VettoVette

And I thought I was original what unit are you with?

kerrynewman

YEP RED is the right color! IMHO

CooterCatchinVette

I'm a cloud burster. Seriously though, are you doing all your body work by hand in a barracks parking lot? Or are you utilizing air tools too? I hear their used to be a spray booth on post, but I believe it's been shut down for some time now if I'm not mistaken. I have tomorrow off and am interested in checking out your work so far.

VettoVette

As of right now I'm working in the b's parking lot. My unit just got back so we are in limbo until November first. After that ill be working up at my sheet metal shop on Simmons airfield. No air tools until I get to work at the hanger. Just a couple trusty blocks and cheese graters. We have a spray booth up at the hanger in my department but its not big enough for the whole car. I plan on taking the hood, side vents, doors, top and bumpers off too paint in my booth then rent out a booth for a day and do the quarter panels, and door jambs there. I unfortunately don't have time tomorrow, I'm supposed to hang out with a buddy after accountability formation. Soon tho for sure, like I said I'm not doing anything till the 1st

CooterCatchinVette

Right on. Sounds like you've got it under control.

VettoVette

I like to convince my self so... I hope haha

I need info on wheel adapters folks, how far can I go out without putting to much stress on my wheel bearings ect. anyone know what the current wide body kits on the market are running? im thinking 2 1/2- 3 inches, im also currently in the process of replacing wheel bearings all around as mine are shot, rotors and pads while im at it, so im willing to beef up those areas a bit. links to affordable adapters would be much appreciated as well!

Im wondering what my limits are because I want to make the flares first within my limits and then measure out and get what I need for my adapters as to not be to short or over shoot my flare by accident.

2HIP4U

Thank you for serving our country.




You've got good hands. Thanks for sharing your mods. When you're done, it will be YOUR ride, expressing YOUR taste.

VettoVette

heres where im at as of today









I'm in the process of evening them out. I like the passenger side one so I took a bendy small metal ruler and bent it along the curve up the fender on 5 spots I could easily identify on the other side, made note of the meaurement and made the other side match. the drivers side was a tad short but its almost there.

I was able to strip the rest of the body and block it out while I waited for fiberglass to setup (what a mess.....) minus the rear bumper because I prepped and painted it right, so the paint doesnt want to come off easy im going to wait till I get to the shop and can use the orbital for that.

once I get these fender peaks situated in the front im going to start on the rear flares and the rockers that will form into the flares. time to go pick up alot of airduct tape, cardboard and balsa wood strips.

Cant wait till im done so I can drive the skeleton with no doors, hatch, hood ect to the paint booth

cheers

GREGGPENN

Love the concept and can't wait to see the result. (Hope you go to square tail lens though!)

Here's some food for thought from one wide-body fan to another!

VettoVette

that was kind of what I planned on it looking like, I haven't seen that model before tho. ill have to add some twists of my own to make it original.

CooterCatchinVette

Those are the German Geiger cars. Pretty weird looking IMO. But some look good from certain angles.

Keystring

You could top the hood off with a mini L88 scoupe like mine. (minus the stripe)

856SPEED

You're doing one hell of a job!; I must admit I admire your courage taking down a Corvette, fiberglass body and making it your own! You have talent! I will be following you on this one!

VettoVette

@CooterCatchinVette: I agree certain angles are nice others not so much. im not a huge fan of the body line on the geiger that runs from the top of the rear wheel fender into the door, it looks a little out of place to me, and the front end to me is a little to wide after the flare at the side vent where it looks like the side vent is just tilted ~20 degrees from original then a flare is sculpted. I think it stays a little to wide for my taste after that part. it looks a little to much like a italian sports car to me which is a look i want at first glance but after 2 seconds screams corvette.

@Keystring: ive scultped a few of those in the past out of clay (fml) but full size, I thought about it when i made a sketch the other night but decided id like to stick to my original idea of venting the hood like this, very rough mock up, imagine the vents are facing towards the windshield at the same ange that little debris catcher is at under the windshield wipers.



or like this (which im leaning towards) and then glass up the indent in the center of the hood flush, layer it up a little taller and then sand in the taper. grind it down from the inside then reinforce the back with mat.


the vent placement is the toughest decision by far. I do plan on doing a LSX swap in the future and toying with the idea of some forced induction (twin turbos is going to eat my pockets but I want them) after my next deployment because ill have the cash. so i need these to be functional and provide cool air to the right places.

@856speed + everyone else: I appreciate it! it would have been nice to just take it to the soda blaster, but you know how that would have turned out :P The army did me good, taught me alot more about fiberglass and carbon fiber then I knew before I joined, so I have to thank good old uncle sam for a alot of my work.

another thought, glass over the front license plate indent? California requires 2 plates (although I was never pulled over for it when it was back there). This Vette is and will always remain a California car, but NC only requires one plate. grills in the turn signal housings? I know the side markers are going to have to go for the wide body to work. thoughts?
cheers

ProtouringC3C6

VettoVette,

First.... Thank you for your service! My son just joined the Marines, never being in the military it is giving me a whole new perspective of what all you men and women do for us.. Also with you being in the Army, have you heard of USSG Travis Mills? He is a quadruple amputee and is our "Home Town Hero" he grew up down the road from me... This young man is amazing. Check out TravisMills.org if you haven't heard of him.... Again Thank You for your service!

On to your Vette.... Great job with all you've done so far.. It appears your doing it in a parking lot, which makes it even more challenging!
Your new to the forum and asked opinions... You"ll get many... Just remember, this is YOUR vette and however you want to do it or change it is the best way to do... Go For It.... They made lots of these cars so the nice original ones are plentiful... So I say go wild and cut and paste and make it a cool custom! I have some custom C3's and currently working on a Custom C4 you may be interested in checking out at Speedvette.com
This has been a hobby gone wild... I got my first vette when I was 17 and have had many since. I see your only 20.. I'm sure with the work you've done so far you'll have many more too... Keep up the GREAT work....

VettoVette

I think I have heard of him actually, I pretty sure I watched him walk off a plane the other day when I picked up my buddy from the fayetteville airport. He was with the 82nd so it was probably him.

I like your work! phenomonial job on the C3 kit. are you getting your panels pressed? or are you just making your own mother molds from your modified panels gel coat then laying up glass? once im done with mine If people like it I plan on renting out a space and making duplicates to fund my next project.

I appreciate it, and you're right ive caught the corvette bug. I don't think ill ever shake it.

Ive been doing some looking and contemplating on what it is about the C4 body that I dont like a certain angles it was one of those things that you cant just pin point easily. at least not to me. Kind of like realizing stance can change an awesome looking car into a horrible one and vice versa.

I like the look of the C4's from the rear and looking from the rear down the side, it looks ok from the side. What I dislike is the look of it from the front and from the front down the side. it took me awhile with it parked next to a C4 with a greenwood kit on it to realize what I could do to make it more visually pleasing to me. I addressed the direct front view with the swoopy raised fender peaks. I thought the ugly part of the angled front down the side view like below was soley the taper back towards the rear bumper starting at the mid point of the rear fender flares.



but then I looked at it from a slightly wider angle like below



my disgust for this angle I realized is not how shallow the flares are but rather the fact that the rear end tucks behind the rear wheel rather then extending down a little more before curving down towards the exhaust. that combined with the descending taper from the mid point of the flare back to the rear bumper gives it that odd looking shape in my eyes. for example I like the rear end stance of the greenwood kit , it extends the bottom of the bumper down farther and squares it off getting rid of that wacky curve but it still doesnt extend out enough in my opinion, i want mine at least flush with the side of the rim behind the rear wheel




so needless to say im going to work on building out the back portion of the quarter panel first and extend the bumper down towards the ground so from this angle you can still see the body panel behind the rear while looking at it from the front down the side view. This is probably why I like the C6 so much



Im also going to hack up the front bumper, it extends out to far in my opinion, ditching the crash honey comb underneath or at least grinding alot of it off. Cut the tip off leaving about a inch and a half if you measured from the start of the flat face where it meets the hood measured down. then cut straight down, scrap the square turn signal lights. Glass over the front to give it a steeper drop unlike the really slow taper down on the original bumper. Then im going to track down some round turn signal lights and fog lamps at the junkyard, ill build the light receptacles in the bumper with ABS piping and fiberglass. and top it off with a grille. Just need access to my shop, 5 more days!

ProtouringC3C6

I made my by hand.. Once I have everything in primer and ready for paint I have molds made. Press mold parts are expensive.

The hard part as you are finding out is once you have one side done, trying to get the other side to match.

Some ideas for materials.. High density foam like your using.. Luan to make patterns and also the white 1/4" thick foam board you can get anywhere cheap.

Keep up the great work!

1996man

It has been said plenty of times in this thread but I cant resist adding my own 2 cents...
EXCELLENT JOB! I LOVE that you actually have the ***** to go after the C4 bodystyle and make it your own! Too many poeple (especially on this forum) are too dead set on keeping C4s bone stock or maybe limiting it to a K&N air filter.

Props to you for going custom! I have always thought C4s have a very badass shape but in some ways looked a little bland. I love most bodykits on a C4 But I like ven more how yu arent going with an off the self bodykit and are going to make it all look factory by having it all blended in.

Front what I understand the high sides of the C4 were a carry over from the C3 which combined with the exagerated curves was supposed to resemble the form of a woman with a small waist. I dont know if this is true or not but it is the fact the C4 looks so ready to offroad that bothers me.

I agree with you 100% that the rear bumper cover that comes up to meet the rear wheel well needs to go lower on the body. I am very anxious to see what you have planned for the rest of the car. I know you have spelled it out in words what you plan to do but its hard to get a mental picture of it sometimes until you see it yourself.

Excellent work so far and best of luck on the rest! Cant wait to see more progress pictures. I think you have all (or at least most) of us drooling in wait of more at this point!

1984crossfirefuelie

Your doing a great job on your vette. Where are you doing this in a shopping mall parking lot? Do a lot of people come by and ask what are you doing?

VettoVette

@ProtouringC3C6: I hear you on the expensiveness of getting molds pressed, but if the demand is there you never know, it might be a better option. excellent job on casting your parts, they look pressed!

I really want to make a gantry system but i dont have a place to do it unfortunetly, if I ever get married here in the next couple years and get to move into a house with a garage, count on me doing it.

im not a huge fan of Luan its a little too pourus for my taste, Ive used alot of MDF board in the past for building custom sub boxes.

@1996man: Appreciate it, that makes sense about the womanly appearance, I wouldnt say I have bigger ***** then anyone else for attempting it, its alot less of a risk then doing half the things I do to millions of dollars worth of helicopters and parts every day.



@1984crossfirefuelie: im in my barracks parking lot taking care of simple things like stripping the body fixing cracks, chips, missing things ect. I honestly should have waited on the fender peaks till I got to my shop, they are taking entirely to long by hand, a DA and a little high speed die grinder would have made it really easy.