Ty T. and Lester H. = Corvette Workaholics

Lester H. & Ty T. worked their butts off Saturday. And they promise to do the same next weekend. Yahoo!!

Besides a little sandblasting, I am not sure I accomplished much on Saturday. But Lester and Ty... now that's a different story. Ty started the day and finished the day working on the headlights. He has been able to salvage and repair all the major components that make up the headlight assemblies. Some parts were literally soaked in carburetor cleaner for two months (by accident). Here you can see the rebuilt aluminum headlight sockets temporarily installed for fit-up and alignment purposes.

Lester tackled all the remaining repairs on the rear section of the Corvette. He spent hours back grinding cracks and feathering the fiberglass from inside the body wells. Trust me, that's a dirty job.

The unpainted area directly below the tail lights had been previously repaired but the alignment of the fiberglass was not correct. Les used the dremel, angle grinder, pneumatic saw, the Fein, and a variety of other tools to realign the fiberglass. The entire area was tabbed and riveted and is now ready for resin and mat.

Les used copious amounts of fresh air and proper eye and respiratory protection throughout the entire process.

Les even worked on stuff that I didn't know needed fixing.

Here are some of the headlight parts that Ty has been able to salvage. Ty has put a lot of work into the headlight assemblies and although some of the parts aren't showroom perfect they are absolutely top notch when it comes to function. Remember, we are not building a trailer queen, we are building a period correct 1963 split window driver. The headlight assemblies are perfect for our project.

See More of Les next week when he starts to glass his repairs.

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.