More Sandblasting, Fiberglass Repairs and Paint Preparation

The weather cooperated for about 3 hours on Friday so we did some sandblasting.  The body was wheeled to the RV pad and both of the driver side wheel wells were sandblasted.

All areas received attention, even the areas that would never be seen.  This was a messy job.

The fiberglass looked great after sandblasting but there were still areas that needed attention.  Ty came over on Saturday and ground out a couple cracked bonding seams, feathered a few areas that need fiberglass repairs, and he did some general cleanup in preparation for paint.  He was covered in dust and was as dirty as I was from sandblasting.

Time for a repair.  This access panel is suppose to be oval but you can see someone modified it years ago.  I can only guess why. 

A batch of resin was prepared, strips of fiberglass matt were cut, then the repair was started.

After the fiberglass cured I used the die grinder to restore the original contour.  Holes were drilled and all surface irregularities were removed.  This repair is ready for paint.

I also decided to resand the inside of the engine compartment.  This will be repainted when the drivers side wheel wells are painted. 

Other minor fiberglass repairs were made this weekend and new bonding agent was applied where needed.  While we wait for the weather to improve we will continue to make preparations for paint.

Thanks for watching.

Our 100th Posting + 20,000 Views + 20 Months of Work = Time to Recap

This is our 100th posting and I thought it would be a good time to show some of the more memorable events of our build so far.  If you've been watching since the beginning I bet you laugh at least once and also say, Oh yeah, I remember that.

  The container in Hawaii  

Cool Desert Nights -2009

Wilson

Rocky

Ty

Cool Desert Nights - 2010

Lester (Wilson) and Ty



Wheel Wells, Body Brackets, Shift Linkage & Stabilizer Bushings

In the last 2 weeks we've had -8 degree weather and 8 inches of snow.  Neither of these are conducive to painting.  None the less that's just what we did, we painted the passenger side wheel wells. Since we couldn't go outside it was necessary to build a make shift paint booth to control over spray.  Plastic was wrapped around each wheel well and a plastic flap was positioned over the wheel well opening.

The shop vac was used to collect the over spray.

A fan was used to blow the fumes outside.

It worked great.  No over spray, the house didn't smell, and nothing blew up.  The matt finish POR 15 paint looks real nice.

The front wheel well looks just as good.

We also installed the shift linkage.  1963 was the only year that had the 1-2 gear linkage cross over the 3-4 gear linkage as shown.  All other years the linkage ran parallel to each other.

Ty replaced the last rusty body mount.  This one is located inside the engine compartment, on the firewall, on the drivers side.  This one drew blood just like the other one.

Ty swapped out the previously installed generic front stabilizer brackets and bushings for these GM manufactured brackets and bushings.  These are exactly what would have been installed on a 63 Z06.  The stabilizer bar is 7/8" in diameter.

I am not sure what we will work on next.  I'd like to complete the drivers side wheel wells but that requires sand blasting and that has to be done outside.  I don't have snow tires on the body dolly so the snow has to melt first and that may happen later in the week.

Thanks for watching. 

Head Bolts and Body Brackets

All of the coolant leaks are fixed.  Every head bolt was removed, cleaned and reinstalled using Permatex High Performance Thread Sealant.  This required the removal of both exhaust manifolds and the valve covers.  Part of the air meter assembly (intake) had to be removed before the drivers side valve cover could be removed.  The exhaust manifolds were sand blasted then painted with high temperature paint.  Antifreeze is in the engine and it's ready to be started.

The shifter boot backing plate was installed.  This is looking up from the transmission tunnel.  Alignment bolts were installed in all the threaded holes that will hold the shift boot.  The bracket was clamped tight near both of the rivets.

Using an air hammer with a blunt attachment and a piece of rubber hose to keep the tool on top of the rivet...

The rivets were hammered flush while holding a heavy piece of metal on the back side (I used a body dolly).

The 10 alignment bolts were later removed and the passenger compartment side was cleaned up.

Using the same general technique, Ty replaced the hood support brackets.  This is inside the right front wheel well.

Ty also replaced an old body bracket located inside the engine compartment.  This is on the fire wall behind the right wheel well.  This bracket used 5 rivets and the backside was almost impossible to gain access.  I think some of Ty's DNA is back there somewhere.  The installation looks great and it's very solid.  Thanks Ty.

The rolling chassis and the body are now rust free.  If I can figure out a way to spray paint in the garage while controlling the over spray I might paint the two passenger side wheel wells next.  Stay tuned.  Thanks for watching.

Installing the Cooling System

I started with a 185 degree thermostat then...

Modified it by drilling two  3/8" holes as shown.  This will allow some water to pass the thermostat should it ever fail closed.

A water temperature gauge was installed...

Then the oil gage was reinstalled. (I know, it's not part of the cooling system)

The fan shroud was sandblasted then later painted with Por 15

A new aluminum radiator was installed.  The original would have been copper.

 It looks good.

The lower radiator hose is worth talking about.  It took me 30 minutes to install this thing.  Can't imagine what it would be like with the body on.  Look how it snakes around everything.

When it was all done we ended up with a motor that was ready to be run.  And that's just what we did. We ran it for about 10 to 15 minutes and found a few issues including:

• A couple of the head bolts leaked because sealant wasn't properly used on the threads.  Each bolt will be removed, cleaned, sealant will be applied, then re-torqued before moving to the next bolt.
• The paint on the exhaust manifolds cooked off within 30 seconds.  These will be repainted with high temperature aluminum exhaust manifold paint.
• The timing and fuel mixture needs to be adjusted.  We will start that work after we redo the head bolts.
• We found a threaded hole behind the idler pulley that leaked like a sieve.  It was lacking a plug.   A quick trip to Ace Hardware made this a quick fix.

The engine ran nice, sounded nice, and it's throaty.  My neighbor even came over and jokingly mentioned the noise.  I am not sure we'll ever be able to drive this thing without getting a ticket.  If we do get tickets we will frame each one.

More body work should be next.