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[C2] 1963 headlight buckets

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Old Feb 27, 2019 | 06:20 AM
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Default 1963 headlight buckets

I see some vendor's sell fiberglass "skins" for these early midyear headlight bucket...were these just bonded to the frame elements and side housings ?
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Old Feb 27, 2019 | 06:28 AM
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Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink
I see some vendor's sell fiberglass "skins" for these early midyear headlight bucket...were these just bonded to the frame elements and side housings ?
you need to take your frame all apart. You reuse all your side metal pieces and all of your bonding strips and brackets inside that hold your headlight rIm. Not a very hard job. It is exactly like factory when you are completed. But you must have original 63 buckets to start with. I keep hearing people talk about having the metal buckets in there 63 my car was built within the last three weeks of production and still has its original fiberglass buckets?

Last edited by 65 Pro Vette; Feb 27, 2019 at 06:30 AM.
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Old Feb 27, 2019 | 07:06 AM
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So, in this "flipped over" picture the side rails and horizontal pieces are bonded (not riveted) to the outer fiberglass "skin" and the 63 early vs late screw attachment feature is determined by the metal frame pieces, not the "skin" ? Right ?


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Old Feb 27, 2019 | 09:51 AM
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I see some vendors sell the skins as 63E (Early) and I was just wondering what the difference would be in the mere skin - seems like they'd be generic.
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Old Feb 27, 2019 | 10:20 AM
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Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink
So, in this "flipped over" picture the side rails and horizontal pieces are bonded (not riveted) to the outer fiberglass "skin" and the 63 early vs late screw attachment feature is determined by the metal frame pieces, not the "skin" ? Right ?
Hey Frankie,

I'm pretty sure they're bonded on the early cars. Ours is a November '62 build. I still have mine off of the '63 so I'll go out and take a pic of the underside.

I can tell you they were a bear to get to fit the car nicely. It took me a lot of time glassing, and sanding to get them to where I was happy with the result.

Pat
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Old Feb 27, 2019 | 11:20 AM
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Frankie, you need another project......like a '61-'62 Corvette.
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Old Feb 27, 2019 | 11:23 AM
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This gives a whole new meaning to the term "bucket list".....................
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Old Feb 27, 2019 | 11:25 AM
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You can tell the early skin from the later skin by looking at the sides of it the early skin just gets bonded to the metal structures on each side of the bucket. The later 63 skins were stronger and rolled over the side of the metal structures to help support the bucket they also had extra bonding strips inside that hold the headlight rim on the bottom as seen in Frankie‘s picture.

Late 63 bucket

Early 63 bucket

Metal sides with no skins and bonding Strips removed
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Old Feb 27, 2019 | 11:45 AM
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Got it - thanks a bunch
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Old Feb 27, 2019 | 06:10 PM
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Don't know if this helps you or not Frankie.

Pat



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