Outstanding Doug! Looks great!

 

This is the first I have seen this thread, you have a fantastic vette. I love it.

 

Being we didn't have the flat deck like a Chrome bumper to do something like a motion stripe we opted to go straight back like a Grand Sport. That was sort of the theme going in but it took lots of twists and turns along the way.

Yours already looks amazing. Whatever you guys do will be icing on the cake!!!

 

That is the stuff! Cant wait the see the completion!:th umbs:

 

Bruiser sleeps tonight.

Fresh valve covers arrived today. Thanks Dave for spotting packages out by the front gate before the "bad guys" picked them up.

The entire Corvette America order (pieces parts and fasteners for black interior) shipped today, will be here early next week.

I believe the black carpet shipped today but it may be tomorrow. That will also get here next week.

Dynomat shipment arrived yesterday. I am buying what Dave has left over from his install on Katy as well.

I have a lot of washing and polishing to do on the headers and side pipes before they go back on the car. Will need to wet sand the scratches and some of the other contaminants out with 1000/1500 grit sandpaper

All the buffers and equipment from Stan's shop are on their way, arrive tomorrow. I already bought all the supplies Stan needed because he and Tim arrive Saturday night and will start early to wet sand and do all the painting on Sunday at Larry's shop. Mon-Wed will be sanding and buffing, re-hanging hood, headlights etc so we know all the body parts work before they leave Wednesday evening. Will be a foot race but we'll get it done.

Mike Dyer has ordered the new glass for the hardtop, got the last piece in America but we only needed one!

Talked with Mike; he will come down after the first, finish all electrical wiring, will glass in the battery box and passenger side box where we had to cut them to fit in half shafts, We'll clean up the interior, grind down some stuff then do dynomat before carpet. We will pull the wheels and sand and paint the inner fenders, and complete the interior. I will sponsor an engine cleaning day and hope Steve that you, maybe Dave or Chris can come over and help me go through the engine bay, put on new valve covers, .straighten things out for the last time, reinstall brightwork, sidepipes, etc.

I'm guessing that finishing off Bruiser will take a month at least. Need to get a front bumper test fit and rechromed. Tranny will have to come out and get shipped back to Rockland Gear..we torched third gear synchros in BG with clutch problems..our bad not theirs...so will be sending it back. I'm going to have the seats redone in black leather, may use blue stitching just for a little color. Have also ordered floor mats to match the carpet with Stingray embroidered on in blue.

Thanks for listening in guys. I appreciate your support and suggestions along the way.

Doug

 

Joe, your stripe reminds me a bit of my 1990 track car.







I bought the car this way, don't know I would have had such a wide stripe if I had done it myself.

Thanks for posting those pics! Beautiful car!

 

This car is going to be a monster. Ashame what has to go into one of these, to get it to that level. I'm eviouse of this one. they should sell those at a dealership for 20 grand...

 

I'm afraid they don't sell ANYthing these days for 20k at the dealership.

 

looks awesome, love the rear suspension and motor

 

I dont think 20K would touch a project like this. Maybe 30K if you do it yourself.

 

Coming along nicely!

Man, I haven't seen that garage in a LONG time. Miss that 90...really liked that car.

 

Hey Doug, Been gone for a awhile but the game is on again and BLUE CARS STILL RULE!! Hi Jim!! Dang Doug your car is so SWEET!!

 

Okay, first some teasers just because they were fun pictures to take while we were at the paint shop:

Hood (did a Baldwin Motion stripe)



Some door pics







And a couple of reflection shots off the hardtop

 

We pushed yesterday and got the car home last night. A cold front is coming through here, it rained all yesterday afternoon and is expected to get much worse by morning so we bit the bullet and brought Bruiser home last night.

Sorry no pretty pictures like Chip Foose's garage where everything gleams and it looks like everything is put away on some other planet when they are shooting. This is a real garage with real stuff in it until we get Bruiser all put back together. I have another bay in my house garage filled with boxes with interior parts ready to go back on as well. Will be nice on that account when this is done.

Okay here we go!

Weather wasn't cooperating when we were ready to roll the car out so we had to construct a makeshift raincoat for Bruiser. It is what it is.



Finished hood



The beginning and the end of the Baldwin Motion stripe. The white really pops, is hard to show in pictures.



Stan can't decide which of these doors he likes best!



Is a little hard to see in this picture because of the light but the rear deck exactly matches the color on my Z06. Yea!!



I've been thinking of going with the door delete option but decided just to keep it until the interior has all been installed.



Yup, monster motor is still there!






Okay that's all for now. In the morning, we are going to hang the headlights and the rear deck lid, maybe the hood. Some light buffing, then more pictures.

We can now see the end of the road for the Bruiser project. (Hope so, this is fun but gettin' espensive! )
Doug

 

I have to say, from what I've seen in pictures and in the flesh, the average American body shop is the best in the world.

 

I am pretty sure you mean to be complimentary here and I appreciate that but it fails a bit in translation. This isn't the average body shop...there are many shops out there that are just that...average. These guys are probably among the top 2 or 3 shops in the US on Corvettes; some only do NCRS restorations but Stan and Tim also do more on the edge work like this car as well. I flew them in from Boston, put them up in hotels here, just to be able to watch them work, to learn all I can about my car as it is built and to press the project through to completion.

The goal of this project is to be top of the mark in "show" as well as "go" and we're well on our way to accomplishing that.

Do you own a Corvette? I can't tell by your avatar. Maybe is time to get one!

Doug

 

Sorry that's not meant to be sarcasm, what I meant is that the overall standard of bodywork refinishing in the USA is much better than the UK.

I've seen 'show specialists' paintwork here that I wouldn't accept on my every day car, let alone a show car. We just don't have enough skilled craftsmen here to push standards as far as you guys do.

 

Doug,
Have you had a car condom fitted yet so you can drive around on the Houston roads and not get paint chips everywhere on that piece of art?

I can't wait to see Bruiser completed. WOW!!! I picked up my new 'toy' for Christmas so let us all know when Bruiser will be making an appearance at 4Bucks and I'll bring 'Diablo'.

 

You should make that picture your avatar!! Welcome to the CORVETTE FORUM!

 

Travis, glad to hear about your purchase. Have you talked with The Temptor yet about engine mods?


Okay we made some real progress today.

My friend Rob came over and did a yeoman's job installed Dynomat (with all the labels lined up in the same direction!) Yea Rob!



Got the bumpers on (new struts and new bolts took us a while), fuel filler cap and rear vents including painting the area under the vents flat black. Very sharp now! Thanks to Dave Blocker for crawling under the car to line up the bolts. We should have put Bruiser on the lift!



Stan and Tim hung the rear deck lid and the headlights before they left to go back to Boston this afternoon. Thanks guys!



I also started removing the blue interior trim today in preparation for going to black.



Black cutpile carpet arrived today.

Seats to the upholsterer tomorrow to be redone in black leather. Also will be installing taillights, running lights and front turn signal enclosures.

Kind of fun being able to see the end of the tunnel!

Doug