NMT1957

Finally it's complete. I addd a steering sustem and a hitch so I can move it in and out of my garage by myself. I can hook it up to my lawn tractor and that will pull it without a problem. I'm still able to move steering, hitch and turning wheels from one end to the other in a few minutes. I planned on taking it on it's maiden voyage today but we got 6" of snow overnight.
Now it's on to more important things like the body work.

Alan 71

Hi Ned,
Will the operator need to be licensed in order use it?
Quite a piece of work!
Regards,
Alan

NMT1957

Hi Alan,

Well I think a Commercial Drivers License would be in order plus 10 years experience as an equipment operator would be helpful. HA !! I have to say it was a fun project to tackle. From one modification to the next it was all about problem solving. I enjoyed the challenge.

After I use it on my first car maybe I could rent it out to one of the local Corvette Shops. Hmmm just an option.

Ned

AJC 69 BB

That is a cool set up for your rotisserie!

NMT1957

AJC,

Thanks, It ws done out of necessity so I could get the body in and out of the shop by myself. Outside for blasting and grinding and then back in each day. It's a bit overboard but it was fun.

Ned

Alan 71

Hi Ned,
I understand about being able to move things around by yourself!
I found it actually gets a bit more difficult as you begin to put it back together and what you're working on is getting bigger and heavier.
The plus side to reassembly is that you start to have fewer boxes of restored parts, so you need less room. (From you photos it doesn't look like room will be an issue for you though!)
Regards,
Alan

There's a certain satisfaction though to working alone….. you always know for certain who screwed something up!

NMT1957

Finally got the enclosure done so I can start blasting. I'm going to use the plastic media. I've tried samples with great results so I'll see how the entire body goes. I'll post pictures of the final product.

Ned

Alan 71

Hi Ned,
When I was painting I built an enclosure similar to that in my basement …it was the size of 2 phone booths!!!!!!
You are REALLY too much!!!!!
Carry on!
Regards,
Alan

NMT1957

Hi Alan,

Being in the construction business I sort of got carried away. When media blasting with plastic you have to recover the media, screen it and reuse it several times. I need it contained and to have a floor that I can sweep the media up without much foreign material in it. This enclosure will get a lot of use. I have a Lincoln in storage I'll be getting out for the summer and this will be a nice dry place to keep it. I also plan on keeping it up for the winter to park equipment in. The garage is full of Corvette related items of course. HA!

Ned

caskiguy

Very impressive workmanship Ned. I indeed will use your thread as part of my rebuilding process for my 1970 Coupe.
Thank you for posting. Look forward to seeing and learning more from you.
Brian.

NMT1957

Alan,

You mentioned "phone booth". You may want to explain what one is to the younger members on here. I however remember them well.

Ned

CVO2FIXUP

This always happened after you buy a Vette. Happened to me!! Bought my 71, realized I don't have enough room in the city. So ended up with a 100 acre farm with a 2000 sq foot shop. All dew to the Vette. Buy a Vette, change your life.



Why, why why are they always sideways???????????????????????????????? ???

NMT1957

Time to buy another Vette

NMT1957

After about 12 hours of blasting here's my first set of pictures. I still have misc parts to do and some detail work but it should all be done by the weekend. I will get more pictures and close up to show the finish on the body from plastic media blasting. Based on my experience and being an amateur I can't say enough about how well the plastic media did. I was able to control the blasting by changing the air pressure and adjusting the media flow rate as needed. Again, this is only my experience and I'm sure others have great results with other methods. If you have only one car to do it would be too expensive to do yourself. However, if you can find a shop that does plastic media blasting I think it's the best way to go. I have a surface that is ready to block sand. I was able to leave a lot of the base coat original red primer and even some of the top coat grey primer on the fiberglass. I do have a few places in a few out of the way areas that I put a hole in a weak spot in the fiberglass. This I blame on my inexperience. These few places are very easy fixes and I will post pictures of those areas too. More to follow.....

Ned

Alan 71

Hi Ned,
Very interesting photos.
Structure looks like it serves your purpose very well!
While you're actually blasting can you see o.k.?
When you recycle the media do you run the risk of there being unwanted 'stuff' mixed in it that you're blasting back at the car?
Regards,
Alan

NMT1957

Hi Alan,

As far as seeing goes it does get a little foggy at times. The hood I have has an air supply so it keeps air blowing in to keep it from fogging up and that's critical. The face shield has the tear away plastic inserts so i pull one off every so often and get a clear view again. The plastic inserts get foggy due to the media hitting them. I cleaned the car very well and even wiped it down with lacquer thinner before I started to remove any last bits of grease. When I recycle the media I run it through a screen, the same size holes as a normal window screen which is pretty small. I imagine there are some tiny bits of unwanted material but i haven't had any issues with it. If it's small enough to fit through a window screen I don't think it would do much damage. I can't say enough good things about the end result I'm getting though. Much better, faster and easier than I expected. When doing a complete restoration like I'm doing I wouldn't strip the car any other way. I was very impressed with the results on the steel part of the doors too. Amazing!!. I'm sure there will be other methods from the professionals and this is ONLY MY OPINION OF MY RESULTS !!

Ned

Alan 71

Hi Ned,
Interesting explanation and comments.
Without the air supply I guess you couldn't last very long in there!
My fear of blasting has been mainly about damaging the most outer surface of the fiberglass. You seem to have that under control.
Again, very interesting to see what you're doing.
Regards,
Alan

caskiguy

Wow. I have to ask if you'd mind posting the blasting equipment setup. I would love to do exactly what you're doing when I get to the body refinishing phase. May be dreaming but that's Ok.
Great work/information, much appreciated.

NMT1957

I will get some pictures of the equipment for you later today. However I would suggest finding a local shop that does plastic media blasting. To buy everything you need just for one car might be too costly. I already had the blasting equipment and tow behind compressor for work. The CP 185 Compressor you could rent for a few days though. You have to have a big compressor so you have a constant large volume air supply. That's critical. I did buy the enclosure from Sams Club and made a lot of modifications to it. I also plan on getting more use out of it in the future.

Ned

caskiguy

Makes perfect sense. I'll be able to use the money towards rebuilding the motor