First Primer

Included in this post are three sets of four photographs. The first set were taken the day the Corvette arrived. I've included these to refresh your memory and remind you that the car has 3 tail lights on each side, the firewall was a mess, and both front fenders had the wheel wells removed. The second set of pictures show the fiberglass repairs that have been made to date. The third set are the primered sections of the car that were painted today. These sections will receive block sanding, additional primer and additional block sanding once the entire car has been primered. Here you can see the three tail lights, the cut out wheel well on the passenger side,

the fire damage and hasty repairs to the firewall,

and the driver side wheel well.

I only masked those sections of the car that do not require additional fiberglass repair. The last several months were spent working on these areas. Note the 2 taillights on each side. Just prior to painting all areas were hand sanded one last time with 80 grit sandpaper to insure proper adhesion.

The primer I chose is a two part chromate free kwikure epoxy primer from House of Kolor. It's mint green (No, I didn't have a choice) and expensive at $180 a gallon.

The results look great...

and I love the firewall!

Although I didn't mention it in a previous post, I want to point out that the entire front end has been rebuild. The cross member just in front of the hood was replaced along with all of the headlight supports. The rebuild also included a new radiator support frame but this will have to be swapped out at a later date for one that goes with our fuel injected motor. The primer will help identify areas that need additional attention. These areas will be fixed using glazing compound, not fiberglass. That's it. Lester H. returns later this week so we will resume repairs on the passenger door.

Lester is in the Building

What a treat! Lester H. is visiting from Frederick, MD for a few weeks and was quick to volunteer his services. Les scoped the car and was quick to claim dibs on the damage to the passenger door. It was near 100 degrees that day so staying hydrated during the repair was essential. Here Les is showing us the damaged door panel prior to repairs.

A close up of the damage. This was probably caused at the race track when the door was opened into a nearby bollard. Could have also been a grocery cart I guess. After limited access to the backside of the panel was obtained Les had to be a contortionist to reach inside using the angle grinder to remove some of the fiberglass thickness.

This is a shot of the inside of the passenger door after Les was finished grinding. To show the remaining thickness of the fiberglass we held a trouble light on the outside. Shortly after this picture was taken two layers of 8" x 8" matt were installed.

Les is pointing to the area that requires further attention. Be sure to watch for updates to this blog where you'll hopefully see more of Les and the completion of the passenger side door repair.

First Bondo

The fiberglass work that we've been doing over the last month has been finishing work. Most the areas you've previously seen have been completed. The work performed over the last month includes back grinding, placing fiberglass mat and resin on the opposite side of the repairs, removing rivets and tabs, filling rivet holes, etc. Unfortunately, it is near impossible to photograph this work because all the fiberglass resin we use is clear which means you can't see the progress. So, for the benefit of the blog, we will change our work process. Usually we would complete all fiberglass work on the whole car, skim coat the whole car with bondo, shoot the whole car with primer, then paint the whole car. Instead we will primer when ever a section is complete. Whenever and where ever you see primer will signify completion of the body work. There is a video at the end of this posting that tries to explain the intent. But for now, it's bondo time... A full skim coat of bondo was put down on the left front then 95% of it was removed by block sanding. The bondo that remains is paper thin. The thickest area might be 1/32" but no more. These irregularities could have been corrected with primer only.

This is the same fender. All damaged fiberglass was removed until a solid foundation was achieved. New fiberglass matting and resin replaced all the voids. The bondo corrected minor surface irregularities. This fender has been the most labor intensive of all the fiberglass work.

Another shot of the same fender near the windshield. The top of this fender is now ready for it's first coat of primer.

A picture of the bondo applied to the front of the same fender. Primer to follow.

Below is the video. Be sure to push the play button.

Fiberglass Repair - Video Updates

Included in this post are 3 video updates. The first video is a 360 tour, the second video shows the progress made on the fiberglass repairs, and the third video discusses the front end structural rebuild including the headlight supports. I see one of the videos includes our dog Casey. Be sure to play the videos, these are not pictures.

Cool Desert Nights - 2009

Cool Desert Nights was a blast. We brought both the 1957 Chevy Nomad and the 1963 Corvette. I had intended to take the Corvette off the trailer during the car show but Gerri recommended leaving it on the trailer. That was a great idea and saved me a ton of work. The trailer didn't keep people from looking at the Vette. Not by any means... We were getting interest in the 63 even before we were able to set up camp.

I was even able to bolt on a period correct Hawaii license plate. Lots of people asked why it was there and when I told them the car came from Hawaii their jaws dropped. Then they smiled and wanted more information.

Cool Desert Nights was a screaming success. They estimated well over 700 entrants this year.

Tim M. stopped by for a little shade and a bit of socializing. No, that's not a strawberry daiquiri... it's a strawberry slush... :0)

The Nomad looked great and was a really nice addition to the car show. I am glad I brought it but, truth be told, it generated only a couple comments through out the day.

The car started getting a little dusty so I ran the California duster over it. It didn't help much.

We had lots of visitors. Rick and Nancy B, Mike and Diane H, Jack and Shirley M, Ty and Bonnie T, Steven and Kelsey S, Dewayne and Jane J, Tom and Ellen H, and many others.

Ty and Bonnie T arrived in style.

And this photo represents how I believe the majority of the day was spent. Tons of people taking great interest in the car and the story behind it. Everybody wore a smile (double click on the photo and see for yourself). Most everybody looked at it and reminisced about something. Gerri said we even had one guy rip off his glasses, lean way into the engine compartment looking for engine numbers, then he stood up with a smile on his face and told his buddies, "Yep, it's a real fuelie!" The day was great, met lots of friends and we had a blast. Can't wait til next year.

Cool Desert Nights 2009 - We're Ready

The major components have been assembled and they look pretty good. Cool Desert Nights is this Saturday.

I am told by others that the hood will not be going to Cool Desert Nights because it isn't correct for a 1963 Corvette. Who am I to argue.

The 1967 big block hood looks pretty cool though.

This is how the car will look at Cool Desert Nights.

She's wearing her first piece of jewelry (gas cap cover). I am so proud.

More Fiberglass Repairs

All fiberglass repairs are in process. They are not complete. Some require rivet and tab removal, some require back grinding and fiberglass mat. All will receive minimal glazing compound and lots of block sanding before the first coat of primer is applied. That said, the car is really starting to come together nicely. All areas that require fiberglass have fiberglass. Ty has been religious about back grinding everything and making sure all areas are feathered properly. Both front fenders received full inserts because the openings had already been precut to that size. When the openings were cut the bonding strips on the back side were also inadvertently cut. New full length bonding strips will be installed after all the backside fiberglass work is complete.

This is a previous repair to the firewall that was soft and hastily done. When I power washed the car for the first time this soft spot turned into a sizable hole. The fiberglass was soft because hardly any resin was used. It was mostly fibers.

Using Ty's techniques the new repair is very solid and looks great.

This is another soft spot that resulted in another hole after power washing. This is located just in front of the windshield between the two fresh air vents. Access to the backside of this new repair will be very difficult and may require the tabs and rivets to be abandoned in place.

This is the cross section of a very odd repair we found on the left front inner fender well. It includes at least 20 to 30 layers of woven fiberglass mat and is about 3 inches thick. We are still puzzled as to why this repair was performed in this manner.

This is the spot where the 3 inch thick repair was located. We replaced the majority of the inner fender well. The black portion of the fender well is new.

Although we agreed the third tail light was acceptable because it was a dealer installed option, I elected to go for the standard two lights on each side. Block outs are now installed.

This is pretty amazing. This is a hole that was cut in the passenger side floor board to accommodate hydraulic lines on an automatic transmission. What is amazing is that we found the original pieces that were removed. This is a picture of the new repair using the original fiberglass pieces.

This is the transmission hump at the shifter. As above, we found original fiberglass pieces and reinstalled them. Other holes were glassed over using duct tape as backing. The duct tape will be removed and the backside will be ground and fiberglassed. All of the holes, soft spots and block outs have been addressed. The next step will be lots of block sanding. But first we will assemble the major components of the car and head for Cool Desert Nights. Pictures to follow.

How to Repair Fiberglass

All techniques come from Ty T. who spent many many hours learning the process from his father. As I understand it, Ty's father had a significant passion/hobby for working on Corvettes. The quality of the repairs made on our Corvette are wonderful. Follow along and see for yourself.
As you'll recall the rear wheel wells were really ugly. They were flared and consisted of sheet metal, bondo and a few dozen rivets.

The wheel wells were cleaned, wire brushed and ground down to bare fiberglass. The replacement inserts were trimmed in order to preserve as much of the original body fiberglass as possible. Fiberglass tabs were made and riveted to the backside of the wheel wells. The outside of the wheel wells were then feathered back with a grinder and sheets of fiberglass mat were layed down.

The rivets and tabs were then drilled out and removed. The back side of the wheel wells were feathered back at least 6 inches with a grinder for the full length of repair. Long sheets of fiberglass mat were layered in making sure all matting was fully saturated and all air bubbles removed.

The front side received more fiberglass mat and resin making sure enough was installed to fill all low spots.

Liberal amounts of resin and glass filled the rivet holes and low spots created from the feathering process.

 

Rough sanding with a long block was performed to bring the body contours back.

Viewed from inside the wheel well you can see the final results. The body and the wheel well insert are sandwiched between the new (clear) fiberglass.

After rough sanding the body lines are near perfect.

More sanding is still required but the fiberglass work is complete. Any minor imperfections that still remain will be fixed with small amounts of bondo or finishing glaze. The results are absolutely spectacular. A huge thanks to Ty for doing the majority of this work and teaching me the techniques. I'll post photos of other repairs shortly.