Hello everyone!
I'm new in town. I'm 41 years old, I live in Maine. I'm a lobsterfisherman, been married 16 years, and have a son who's a senior.

I have a 69 coupe that I found in a field about five years ago.
I've done alot of work to it and now need to bodywork/paint it.

my problem is I'm so far away from anything so most of any work that has to be done is by me. I have alot of experinse with fiberglassing on boats, as i've repaired and built many of them. But I have no experince with autobody work. I hope the techique's are similiar.

My car came silver and someone painted it blue. I don't know how long ago, but now the paint is flaking off in places, there is A starburst in the center of the hood, someone hit it on the rear spoiler section,also up under the right side front bumper, and someone put 60 series tires all the way around causing the front tire to hit the fender edge, thus cracking it. other than that the cars in good condition.
What seems strange to me is that paint is peeling off, like it didn't take to the surface very well in places and other spots it's on real good.
I don't know if it was poor paint or poor prep.
when I started sanding I noticed that under the paint was a darker shade of blue(base coat?) then a whitish color appeared(gelcoat?) then down to fiberglass. then I though maybe I'd get some advice.
could some one help me through the steps to achieve a decent paint job?





1. how do I take the emblems off?

2. this car has a luggage rack and the mounting holes have rubber grommets in them. are these replaceable and how do I do it?

3.do I have to sand down to the white color(gelcoat?) everywhere?

OOHHH MAN I have so many questions, i'm spinning like a top
1

 

I think you are putting the cart before the horse on this.

If you found a 69 Vette in a field in Maine, you need to check the frame and birdcage for rustout before even thinking about anything else.

You will need to do some disassembly of the car to assess rust before anything else.

For the birdcage, I would remove the windshield and dash and maybe the doors to get a good inspection.

For the frame, get the car up on jackstands and inspect the entire frame for rust.

Make sure the car is in restorable condition before you sink a dime into it.

A old Corvette sitting in a field in Maine could be totaled very easily from corrosion.

Roger

 

After seeing your pictures, it sure doesn't look like that car was in a field for very long. Still, I would recommend what I said to do in my previous post.

 

Rodger,
You are right, the vette wasn't in the field very long, I went back to ask a few questions and he told me it was there about 3 weeks, before that it was in a barn, before that it was in Mass. somewhere.

it's been on a lift, the frame is great, the body mounts are fine,i've replaced the gas tank, fuellines, brakes, brake lines, rebuilt the tranny,repaired the power streering,replaced the wheel bearings,etc.

I've owned this car since around 2000, so i've done alot of work on it and drove it everywhere (MASS,Canada,all around here), so it's solid.
I also store it inside year round, so I take care of it.

I got lucky when i found it.

the problem is minor body work and paint...I have a body shop nearby but they won't touch fiberglass cars. They say they havn't done enough of them and don't have the experiance.
and we're miles and miles away from people who do this sort of work.

I can do much of the prep and body work, someone else will probably paint it . I just need directions.

Roger, thanks for replying, you guys in the know are a huge help to people like me...and this Forum brings it all together. It's awsome that you guys will offer advice to us!! With your guidance, we should end up with a nice product,...Thank you

 

Well Roger,
I took your advice and made an appointment with a frame specialist for wed. march 28 at 1 oclock...I'm gonna sneak it over, hope I don't get stopped.

 

Good decision. You need a specialist on that issue. Good luck.

If you get a few minutes, check out the pictures where I had the windshield out of my '69 and how their was rust under the upper fender brackets.

I would recommend anyone restoring a Vette of this vintage to check that area.

Roger

 

T,
Do you happen to live in the Bangor area?

Check some of the old forum questions here and at the NCRS site. Tons of info on how to procede.

Also check out two other bodywork/paint websites for more info than you'd ever want to know, 'paintucation' and 'autobodystore'. both have forums, autobodystore is the most active site of the two. Incredible information that is useful to know even if you farm out the paint work

There is also a dragstrip in or near Winterport? Might be good to ask any of the guys that run vettes where they had work done.

I wouldn't let anyone without experiece 'play' with the vette. The fender well crack can be an easy repair but many times if done incorrectly comes back thru the nice new paint. Assuming the body is unhit you would need to grind out and reglass the bonding strip junctions near the topside of the fenders and across the topside rear of the back deck.

I like to use West system epoxy/fiberglass mat as opposed to woven cloth for repairs. Fiberglass resin is an alternative to epoxy, but both materials can result in solid repairs.

To access the luggage rack you might have to drop the spare tire carrier.

J

 

Finist kind Roger,
what post are they on and I'll check them out right away...you speak of removing those parts like theres nothing to it...I'll dig a little deeper in that area as I have only went over the body mounts and floorboards, then the running gear.


I went back to it after lunch and did some measuring on the front wheels and stance
the front drivers side measured 37 1/2 inch from the door edge part of the fender....while...
the passenger side measured out 36 3/8 inch
definit problem here....and...

the drivers F fender(the highest spot)from the floor measured out 26 1/8...while...
the pass F. fender measured out 27 5/16 to the floor...not good huh?
by the way there was correct air pressure in the tires.
I'll find out tomorrow, but it seems to me the frame needs to contract instead of being pulled out...I don't understand why the tire is so far forward...

It's still a rockin car!! it's a vette! I'll fix her up.


OC,
glad you chimed in...I live about 90 minutes from Bangor...on Deer Isle.
I've tryied several times to find someone localy for parts and advice in that area and found no one, believe it or not. like to have some extra set of eyes though...
I've been using ecklers and cvt central for parts.
if you or someone you know are from around Bangor, I'd gladly stop in pick your brain...gives me a good excuse to get off this rock...

Yep it looks like a little more adjusting will be needed.

also OC I posted some photos on the thread:finialy gelcoated my car by wills, if you want to see my progect...
I'll start using my own thread from now on...gonna call my car the "INTERNET VETTE"!!

 

Sorry.

Just click on my photo album link at the bottom of my signature. Go to my '69 album.
After clicking on the thumbnails, you can click again on the photo to get it to enlarge.

Roger

 

Roger,
nice nice nice, what a job! great looking shop...and all your cars looked sweet! the underside of your 69 looks some snazzy...I'll have to do it to mine now!

you certainly take restoring seriously...I see what you meant around the window...how involved was getting down in there? I need to invest in a how to manual...I have a restoration guide but it only gives a short discription and how to tell if its correct, but not much else.
I'm half afraid to disassemble this thing..

 

I'm in Maine and am in the middle of doing the body on my 69. One good resource is Lars' tech paper you can find here on Barry's website:

http://lbfun.com/Corvette/Tech/vette...TechPaper2.pdf

As far as fiberglassing goes you already know what to do if you've been around boats. Just be sure to use mat rather than woven cloth as the weave will always eventually "shadow" and show through. I've been using Polyester resin rather than Epoxy. Polyester is what the car is made of so it works well. Epoxy is way stronger as I'm sure you know and will work well too. I've used West, Mas, Raka and System 3 on boats but am sticking with the old style Polyester resin for my Corvette. I stripped mine with a razor blade down to primer and finished stripping by hand sanding (80 grit)with DuraBlocks and Hutchins sanding boards. After Fixing cracks with Resin and Mat I then did my initial plastic work Using Short Strand Body filler then regular body filler then EuroGlaze, then Easy Sand then Featherfill G2 (sprayable bondo). It is a very high build primer for filling coarse sand scratches and minor waviness. Then UroFil Urethane primer. Lots of approaches to take. My method is just one of them. If you go to the Autobody 101 forum and the AutobodyStore forum search the posts from "DT196". He has tons of experience doing Corvettes . Rick

 

T,

Those measurements were from fender edge to back of tire?

How are the tires wearing, even wear pattern? A wear pattern might give some information. Wheel alignment might be different from side to side.

Is the leading edge of the front fiberglass equal from side to side?

What is the condition of the lower radiator support, control arm bushings, springs. The chevy chasis manual gives a procedure for checking spring height. I had a 69 that sagged. Looked like collision damage. Turned out a new spring was put on one side due to some pothole or curb damage.

I recall an article that mentioned a rotting radiator support causing a fender to dip while the back portion of the fender near the winshield raised up. Again I had a 69 that had a top fender replaced and whoever did the repair left the back edge of the original fender in place.
Saw a similar problem on my brother-in-law's 69 big block.

Keep in mind lot of different things can cause the differences you are seeing.

Adjusting the two long bolts on the end of the rear spring can raise or lower the car. If they are not adjusted even the car will tilt. Place the cushions on these bolts if you have not done so. Easy to do.

My preference is to have a 'bonding stip' back any repaired cracks in the fiberglass. I use scrap fibegglass pieces epoxied to the underside. I don't use the Wesy Systems for that. I used a 2 part white & gray epoxy called 'Magic Steel Epoxy', but that is no longer available as far as I can tell. Several bonding agents from 3M, Lord Fusor, etc have been recomended. Check the archives of the the sites on forums I mentioned.

I've been paddling the Kenduskeag race every April for the past 16 years and could perhaps meet you to check out the car in Ellsworth on April 22 if you still wish to have a second pair of eyes look it over.

Joe

 

OC,6V,
thanks for responding,6V I'll meet with you anytime!

those measurements I took were from the door side at the turn to the center of the hub.

and from the floor to the bottom edge of the fender,at its highest point.
The tires aren't wore a bit, and there 3 years old.
all of the underside is in real good shape, radiator will need to be replaced sometime, it shows some week spots and the cluch fan is bad, I'll do it all this spring.

I got good news though, I called my mechanic and told him what I was doing.(he's very good and when I first bought the car we went over it closley) He informed me that he didn't see any damage to the frame before when he checked it and for me to bring it over and we'd look at it again. Well the frame is fine, great in fact.So we remeasured, the car was out still, so we looked around and saw that whoever gave it an alinement before did not bother to center the tire,they were both correct to each other, but the D side was ahead a little bit, so it looks like some readjusting there will do the trick...we then checked and determined that the spring on the driver side is weaker than on the other side, so I'll replace both of them.That should correct the stance. I measured on back the same way and it's even(28 inches) back there.
so it looks like my greatest fears are gone.
now I can get back to stripping.

used a razor blade huh?? I did a little bit and nicked it, so I went to a DA with 100 for now...it's at a pase I can keep up with.

I'm glad to find out the glass prossess is the same as boats,I feel alot comfortabler about doing it now.


It's amazing how much dirt i'm finding!! The car will lighten up 20 lbs once it's cleaned up!


BY the way ..I'm still having trouble removing the rear two vents and the stingray emblem from the pass. side...there is something in the way ...how are these suposed to come off... I got everything else?

 

Tim,

The 2 rear vents should be held on by 4 philip head screws each. The Stingray emblems should be held on with attachment tape. There will be 3 or 4 locating posts that go through the body. Check to see if someone might have put a nut on one of the posts. I use a putty knife to get under the emblem and pry. They are easily broken, but if they've been on there a good while, you may want to replace them anyway.

Hope this helps
Dan

 

Rick,

I'm just starting on a 69 L46, although it's a coupe. A true basket case, was started by another shop over 6 years ago. They got as far as body off, paint frame, installed all suspension and remounted the body. The parts I got aren't even in boxes. LOL.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.I use the handle dt196 on all the other forums, but this being a Corvette forum ... I have a blue 67 roaster that I auto cross and race with, hence the blue6t7.

Dan

 

Dan,
inside the fenders, on the pass side, there is something like the heater housing or AC unit, that is in the way of the nuts on those philips head screws...the nuts are stuck on in good shape, I guess...there are nuts on them aren't they...there were on the other vents...and the emblem had 3 nuts on its post(DRivers side)...wouldn't the pass. side be the same? I can't seem to get a wrench anywhere near those nuts!!

 

Tim,
Can you remove the splash shield from the rt. fender.
You should be able to get to the nuts then. The shield will have two bolts under the rocker panel trim and two bolts on the inside of the fender well at the bottom.

 

Tim,

When they come in my shop like that, I just break the emblem and let the posts with nuts fall off the inside. Taking the splash shield off would be the easiest way to get to the nuts if you wanted to reuse the emblem. If you get replacement Stingray emblems, the posts will be too short to use nuts on. They stick on with attachment tape.

The vents, if installed originally will be held on with screws going into "wellnuts" This is a rubber/ brass "anchor" if you will. What usually happens, is that galvanic action causes the steel screw to oxidize to the brass insert. When you try to remove it , the whole wellnut turns in the hole and doesn't loosen. I usually take a putty knife and try prying on the vent, while using a drill with a phillips bit. I never reinstall them with the wellnuts. I use a plastic insert that is square, then it won't turn when you're installing or removing.

Hope this helps.

Dan

 

Thanks Guys
I got the little rascals after a while... And I didn't break anything..Lucky huh!!?? there...all the trim and chrome is removed.
now back to sanding...

I don't mean to seem dumb...just when it comes to this LOL...I wasn't planning to do a frame off..so i'm hoping this is about it for dismantling.
A frame off would be better but i have two problems...time,money,space. oh thats three? not really...when I have time..theres no money, and when I have money theres no time....I've never had enough space!!