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Been awhile since I've updated. haven't done to much, took advantage of Michigan mini spring to get the parts of the garage and got it cleaned up then just been breaking down / bagging the chassis parts getting ready to send for re-finish after the apocalypses. Also ordered the AIM finally.... there's a lot in there to consume, will be very valuable going forward.
Got the clips setup on the body cart to start fiberglass work, there's some old bubba work in this one for sure. I means there not good and then there is this... they fiberglassed OVER the metal bumper cover straps in several places. there was a patch on the back that I was able to just peal off, duck tape would have been harder to remove. Picked up my first quart of Resin and cloth this week so this weekend will be some fiberglass experimentation figuring out my techniques....
Factory assembly vs "aftermarket" assembly. there is a light in the wheel well trying to show the 1" gap along the top of the wheel liner on the passenger side.
Factory assembly vs "aftermarket" assembly. there is a light in the wheel well trying to show the 1" gap along the top of the wheel liner on the passenger side.
Not sure of your plan to work on these pieces while there apart . Obviously that mess of a patch shouldnt be there .
But getting the right amount of pressure on that rubber seal with the hood surround during assembly is a key point when putting a front end together .
LOL, you think a 1" gap is not the right amount??? yeah that's the plan this will be the corrected. About half the crap they put is just peeling off, I'm not sure they even washed the car before applying it. the best part was the sections put on top of the metal bumper cover and on top of the rubber wheel liner seal... Not sure what they thought that was going to do. I would not put it past whoever did it that they just filled in gaps or rips in the original fender so I'm a little afraid it will all just fall apart when I peel and cut the patch out of there that way It did have a good fit with the bumper cover so I'm thinking about making a "mold" of the outside shape and form before starting so I have a shape to re-built it to. Plus will be some good practice messing with fiberglass.
Last edited by bowtie_fly; Apr 20, 2020 at 06:54 PM.
Got some good news today. I talked to an e-coat place, a bit of a ride from SE Michigan, but price was actually better than I thought, I figured at least a a grand, but he was thinking closer to half that for the frame, cage, and a few other parts for the full 18 step e-coat process. So that pretty much decides it, frame, cage and few other parts will go for the alkaline dip, come home to get any patches or clean-up still needed, then will go off to e-coat.
Now to just wait until the world gets moving again.
You have taken the support bars out , my question is , how do you know that's going to be the original shape ?
I had similar damage to my 77 , I pulled the body off , for other reasons , but left the repair until it was back on and bolted down .
But yes make a mold for verification , but you are going to leave both the inner wheel arch on the hood surround ?
I got my replacement frame pickled , they sand blasted it and dipped it in a tank ,took it out and put it back in upside down , then whipped it with sand again and put an industrial primer on it for $300. the insides were white metal and they stayed that way. Ended up taking my radiator support , gearbox support and the front crossmember (69) to get done as well.
I've got some worries about the same thing, which why I expect that mold will be pretty big and make sure it gets back far enough to reference points that should not move. I'll just be doing underside work, won't do much of the topside work until its re assembled to the birdcage and back on the frame. I do plan to leave the wheel liners in (in fact the factory side won't be getting touched at all other than cleaning up), I might have to cut a little bit out of the repaired side to fix some of that mess, when I do I'll make sure and do some extremal bracing until its reattached. I'm not doing any repairs across the nose where that brace was at so not to worried about that being flexed a little right now. Also I did mark where the header bar was by scoring a line on the top and bottom, just deep enough that I'll still be able to see it if after cleaning and priming, this should get that right back to where it came from.
For the complete body reassembly the plan is get the metal done, when its back I'll reassembled the body to the birdcage on the frame then verify the body repairs look good before lifting the complete body back off for final underside finishing.
After much playing around and over thinking the process I finally settled in on West Systems Epoxy with cloth covered by mat. This corner was pretty blasted so I got some practice putting coverage on the outside and bracing it before cutting out the wheel skirt section and grinding off all the old bad repair. Ended up buying a new bonding strip so I could just cut the old one out, there wasn't much of the original panels left under it anyway. going to be several steps getting the hood surround rebuild on the backside, then the fender on the back, then rebuild the wheel skirt piece, glue the bond strip and wheel skirt back in and then work the pieces on the outside....
Got the back side of the fender panel rebuilt now as well, waiting on the new bonding strip to fit and glue into place. Gives me a couple days to finish fixing / rebuilding the hacked repairs from on the wheel skirt, maybe this coming weekend I can get it all glued back together and start prep for primer
Got part of the wheel liner rebuild and started dry fitting, waiting for my LORD 320/321 to get here later in the week to glue it up. Its starting to look a bit more original now!! Need to dig out the radiator support now and dry fit that as well just to make sure before it gets all glued up.
I haven't had much time on the car over the last several weeks, but have most of the front corner put back together. Going to get some of the feather fill to mix with west epoxy 105 resin and skim coat a couple spots but all in all I'm very happy with how it came out, looks very original now. I had always assumed I would be priming and painting the underside but seeing it left the factory unfinished I'm starting to debate doing the same.
What have people used to prime the underside / bare fiberglass? I'm assuming the self etching types don't offer much advantage like they do with bare metal.
Looking good. I haven't even thought much about all the glass work I have coming up on my 71's body. Right now I've just about finished stripping the frame and will then restore/replace the parts and reassemble. Body will wait till that's done. I'll be watching to see how you do yours...
Color Scheme #1, underbody and frame keyed off the original pinstripe colors. I like it, but next I think I'll try doing a light grey (similar to original un-finished fiberglass color) for the under body, then I might flip the frame and suspension colors.
Thanks! yeah I was pretty lucky with rust limited to pretty much just surface rust. All the metal goes to dip on Monday and ecoat on the 20th and I'll have something to start painting and re-building on.
Tried another color scheme, I think this is my favorite so far.
Just getting caught up on this thread. Wow, that's a lot of work.
As far as color schemes go, I like #6 in the multi-sample pic. It shows off the other pieces as if they are highlighted, whereas the one right above has a little too much and looks more like a bunch of different color parts all put together.
Totally my opinion, though! Rock out with what you like best!
