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Yeah..I know that area of the country is getting pounded with bad cold weather. It is cold down here but no where to the level of what you are experiencing. Snow and ice has hit us twice so far which is enough to shut the city down ad nothing in the grocery stores.
Yup. Temps are still record breaking lows and more snow coming Sunday. I am headed to Florida in April looking for new place No sense in building a Vette so it can sit in a garage and catch a cold
I did go into the shop to take the strap off the door but it sprung back a bit. More cooking required. Stay warm.
My time line is suspended still. I did check to see if the second heating did anything and it did I just can't get the chills out of my bones. Ice is still on the roof but water is not leaking through the ceilings and walls. I gave set up a visit to the Sebring area of Florida looking for a winter getaway for my future This Saturday I have plans to hit the shop again and possibly get the rear section bonded. Thanks for keeping in touch.
My gosh the weather is bad. I had to double up on the heaters in the shop just to get it up to 65 deg. Winds have been lowering the outside temps to the teens and tonight...the last day of winter... we are getting snow!
Dressed in layers I managed to spend some time with the Vette and here's the latest. I have strapped and heated the drivers door several times with the latest core heat at 132 deg for 10 min. Once I start smelling resin I shut it down. The door's top edge has moved in 5/8" since I started and I can now get the top of the door, the edge of the lid and the top of the quarter fairly close to lining up and also parallel with the edge along the pillar. Heating and twisting it any more will turn it the wrong way.
My new questions concern the reproduction pillar itself and also the rubber weather strip.
First, should I put the weather strip in place before going any further? I put a few old pieces in place and I need to lean on the door way to hard and it will not close leaving the top and pillar 1/2" gapped. Without any weather strip the door will line up at the top but the vertical alignment between the door and pillar without the quarter skin on. If I open the door to give a bonding edge the top alignment is off by 1/4". I'm wondering if I should shave the pillar cover down to make room for glue.
Comments please!
Top edges are close enough to work with resin and glass but the quarter seam is even.
When I do this to the door leaving a bonding seam for the quarter skin the top edges are off by 1/4"
This is how I have it strapped during the heating
Here is it without any weather strip or straps. Notice how the outer edges line up without the quarter glued on.
Here is a closer view of the edge alignment when the top is looking good.
You will need to grind off the gelcoat on your door jamb panel so it will bond to your other panels.. IF it is thick enough to do so....and you have it placed correctly...YES...you should have enough room for the bonding adhesive.
AS for checking your panels with the weatherstripping installed...I do...but the panels have to be bonded in place...and this is just to make sure that the weatherstrip will do its job....and that has EVERYTHING to do with how soft the door main w/strips are.
I will often times use kneaded modeling clay in areas after making sure all exposed fiberglass is protected with tape so the clay does TOUCH the bare fiberglass and close the door and open it again and see what my gaps look like....then check the compression value of the weatherstrip and see how much effort does it take to compress it to what I know it needs to be compressed to.
Thanks DUB for clearing that up. I would have never gotten to this point without hearing that door. I'll take that he'll coat off to the same contour of the door and all should be fine I have receipts showing that I did buy the weatherstrip kit back in 2008. Unfortunately I lost the memory I had back then and the kit was with it.
Snowed again yesterday but most of it melted, today is cold and high winds.
I'm ready to start making things rigid starting with the bird cage. I looked at the AM and can't determine is the divider tray is welded or not. Two holds match up with the tub and I put bolts there for now but what about the others places? Do the two holes at the end of the divider go through to the outside of the body or not?
The snow is still piled in the yard and temps still freezing at night but I've managed to get some work done despite the cold, fever and congestion.
All the asking and advise paid off. I have the quarter clamped in place and avoided the major B pillar cover rework. A combo of heating and twisting the door and replacement fiberglass parts made the major difference. As a result, the alignment of the deck lid, door top and quarter at the B pillar is very workable. I no longer need to shave fiberglass from the bonding edges to make the quarter fit and actually have plenty of space for the glue at most sections. I will be adding material to the brace behind the B pillar before attaching the quarter skin and hope to have it done soon. Still cautious but moving forward.
The door moved 3/4" in the right direction after cooking 4 times.
The upper alignment is fine and below the peak could use some additional f'glass
A whole lot better than 3 months ago.
Going to straighten the replacement piece one more time and all should be great. Notice how it turns in to the lid at the top of the photo.
Hey Pat - that seems to be looking pretty good. Need to expect to do a little fiberglass and lot of filler work anyway to finish getting the last bit of the way there. I would say you are getting close. Hope spring comes your way soon.
I felt it was time to exhale the dust I've inhaled during the winter and jumped down to Sebring for a few weeks. Lots of cars on the track dominated by Corvette and Porsche but what's weird is there are SUV's and sedans on the track too. I guess it's open to everyone!
I'll be here until May 10 then driving back to Rhode Island with a rental and looking for stops along the way. Any suggestions?
On the metal support that goes across the back was riveted in place and spot welded where you photo shows the two holes in the plate on mine. It must have been tricky to put the two bolts thru that way. I did the other root and have the nut at the other end out thru the body. It is looking good my friend!
Thanks Marty There were welds on the original but with so many bogus repairs done to this car I wasn't sure how they got there. Those bolts are there because the wells had holes that lined up with the cross plate when I put it in place. Possibly put there by a previous body shop. The guy I purchased this project from has passed away so I cannot trace its past and I feel there were several sets of hands on the car before me. There is a 3/8" gap behind that plate to the body and I'm not sure how I will close that at this time but rivets may be replaced with bolts so as the car gets older I can keep putting pressure on them until the tighten.
Sebring was 90 deg today, back home the morning temp was 39. What a difference 1500 miles south can make.
mine was off also but after really looking at the floor boards I found some cracks and where the middle body mount on the drivers side was pushed down. I took a floor jack and very gently jacked it up until the L bracket was straight. By doing it my rear brace lined up. I know you were messing with the side pillar. It's worth a shot to double check it.
I never learn. Just wrote the story of my past 4 week road trip only to lose it by being timed out…. Crap! Maybe rewrite it someday.
Reason for the forum insert is the deck lid latch does not line up. The lid fits great to the body but the body latch brackets bolted to the inside well are too far forward of center to the catch on the lid lock.
Passenger side catches after grinding the mounting holes enough to allow the back end of the bracket to catch. The driver’s side is too far forward to move it back using the grinding method.
Only way I see to fix it is to cut the mounting plate out of the body and re-glassing it ¼” to the rear.
Any one ever have this problem and suggestion to fix it?
Last edited by ptwohey; 05-21-2015 at 03:42 PM.
Reason: bad english
Dealing with your convertible hatch/latch alignment issues....YES...I have encountered this. I know for me...I knew what the distance that these were off..also I knew what I needed to do to adjust body panels with HEAT and so on to get them to align.
If NO movement in the wheel house panels so these will align can be achieved...you might be FORCED to do what you have to to get it to work. SO....have fun in figuring out what you need to do. I have been there many times in many other scenarios....and it takes time and a lot of measuring and drawings to figure out the dynamics of what is going on and what I need to do to make it work.
Thanks DUB. Nice to hear from you and confirming that this is a common problem. I modified the bracket yesterday to the max and gained some movement and will tweak it today.
My road trip to Florida found one 1966 at a cruise in Sebring. Owner claims it is original. After inspecting it I realize how crude these things left the factory.
One thing I’m really using a lot of is PATIENCE and DETERMINATION but the containers are getting emptied fast.
After grinding the heck out of a new bracket dummy me realized I should have used the one original I have instead because of the plating. The grinding didn’t work. Next step was to remove the beautifully riveted bolt plate and relocate it. Now it fits perfectly which none of the go-by cars do. The lock striker hits center at each point. Looking at the relocation pattern I wonder if this deck lid ever really fit! Other side needs same treatment and will be tougher because quarter is installed on that side. I'm not putting the upper rivets on the relocated plates, two with the 4 bolts will be fine for this car.
Putting all mounting plates on just to get the parts out of the way and ask about outside RV mirrors.
I see several different vendors offering replacement mirrors but only one offers a reproduction Made In USA and it has the Chevy imprint on it. Is this correct or does it really matter vs quality?
I want to put left and right mirrors on this car but not sure if the same mirror is used on both sides and if there is a left door and right door mounting bracket.
Any advise?
I'm not moving forward much on the Vette with all the aches and pains my human body has decided to throw my way but hope to get back to it soon.
I'm been watching slalomfiend and his nice work using his progress as a go by for mine. Many of posts and photos look very familiar. It's taking time and I've finally bonded another piece in place last night. I used Evercoat 816 because of the long working time but notice it drains from the seams. I've already removed the drips but now I'm concerned that it will run out when I put the quarter on. I'm considering mixing in microballoons to thicken it or just use something else that wont drain and still give me at least 30 min working time. The joints of the quarter are much tighter that the pillar so maybe that will make a difference.
I did an experiment with the polyester bonding 3 by mixing some on a palate then putting the pillar in place while the glue set. By the time I had the pillar in place the #3 was hard and I put very little catalyst in it. No way could I attach the quarter quick enough to use that.
I'm also wondering what the top of the pillar should look like where it meets the deck gutter.
Second time I put this on but it seems to fit now.
This was filled with 816 when I attached it, a lost drained out but it's still bonded.
02-27-2015, 06:09 PM
