I filled in the letter holes on the tail light panel and thought I'd give it another go. I still have a scrap piece of tail light panel Dub sent me fortunately (the holes in it are a bit sloppy) I made a paper template and taped it to the tail light panel and took a drill directly to that. The last two times I re-did the letter holes I made a paper template from the scrap tail light panel, cut holes in the paper where the dots were and then used that to draw points on the tail light panel and drilled those. I figured by drilling directly through the paper into the tail light panel I'd save one transcription and one more chance for position error to creep in.






As soon as I started to drill the first hole I realized my eyesight isn't really good enough any more to do the best job on this. I had my glasses on but I got them about 14 years ago and its time for a new pair. I was eager to get this done so I continued and drilled all the holes and then immediately thought this wasn't a good idea. I know the two holes on the "T"s and "E"s are one right above the other and I could see it was a bit off and the heights looked different too. So I was feeling stupid for not asking Ward for new glasses before trying again. I used my smallest drill bit so I can adjust the hole positions a bit when I make them big enough for the letter pins to go through. I went in the house and told Ward I didn't want to continue with the letters without new glasses and he agreed to buy them for me . I'm really looking forward to getting them, I haven't been able to read an actual book for a few years although the computer isn't a problem.

Ward brought home his laser level and I decided to level the car and give it a try. I set the level up and to my surprise the car was perfectly level as it sat:




I moved the level up to the holes for the letter and was pretty surprised to see the holes for the last four letters almost perfectly level, close enough anyway that when I enlarge them I can get them at exactly the same height. The first four letters the laser level won't be a big help with because each letter is different. I'm encouraged at this point that I'm going to finally be done with these letters, I had been thinking I was going to fill in the holes and re-drill for a fifth time.




So I learned you just can't trust your eyes on this sort of thing, the heights of the last four letters all looked way off to my naked eye. The laser level is going to be a big help in getting this right. Earlier this evening I went to the optometrist, had the eye test and picked out some frames. They say I'll have my new glasses in 8 to 10 business days, I can't wait! I was hoping to get them in a couple of days so I could get back to the lettering, but I guess I'll have to work on getting the right shape on the quarter panels for now, they're pretty crude right now.

 

Looking good Priya!

 

You`re doing an EXCELLENT job Priya, but it`s important to remember that NONE of these cars were ever perfect from the factory. They were all born with minor flaws as a result of production schedules, and the avialable working methods & equipment at the time. Also consider that an artist`s WORST critic is himself (or herself in this case), and YOU are the ONLY one who will see things that look "off" to you, while everyone else OOOO`s and AHHHH`s in amazement at your skills.

 

Pryia,
I get what you are trying to accomplish, and like me, you are probably a little OCD.
I’m currently building a new “she shed” in our back yard so my wife has more space for her holiday decorations.
I have been loosing sleep over the fact that so far two of the walls I have constructed are not perfectly square.
Over the eight foot span my two walls are approximately 1/8 inch out of square.
They were perfect before I nailed on the siding.
I know when the shed is finished it will be as perfect as I can get it, but I know there is at least one stud in one wall with a little twist in it and every time I open the door and walk in the first thing I’ll notice is that one stud.
Keep up your excellent work.

 

Drywall the inside and it will disappear. If you are as meticulous as I am and you are only an 1/8th off it will line up nicely for you. You can insulate behind it then when you decide to take it back over you will have a nice little insulated shop

 

Ha Ha!
Take it back over?
I’ve taken over the garage and I’ve been lucky to get that!

 

Thanks everyone! I think the laser level is going to be a big important help on this. Without it I was sure the height of those last four letters was all over the place and if I'd have proceeded without the laser level I'd have adjusted the "T"s and "E"s way too far up and down when they don't need to move up or down barely at all.



I'll get the "C O R V" letters straight as I can first by enlarging the holes and then I can move the "E T T E" up and down quite a bit to match without them showing the holes behind the letters. [Edit 2020-10-31] the "E T T E" letters can only be moved significantly upwards without showing by elongating the holes, they can be moved down very little before the top hole shows]

I don't know if I mentioned it earlier, but the last set of holes I had for the letters the right side of the name was 1/8" or more lower than the left side. It was pretty noticeable to me. I'm clearly a lot closer than that now.

 

I received my 8" 9/16" spring bolts today

Thanks so much 7t9l82!

We got snow today but its supposed to melt and warm up a bit over the next few days. The Corvette will be going back in the car box this weekend and the Eagle will go in the garage. I didn't get a whole lot done this summer but I never got the Corvette back in the garage until July 4th and then there was a pile of stuff to do around the house.

 

I know the feeling.

 

We'll get there doorgunner

 

I got my new glasses on Friday so I had at the C O R V E T T E letters on the tail light panel again. You can only move the holes so much before the letters won't cover them any more. I might lower that first "E" a bit yet but all in all I'm happy with them this time. The laser level was a huge help!

 

It looks great from here...
dont worry about the EEEEEEEEE...it's fine !

The lazer light is a little bit crooked under the E.

 

Those letters look great! It's been fun following your progress. Hope to see your finished car in person sometime.

 

You never know, we're not that far apart. I'm looking forward to some long drives in this car.

 

Man it's looking good! Glad the bolts made it. I'm glad they weren't tied up till this crazy virus is over

 

The Corvette was supposed to go into storage last week, but hubby wanted to wait until tomorrow so I got another week to work on it. I got the "splash shields"(?) installed behind the rear wheels. The panel bonding adhesive to do it was pretty price at $80 a package and it took two of them to glue the splash shields back into place. I was able to get by with one carefully placed vice grip to hold the splash shield in place while it hardened:






Last night Ward gave me a hand putting the gas tank back in place. I was expecting a gigantic hours long struggle with lots of swearing and frustration but my sweety managed to make it all in all a pretty slick installation that only took an hour. I was thinking we'd end up with him underneath trying to hold the tank up while I climbed up top of the car and tried to hook up the hoses and wiring. Fortunately Ward had a better idea and we used the lifting jack under the car with a jack stand on it to raise the gas tank up most of the way so we could hook up the three hoses and two electrical connections.



I tried to hook up the hoses at first because I have smaller hands but I wasn't able to force the hoses on the tubes so Ward ended up doing it. We struggled a bit when I told Ward the two gas tank straps went underneath the tank but Ward figured out they go over the top of the tank. What can I say, it was years ago I took the tank out and I didn't remember how it went in. So there we are with the tank mostly in place, the three hoses and two electrical wires hooked up and Ward says to me "We better not need to pull the tank back out to get these metal straps over top of the gas tank...". I'm feeling uneasy but we fished the straps up and over the tank from underneath and managed to get them in place without having to disconnect and drop the tank again.

It feels like a significant milestone to get the gas tank back in, I'm glad we were able to do it before we put the car in winter storage. I'm really pleased about this!

I spent a bit of time trying to get the quarter panels in better shape. I block sanded the driver's side with 80 grit and was disappointed to find how wavy the previous owners made the body when they painted it. It sure looks like they sanded it down with bare hands given all the low spots (I sprayed the panel with water just before taking this picture):



As I want to minimize how much of the original SMC I sand off I'm now not quite sure how to proceed. I could continue to bock sand with 80 grit until the spots of old paint are gone, but that will thin out the panel all over. Alternatively I figured I could at this point take some 80 grit to the remaining paint spots and sand them out by hand, then rough up the whole panel a bit with 80 grit, apply vette panel adhesive/filler over the entire quarter panel and then block sand until the SMC starts to show through again.

 

Great work! At least you don't have my Mother's eagle eye looking over your shoulder - she could pick out something out of line from 50'. I swear!

"but my sweety managed to make it all in all a pretty slick installation that only took an hour." At last proof, maybe, that men are good for something! One can never be too certain: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-54760265

 

And they drive on the wrong side

 

So, we got the Corvette into the car box today. Unfortunately I must have somehow turned on the stereo when I was fixing in the interior (I don't even know how to turn it on) and the power antennae tried to extend while it was tied to the driver's side frame rail. Its now all bent out of shape and won't stop trying to extend or retract. I hate this sort of thing where we have to spend time and money on something that was working. C'est la vie, I guess

 

Sorry about the Priya...That really does suck...