Starting on the nasty 81

GT6Steve

GT6Steve

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Joined
Jul 13, 2008
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Las Vegas Nevada
As I have a week off from work I started the bodywork on my daily driver. My thinking is to get it into a basic Chevy 10 White one panel at a time so it is at least presentable.

Now it is a nasty mess of some kind of pearlescent clear coat that's flaking off of the cum white base coat on top of a ratty silver over the probably stolen blue metallic from the factory.

I started on the hood to get an idea of what I'm up against. It's not pretty but I'll bet it's what every Corvette restorer sees.:ill:

I'm stewing on how to attack the thick bits that do stick well. All of the curves!! The flat stuff flakes off easily with a razor blade but of course the curves won't:evil:

A pretty crappy pic of what I've got:

DSC00078.jpg


I think I'm gonna have to attack the whole thing with an aggressive grit and then work back up from there. I mean, the whole car is this way with loose crap!

more pics here: http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb46/GT6Steve/Corvette/
 
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The hood looks great. To answer your earlier questions, my 82 hood was a flat black underneath and I used a heat gun to strip the paint - most of the paint came off in sheets beforehand but on the areas that didn't, a little bit of heat soon dislodged it. Dunno if that's an "approved" method tho...
 
Is there a SMART way to remove the headlight assemblies for sanding so they go back in and aligned easily?

I see two bolts to be marked on the outside but don't see anything on the inside.

Is there a useful trick?

Went around this morning buying supplies, the chemicals for the Glasurit primer I already have were brutal!!! At the second stop I told the paint guy (Centari) that if I stopped for a beer on the way home I'd have spent more than the car was worth! So of course, I did...

Hit a Dueces Wild Royal Flush so that at least paid for the Mid Temp Reducer:drink:
 
Things are starting to get serious here. I already see shipwrights disease kicking in.

Corvette021.jpg

I think I see a smooth way forward on the headlight covers. There's a 3/4" head shoulder bolt at the front that releases the covers from all the springs and I can see some clamp collars that MAY hold some shafts that can be romoved thusly avoiding disturbing the careful alignment on the hinge joints. I don't want to disturb those three bolts per side clamping the hinges...


More pics here:http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb46/GT6Steve/Corvette/
 
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GT6Steve said:
Things are starting to get serious here. I already see shipwrights disease kicking in.

Corvette021.jpg

I think I see a smooth way forward on the headlight covers. There's a 3/4" head shoulder bolt at the front that releases the covers from all the springs and I can see some clamp collars that MAY hold some shafts that can be romoved thusly avoiding disturbing the careful alignment on the hinge joints. I don't want to disturb those three bolts per side clamping the hinges...


More pics here:http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb46/GT6Steve/Corvette/
Click to expand...

I think the book says to undo those three bolts - I did on mine anyway. They should go back in much the same place though, I'm just not looking forward to it with fresh paint on the car!

What's with the toilet roll on the radiator...? :confused:
 
I was just ready to do an update.

Ran into some old bodywork at the front of the right wing. Everything there was well done and stuck tight so I have MANY layers of paint to feather in. Nothing out of the ordinary, I'm sure.

It's been about a ten hour day and no obvious progress.

The new nose went together well with the hardware from the old one transferred over nicely. I'm missing all of the retainers off of the bottom lips and the attachments to the front of the fenders have been broken off in the past. I can't seem to get them out, something has them wedged in the middle so I'm gonna try to drill and tap in situ for new studs. It explains the terrible join line that was at the front corners...

Corvette030.jpg
 
GT6Steve said:
I was just ready to do an update.

Ran into some old bodywork at the front of the right wing. Everything there was well done and stuck tight so I have MANY layers of paint to feather in. Nothing out of the ordinary, I'm sure.

It's been about a ten hour day and no obvious progress.

The new nose went together well with the hardware from the old one transferred over nicely. I'm missing all of the retainers off of the bottom lips and the attachments to the front of the fenders have been broken off in the past. I can't seem to get them out, something has them wedged in the middle so I'm gonna try to drill and tap in situ for new studs. It explains the terrible join line that was at the front corners...

Corvette030.jpg
Click to expand...

You can buy all the new retainers that you need for the bumpers. Mine were all messed up and rusted and broke as I pulled them out. The parts you need are the parts in blue:
IL_22999.jpg

41956.jpg


Or, you can go with individual T bolts. I went with these as I was told they were easier to fit:
34658.jpg



It looks like you've gone down to the SMC in a few areas (the black/grey areas) then it looks like primer, white, yellow (hi-build?) primer, white.

Are you going to fill the join line or just bolt the bumper up as normal? If you plan to fill the join line, you'll need to use an adhesive like 3M8115 as well as the bolts. Using only filler in the gap will eventually crack...
 
saudivette said:
GT6Steve said:
It looks like you've gone down to the SMC in a few areas (the black/grey areas) then it looks like primer, white, yellow (hi-build?) primer, white.

Are you going to fill the join line or just bolt the bumper up as normal? If you plan to fill the join line, you'll need to use an adhesive like 3M8115 as well as the bolts. Using only filler in the gap will eventually crack...
Click to expand...

Ahh, Thanx for that. I was getting suspicious as there doesn't seem to be any more layers after that. I hadn't twigged that I was looking at bare substrate yet. Doh!

I'm not going to fill the joins so fixing those front top retainers becomes important. The two dogleg ones. They're held in by something I can't see so I'll try to drill and tap them for studs on the car. The three rivets per side came out easily-very soft stuff.

I think today I'm going to focus on the drivers side and try to get some primer on before dinner. See how bad that passenger side is gonna be. I'm not sensitive enough yet to sense the difference between varying heights and different textures unless it's obvious.:o
Click to expand...
 
Hmmm, had a trial fit of the new nose this afternoon. It fits pretty well but what a fight to get it on!

I absolutely have to fix the missing two studs on each dogleg retainer at the front as they seem critical for fitting that corner.

SO!

I'm planning to paint the nose and the front glass of the car seperately and will fit the nose after everything sets. IS this a mistake?

Should I hang the nose in it's rough position and paint it when doing the front and fenders?

Experienced advice welcomed....:drink:
 
I removed the headlights and rebushed them. Once the front end body work was done I re-installed the light assembly and painted them in place with the rest of the car. With complex metallics you really want to paint these parts in the same orientation as they will be installed. I did paint the inner cover off the car because who cares???

I was amazed at how wavy the aluminum headlight was. You are doing a nice job and it is moving very fast!
 
Hmmm, I was just setting up to squirt some primer. Washed the brand new nose with Prep-sol cuz I know it's covered with mold release.

Than Wham- a horrible thought!

Should I scuff this bugger with 220 to promote adhesion? I suspect yes but everything I read talks about repair, never a new part.

I think I'll just do the car whilst I stew on this...:blush:
 
Thanx Wayne,

I agree on both counts. I just got done shooting a couple coats of Glasso primer-filler on the front clip. Left the nose sitting for separate attention. I can shoot it with the primer separately when ready but I'll hang it and leave all the bolts loose for color coat. BTW, your efforts posted have been quite an inspiration, Thanx for your help.

Woke up this morning with my hands and shoulders aching from all the sanding. Head hurt a bit too but I don't believe that was from the sanding...:drink:
 
BLOODY 'ELL I HATE AOL!

Oops, sorry. They just lost my entire report.

Sprayed the primer today and finally got all the front clip back into the same color. Plan is to knock this down on Saturday and then get it back in color on Sunday.

Then do the doors individually, gotta have new hinges for the drivers side. After the doors are dealt with, they are both a weekend each, I may be able to finish the rear clip over Christmas.

I find myself obsessing over small stuff, wasting tons of time on crap that won't matter on a daily driver. I have to remind myself that this is a tart up and not a restoration. Still, I want to do the best I can do. I'll not settle for a halfassed job, just need to keep perspective.

After the whole car is the same color I can think about trims. At the moment I'm stewing on a Motion rear falling down into a dark below the beltline ala the factory jobs. Also thinking the dark below should match the silver/grey of the T-Tops. But that's a whole nother Donahue show....

Corvette050.jpg
 
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