Fresh Air Cowling

I just noticed we have had 40,000 views on this blog.  Excellent.

We recently test fit the 1963 hood and noticed that the body lines on the fresh air cowling were not crisp and didn't match the hood very well.  If you've been following this blog you'll recall that this cowl received extensive repairs a couple years ago. Check out that repair here:
http://1963splitwindow.blogspot.com/2009/06/more-fiberglass-repairs.html 
We decided to replace the existing (green) cowling with an original undamaged cowling (the red one).

Using our Fien vibrating tool and a chisel we were able to remove the old cowling with little difficulty.

The bonding strips were cleaned and fiberglass repairs were made where needed.  The brown paper was used to keep resin off of the fire wall.

After the fiberglass set it was ground and feathered until the original contour was restored.

The new cowling was clamped into position then bonding agent was applied and allowed to set.

Check it out.  Nice sharp body lines and we got rid of the excessively repaired cowling.

Very little Bondo will be required at the joints.

Ty has been doing a lot of work on the 1963 hood.  Those pictures will be posted soon so keep watching.

Shop Talk Tidbit

OK, here's the deal.  We know we want a racing stripe but the style may have to be dictated by the year of the hood that we use (see photo's below).  We have both hoods.  The thought had been to use a stripe that would accommodate both hoods, however, a long time follower of this blog, Jim Q., thought that using a hybrid stripe that accommodates both hoods might look peculiar.  He may be right.

So the question is, do we want the 63 hood and stripe, the 67 hood and stripe or a hybrid stripe that will allow both hoods to be interchanged?  Tell us what you think.  Vote in the poll located in the upper right corner of this post!

In this picture the hood and stripe are classic 1963.

In this picture the hood and stripe are classic 1967 big block. 

Knock on Wood

I should have knocked on wood when I said fiberglass issues are getting less significant. This is a blister we just noticed on top of the left fender.  We poked at it then wondered what might have caused this to occur in an area that was already repaired.

Having no fear we took our trusty die grinder and removed a pretty good area of dry fiberglass located just under a thin layer of regular fiberglass.  We decided this was from "the fire", one of several events in this cars colorful history.  This error occurred about 2 years ago when we tried to squeegee fresh resin into the fiberglass.  Soaking would have been a better solution.  Think about it for just a couple seconds and you'll agree.

The black spot is paint on the underside of the fender. 

Lots of fresh resin and fiberglass were applied and allowed to soak in and saturate.

The area was ground and sanded back to the general contour of the fender.

Then a thin layer of Bondo was applied.  Yes, it's super strong now.

On a different front, Ty took the initiative to start repairs on the 1963 hood we purchased last year.  It was found locally on Craig's List and it has issues.  But don't worry.  Ty's favorite saying is, "It's only fiberglass.", and he's right.  If it's fiberglass it can be fixed.

The hood was involved in a front end collision and it has several areas that need attention, some are shown here.  All of these areas have since been fully prepped and are now ready for fiberglass. 

And finally, this is a body line that had rounded, or softened, over the years.  The area was built back up...

then sanded back down.  The line is a little too sharp now but will be corrected when we guide coat.  That's a subject for a future post.  What's important to notice is how little Bondo actually remains.

Soon we will ask you to vote on one of three hood/racing stripe options being considered.  It's one of the reasons we are fixing that 1963 hood.

Thanks for watching.