpo]

Front fender seam, passenger side, done :




I started actual repairs, like this big scratch:





This parts was filled with bondo, ground it out, replace with fiberglass :




This one was cracked





Now it's hole filling time !

















Rear fender is ready for glassing




I'm moving really fast, and Sovan will come help me this week's evenings.
I expect the bulk of the bodywork to be done this week.

 

[denpo]

glassing, full force ahead!

(Almost all) fender holes glassed








The fender crack repair is on its way, still need some work to get the wheel arch right.




The rear fenders will get sanded tomorrow







Next in line to be glassed off : T-top carrier, antenna and mirrors holes.

 

[mrvette]

:shocking: ANY idea why those odd holes were drilled in the front fenders??

WTF was going on there???:beer:

 

[Fastphil]

:shocking: ANY idea why those odd holes were drilled in the front fenders??

WTF was going on there???:beer:

I'm no expert, but I suspect it's related to the crash damage the front clip had. Maybe they drilled holes to help realign the two fender parts before applying tons of bondo. Just a guess.

 

[Fastphil]

Fantastic work Denis, are you enjoying the itchiness from working with fiberglass?

 

[denpo]

:shocking: ANY idea why those odd holes were drilled in the front fenders??

WTF was going on there???:beer:

Making sure the front clip stay put until the glue set.
Some are also emblem holes, better have to drill one when needed rather that having a holes without emblem.

 

[denpo]

Fantastic work Denis, are you enjoying the itchiness from working with fiberglass?

Thanks Phil.
Not that much itching surprisingly, too tired to care anyway.

 

[mrvette]

Fantastic work Denis, are you enjoying the itchiness from working with fiberglass?

Thanks Phil.
Not that much itching surprisingly, too tired to care anyway.

:surrender: Rong term, it's NUMB.......:suicide:

 

[GT6Steve]

Thanx for the lesson Denis, the older I get the more I have to learn....:surrender:

 

[denpo]

Thanx for the lesson Denis, the older I get the more I have to learn....:surrender:

And the more we learn, the younger we stay :beer:

 

[denpo]

Repair of the corner of the door :




Rear seams done :








Taking care of rear deck holes :












Redoing the mirror area:







Now some experimentation :




I'm gonna try to recut a sharper fender line, that's gonna be tedious.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

You're nuts, hard working, but completely nuts :clap:

 

[MYBAD79]

Not that much itching surprisingly, too tired to care anyway.

so you're exhaustipated

exhaustipated: too tired to give a ****


great work, you're getting closer to primer and paint....

 

[denpo]

You're nuts, hard working, but completely nuts :clap:

Thanks Aaron.

Not that much itching surprisingly, too tired to care anyway.

so you're exhaustipated

exhaustipated: too tired to give a ****


great work, you're getting closer to primer and paint....

Lol.
Yeah, closer to paint.
I'm almost done with the repair, now come the custom things :

-Shaving down front bumperette
-Rear window mod (just got a quote for some laminated glass, 150$, not bad)
-Bumper glassing

I'm also contemplating the rear fender flare like it's explained here :
http://www.corvettefever.com/techarticles/corp_0906_c3_corvette_fender_flares/viewall.html
It's getting trickier, but 1" of more flare would be exactly what my turbine 275 needs. hum......

Too bad I couldn't find a 3 piece front spoiler, that would have been a nice addition.

 

[denpo]

Oh, and I still plan to got make a scoop mold out of Michel's LT1 hood.

 

[denpo]

Rear deck is now hole free!





The bumper in now glued on, used the infamous 3M 3115.

Fitting is good, minimal glass work











Finished the repair on the door handle :




I've shaved off my bumperette. That was a PITA, 3 cutting disk and a lot of nasty smoke.



Also made a rough cut on the bumper cover, but I think I will do the glass work once installed, so I can take advantage of all the space I can grab.
I will just had a backing layer on the top.




And now, the edge sharpening experiment.
I haven't had much time for this, it's all hand made, takes ages.











A couple of air bubble, I think I can soak them out in resin.

I will leave them like this for now, wait for some primer to reveal the overall shape, and will adjust from here.

Tomorrow I start glassing the rear bumper, and fab custom bracket for the front bumper cover.

I got estimate for the custum rear window, in 3mm tempered glass, 75$, that kinda seal the deal, I will do it!

 

[bigbrother]

... I will do it!

You're doing great! Finally read the entire thread. That's gonna be a fine project.

...some music to inspire you...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSD4vsh1zDA


Sent from my dumb 4g motorolly

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Oh, and I still plan to got make a scoop mold out of Michel's LT1 hood.

I'm thinking maybe you should make Michael some fiberglass body armor. :amused:

 

[bigbrother]

Oh, and I still plan to got make a scoop mold out of Michel's LT1 hood.

I'm thinking maybe you should make Michael some fiberglass body armor. :amused:

Is that some payback? Oooh that sounds like it will itch!


Sent from my dumb 4g motorolly

 

[1Michel]

Oh, and I still plan to got make a scoop mold out of Michel's LT1 hood.

I'm thinking maybe you should make Michael some fiberglass body armor. :amused:

Is that some payback? Oooh that sounds like it will itch

Body armour? I was thinking to wear my old hockey equipment but it would look a littl odd in the garage.
Ouch , it will itch LOL

Hey there's a rule in my garage, .
Whenever guys come to work in here, (Fast Phil or Denpo) they were warned to always keep an eye on me working.

IF you see me duck, dont ask questions....just duck! Something is about to fly across the shop!
I guess the rule is there for a reason....

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Oh, and I still plan to got make a scoop mold out of Michel's LT1 hood.

I'm thinking maybe you should make Michael some fiberglass body armor. :amused:

Is that some payback? Oooh that sounds like it will itch

Body armour? I was thinking to wear my old hockey equipment but it would look a littl odd in the garage.
Ouch , it will itch LOL

Hey there's a rule in my garage, .
Whenever guys come to work in here, (Fast Phil or Denpo) they were warned to always keep an eye on me working.

IF you see me duck, dont ask questions....just duck! Something is about to fly across the shop!
I guess the rule is there for a reason....

even if you wear goalie gear, you can still get whacked... don't ask me how I know this.... I will say this, though, which might inform. I went to school in France, (near Geneva), and hockey was a pre-requisite to attending the college. I'm not the smallest guy in the world, nor the largest, but to the teams we were playing against I was King Kong sized. For some reason, I ended up with the unfortunate (and wholly undeserved) title of "enforcer"... not sure why (though the whole guy-flew-into-the-third-row-after-a-little-check might inform on this) anyway, mid-way through the season (runs from June 1- May 30), the other teams started complaining about alleged injuries (I'm innocent, really)... so my team made me goalie.... which isn't the best place in the world if the people you're playing against feel like some of their minor scrapes, contusions and sniffles were attributed to you... really, they needed to find themselves some big boy pull-ups and learn how to skate.
:crap:

It probably also didn't help that when I blocked, I'd ask how they got their white flag so clean, what with all the use it got....

 

[1Michel]

Well I dont want to keep highjacking Denpo's thread with my hockey stories.
LOL
But we will make a mold... of a hood not a body armour.

 

[denpo]

I went to school in France, (near Geneva)

You're talking about my homeland there. I was born and grew up in a village halfway between Chamonix and Annecy.

Well I dont want to keep highjacking Denpo's thread with my hockey stories.
LOL
But we will make a mold... of a hood not a body armour.

Derail it at will my friend. Chair ridden as you are for the moment, I'm sure everyone will be glad you'll take some recomfort messing with us.

Bought some gelcoat last week, I'm dying to make a long LT-1 hood.

 

[denpo]

Front fender edge done. Still a bit rought, but couldn't wait to show them off :amused:
Overall impression is good, the body looks much more defined.
But it's still a shoot in the dark, until I get a smooth uniform coat on top of that. Too many 'lines' in the body to really tell if it's classy or goofy.






























By the way, I'm looking into redoing the central body line, and possibly sharpening it a little bit.
But I just don't see how to proceed, it's a very open angle over the flat surfaces.
Any hints/tricks/idea?

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

how sharp do you want it? were it me, I'd run a wire down the center and use it as my guide or do 1/2 at a time and use a straight edge

what you've done so far really highlights your skills as a craftsman - nice job

 

[denpo]

how sharp do you want it? were it me, I'd run a wire down the center and use it as my guide or do 1/2 at a time and use a straight edge

what you've done so far really highlights your skills as a craftsman - nice job

Not sure I understand you technique.
Was I did was to put my painter tape 3/16 away from the edge on both side and when sanding I kept the tangential of the curse a the tape border.
I didn't really have to use a guide, the crest formed itself nicely and straight.
Today I start glassing the rear bumper and doing the sharpening on the back fender line.
I had to remove all my rings, my finger are swolling so much I was afraid I couldn't remove them later.

 

[denpo]

Rear bumper finally glassed, took longer because of the sidetrackings.





















Now, I'm dealing with a major mod, the rear window.
I wanted to have the exact cutting line, so I came up with this ghetto laser level.
A toy laser, a dc motor, some hot glue, wire and old 9v battery.




Did the job as intended :


Of course the system was wobbling like hell, but once held, with patience, you finally manage to put the laser within your cutting plane.



I tried 14" and 12" cutting line, and chooses the 12".





All I need now it the guts to start cutting. Still looking around to make sure I didn't overlook anything.


Another side project, the inboard computer. The case is done :




Shows it's hand made, but sturdy and functional.

 

[MYBAD79]

:lol:

that laser is awesome

what's the computer for?