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.
I've been working forward on the electrics just rechecking that everything is working ok before trying to get the engine started. To finish this preliminary check off I have worked on the courtesy lights and the indicators.
The courtesy lights are fairly straightforward especially if you remember that the door opener circuits work on the front set of door switches rather than the rear set which are principally for the alarm. However it 's nice to know that the rear door pair will be all ready for when I start looking at the alarm arrangement. The courtesy light at the rear of the compartment is different from the front two in that it has two contact points and the bulb casing is not electrically active (ie not an earth). It's not a problem as these are easily available, you just need to know this to order the right one. Yes, i have one of the other ones spare if anybody would like one. I have replaced it with a bright white LED.
I have replaced all the lights with LEDs, although the indicators are a little bit more tricky as the relay has to be changed too as there isn't enough current in the circuit to operate the old style bimetallic strip in the relays that were originally fitted, like this one for the hazard flasher.
I had first tried this converting the indicators to LEDs with a relay with three connectors.. This can be made to work but it requires the connector on the Corvette to be rewired as the pin arrangement is different, or by using a rather clumsy adaptor.
Much better is the type shown below which has two prongs as shown in the pic below. These have been produced especially for classic cars.
As with the previous blue relay it fits quite nicely under the scuttle even though it is a little larger. It has an extra flying lead that needs to go to earth, in this case the hinge post. This (classic) flasher also has a more sedate flash than the modern equivalent which is a little frantic (although probably still legal) and has a reassuring 'click' when it flashes, which the modern three prong type doesn't. Whether this can be heard over a small block remains to be seen (or heard). You can also see the front courtesy light LED.
...and here is a quick video.
Plenty of other Corvette LED light conversion videos can be found on YouTube, but this is my set up so you can see how it ends up.....
The courtesy lights are fairly straightforward especially if you remember that the door opener circuits work on the front set of door switches rather than the rear set which are principally for the alarm.
However it 's nice to know that the rear door pair will be all ready for when I start looking at the alarm arrangement. The courtesy light at the rear of the compartment is different from the front two in that it has two contact points and the bulb casing is not electrically active (ie not an earth). It's not a problem as these are easily available, you just need to know this to order the right one. Yes, i have one of the other ones spare if anybody would like one. I have replaced it with a bright white LED.I have replaced all the lights with LEDs, although the indicators are a little bit more tricky as the relay has to be changed too as there isn't enough current in the circuit to operate the old style bimetallic strip in the relays that were originally fitted, like this one for the hazard flasher.
I had first tried this converting the indicators to LEDs with a relay with three connectors.. This can be made to work but it requires the connector on the Corvette to be rewired as the pin arrangement is different, or by using a rather clumsy adaptor.
Much better is the type shown below which has two prongs as shown in the pic below. These have been produced especially for classic cars.
As with the previous blue relay it fits quite nicely under the scuttle even though it is a little larger. It has an extra flying lead that needs to go to earth, in this case the hinge post. This (classic) flasher also has a more sedate flash than the modern equivalent which is a little frantic (although probably still legal) and has a reassuring 'click' when it flashes, which the modern three prong type doesn't. Whether this can be heard over a small block remains to be seen (or heard). You can also see the front courtesy light LED.
...and here is a quick video.
Plenty of other Corvette LED light conversion videos can be found on YouTube, but this is my set up so you can see how it ends up.....
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