hotrodtohell68

Should I be able to tell the difference between an original factory front fiberglass clip over an aftermarket jig fitted copy?. Is there a book the shows what is correct for each year?.

Thanks.

Rokndad

The real experts should be checking in soon on this, but I believe the front end on original cars are made up of a series of Fiberglas sections bonded together with backing or bonding strips that supported butt joints of Fiberglas or helped the Fiberglas pieces to adhere to the birdcage. Aftermarket front clips were generally one piece and did not have bonding strips you could see and feel from underneath.

DansYellow66

It will be tough to tell an aftermarket jig-fitted front end from an original but there are a couple signs that could be looked for. One is the color of the fiberglass. Although the replacement jig-fitted front ends come in original colors there may still be slight color shifts between it and any uncoated areas of the rest of the original car. Also, the original bonding agent was fairly thick bodied and from what I've seen, kind of a dark gray-black color. The factory liberally applied it and what squeezed out on the underside was not a big concern from an appearance standpoint. Some of the aftermarket bonding agents and modern panel adhesives are thinner and of different color and are not going to be easy to mimic this with. And finally the exterior surfaces of most aftermarket jig-fitted front ends are gel coated where originals were not. Of course once painted, this can't be seen any more.

Nowhere Man

The only front clips without bonding strips are haid laid fibberglass You should see that within seconds of looking under the hood The way of telling is not what type of front end rather then how it was put on the car It can take lots of years to see.

wombvette

I can tell, but its hard to tell you how to tell.

I probably built most of them.

aworks

If your talking midyears. I can tell at a glance. Some things are, no dimple on the left side drip rail, The aftermarket drip rails never look right and the glass in much thicker than the orig. parts. Just to name a few.

Frankie the Fink

On later C1s the second "T" in the word CORVETTE is slightly higher than the other letters on an original front end; weird but true. Most clip replacements have them all the same height. Also poorly placed front letters are a dead giveaway - check this mess out.

raypilot65

What is the difference in cost between a one piece molded front clip and an aftermarket jig fit unit?

4 Speed Dave

There is a good bit of price increase going to a new jig front end vs a one piece H/L (hand laid) piece. A one piece H/L piece is around 1300 dollars however you have to rember the one piece front end doens't come with inner fenders so that would have to be factored in the total cost.

I ordered a jig fit front end for the 66 from Shemershiem (sp?) and should be getting it in a month +/-. They had a 12 week wait which was fine with me as I just factored that in my build schdeule. Having used their rear fenders before I can't say enough positive things about the fit. They were both spot on. Which is a big detratction from the H/L fiberglass pieces as their fit isn't always very good.

wombvette

It depends on the knowledge and skill of the installer. These things can taken care of if wanted, but generally we don't go to the trouble of those details when just assembling the front for sale.

Some fiberglass manufacturers are better at matching colors and textures than others. Most parts are different enough from originals that a knowledgeable person can tell, even if the installer takes care of the details.

dharris45

I would advise against buying an assembled front clip from Sermershiem. I bought the full front from them and the fit between the panels was so bad that my body man had to take every thing apart and re-glue. He called and they did reimburse for the assembly charge. Mine was a C1. There is no way them have a very elaborate jig for C1s based on some of the very obvious things that were missaligned on mine.

The panels are great, but just would never pay them to assemble another one.

magicv8

Aside from any color differences that might show and the drip rail dimple, there is the way the edges of the holes in the steel nose support appeared when stamped at the factory.

I bought a jig fit assembly from a west coast vendor years ago. The body shop corrected those differences, as well as the lack of a cut out in the bottom valence of 66-7 cars. The cut out became necessary to clear the AC drier (during body drop) after the rad support was changed.

wombvette

Yes the header bar had rolled edges on the holes for the emblem. That was true until early 67 when the 67 emblem came about. The 67 emblem had a narrow pins, thus the need for different holes. Early 67s had the narrower holes overlapping the old 66 holes creating a double hole. Later in 67 the holes were changed to the 67 style. Over the counter bars were then supplied with the 67 configuration with sharp edged holes. All header bars since that time have had the sharp holes. The only way to do it right is use an old bar.