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Not sure what your point is. The pics are of the rear bumper Glasworks makes and sells. He has it featured on a Facebook page but no website. Did you try contacting him through FB?
Custom Image Corvette had a different rear bumper available some time ago but I don't think he's actively marketing them now. There's a lengthy thread on the topic here somewhere.
I'm very uspset about this. I started my paint removal with a featheredger and 120 grit. Once I got all the topcoat off and nothing but primer was showing I figured I'd hand sand with 120 the remaining red primer so as to keep things flat and from going too far. I removed the top coat with the featheredger on the tailight panel and then around where the "CORVETTE" letters are I thought I'd give a try some advice I'd read to remove the primer and used lacquer thinner and a steel wool pad. After a LOT of rubbing I had the primer off around the letters and to my great dismay it had removed some of the resin from the fiberglass and now fiberglass strands are showing through and the surface is pretty rough as you can see in the picture below. What do I do with this now? I'm thinking rough it up with 80 grit, put vette panel adhesive/filler over the letter area and block back down.
I've been using a sanding block and 120 grit on the areas outside of the "CORVETTE" letters and I've gotten down to the fiberglass in a large area but I see various low spots (outlined in yellow) where there's still filler or primer. Do I keep blocking with 120 until the filler and primer is gone, or do I use my thumb and sand down the filler and primer in the low areas until its gone and then apply vette panel adhesive/filler over the whole area and block it flat?
Get the panel prepped and apply the Vette Panel Adhesive around the "CORVETTE" letter area...and I would grab a grinder and grind out the body filler and fill back over it with the VPA.
FREE ADVICE:
When I had a crew of guys...some of them were being taught. And when I would tell them what I wanted done....I would let them get started and 'see' if they had a problem they would know how to handle it. Some would literally do EXACTLY what I said...even though 'things' changed in the process they were doing. And in doing so...damage occurred. SO.... If you run into an issue where you see you are having a problem in an area is giving you a fit and damage is occurring....STOP and re-evaluate.
I know it is all about the 'learning curve'...TRUST ME----I KNOW!.....so DO NOT beat yourself up about this. NO major problem has occurred that can not be handled somewhat easily.
IF you have NOT used VPA...PLEASE let me know...or read previous posts about the VPA...because it can go EASY...or really beat you up and make you work to death on it.
When I do work like this....I remove ANYTHING that is NOT factory applied....and sometimes that gets ground down also due to the specific circumstances.
So, if I understand what you're saying, you're saying do NOT continue blocking with 120 until the areas outlined in yellow are gone, but rather sand out only the areas outlined in yellow and then apply VPA over the entire area and block until flat.
So, if I understand what you're saying, you're saying do NOT continue blocking with 120 until the areas outlined in yellow are gone, but rather sand out only the areas outlined in yellow and then apply VPA over the entire area and block until flat.
CORRECT...anything I come across a filler or 'whatever' that has been applied.....I stop can will take my grinder and grind it out and then fill it in or at least take the time to try to figure out WHY they filled in that area with 'whatever'.
BUT make sure that when you apply the VPA...the panel that you are applying it is has been prepped so NO VPA gets on a part of the panel that might still have primer or paint on it. That is BAD HABIT to get into to.
Here's the VPA that Dub recommended for me to use. Once you get a feel for it , it really does a good job. You can start sanding with 80grit soon after it is applied. Once this stuff cures like 24hrs later it is like a rock and very tuff to sand.
ZIO
Can I put the VPA on a panel I've sanded with 120 grit, or should it be sanded with 80 grit?
I would use the 80 grit to play it safe but the 120 is only a little higher so without seeing or feeling the surface I don't have a good answer for you. I would see what Dub thinks. He also was correct on suggesting to remove other materials such as old bondo, and then applying VPA to those areas.
Can I put the VPA on a panel I've sanded with 120 grit, or should it be sanded with 80 grit?
I will write it this way..and you can do as you like.
I prefer that the panel that is getting the first application of VPA to be CLEAN and ROUGH...and 99% often time...I prep it with 24 or 36 grit.
Then...when the VPA is vegging to gel up ..I sand it with 36 grit to get the area 'roughed in'. Then I switch to 80 grit and get the repair sanded as I want. THEN...if I need to re-apply the VPA ONTO itself...the 80 grit is fine.
AS I have done with many forum members....you can PM me and I can give you my shop phone number and I can talk you throguh ALL of the 'little' things that you need to know about VPA. If you don't...and use it and have problems...because you 'think' that it is like 'BONDO'....then you can venture down the road I have traveled and learn the hard way....like I did because there was NO internet when I started using VPA.
DUB... is there ever a reason why YOU would use old school fiberglass ( mat and resin ) instead of VPA ?
Dean
YES....there are NUMEROUS reasons why I laminate instead of using VPA. Not going to list them....just do not have time....but it all deals with common sense. Or maybe I have been doing this for so long...it simply comes across my mind as simple common sense if a person STOPS and thinks about things. Which may be un-fair because that is what I do almost every day....so I am kinda in the trenches dealing with it SO I HAVE to know what I am doing. So if this reply seems 'snippy, arrogant or 'whatever''...I do not know how to reply to it but the way I had.
Think of it like you car...you can press your gas pedal to the FLOOR...but you KNOW when you can do it safely....RIGHT? Long straight aways where you can see for miles....maybe flooring the gas pedal would OK...but not in twisty-curvy mountain roads. So it depends.
The VPA does have some limitations....but I have common sense and the ability to analyze what is going on in a specific repair areas whee it deals with stresses and flexing of panels, etc. So...literally using the VPA in countless tests and configurations...I know where to use it and where not to.
Like I have mentioned to NUMEROUS forum members who have bought the VPA...I advise them to test it out and see what it does. You would be shocked in some of the replies I get ONCE they start using it and understand what it can do.
Slowly moving along. Got the rest of the paint and primer off the tailight panel, it was slow going and I was extra careful not to sand off the edges of the body lines. I finally got started on some fiberglass repairs, got the lower left corner where the tailight panel and the driver's quarter ready for fiberglass. I didn't realize, but the flange for the exhaust bezel is a separate piece that is glued onto the rear quarter. I decided to remove that as I'll be making a square opening for the 70-73 style exhaust bezel. Wow, was that ever glued together! I tried the heat gun and couldn't make much progress so I sanded off the flange and the bonded area most of the way down to the bonding adhesive. I was then able to get part of it off with the heat gun and the rest I sanded off. In removing the flange I broke off a piece of the quarter panel fiberglass where it was already damaged.
Fortunately I was able to wedge the broken piece into place and get some fiberglass cloth on the back of it without knocking it out of place.
It'll be fun trying to get the fiberglass mat to lay flat against the raised area that goes underneath the bumper. I'm surprised by how thin the factory fiberglass is. I thought on my 79 it was close to 1/8 inch thick but its only about 1/16 inch thick on the 69 rear clip.
It's good to see you are at it again.....I have similar problems in the same areas so I'm using the woven cloth to build up the voids so that the repaired areas are stout....then I will scuff up the exterior cured cloth and use VPA body filler to level the areas.
Thanks Doorgunner. I'm building up the backside with fiberglass cloth for string, then I'll "V" out the cracks on the out side and put fiberglass mat on the outside.
Thanks Doorgunner. I'm building up the backside with fiberglass cloth for string, then I'll "V" out the cracks on the out side and put fiberglass mat on the outside.
See there! You just reminded me to do the V (blend) on the outside ......then add more fiberglass before using the filler.....thanks!
Last edited by doorgunner; Mar 17, 2016 at 12:31 AM.
I had some concerns about splicing the 69 rear onto my 79 regarding the character line that goes horizontally down the front fender, the middle of the door, and the middle of the rear quarter. Seems the line on the rear quarter of the 79 rises towards the back whereas on a 68-73 it does not.
I was unsure if I should attempt the splice in the middle of the rear quarter behind the rear wheel, or if I should be looking at replacing the entire 79 rear quarter panel with the 69 quarter panel. After much thought I decided the 69 rear clip I've been working on is just too beat up and so I bought the rear portion of a new ACI 70-73 rear clip of Forum member Bighead:
I would have liked to have had the entire rear quarters on this but Bighead was unable to ship the entire piece and I didn't really want to pay to ship the whole thing either. As per the aforementioned thread, I'll graft this onto my 79 and shape the mid-quarter panel character line to match 79 to 70-73. The inner splash shield can be removed so I can take that off and build up the inside of the 79 quarter panel up to the rear wheel to account for the shaving I'll have to do to make the horizontal character line blend in. It doesn't appear the holes have been drilled for the C O R V E T T E letters so I'm feeling uneasy about having to do this myself and get them straight.
Got some bad news yesterday. I was sanding the exhaust filler panel when I noticed the compressor wasn't keeping up to what I estimate to be 10 CFM air draw although the compressor is rated at 30 CFM. The garage was also filling with smoke so I stopped sanding and Hubby looked at it and sure enough the smoke was coming from the compressor. His infrared camera showed one cylinder was at 300 degrees and the other at 200 degrees so the compressor head needs to be rebuilt/replaced. We were taken for a ride on the compressor. Bought it from a local business and the owner told us that he had it out of service because a minor electrical item on it went bad, he couldn't get the part immediately, had to have a compressor and so bought a new one and now didn't need the "perfectly good" old compressor with the part replaced.
I did some looking today and a new pump head is about $760 U.S. not including shipping of the 125 lb part and any other fees we might pay for getting it into Canada. I found a place in Calgary that sells some rebuild parts for it so hopefully we can rebuild the pump head for less than the cost of a new one.
I bought a 3 cyl 90 CFM 2 stage pump at Princess Auto on sale for $250. No name brand. Been using it for a few years with no problems and I sandblast a fair amount and work the heck out of it sometimes. I think they have stores in the western provinces but if not they ship Canada wide. They have most pump sizes. My father bought a big 3 cyl no-name replacement pump for his 4 cyl Ford powered compressor from Princess Auto too. It was around $500 and has never given any trouble. It blows 160 PSI all day long and is excellent to sandblast with.
Princess Auto is like Harbor Freight in the US except the name is weird. They called it that because the first store was on Princess Ave in Winnipeg (Manitoba).
I bought a 3 cyl 90 CFM 2 stage pump at Princess Auto on sale for $250. No name brand. Been using it for a few years with no problems and I sandblast a fair amount and work the heck out of it sometimes. I think they have stores in the western provinces but if not they ship Canada wide. They have most pump sizes. My father bought a big 3 cyl no-name replacement pump for his 4 cyl Ford powered compressor from Princess Auto too. It was around $500 and has never given any trouble. It blows 160 PSI all day long and is excellent to sandblast with.
Princess Auto is like Harbor Freight in the US except the name is weird. They called it that because the first store was on Princess Ave in Winnipeg (Manitoba).
90 CFM?! That's a stunning deal if its correct, I'll check it out for sure. There is a princess auto here in Saskatoon.
Edit: Don't see any pump heads for sale in the online store, I'll check the paper catalogue.
Edit2: Only thing I see in the catalogue is a 2 stage 5to7 hp 900 to 1400 rpm 19-29 CFM for $730 Canadian. I'll show it to my husband.
...anything I come across a filler or 'whatever' that has been applied.....I stop can will take my grinder and grind it out and then fill it in or at least take the time to try to figure out WHY they filled in that area with 'whatever'.
......then add more fiberglass before using the filler.....thanks!
