I have restored a 58 Corvette before and have successfully painted several cars but admit I am totally new to the C3. I have a 77 that I plan to do a body off restoration ( and some neat mods) and I am about ready to lift the body. I will be switching to fiberglass front and rear bumper sections so here is my problem, exactly what is the sequence. It appears that the front and rear need to be removed to clear the bumpers when the body is removed. The fiberglass replacements need to be attached to the body for final body sand and fit. Is this done before or after body lift? Are they painted while assembled or painted separately and then assembled after? Is the body remounted and painted or painted off the frame (which I prefer)? I am waiting for all my manuals and reference stuff but am eager to get going. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

 

Fit, sand, remove, paint, mount body, mount front and rear covers. Painting the covers attached to the body will cause problems separating the pieces to do the body drop. If painting metallic color, be sure to paint all the pieces in the same session, so pressure, spray pattern, etc. are the same. Otherwise parts may appear to be a slightly different shade. (happened a lot at the factory).

Good luck
Orville

 

71 Roadster is offering excellent guidance. You can see pictures of C3s in the factory as the bodies are married to the chassis but bumpers are no where in site. They were painted separately, accompanying the body until final assembly. But the key is as roadster points out...pre-assemble and fit...than remove and paint.

 

Correct, you need to fit the bumpers before removing the body. The rear bumpers fit pretty well and depending on what brand you get the tail light brackets might need to be modified to fit the tail light pods. There are 3 supports mounted to the reinforcement to keep urethane bumpers in shape, I would eliminate them to keep them from rubbing on the fiberglass as well as the horizontal rubber cushion. The tail light hole stencils that come with ACI and Toledo-Pro bumpers are not even close to accurate, cut and drill your own tail light holes using the OEM tail light retaining rings as a guide. By the way I have the best results with ACI fiberglass bumpers.
The front bumpers are more labor intensive. The honeycomb will need to be shaved accross the top. The center rubber cushion will need to be shaved on top as well as trimming the rubber guards. The horizontal steel reinforcement directly in front of the body will also need to be trimmed accross both sides to allow the bumper to fit over it. I use chalk on the inside of the bumper to tell where the interference points are on the center cushion and honeycomb until it fits correctly. Seldom do the ends of the bumper match the front fender sides especially if there was previous body repairs, so don't be alarmed if you have a 1/4" to 3/4" gap.
Sorry about rambling on, but I've done a few of these and a lot of people ask these questions or eliminate the reinforcements (which is a bad idea), on '75 and later front ends.

 

Thanks for the help. I thought it might make sense to fit the fiberglass pieces before removing the body,