Grill, Front Bumpers and an Antenna

I think the easiest thing I've done on this car is to install the antenna.  It took two minutes.

The grill in the background is the one that came with the car.  The ribs on that one are in poor condition but the brackets are good.  The grill in the foreground has nice ribs but it has several broken brackets.  Between the two I will make one very nice grill.

As I removed the brackets I sandblasted and painted them before reinstalling them. 

All done.  The one in the front has nice ribs and perfect brackets.  It's time to install.

The grill should be held in with 11 fasteners but I am only using 2.  I am dry fitting for the bumpers.

Speaking of bumpers, I decided duct tape makes a pretty good substitute for chrome.

Just kidding.  The duct tape is protecting the chrome so I can sandblast the back side in the blast box.

After sandblasting I primered and painted the inside surface.  They look nice.

Lots of hardware and brackets are required.  Turns out the two on the far left are incorrect for our 63.

None the less I did a dry fit using the brackets I do have.  It looks great and I hope to get the missing brackets on E-bay.  Wish me luck.  They are a one year only bracket and I prefer original.

Installing the front bumpers has been a slow process because I don't want to scratch the paint.  I am taking my time and you'll see more on these bumpers in the next posting.  And speaking of the next posting, I'll be out of pocket for awhile but I should have something in 2 or 3 weeks.

Thanks for watching!  

Refurbishing Corvette Window Trim

Lester recently asked about how I was refurbishing the trim pieces.  As you can see, my trim pieces are discolored, dull and rusty.  Fortunately, the trim is stainless steel, not chrome.  It will clean up nicely.

I picked a corner piece as a representative sample.  It is painted, pitted, rusty, dull and scratched.

Because of the pitted areas I had to start with 800 grit sandpaper.  I dry sanded this piece until all of the blemishes were gone.  This piece still has a very minor pit but I am not going to be concerned.

Next I use 1000 grit sandpaper to remove the scratches left by the 800 grit paper.

That was followed by a hard cloth buffing wheel with coarse rouge.  Rouge is like a stick of hard plastic.  You briefly hold it against the spinning wheel then polish the item.  Coarse grit rouge is black and I only had to use it for a couple minutes.

Here's our piece just after I used the black rouge.  The piece is a little dull but the scratches are gone.

I finish with a soft cloth wheel on the buffer and green rouge.  Green is for stainless steel. 

Here's a side by side comparison.  I cleaned the under side with a rag and Goof-Off, a great all purpose solvent/cleaner.  Now all I have to do is spend a couple hours doing the rest of the pieces.   

The windows are installed and so are all the trim pieces.  The trim isn't flawless but it is shiny and looks great to me.  I am very pleased with the results.  Double lick on the following pictures and check it out.

Lester, thanks for the great question.

Next will be the side exhaust.

Rear Window Installation - Dos and Don'ts

This has been an interesting couple of weeks.  I did a lot of research on installing the rear windows, the problem is I started the installation before I fully understood the process.  Follow along as I make a couple mistakes but finally get it right.

First order of business was to locate all the trim clips exactly where they were originally.  Ty and I took precision measurements before the clips were removed but it was easier to just look inside the cab.  These clips have teeth and they leave marks.  The clips were easy to locate.  

The rear windows had been laying around the shop for the last 3 years and they were grungy to say the least.  I used my dual head/dual action Cyclo polisher with a mild abrasive to clean them up.  They turned out nice, but they still show their age.  If you recall this window had sticky letters, Not for Hire.

With Gerri's help I was able to seat the window.  It fit perfect.  I was very pleased.  It was shortly after this picture I realized I had to remove everything.  I found out the window was going to leak and the trim was not going to snap into place.  Let me explain.

Turns out the rubber gasket needs to be sealed and the trim clips need to be placed where the trim tabs are located.  In the picture below I've removed the glass and rubber gasket.  All the trim pieces have been hooked together.  I am dry fitting to make sure the trim clips are aligned with the tabs on the trim.

  Note how the clip on the bottom isn't located under this trim tab.  The clip has to be moved right a good inch.   This clip had no chance of holding the trim.  This clip and 6 others needed adjusting.

I put duct tape on all the trim joints to hold the assembly together.  The trim needs to be installed as a unit.  If you snap it in one piece at a time you're most likely going to bend something.  Original replacement trim for a 63 Corvette coupe is very very expensive.  Check E-bay and be amazed.

Now it's time to lay down a bead of 3M Bedding and Glazing Compound.  A 1/4" bead is all you need.  This will seal the rubber gasket to the body.  Tape is laid down because I know this can get messy.

The gasket was installed on the glass then a length of wire cord was installed in the grove that the body fits into.  While applying pressure from the outside, Gerri pulled the wire allowing the rubber lip to slide over the lip of the body.  It worked great.

The glass and gasket fell right into place.

Check out the glazing compound.  It sealed perfect and didn't leave a big mess.

Glazing compound is also needed between the rubber gasket and glass.  For this I put the compound in a disposable cake frosting piping bag.  You've seen it, the bag filled with frosting that's used to decorate cakes.  I used a plastic spoon to lift the rubber then piped the compound back into the joint.  It was a little messy but not bad.  You can see the extra compound oozing out in places.

The trim was snapped into position then I cleaned up everything.  It looks wonderful!  

I'll start working on the other window next.

Thanks for watching.

A Little Bling

Sorry guys, I've been under the weather and have not been able to work on the car much.  I was able to load up the Corvette and take it to the car wash for a very deserving bath.  It was filthy from all the sanding and buffing.  The good thing is the paint job stood up to the high temperature high pressure wash.   Here it is just after its bath.

Ty introduced me to these when we were at Corvettes of Carlisle.  They are high density styrofoam blocks covered in something like Rhino liner.  They are light weight and they lift the car 12".

While on my creeper I can scoot anywhere under the car.  This will be helpful when I install the side exhaust, spare tire tub, front grill, parking brake, headlights, tail lights, wiring harness, etc.

I decided it was time to give our Corvette a little bling.  I started with the front emblem.

The side badging really looks good.

Just above the right rear tail light is this badge. 

I also installed the weather-stripping at the top of the doors.

Front blinkers were next.

Then the rear view mirror. 

I used my new Baldor buffer to clean up the "cookie sheets".  They're original and look very nice.

The gas cap emblem looks awesome on top of the racing stripe.

I was even able to install the door handles.  These also cleaned up nice on the Baldor.

I installed all the tail lights too.

Earlier today I sent Ty a video of a walk around of the car.  I thought you'd like to see it too.

Either the rear windows or the Dynamat should be next.

Thanks for watching.

Paint - Cut and Buff - Bottom Half

I am ready to start wrenching on some nuts and bolts but I've got to finish this paint job first.  The good thing is I should only need 1 more weekend.  I hope so anyway.

Yesterday, Saturday, I jacked up the passenger side of the car then started wet sanding the door. I used 800 grit sandpaper followed by 1000 grit followed by 1500 grit.

When I started working on the front fender side louvers I found some runs in the paint.  Fortunately, I know this is in the clear coat and that means it won't be a problem.  I started with 800 grit sandpaper.

After a couple minutes I wiped the area dry to see how I was doing.  Still there.

I continued sanding until all the runs were gone.

Once the runs were gone I wet sanded the areas with 1000 and 1500 grit sandpaper.

After that I buffing the side panels with 2 different types of wool pads followed by a foam pad. 

I think the results are spectacular but I won't know for sure until the car goes to the car wash.  It's filthy.

The passenger side of the car and this half of the rear took all day Saturday to complete.

Sunday, I turned the car around and did it all again.  Cut and buff is done in this picture.

It looks good to me!

The only thing left is the rear valance and the lower half of the front assembly.

Next weekend I'll finish those pieces then it's off to the car wash for a hot bath.  I'll pressure wash the exterior, under the hood and, because Dynamat will be applied soon,  I'll power wash the interior too.

We're almost done with the paint.  I promise!