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.

Body Work Continues

Issues on the body are generally fewer and less significant now, with this one exception.  The license plate area is very non-symmetrical.  Ty rolled up his sleeves and tackled this repair.

The circled area dips down about a quarter inch and the face is not symmetrical either.   

Ty reinforced the back with fiberglass, layed out a grid to understand the errors, then he ground away the dip and sanded the face until it was restored back to normal.  This area will look great once it's painted.

Ty also worked on the passenger side body lines.

The drivers side is equally as nice.

On 63 and 64 Corvettes the doors have a raised boss for the door handles but they don't match the handles very well.  We decided to outline the door handle then grind the bosses to match.

The bosses now match the handles perfectly.

We even worked on the hood and nose.  Yes, paint will make this look good too. 

Here you go Max.  A couple pictures of the whole body.

As promised, here's a little tidbit from the shop.

When we begin painting it will be critically important to keep moisture out of the air lines.  One of the ways to do that is to cool, condense and siphon off moisture before it goes into the air tank.  In this picture the manufacture had a 12" copper line that ran directly from the compressor to the tank.  As you can see we modified it.

This is the back side.  Using a design found on the internet, we made a radiator/condenser and it works great.  It even has an automatic valve at the bottom that purges moisture every time the compressor starts up.  Not only is the air drier but the unit runs quieter too.

We will switch to the shorter body dolly soon.  Keep watching!