Progress Pictures, 1954 Vette

Me too. That's like shaving the sides of a '57 Bel air HT or drop top.

 

I'd have to agree, but someone else with the checkbook is calling the shots on this one.

Dan came over yesterday and did his magic with the fiberglass, some resin and small chunks were used to fill in some voids prior to laying mat over the vee-ed out section.









And the driver's door holes filled:



Wet sanded the steering wheel while waiting for f/g to set up:







Then prepped the driver's fender for f/g. This is another area that had been eff'd up at the factory, the center and rear portion of the lower fender stuck out about 3/16 more than the top; the front edges lined up nice. A straight edge against the top portion showed it was nice and straight, the lower was bowed out in the center. At about .100 thick on these panels, that didn't leave much room to play, so lower panel was separated from the middle to the back where it could be pulled in. The bonding agent to the firewall directly behind the center of the lower fender also had to be cut out to allow the fender room to move in and remove the bowed out section.





A piece of square tubing will be used to hold the lower fender in while the f/g sets up (tomorrow's task)

 

Your work is outstanding. IMHO these cars are fat to begin with. Once you take that side trim off, it makes it look real fat and like a kit car. That's why I chose to leave mine on. It just braks up the side of the car. What color is is going to be?

 

We're going with H/K Kandy Apple Red, so it should be real close to the pic of the one on Pg 3. The contrasting color (lower dash, inside trunk, etc) will be Shoreline Beige.

 

Nice work!! I used to do Vettes and fiberglass can be a pain. Did you ever try spray gel from Ecklers?? It goes on thick as about 20 coats of Evercoat sadable primers and is hard as a rock. You can actually close a gap with it. Also try some West System products from West Marine. Addding a little of their powder to your resin will straingthen your repairs.


Good luck

 

Time for the remainder of the progress shaving the sides.

The driver's fender that needed to be slit open to align the two halves was filled with a resin/chopped fiberglass mixture behind the lower half and the square tubing was screwed in place to align everything while it set up.





The areas between the b-pillar and rear wheelwells were prepped for fiberglass:










Front fender prepped and f/g'd




All sanded:










Then it got moved outside for a good airing out, and blew out all the dust. I left it sitting in the hot sun all day to help the recently applied resin to outgas.





This week I'll start finishing the fresh repairs with some evercoat and get it ready for one final (fingers crossed, no more changes.....no more changes) application of epoxy primer before we get ready for the base coat.

 

nice work man saw a 54 at the local cruise the other night and wooooooooow the gaps .nice fucking work man keep it up .

 

Passenger side ready, should have the driver's side sanded tomorrow so this thing will be ready for one more dose of Slick Sand.

 

"Are you sure that they deformed over the years? I wasn't around then, but I'm willing to bet that the fit and finish was horrible on these early 'glass cars by today's standards, even when they first rolled of the assembly line."

I agree-the early cars had really bad panel fits. Most of them have been over restored.

Of course if you are going for the High end Rod or Concours level of detailing,the work you are doing is essential to correct the factory level of quality.

 

And the progress for today, finished sanding the driver's side repairs.





Sprayed some Slick Sand over the repairs







And guide coated. I'll let this set for a couple days and start the sanding process again.

 

Just wondering... if you fix all those factory 'fuck ups', do you lose points as a Concours d'Elegance?

I'm sure a bunch of HAMBers would be dying to know!

Sure is looking pretty smooth now.

 

I seriously doubt they would let it through the gate!

 

One of the issues we faced after installing the hood (after receiving a car that had the hood already removed) was that when opening the hood to get the hood prop to latch, the front of the hood would touch the nose of the car there by the front emblem. Not good, especially with all the coats of paint going on this thing. And with three carburetors, chances are likely the hood will be opened at some point.

The old hood prop had some stress cracks in it, so a repro was procured. In order to keep the hood from hitting the nose when opened, I decided to shorten up the hood prop. This was done by cutting about a 3/16 slice out of each end bracket and re-welding the flanges back on. Sorry I missed the in process shots, I did the cutting over lunchtime at work, and had forgotten the camera.









Still need to grind the weld down there by the inside radius, a job for another day. (likely while waiting for paint to dry) The sanding is about one third done, and have only found a couple of low spots.






......until next time..............

 

GREAT work and thanks for sharing. Keep us posted!

 

I love what you're doing here. I'm glad it's you doing all that glass work and not me.

 

Well after an extended hiatus, my burns are all but healed up, and the Corvette owner is chomping at the bit to get his car done, so I guess it's time for the final dose of epoxy primer to seal the fiberglass up real good. Started taping it up around 4 pm. Started spraying around 12:45 am. Temperature was much nicer, high 60's vs. high 80's this afternoon. Makes a big difference in the sweat factor in the booth.







H/K epoxy primer applied





Guide coated.






I'll let it cure for a week and then start the wet sanding, get it ready for the candy apple.

 

had many of the same problems on my 60 , great post .car is looking great.when i bought the 60 the guy told me if i fixed the gaps and misfits it would kill the value of the car a bit , but i`m with you on that part .i wish this post was on when i did mine you came up with some ideas tha i could have used on mine

 

Been awhile since I have posted any progress, I guess it just doesn't seem like progress to me.










I had hoped to be done by now with the wet sanding, but the hinge boss areas of the trunk lid had some areas that just didn't block out to my satisfaction, and the front valance had some problem areas as well. So tonight I masked everything off and resprayed these areas. Hopefully with a busy weekend, the rest of the wetsanding can get done tomorrow in time for cutting in jambs, etc on Sunday evening. This is getting down to the nitty gritty, as it's supposed to travel to TN the first of Oct to get the interior done.

 

Wow, I can really respect that fiberglass work! I just glassed a set of 34 Sedan fenders onto my 35 PU and, wow, what a mess! This stuff sucks to work with and I am horrible at it. You do really nice work there.

 

Nice Work - I grew up fixing old vettes.... I always said "it is not done till it's done" - so sanding 2-3-4-5+ times is the way it is... this car is going to be awesome... Keep Posting updates!

AB

 

I forget the name of the place, I'll check with the owner and let you know.

 

The upholstery shop is somewhere just south of Knoxville. And he still hasn't given me the name of the place....

Well I've reached a lull in what seemed like a month of wetsanding. I wanted to get all the jambs and other openings cut in, so here's the masking:







Here's about 3 hours of masking, just to paint a steering column.









Finally sprayed some paint again, seems like it's been awhile.











These are taken with the flash







Now for some more wetsanding and masking............

 

LOVE that color!

 

Getting closer to final paint, Got the tape edges all wet sanded smooth so I could spray the Shoreline Beige. The Kandy was masked off and sealer and beige sprayed, then unmasked the Kandy so I could clear that again as well. This color combination is starting to grow on me.
Batteries must be low in the camera, the beige looks green. (Either that or it's the fluorescent lighting)








Sprayed the underside of the hood black using SEM Hot Rod black. It comes in a kit with hardener and reducer. It looks about the perfect gloss for fenderwells and other under the hood items.







And in the meantime, Dan started to re-assemble the dash:



Hope to get the body re-assembled in the next couple days so this thing can get some paint covering the rest of that green primer....

 

Did I say WOW already?

Can't wait to see what this looks like in one colour and out in the sun.

Once again, thanks for taking the time to document this build. Very cool.

 

Flat awesome. This 'How to thread' is priceless to 'glass guy's. More power to you!

 

Oh my God! How could you have done this to a vintage Corvette? You have carefully and meticulously corrected ALL the factory flaws in this first generation car from the infancy of fiberglass auto body construction. This car is now useless as a pattern for proper restoration.
What would you do to a 63 split-window Sting Ray Coupe? I shudder at the thought.

(with tongue in cheek)

 

Sniff, sniff....Brings back memories of this past winter. Only I was just doing the mechanicals, the EASY stuff..




Nice work!

 

Looking great, I'll be watching for the final product!