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Ok, that pic of the cut off rear. That is the rear bumper mount flange? Can you see the seam where that clip wae bonded to the 68 clip? You might wanna try to scare up ur borrow some clamps with a really long reach. Another cheater method. Get everything lined up and trimmed. Then get bonding strips bonded to the car. Then using tiny bolts, 8/32 or so, get the taillight panel attached and lined up. Then remove the bolts and goop it up with the correct adhesive and reattach the bolts to hold ot in the correct location and provide clamping effect. Way up high you might need to drill and put in a couple of pop rivets where you can't bolt or use a couple of sheet metal screws. Then when he is dry and hard amd in place, pull the screws and you have a couple of small holes to fill...
Ok, that pic of the cut off rear. That is the rear bumper mount flange? Can you see the seam where that clip wae bonded to the 68 clip? You might wanna try to scare up ur borrow some clamps with a really long reach. Another cheater method. Get everything lined up and trimmed. Then get bonding strips bonded to the car. Then using tiny bolts, 8/32 or so, get the taillight panel attached and lined up. Then remove the bolts and goop it up with the correct adhesive and reattach the bolts to hold ot in the correct location and provide clamping effect. Way up high you might need to drill and put in a couple of pop rivets where you can't bolt or use a couple of sheet metal screws. Then when he is dry and hard amd in place, pull the screws and you have a couple of small holes to fill...
No wonder I was having such a hard time cutting the '76 tail light clip off the body......I was ACCIDENTALLY splitting the bonding seam that the previous owner placed in that spot!
ROOKIES
Last edited by doorgunner; Oct 7, 2015 at 09:51 AM.
ok, i am out of rubber gloves and beer. time to put the mold back on the nose to cure overnight. then some trimming and waxing and start pulling a bumper lip tomorrow...BTW, johnsons paste wax is an excellent mold release agent.
I saw that too, but I figured you knew what you were doing and man, did you ever hit the mark on that one.
Mike
Originally Posted by derekderek
File it under great minds think alike... you instinctively picked a disassemble line right where they put the assemble line.
Originally Posted by derekderek
ok, i am out of rubber gloves and beer. time to put the mold back on the nose to cure overnight. then some trimming and waxing and start pulling a bumper lip tomorrow...BTW, johnsons paste wax is an excellent mold release agent.
Originally Posted by oldgto
"ANYBODY can restore a car.... but it takes a REAL man to cut one up!"
Ok, before you final cut, go back and get reference angles off the other car. That angle measurement is a plumb bob. Measures against gravity. If his ride height or body on frame height or even tire pressures are different from yours, the angle can be off a degree or 2. So i am thinking door sills, top of hatch, top of front doors. Both sides on both cars will tell you if you need to add or subtract a tiny bit to compensate. It could also tell you it is dead on, but that is a good thing to know too. Now we need more homework on the bonding strips. Do we use the front side or the back side of the old panel? What sanding grit provides the best surface to bond to? If front side, do we remove paint to bare glass? Or prep the existing surface?
Ok, before you final cut, go back and get reference angles off the other car. That angle measurement is a plumb bob. Measures against gravity. If his ride height or body on frame height or even tire pressures are different from yours, the angle can be off a degree or 2. So i am thinking door sills, top of hatch, top of front doors. Both sides on both cars will tell you if you need to add or subtract a tiny bit to compensate. It could also tell you it is dead on, but that is a good thing to know too. Now we need more homework on the bonding strips. Do we use the front side or the back side of the old panel? What sanding grit provides the best surface to bond to? If front side, do we remove paint to bare glass? Or prep the existing surface?
His body was on a wooden frame......the frame was level.
I need to measure from the garage floor to the bottom of the frame near the wheel wells and use jack stands under the front frame rails to level my car.
Then I will trim to get the 20* angle........
I will have to bond the front/top-side of the strip that I cut off the '76 deck and fenders onto the body since the strip contours completely from fender to fender.EDIT: AFTER READING DUB'S THREADS ABOUT BONDING....IT'S A BAD IDEA TO USE OLD FIBERGLASS SECTIONS AS BONDING STRIPS---THERE IS TOO MUCH CONTAMINATION ON THE FIBERGLASS, AND THE STRIPS ARE TOO UNEVEN TO GET A SMOOTH SEAM LATER!
Last edited by doorgunner; Oct 7, 2015 at 09:56 AM.
There was a problem.....which turned out to be a benefit: The driver-side marker light was completely missing from the tail light clip......
BUT, it made positioning the clip a lot easier/I used a dremel with cut-off wheel to trim the ragged edges......and since the car is a resto-mod/the P.O. glassed over the front markers anyway.
Now the driver-side panel is set at 20*........
I did the same thing to the passenger-side of the tail light panel. Then I scribed a line into the paint along the edge of the tail light clip in order to cut the excess off the deck and fenders to prevent overlap bulges.
Now to double-check the scribe lines.....then cut the excess off.
Last edited by doorgunner; Oct 6, 2015 at 02:40 PM.
Tony, just to clarify, the 68 date molded into the tail light lens is a date signifying that the lens complies to federal standards at that time. All 68-69 OEM lenses and replacement ones have the 68 cast into them. It is not a date code. Lou.
Tony, just to clarify, the 68 date molded into the tail light lens is a date signifying that the lens complies to federal standards at that time. All 68-69 OEM lenses and replacement ones have the 68 cast into them. It is not a date code. Lou.
I'm back from running morning errands and managed to make the final cut across the deck and fenders for the tail light clip (other members who make this modification will need to determine WHERE THEIR CUT NEEDS TO BE MADE/I had to work with the damaged donor piece...so my cut is irregular and close to the gas tank).
The remaining extra deck length is cut off using a jigsaw/I slid 1" thick slats of wood between the top of the gas tank and the fiberglass deck to have clearance for the jigsaw blade........
Here is the deck waiting to have the tail light clip clamped in place in order to see how the bonding strips will be placed........
Last edited by doorgunner; Oct 6, 2015 at 02:25 PM.
Just a thought from one Tony to another, but why don't you drop the tank? It will make life easier for bonding the new piece in...
Exactly! I dodged one by using the wooden slats with the jigsaw/I SHOULD have removed the tank first....but now I will HAVE to remove the tank to do a good bonding job on the deck underside before installing the tail light clip!
It's time to clamp that clip into place....will be back in a couple...................
Last edited by doorgunner; Oct 6, 2015 at 02:24 PM.
