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That would eliminate this rookie from having 10 screwdrivers wedged along a hot seam!
Dub mentioned about separating seams a few replies ago by letting the heat seep under the bonding strip.
EXACTLY!
And those who have done this KNOW...that when you get wedge in place like what Roger has shown....gettign the panel to release more is just heat and time and applying a bit more pressure where it is still bonded. When all is right...the panel releases fairly easily. But it does take PATIENCE.
So, I thought the letters looked a little higher on the left side than the right side but I thought it was just the angle of the camera. I went out with a measuring tape and to my dismay the left side is 1/4" or a little more higher than the right side. When I drilled the holes initially where ACI put the marks I could see the letters were cockeyed but I never thought to check if they were parallel to the opening for the license plate bezel. This sucks.
Hi P,
Of course the cars were originally perfect!!!!!
Yes, I can see the slope.
When you put the license bezel and bumpers on it might be even more obvious since your eye will have more horizontal lines to compare the letters to.
Sadly it's not going to heal itself!
A wise old man told me long ago when I was a wiseass young man that a little rain falls on many picnics.
Regards,
Alan
The tail-light panel, lights, bezel, bumpers, and letters are so pretty that it really should be 'right'. It won't be a difficult fix, and it'll never be easier than it will be now.
You don't honestly think they were perfect from the factory do you.
Yeah...pretty much. With over 160,000 Corvettes that would sue that letter design...not mentioning all of the parts made where the holes in the panel were pre-drilled....These holes were not drilled by hand. So the set-up and drilling was all done my a machine. All it took want a person to lock it into a fixture and let the machine do its thing.
I sent Priya an original section I had to hopefully it aided them in getting them correct....I hope it helped.
I had a friend that worked at Rosenthal Chevrolet in Arlington Virginia Back in the day and I remember corvettes right off the truck that had letters slightly tilted and some not drilled completely so I know a few came through a bit out of place. But I'm sure none made it to the lot that way.never saw one with 2 C's but still not perfect.
I sent Priya an original section I had to hopefully it aided them in getting them correct....I hope it helped.
DUB
Yes, it did, thank you! The letters on it weren't perfectly straight but I laid down some tape on the top and bottom and made slight adjustments to the position of the holes on the cardboard I used as a template. I then used the cardboard template and transferred the marks to a 2X4, drilled the holes and put a straightedge on the top and bottom again and then made slight adjustments to the position of the holes on the rear clip. It came out pretty close other than not being parallel to the opening for the license plate bezel. Shame I didn't think to check that before I redrilled the holes.
Priya.... words of encouragement here... "I feel your pain".
Many years ago I was building a 1931 Chevy. I removed all the termite infested wood "skeleton" in the body, and replaced it with square steel tubing.
There are two molded body lines all the way around (seen below the windows in the picture). When I put the body back together.... they didn`t line up on the front passenger side. It was off just a little.
My wife complained about it, said it looked like $hit. I told her I would drop the idea of pin-striping those lines, and nobody would notice.
She said SHE would notice, and she wouldn`t ride in it looking like that.
I said it was all welded, and what a chore it would be to fix. Her response was.... "You have a sawzall AND a grinder..... FIX IT".
So I did. It took TWO weekends to cut & grind and move it ONE QUARTER of an inch and re-weld it all.
It looked great when it was done, so I`m glad I did it, and she was happy too. (GOD, I love that girl!)
So in comparison..... fixing your letters should be a breeze! You`re doing an excellent job so far and these occasional set-backs are part of the fun!
Hi,
I've wondered about this for years….
The AIM has directions for locating and drilling the holes for the 'Stingray' script on the front fenders and the directions indicate the holes were drilled AFTER the body was painted.
The letters for the "name" on the taillight panel seem to have been installed at the same time as the rear valance panel and exhaust bezels, so the body was painted….but there's no directions to locate or drill the holes for the letters. So I guess the holes were drilled while the panel was made or while the rear clip was being assembled?
It would be interesting to see a photo of the body on the paint line to see if the holes are there.
It's pretty nice to be living a life that allows these kinds of things to be 'wondered' about!
Regards,
Alan
