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Connected vacuum lines to actuators & vacuum reservoir. Started sanding nose & tail pieces. Seat rails, seats & seat belts installed & operating smoothly. I’ll have to remove them when I finish the interior, but for now it’s nice to sit comfortably in the car.
I drained the engine break-in oil, switched out the oil filter, added ZDDP & Delo 15-40 I’m glad to finally have real oil in the crankcase as per recommendation of the engine builder. Sauer’s in Medford built the engine & are very specific about the oil. I clean up & installed the hatch covers & trim piece at the rear of the back window. Got to be extra careful not to crack the rear glass when screwing in this piece. Nice to be able to pull out the cover in back. After the wiring checks out, some insulation & carpeting will finish off the interior sweetly.
Proper engine oil, your really moving forward now!
And yes, follow the engine builders instructions as per oil. They are the ones who not only built it. But will stand behind it. Extremely important.
And carpets. Now your just getting fancy!
Crusty door panel hardware got wire brushed & painted with rusty metal primer. The metal strip under the top of the panel got brushed & primed too. After using contact cement & shallow staples to secure vinyl to panel the whole thing got sprayed with rubberized undercoating paint.
Last edited by 78Corvetter; Aug 4, 2024 at 04:27 PM.
I realized that sanding the last of the old paint off would be the most satisfying milestone, something I’ve been wanting to get done for a long time. The deck around the rear window & right rear fender look a lot better after several hours of 60 grit. Passenger door & right front fender are all that’s left to do before I start on the door jams, front & rear bumpers, & a few minor fiberglas repairs.
Five hours & a 5 pack of 60 grit later, paint removal from body is done. It seemed like a bigger job than it was. Still to be done are the nose & rear pieces & door jams.
Before priming I’ll have to remove the antenna, door locks & handles to prep those areas. I’ll go over the car again with 150 grit, then keep it wiped down with acetone & covered until it’s time to prime.
Last edited by 78Corvetter; Aug 7, 2024 at 10:23 PM.
Disassembled & wire brushed the gas cap cover, painted the rusty parts with metal primer It took several hours with a pack of 150 grit & a vibrating sander to remove the paint off of the plastic nose piece. Tomorrow I’ll tackle the rear cover & get the rest of the small pieces ready for primer. Before sanding, the front bumper cover looked pretty bad, with deep cracks in the paint all the way down to the plastic.
Last edited by 78Corvetter; Aug 9, 2024 at 11:24 AM.
Cracks & unevenness in the bumper covers gets fixed with Bondo. Sanding the tail light recesses was impossible so I used a wire brush on a drill to remove layers of paint. Unevenness in the plastic caused by the wire brush took Bondo & hours of hand sanding to smooth out. Front cover needs another Bondo & sanding session before priming.
I figured that since the surface cracks looked so bad, I had no choice & nothing to lose. Worst case scenario, if I screwed up, I’d have to buy new ones. 😱
I’ve been flexing & vibrating both covers a lot while sanding them the past two days & so far none of the Bondo has let go.
Once they’re bolted onto the car, there will be a lot less movement. Several layers of paint will help with adhesion too. This is what the front cover looked like when I started. Pretty ugly... The rear cover was even more challenging with the recessed taillights. It was impossible to hand-sand the layers of paint so I used a wire brush on a drill.
I tried to be careful, but still wound up gouging the plastic. I used Bondo to smooth out cracks & unevenness thinking that it would be easier to hand-sand Bondo in the recessed taillights.
It is, but still a chore using 150 grit. I’m working on it some more today & will post photos when it’s finished.
At this point they’re looking good. I’m thinking this is going to work out. Definitely worth a try.
It’s not a question of adhesion of Bondo. Bondo cures rigid-zero flex. So it will likely crack in short order. There are many flexible bumper sand able filler options out there, why not use one of those?
I bet there are a lot of used fiberglass bumpers for sale out there, too. They always need work, even when new, but they won't crack until you hit something.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
leave it...go with what ya got...if its flexing it isnt because of climate change, its because someone hit your car which will booger the paint anyway...
Thanks for valued input guys. Having progressed beyond the point of no return at this point, I’m committed to following through using what I’ve got to work with & what I’ve already started.
So far so good…will let y’all know how it works out!
