C O R V E T T E lettering on a 75
05-13-2011, 12:28 PM
#1
C O R V E T T E lettering on a 75
When I bought my 75 it didn't have the "C O R V E T T E" lettering on the back.
I bought the correct pieces, but does anyone know where I can get a template for drilling the holes?
I don't think this is something I should be eyeballing.....
I bought the correct pieces, but does anyone know where I can get a template for drilling the holes?
I don't think this is something I should be eyeballing.....
05-13-2011, 12:57 PM
#2
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Have you checked the back side of your bumper cover? You may be able to tell the location of the orignal holes.
05-13-2011, 01:17 PM
#3
Team Owner
The '71 AIM does not provide the dimensions for locating holes on the back fascia. But, those letters are supposed to be evenly spaced so the letters fill the width of the license plate recess and should be positioned at the center of the tail lamps (vertically).
If you measure that license opening width and make a template out of cardboard with a horizontal line that bisects the tail lamp positions, you can then place the letters on that cardboard--leaving the same amount of space between adjacent letters--then you can poke holes in the cardboard where those letters need to be and use it as a marking template for the drilling of holes. Good luck.
If you measure that license opening width and make a template out of cardboard with a horizontal line that bisects the tail lamp positions, you can then place the letters on that cardboard--leaving the same amount of space between adjacent letters--then you can poke holes in the cardboard where those letters need to be and use it as a marking template for the drilling of holes. Good luck.
Last edited by 7T1vette; 05-13-2011 at 01:20 PM.
05-13-2011, 01:31 PM
#4
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Original bumpers were recessed where the letters go. So I do not believe there is another template somewhere. Many replacement bumpers didn't have the recesses for the letter. Or the customer didn't have the letters and the recesses were glassed over.
05-13-2011, 01:46 PM
#5
05-13-2011, 01:53 PM
#6
The '71 AIM does not provide the dimensions for locating holes on the back fascia. But, those letters are supposed to be evenly spaced so the letters fill the width of the license plate recess and should be positioned at the center of the tail lamps (vertically).
If you measure that license opening width and make a template out of cardboard with a horizontal line that bisects the tail lamp positions, you can then place the letters on that cardboard--leaving the same amount of space between adjacent letters--then you can poke holes in the cardboard where those letters need to be and use it as a marking template for the drilling of holes. Good luck.
If you measure that license opening width and make a template out of cardboard with a horizontal line that bisects the tail lamp positions, you can then place the letters on that cardboard--leaving the same amount of space between adjacent letters--then you can poke holes in the cardboard where those letters need to be and use it as a marking template for the drilling of holes. Good luck.
05-13-2011, 02:08 PM
#7
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05-13-2011, 02:27 PM
#8
Le Mans Master
My '68 Camaro had no emblems on it when I had bought it. in the right sunlight you could see where the holes were. i took a small pick and punched the bondo out and installed my emblems.
05-13-2011, 02:44 PM
#9
Team Owner
When I bought my '69, the letters weren't on the back, just empty holes. As a Christmas gift, my wife bought me a new set of letters, and I attempted to install them but couldn't. After a lot of head scratching, I realized that I couldn't put the letters in because some bozo had filled in the original holes, and re-drilled the holes to say "V E T T E". I didn't like that, at all, so I took it to the local body shop figuring they could fill the "vette" holes and re-drill the originals for me. They wouldn't touch it, nor would the other two places I brought it. I was in a bind....
A couple of years later, I decided to get the whole car painted. When the shop that painted it stripped off all the old paint, they found the original holes, and re-drilled them, so in the end, my car once again said "C O R V E T T E" on the back.
A couple of years later, I decided to get the whole car painted. When the shop that painted it stripped off all the old paint, they found the original holes, and re-drilled them, so in the end, my car once again said "C O R V E T T E" on the back.
05-13-2011, 03:36 PM
#10
Race Director
As others have said, 75 rear bumpers (and 74's also) had indents, so that each individual letter was recessed into the bumper. The bumper you have appears to be a 76-79. The 76-79 rear bumpers are identical to 75's, but without the letter indents.
Is the bumper you have a urethane or fiberglass one? If that bumper was bought new, it probably never had holes in it. If it was a used 76-79 bumper, odds are any filled holes will be in the wrong location, for your 75 letters. The 76-79 used a one piece rear emblem, which used a completely different set of mounting holes, than the 75 rear letters.
Is the bumper you have a urethane or fiberglass one? If that bumper was bought new, it probably never had holes in it. If it was a used 76-79 bumper, odds are any filled holes will be in the wrong location, for your 75 letters. The 76-79 used a one piece rear emblem, which used a completely different set of mounting holes, than the 75 rear letters.
05-13-2011, 08:15 PM
#11
As others have said, 75 rear bumpers (and 74's also) had indents, so that each individual letter was recessed into the bumper. The bumper you have appears to be a 76-79. The 76-79 rear bumpers are identical to 75's, but without the letter indents.
Is the bumper you have a urethane or fiberglass one? If that bumper was bought new, it probably never had holes in it. If it was a used 76-79 bumper, odds are any filled holes will be in the wrong location, for your 75 letters. The 76-79 used a one piece rear emblem, which used a completely different set of mounting holes, than the 75 rear letters.
Is the bumper you have a urethane or fiberglass one? If that bumper was bought new, it probably never had holes in it. If it was a used 76-79 bumper, odds are any filled holes will be in the wrong location, for your 75 letters. The 76-79 used a one piece rear emblem, which used a completely different set of mounting holes, than the 75 rear letters.
05-14-2011, 12:06 PM
#12
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Here's the AIM page; it might help a little. The bumper covers were received from the supplier with the holes already drilled. All they had to do at St. Louis was install the letter kit.
Good luck.
Good luck.
05-14-2011, 01:49 PM
#13
As others have said, 75 rear bumpers (and 74's also) had indents, so that each individual letter was recessed into the bumper. The bumper you have appears to be a 76-79. The 76-79 rear bumpers are identical to 75's, but without the letter indents.
Is the bumper you have a urethane or fiberglass one? If that bumper was bought new, it probably never had holes in it. If it was a used 76-79 bumper, odds are any filled holes will be in the wrong location, for your 75 letters. The 76-79 used a one piece rear emblem, which used a completely different set of mounting holes, than the 75 rear letters.
Is the bumper you have a urethane or fiberglass one? If that bumper was bought new, it probably never had holes in it. If it was a used 76-79 bumper, odds are any filled holes will be in the wrong location, for your 75 letters. The 76-79 used a one piece rear emblem, which used a completely different set of mounting holes, than the 75 rear letters.
Ok, I crawled under the back of the car. I didn't see any evidence of holes on the back of the bumper cover. It appears I have a replacement urethane cover. So I should be able to create my own template and drill holes. The only trouble I may have is getting my hand behind the cover to put the nuts on the back of the letters..... not much room in the middle section. I really don't want to take the cover off.
maybe just punch the letters into a piece of cardboard, then use the marks in it to drill thru into the bumper cover...and if you don't want to pull the cover off to get to the nuts, maybe will dropping the gas tank allow access? but again that might be a bit much...so how about just gluing them in?
05-14-2011, 04:06 PM
#14
I played around with some half inch styrofoam and painters tape and think this will work. The tape and foam are firm enough to create clean holes.
I spaced the letters evenly, centered 2" apart.
I will have trouble getting to the backside to install the nuts.... there is a support centered on the bumper that is in the way. Hopefully I can get a couple fingers in there to get the job done. I think I will try using some silicone adhesive along with the nuts to keep things secure.
I spaced the letters evenly, centered 2" apart.
I will have trouble getting to the backside to install the nuts.... there is a support centered on the bumper that is in the way. Hopefully I can get a couple fingers in there to get the job done. I think I will try using some silicone adhesive along with the nuts to keep things secure.
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stevenHARP (04-15-2016)
05-14-2011, 04:46 PM
#15
Team Owner
You can space the letters "evenly" (same distance between the mid-point of each letter) like shown above; or you can set the position of the end letters (outside edges of those letters to define a specific distance) and "balance" them so there is the same amount of space between each letter. The factory didn't exactly use either of those methods (according to the spacing on my '71), but it is closer to the latter approach with about 11/16" space between each letter [measured at the mounting face of the letters].
Measuring exactly from center-to-center of each letter on my '71, those distances between letter mid-points is:
2-1/8", 2-1/8", 2", 1-7/8", 1-7/8", 2", 1-7/8".
You should use the cardboard or styrofoam/painter's tape template method to mock-up the layout to verify that it looks right to you before drilling any holes.
Also, on my 'original' '71, there were little brass inserts pushed into each of those drilled holes. This allowed the installer to just push the letter in from the outside...without using any nuts on the back. The brass things had some wedging effect that held the letter pins in place. They were a real PITA to work with when pulling the letters out (had to carefully wiggle them out), but never lost a letter using those things. I don't know what those things were called, but they would allow you to insert the letters from the outside without having to put nuts on the back.
{Curiously, the '71 AIM shows that nuts are used on the pins for those letters. But, I have to believe that the car originally had the brass-tube gizmos, as there were no threads cut into the pins on the letters when I removed them.}
*********
>>> I just noticed something else. The letters shown in the above photo are not exactly the same as those on my '71. (I had assumed that they were.) Those above have the outer edges of the "C" and the "O" flattened a bit; mine are very oval and rounded toward the outside. If you have the same letters as above, the spacing I listed may not be correct for your letters. Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out just fine.
Measuring exactly from center-to-center of each letter on my '71, those distances between letter mid-points is:
2-1/8", 2-1/8", 2", 1-7/8", 1-7/8", 2", 1-7/8".
You should use the cardboard or styrofoam/painter's tape template method to mock-up the layout to verify that it looks right to you before drilling any holes.
Also, on my 'original' '71, there were little brass inserts pushed into each of those drilled holes. This allowed the installer to just push the letter in from the outside...without using any nuts on the back. The brass things had some wedging effect that held the letter pins in place. They were a real PITA to work with when pulling the letters out (had to carefully wiggle them out), but never lost a letter using those things. I don't know what those things were called, but they would allow you to insert the letters from the outside without having to put nuts on the back.
{Curiously, the '71 AIM shows that nuts are used on the pins for those letters. But, I have to believe that the car originally had the brass-tube gizmos, as there were no threads cut into the pins on the letters when I removed them.}
*********
>>> I just noticed something else. The letters shown in the above photo are not exactly the same as those on my '71. (I had assumed that they were.) Those above have the outer edges of the "C" and the "O" flattened a bit; mine are very oval and rounded toward the outside. If you have the same letters as above, the spacing I listed may not be correct for your letters. Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out just fine.
Last edited by 7T1vette; 05-14-2011 at 04:54 PM.
05-14-2011, 05:56 PM
#16
You can space the letters "evenly" (same distance between the mid-point of each letter) like shown above; or you can set the position of the end letters (outside edges of those letters to define a specific distance) and "balance" them so there is the same amount of space between each letter. The factory didn't exactly use either of those methods (according to the spacing on my '71), but it is closer to the latter approach with about 11/16" space between each letter [measured at the mounting face of the letters].
Measuring exactly from center-to-center of each letter on my '71, those distances between letter mid-points is:
2-1/8", 2-1/8", 2", 1-7/8", 1-7/8", 2", 1-7/8".
You should use the cardboard or styrofoam/painter's tape template method to mock-up the layout to verify that it looks right to you before drilling any holes.
Also, on my 'original' '71, there were little brass inserts pushed into each of those drilled holes. This allowed the installer to just push the letter in from the outside...without using any nuts on the back. The brass things had some wedging effect that held the letter pins in place. They were a real PITA to work with when pulling the letters out (had to carefully wiggle them out), but never lost a letter using those things. I don't know what those things were called, but they would allow you to insert the letters from the outside without having to put nuts on the back.
{Curiously, the '71 AIM shows that nuts are used on the pins for those letters. But, I have to believe that the car originally had the brass-tube gizmos, as there were no threads cut into the pins on the letters when I removed them.}
*********
>>> I just noticed something else. The letters shown in the above photo are not exactly the same as those on my '71. (I had assumed that they were.) Those above have the outer edges of the "C" and the "O" flattened a bit; mine are very oval and rounded toward the outside. If you have the same letters as above, the spacing I listed may not be correct for your letters. Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out just fine.
Measuring exactly from center-to-center of each letter on my '71, those distances between letter mid-points is:
2-1/8", 2-1/8", 2", 1-7/8", 1-7/8", 2", 1-7/8".
You should use the cardboard or styrofoam/painter's tape template method to mock-up the layout to verify that it looks right to you before drilling any holes.
Also, on my 'original' '71, there were little brass inserts pushed into each of those drilled holes. This allowed the installer to just push the letter in from the outside...without using any nuts on the back. The brass things had some wedging effect that held the letter pins in place. They were a real PITA to work with when pulling the letters out (had to carefully wiggle them out), but never lost a letter using those things. I don't know what those things were called, but they would allow you to insert the letters from the outside without having to put nuts on the back.
{Curiously, the '71 AIM shows that nuts are used on the pins for those letters. But, I have to believe that the car originally had the brass-tube gizmos, as there were no threads cut into the pins on the letters when I removed them.}
*********
>>> I just noticed something else. The letters shown in the above photo are not exactly the same as those on my '71. (I had assumed that they were.) Those above have the outer edges of the "C" and the "O" flattened a bit; mine are very oval and rounded toward the outside. If you have the same letters as above, the spacing I listed may not be correct for your letters. Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out just fine.
04-15-2016, 01:11 PM
#17
how did your template work out ?
I played around with some half inch styrofoam and painters tape and think this will work. The tape and foam are firm enough to create clean holes.
I spaced the letters evenly, centered 2" apart.
I will have trouble getting to the backside to install the nuts.... there is a support centered on the bumper that is in the way. Hopefully I can get a couple fingers in there to get the job done. I think I will try using some silicone adhesive along with the nuts to keep things secure.
I spaced the letters evenly, centered 2" apart.
I will have trouble getting to the backside to install the nuts.... there is a support centered on the bumper that is in the way. Hopefully I can get a couple fingers in there to get the job done. I think I will try using some silicone adhesive along with the nuts to keep things secure.
04-15-2016, 01:38 PM
#18
Drifting
04-15-2016, 02:24 PM
#19
As far the template..get the height measurement and letter spacing from one here who has a 75.Then make up a papewr template to mark the hole locations.
Start your hole drilling with a sharp with a sharp 3/16" bit.
THEN CAREFULLY ENLARGE TO DIAMETER 3/16'' from the letter on the post(S)..Don not use silicone..3M makes fine double sided emblem adhesive that when warmed to room temp bot emblem and pad..adheres virtually for life..
You can actually apply the CORVETTE letters with nothing more than this emblem adhesive if you do the prep-layout well and cut-trim the double sided 3M adhesive to fit the backs of the letters..You'd use a dremel and remove-smooth the pins on the letters completely off.
Ultimately centered left-right.up down... and properly spaced..the CORVETTE EMBLEM LETTERS will look fine..No one is gonna measure it..Looks good to the eye and pleases You..Thats all good..Jim
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stevenHARP (04-15-2016)
04-15-2016, 02:30 PM
#20
Drifting
My bumper is new and off the car waiting for other body work before being fit to the car. Letters will be put on after the bumper is painted but before mounting the bumper. I was just offering to measure where the vendors have the holes on the replacement bumpers.