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I'll go back to working on the bumper brackets on Monday. Hopefully I don't find any rude surprises awaiting me as a result of bonding the 70-73 ACI rear clip in place
So I got up my courage today and tried fitting the bumper brackets I modified. The two little ones that go to the holes in the license plate area still fit. On the one in the picture below there seemed to have a bit of tension when I had the bolts tightened so I slotted the hole in the rear frame crossmember at the green arrow a bit to allow the bracket to move to the right a bit and now it goes together nicely. The one on the other side didn't require any further modifcation.
I tried the brackets below next.
I had the backing plates with the two bolts in them in place in the frame rails (bottom picture) while I was glassing the inner surface of the 70-73 ACI rear clip to the car which didn't turn out to be a good idea as fiberglass resin dripped on the bolts and it took some very heavy pushing on the wrench to get the nuts off. I should have left the nuts off and pushed the backing plates/bolts into the rear frame rails until I was done fiberglassing.
The driver's side corner bracket (above picture) still fit nicely and so no further modifications needed there. The passenger side one was pretty close (I thought) so I tried bolting it in place and heard some cracking noises when I was tightening down the corner bumper bolt on the outside of the fiberglass. I need to decrease the angle in the bracket at position "B" in the picture, I wish I would have done that before trying the bolt to see if it would tighten down without any problems.
I finally finished the join line between the 79 and 70-73 ACI rear clip both inside and outside.
Prepped for fresh fiberglass in the areas where the wooden clamps were:
And all glassed in:
After I got the thickness I wanted along the bottom edge of the quarter panels the unhardened fiberglass wanted to pull away from the bottom edge because of the weight. Before it set up I got out the 200 mile an hour tape and taped the bottom edge of the fresh fiberglass up in place.
With the seam glassed up the 79's upper passenger side quarter and the ACI quarter look pretty close to the same level even though they actually aren't and the 79 upper quarter will have to be shaved down on the outside quite a bit to get an even transition from one to the other.
When I ordered the West Systems Epoxy resin they sent me the fast hardener by mistake. I ordered the slow hardener which was supposed to harden in 20 minutes instead of 10 for the fast hardener. I put in the recommended amount of slow hardener and it still took six to eight hours to completely harden. I then started mixing three or four pumps of fast hardener and one or two pumps of slow hardener and it still took three or four hours to harden completely which is actually just how I like it - it gives me time to lay up all the fiberglass I want for that day and time to go back and wipe up drips with acetone before it hardens completely.
I recently ordered a couple more gallons of resin and a quart of fast hardener and a quart of slow hardener. I'm not sure what was up with the previous resin and hardener I ordered but I hope the new stuff doesn't harden as fast as its supposed to either.
Next I need to add more fiberglass to the insides of the 79's quarter panels so I can shave away the outside surfaces without going completely through. I'm not sure if I'm going to do that first or go back to the bumper brackets. I have six bumper brackets modified to fit and four more to go.
It's looking good.....and you are much neater than me! I hit the angled character line on my quarter panels with an air sander and got a positive surprize.......
The previous body shop ADDED the character line onto the outside surface of the original '68 body! I sanded it off until the quarter panel had the original curved shape . I didn't have to build up the inside of the quarter panel.
The good news for you is.....once you build up the inside area, sanding the outer raised surface won't be a big problem.
Last edited by doorgunner; Aug 18, 2017 at 02:56 PM.
It's looking good.....and you are much neater than me! I hit the angled character line on my quarter panels with an air sander and got a positive surprize.......
The previous body shop ADDED the character line onto the outside surface of the original '68 body! I sanded it off until the quarter panel had the original curved shape . I didn't have to build up the inside of the quarter panel.
The good news for you is.....once you build up the inside area, sanding the outer raised surface won't be a big problem.
Thanks Doorgunner. I wasn't so neat when I was filling in the areas between the wooden clamps. I got a lot of drips on the 70-73 ACI rear clip and down into the areas where the bumper bolt holes are inside the clip. I managed to wipe some of them off before the resin hardened but I missed quite a few so there's going to be more sanding on areas I thought were ready for primer.
That's pretty cool that you didn't have to build up the inside of your quarter panels and the proper shape was there all along.
Thanks Doorgunner. I wasn't so neat when I was filling in the areas between the wooden clamps. I got a lot of drips on the 70-73 ACI rear clip and down into the areas where the bumper bolt holes are inside the clip. I managed to wipe some of them off before the resin hardened but I missed quite a few so there's going to be more sanding on areas I thought were ready for primer.
That's pretty cool that you didn't have to build up the inside of your quarter panels and the proper shape was there all along.
Originally Posted by doorgunner
It's looking good.....and you are much neater than me! I hit the angled character line on my quarter panels with an air sander and got a positive surprize.......
The previous body shop ADDED the character line onto the outside surface of the original '68 body! I sanded it off until the quarter panel had the original curved shape . I didn't have to build up the inside of the quarter panel.
The good news for you is.....once you build up the inside area, sanding the outer raised surface won't be a big problem.
All of the work looks nice for what you are trying to accomplish. I have a question though. Why would you not do the laminate work from the backside and the blend the outside with VPA. Just an honest question!
All of the work looks nice for what you are trying to accomplish. I have a question though. Why would you not do the laminate work from the backside and the blend the outside with VPA. Just an honest question!
Speaking for myself......after I undercut and bonded the underside of the clip I undercut the top gap and filled it in with mat for the extra strength........I sat on the clip to test it/very strong bond.....then I filled the low areas in with filler this week.
All of the work looks nice for what you are trying to accomplish. I have a question though. Why would you not do the laminate work from the backside and the blend the outside with VPA. Just an honest question!
After I'm done the shaping I'll sand a little lower and go over the exterior with Vette Panel Adhesive/filler to cover the fiberglass lamination. I had a thinnner bit of left over hardened Vette Panel Adhesive/filler on a piece of paper when I was doing my tail light panel and out of curiosity bent it in half and it broke so easily. So now I don't want to use very much of it because I feel it has very little strength compared to fiberglass mat or cloth and resin.
After I'm done the shaping I'll sand a little lower and go over the exterior with Vette Panel Adhesive/filler to cover the fiberglass lamination. I had a thinnner bit of left over hardened Vette Panel Adhesive/filler on a piece of paper when I was doing my tail light panel and out of curiosity bent it in half and it broke so easily. So now I don't want to use very much of it because I feel it has very little strength compared to fiberglass mat or cloth and resin.
Makes sense Priya, thanks. Every project has it's challenges for sure.
Nice work!
RVZIO
Nice work and I know you are glad to get this portion almost completed.
Originally Posted by Priya
I had a thinnner bit of left over hardened Vette Panel Adhesive/filler on a piece of paper when I was doing my tail light panel and out of curiosity bent it in half and it broke so easily. So now I don't want to use very much of it because I feel it has very little strength compared to fiberglass mat or cloth and resin.
You can do as you wish and think as you wish. But I would advise that you at least try to apply at least an 1/8" of VPA over your laminated areas.
In my opinion: The test you preformed was not a true test on the strength that VPA has. Snapping a very thin piece is not what determines it. Because I can snap one layer on mat and resin.
Do this for me and come back and reply when you can....or you might reply on how much fun it is to work with the VPA due to it gets really hard and realize that it is a really good filler.
When you are applying the VPA. The left over that you will more than likely have at one time or another. Scrape it up off your mixing board and wipe it on an edge of a piece of cardboard and then try to make it like a hot dog. Then when it cures Try to break that. The if you have some Rage Gold...do the same thing and see what happens.
