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That looks nice and smooth. Check out RVZIO thread. He learned/has pics on how to "grind a valley" along the crack before fiberglassing the area. It makes the repair stronger.
Not that it matters...but I thought in a PM to you or a phone call...I mentioned that I would not apply the mat and resin to the firewall side so it can still be smooth and I can do all crack repairs with the VPA.
Seeing how you laminated on that surface.....I guess it depends on how smooth you are wanting to get it.
Most of the time I have to make my repairs so you can not tell that I repaired it...so about all of the repairs would be done on the interior side.
Regardless of how I do it...it still looks like you got it and it should be strong.
From: PHOENIX, AZ Yes, it's true. You are a good woman. Then again, you may be the Antichrist.
Originally Posted by doorgunner
That looks nice and smooth. Check out RVZIO thread. He learned/has pics on how to "grind a valley" along the crack before fiberglassing the area. It makes the repair stronger.
Thanks, Doorgunner. I've done some reading in RVIZIO's thread, and am aware that DUB has been schooling him, but it's a couple thousand posts long. Care to narrow it down to a page #?
Originally Posted by DUB
Looks good.
Not that it matters...but I thought in a PM to you or a phone call...I mentioned that I would not apply the mat and resin to the firewall side so it can still be smooth and I can do all crack repairs with the VPA.
Seeing how you laminated on that surface.....I guess it depends on how smooth you are wanting to get it.
Most of the time I have to make my repairs so you can not tell that I repaired it...so about all of the repairs would be done on the interior side.
Regardless of how I do it...it still looks like you got it and it should be strong.
DUB
Hey DUB. I do remember you commenting that you'd do 98% of the repair to the inside surface.
I can always sand the firewall back to smooth, right?
How do you make this type of repair invisible? Obviously, the VPA is a different color. I had to grind away some of the edges of the cracks to get the pieces to pull back into alignment, so the VPA will always show. The original fiberglass seems to have a dark gray gel coat? How do you replicate that?
From: PHOENIX, AZ Yes, it's true. You are a good woman. Then again, you may be the Antichrist.
Splash shield bracket and dimmer switch pedal reinstalled with original style solid aluminum rivets. Getting those set correctly takes a little practice.
Firewall side with a little flat black rattle can paint to hide the blue VPA seams from the repair. Doesn't look great in the pic, but it's actually pretty smooth. I chose to add some strands of glass over the cracks on the firewall side for a little extra strength. It'll all be hidden by the splash shield anyway.
I'm not ready to dive into any kind of serious body repair work, but I'm happy with the way it turned out and it was a good learning experience. Also, I've got about 3/4" of foot space back after removing that big turd cake of fiberglass that somebody slathered on there, and the floor is back to it's original contour and feels strong.
A big THANKS to DUB for taking time out of his busy day to answer my newbie questions while I was working on this repair.
From: PHOENIX, AZ Yes, it's true. You are a good woman. Then again, you may be the Antichrist.
Now that the footwell repair is taken care of, I was able to work on getting the carpet installation finished up.
Same as the passenger side, I installed Frost King closed cell foam with an aluminum backing. The driver's side already had some insulation panels installed by the previous owner, so I just worked around those and taped the seams.
New carpet in place.
Now that that's taken care of, I can move on to reinstalling the console and gauge bezel.
I've already made a repair to the gauge bezel that was broken in half.
From: PHOENIX, AZ Yes, it's true. You are a good woman. Then again, you may be the Antichrist.
Originally Posted by Ben N
GREAT thread, and thanks for sharing this adventure with us!
You've given me MORE ideas!
Ben
That's the great thing about this forum. Somebody's probably already been there/done that, and they're willing to share their experience.
Right now, I'm kicking around the idea of installing a homelink garage door opener, if I can figure out a good spot for it. Did that mod to my old C5, and borrowed the idea from another forum member.
From: PHOENIX, AZ Yes, it's true. You are a good woman. Then again, you may be the Antichrist.
Couple more baby steps today.
I got the rear compartment doors rehabbed and put back in place. I'm missing one of my loop pulls, so I've got a temporary piece of wire on the jack door.
The original fiberboard doors were a bit tired...some warping and the screws for the trim weren't getting much grip anymore. I decided to swap them out for a later set. The purists may want to take a deep breath here.
The later style (I think they're fiberglass?) are thinner, but with ribs, and allow a little extra room...which I needed for my quick disconnect negative battery terminal. It sticks up a bit, so I needed some clearance.
From: PHOENIX, AZ Yes, it's true. You are a good woman. Then again, you may be the Antichrist.
Moving on to the center console.
Can't install the newly painted gauge bezel right above the old scratched up center console, so the "might as well's" strike again!
All pieces of the shifter console are sent off to rehab...
Lots of careful scraping to take the paint off the lettering and chrome trim.
Shifter plate: removed the old paint with acetone, cleaned it up, then taped off the chrome edge as well as the engine info plate. It was still in decent shape, so I elected not to mess with it.
It's not perfect...a couple little spots where I slipped up and nicked the paint and had to touch it up...but it's a hell of a lot better looking than it was before!
I'm looking forward to getting my interior buttoned up again and going out for a drive!
From: PHOENIX, AZ Yes, it's true. You are a good woman. Then again, you may be the Antichrist.
Originally Posted by chazde3
Those are gonna look great when reinstalled!
Thanks!
I've been a bit delayed in putting things back together. I was missing a 90 ohm resistor for the electric oil pressure gauge. Got a little sticker shock when I tried to source one, so today I ran down to a local electronics recycler, picked up a handful of resistors for $5 and made my own 90 ohm unit. Tested out at 89.5 so I was pretty happy with that.
I hope to get the dash mostly back together tomorrow. Haven't been in a hurry, since I need to replace the stereo unit also and I haven't made a final decision on what to replace it with. Leaning towards a Retrosound unit with Bluetooth.
Anyway, I had another little project I got mostly finished. The under-body shield for the drivers floorboard was missing on my '69. It's just a flat piece of sheet metal. I figured I could manufacture one pretty easily.
Ran down to the local metal sales yard and rummaged around in their scrap pile. Found a piece for the shield and a piece for the brackets...guy at the counter says "A couple bucks". I hand him three and he hands me back one.
Used the passenger side shield and brackets as templates. Got the pieces all cut out and cleaned up. Just need to paint them.
I've been a bit delayed in putting things back together. I was missing a 90 ohm resistor for the electric oil pressure gauge. Got a little sticker shock when I tried to source one, so today I ran down to a local electronics recycler, picked up a handful of resistors for $5 and made my own 90 ohm unit. Tested out at 89.5 so I was pretty happy with that.
I hope to get the dash mostly back together tomorrow. Haven't been in a hurry, since I need to replace the stereo unit also and I haven't made a final decision on what to replace it with. Leaning towards a Retrosound unit with Bluetooth.
Anyway, I had another little project I got mostly finished. The under-body shield for the drivers floorboard was missing on my '69. It's just a flat piece of sheet metal. I figured I could manufacture one pretty easily.
Ran down to the local metal sales yard and rummaged around in their scrap pile. Found a piece for the shield and a piece for the brackets...guy at the counter says "A couple bucks". I hand him three and he hands me back one.
Used the passenger side shield and brackets as templates. Got the pieces all cut out and cleaned up. Just need to paint them.
Any progress is good progress!
Rick
Nice job on the shields and resistor. I really enjoy reading the posts of people who think out of the box and are very creative in ways to get things done. Nice job!
RVZIO
