how does original fiberglass look???
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
how does original fiberglass look???
I have a 64 that I reinstalled the original fiberglass nose which was broken off from an accident by a previous owner. It is on and aligned properly. Since there are no unmolested C2's in my area maybe someone can help me to build the fiberglass correctly. There was poor bodywork done on the car many moons ago by an uncaring body man.
A. I find the aluminum headlight doors don't follow the line on the body. They are adjusted ok. There is a slight hump in the middle and the inside corner the glass is lower. Is it possible the factory made them this way?? my thought is to make the glass fit the aluminum exactly but I suspect glass may get a little thin. Should the body be almost a straight line/flat from the outside headlight door to the badge area in the middle of the front..also, the gap is slightly wider on the back area between the aluminum and the glass compared to the sides. should I build up the glass to make all the gaps the same when doors are properly closed? I suspect factory cars were not so perfect in those days, but maybe I should make it "as it should have been" and the car will still be original but better.
B. when the hood is open.. how does the glass look on the fenders/body going around the front corners of the hood opening. I know how it looks hood closed but open looking inside does that 1" lip go around the corner or does it stop before the corner? maybe someone can photograph it for me. thanks for the help, Bob
anybody see Joe Biden driving Jay Leno's 67 last week! Maybe we all act like kids in these cars, I do at 65
A. I find the aluminum headlight doors don't follow the line on the body. They are adjusted ok. There is a slight hump in the middle and the inside corner the glass is lower. Is it possible the factory made them this way?? my thought is to make the glass fit the aluminum exactly but I suspect glass may get a little thin. Should the body be almost a straight line/flat from the outside headlight door to the badge area in the middle of the front..also, the gap is slightly wider on the back area between the aluminum and the glass compared to the sides. should I build up the glass to make all the gaps the same when doors are properly closed? I suspect factory cars were not so perfect in those days, but maybe I should make it "as it should have been" and the car will still be original but better.
B. when the hood is open.. how does the glass look on the fenders/body going around the front corners of the hood opening. I know how it looks hood closed but open looking inside does that 1" lip go around the corner or does it stop before the corner? maybe someone can photograph it for me. thanks for the help, Bob
anybody see Joe Biden driving Jay Leno's 67 last week! Maybe we all act like kids in these cars, I do at 65
#2
Race Director
A. I find the aluminum headlight doors don't follow the line on the body. They are adjusted ok. There is a slight hump in the middle and the inside corner the glass is lower. Is it possible the factory made them this way?? my thought is to make the glass fit the aluminum exactly but I suspect glass may get a little thin. Should the body be almost a straight line/flat from the outside headlight door to the badge area in the middle of the front..also, the gap is slightly wider on the back area between the aluminum and the glass compared to the sides. should I build up the glass to make all the gaps the same when doors are properly closed? I suspect factory cars were not so perfect in those days, but maybe I should make it "as it should have been" and the car will still be original but better.
YES...these cars were not prefect. And not being able to see what you see makes it even harder to respond. SO much of it also depends on IF teh required support rods are installed. Trying to get eh headlight buckets correct is pointless if you do not have the two rods in the front end that go from the radiator support to the inner headlgith mounting areas.
B. when the hood is open.. how does the glass look on the fenders/body going around the front corners of the hood opening. I know how it looks hood closed but open looking inside does that 1" lip go around the corner or does it stop before the corner? maybe someone can photograph it for me. thanks for the help, Bob
Post photos of yours and the areas of concern
DUB
#3
These are fiberglass were taken out repainted and installed and adjusted.
#4
Safety Car
Member Since: Aug 2006
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This is how they are done correctly. Some 63's the buckets don't fit perfect from the factory, you need to make them fit perfect (before you paint the car) but when the buckets where cast and not fiberglass 64-67 on a never hit car the are near perfect from the factory. The key is never hit. Once the body is worked on most shops did a poor job on headlight and hood fit, you see it in 80% of the cars for sale. I love when the seller says you just need a little adjustment to make it fit! If that where true he would have made it fit!
#5
Team Owner
As to question B in the original post; here is an unmolested '63 hood lip front set of pics...note the lip starts shorter on the PS where the hood prop rod goes.
#6
#7
Team Owner
No sir...that was back when I was putting the A/C in and the only time I've had the hood off.... Just thought the pic showed what the OP asked about in his second question...
#8
Race Director
When I re-painted my car I found the upper surface roll on the headlight buckets, from the front beltline, did not match the adjacent fiberglass nose sections very well. I forget which had less curvature of the two but I installed the buckets and adjusted them as best as possible and then skim coated the whole nose area with filler and blocked down the whole area to uniformity.
As far as being a straight line/flat across the nose area - I'm not sure there is any place on a C2 body that is truly flat or straight - maybe the lower, center area of the doors. But if you find a truly flat spot larger than 6 or 7 inches in dimension it probably shouldn't be like that.
As far as being a straight line/flat across the nose area - I'm not sure there is any place on a C2 body that is truly flat or straight - maybe the lower, center area of the doors. But if you find a truly flat spot larger than 6 or 7 inches in dimension it probably shouldn't be like that.