72 Corvette - Restoration Updates
- Thread starter TimP
- Start date
Probably hiding behind my sense of self-preservation.
Update coming in a few minutes....After having bonded the bow back on I thought it would be nice to strip off the paint from the rear of the car and apply a protective coating of epoxy primer to keep the damp out...
My car was originally fitted with a luggage rack but I decided to delete this option and fill in all the holes. I made a template of the hole positions so that if I change my mind at a later date then I can re-drill and fix as required.
There was also some cracking in the rear passenger side quarter that needed to be dug out, repaired with glass fibre and filled...
Post fill and pre-sand ....
The cracked area is now pretty well invisible .... the paint hasn't got full depth so it's a little rough looking but it will act as a protective coating until I decide what to do as topcoat....
Then sand, paint a couple of coats and then refit parts as required....
Despite the lunar landscape protective paint it seems to look ok.
I have bought a new battery (the 'old' new one ended up in the C4) and the next step is to check that the rear lights all work ok, and slowly work forward testing the rest of the electrical system until everything checks out ready for an engine start. Hopefully that should be my next update... fingers crossed.
My car was originally fitted with a luggage rack but I decided to delete this option and fill in all the holes. I made a template of the hole positions so that if I change my mind at a later date then I can re-drill and fix as required.
There was also some cracking in the rear passenger side quarter that needed to be dug out, repaired with glass fibre and filled...
Post fill and pre-sand ....
The cracked area is now pretty well invisible .... the paint hasn't got full depth so it's a little rough looking but it will act as a protective coating until I decide what to do as topcoat....
Then sand, paint a couple of coats and then refit parts as required....
Despite the lunar landscape protective paint it seems to look ok.
I have bought a new battery (the 'old' new one ended up in the C4) and the next step is to check that the rear lights all work ok, and slowly work forward testing the rest of the electrical system until everything checks out ready for an engine start. Hopefully that should be my next update... fingers crossed.
Good question! Over the years I have done a lot of bodywork repairs in the glass fibre both at the front and rear ends, to the door post covers, and the bow. There is also an almost completely rebuilt birdcage.
A decent paint job is going to be an expensive exercise and I need to find out if these repairs are 'good' by driving around for a while and hitting a few pot holes (plenty of those in Sussex). I have also modified various pieces (for example the exhaust/number plate panel at the rear) to get really good, consistent panel gaps. Finding cracks appearing soon after applying paint would be just too painful so I'm going to take a fairly cautious approach and enjoy the ride before final paint. I believe the repairs I have done are good and strong but I prefer not to take the risk.
The other thing is of course that I want to make sure that everything fits as they should.