buckwylde

Hi everyone! I picked up this project car a little bit ago. I knew it had a rough go of things in its past, but overall it looked to be fairly straight. It has very little rust, and almost all of its original parts, so I decided that a little body work would be an acceptable compromise for a project car.

Background on me:
I've rebuilt and restored metal body cars before, but my fiberglass experience is limited to building things with jigs, forms and spec sheets. Freeform fiberglass is never something I have done but with the advice from y'all, I feel confident I can make good progress. I don't know what stresses these corvettes are prone to and in which areas, so this will be a great learning experience.

Info on the body:

Sorry, I didn't grab many pictures of the body when I first started "discovering" its history. I started off just trying to find the problem areas and get them cleaned up, but it got deep very quickly.



Rear Quarter Panel:
I started digging into the damage I could see and realized that the right rear quarter panel was patched back together twice, and wasn't done well either time. After removing the previous repairs, I was left with pieces of a rear quarter panel that were original but no longer anywhere near attaching to each other and everything had been held together with less than perfect patches. It basically fell off the car, so this panel will need to be replaced.

Lesson #1: Fiberglass does not stick to undercoating and also will not stick to fiberglass that was not sanded and prepared.

Unknown piece behind the rear quarter panel:



This piece (I have no idea what it is called) was put back together the same way. Here is what it looks like after the fiberglass cloth was peeled off. Also, it was only bonded on to the quarter panel in an area the size of a quarter, everything else was just vibrating a new hole.

Front Quarter Panel:



Another panel with two previous repairs and broken again. This is becoming a pattern. For this panel, there doesn't appear to be any original fiberglass under this bondo. I think this panel should be replaced. With the time it will take to grind all this out and rebuild it, it is probably less costly in time and money to replace it. Plus, I think a new panel is cheap insurance to make sure I dont spend money on paint just to have this reappear for a 4th time.

Rear Deck:
I also discovered that the rear sail panels on the deck were broken and primer/filler was gluing the pieces together. The trip back to texas, and 70 mile an hour wind broke that primer and filler loose, and the fiberglass just started tearing down the rear deck from the body line of the sails. This coupled with several spots that appear to be blown through when someone sandblasted the body before the primer/filler was applied make this an easy choice. Rather than rebuild this panel, as long as someone makes a replacement panel, it is time to order one.

Passenger Door:
I did notice one other area of concern and that was that the passenger door didn't fit properly in the gap. You can see that in the picture at the top. I figured with the damage to the front fender and rear quarter panel that it was just previously replaced. Boy was I ever wrong.

I started investigating and I noticed bondo patches on the rocker fill panels where the door sill plates mount.

I removed the seats and everything else that was easy to pull from the interior and found that the body had been cut in two. After tugging at the globs of resin, they popped right out. Another patch that wasn't done well. After some initial exploration and removal of more bondo, here is what I found.



So I can see that the birdcage was cut in half and welded back together, and after taking some initial measurements, the passenger side is roughly 1/4 inch longer than the driver side at the top of the door. It is only 3/8 inch off at the sill plate.



Here is where the top was welded back together. I checked the measurements with a tape measure and it looks to be accurate. I have also verified that both T-Top panels mount appropriately.

The questions I have now are:

What in the world did they bond these panels with? It is black and hard as a rock. Here is a picture of what I saw when I started taking off the rear deck.



I didn't want to ruin any panels I plan on reusing, so I tested with the rear deck I pulled off, and even under heat (up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit) it is prone to fracture rather than bend. I have a heat gun that will put out up to 1600 degrees, but I don't think even 500 is safe for the fiberglass. My plan at the moment is to just sand it down to the bonding strips and call it a day, but if you have any advice, tips or tricks, let me know.

What should I look for in replacement panels to get as close to a factory look as possible?

Should I cut this side of the birdcage apart and bring it back to match the other side? Does anyone have measurements on what this should be? I have verified that all frame mounts are in place, and everything is bolted together, so it should be close to within spec as it sits, but the OCD in me wants to get it perfect. Let me know your thoughts.

How do I glass the floor pan back together properly? Obviously a gallon of resin isn't the correct way to glass this back together, but what should be done here to make it strong and ensure my butt doesn't go sliding down the highway at 80 mph at some inconvenient time in the future.

P.S. I have checked the frame and it is straight as can be told without disassembling the car. That is on the list after I get the body structurally sound.

DUB

You have way too many open projects going on and the time it would take me to go through all of it ...I just do not 3-6 hours of time to type.

Pick one repair that oyu want to get repaired and we can go form there. Such as the rear splash shield on the right rear. (Second photo of your original post).

The right fender can more than likely be repaired...if the only damage is what you show in your photo.

I am curious why you are taking off the rear deck???

500 degrees Fahrenheit is WAY too hot to separate panels.

Yoiu wrote:
Should I cut this side of the birdcage apart and bring it back to match the other side? Does anyone have measurements on what this should be? I have verified that all frame mounts are in place, and everything is bolted together, so it should be close to within spec as it sits, but the OCD in me wants to get it perfect. Let me know your thoughts.

I (we) have no idea why you want to do this due to no photos....but do as you want. So I can not give you any more of my thoughts on this due to not knowing what was wrong.

The same goes for the floor pan repairs.

You also wrote:
P.S. I have checked the frame and it is straight as can be told without disassembling the car. That is on the list after I get the body structurally sound.

What do you mean by this. Are you planning on doing all you body work and then taking the body off and having the frame repaired/straightened???

DUB

buckwylde

Thanks for the reply Dub, I will go back and get my things in order and try posting again when I have it further along with photos and specifics. I definitely don't want to waste anyone's time and I apologize for not being more clear.

DUB

No apologies are needed here. But it was an overload of stuff to deal with all at one time. And I want to make sure what I provide for help is correct. It is easier for me to focus on the main problem at that time and then move on to the next one.

And...knowing that you provided us with what you have done in the past on metal cars...and knowing that this fiberglass/SMC repairs are new to you...I want to make sure that I give you the attention you need so you can do these repairs correctly and successfully and not have to do them again.

DUB

Chonciceptor

buckwylde