Initial Fiberglass Repairs

It has been quite a long time since my last post.  Work has been slow going on the project for sure but when time and motivation allowed, I was plugging away on fiberglass repairs.

HOLE UNDER DRIVER SEAT

The first job I tackled was the hole under the drivers seat and its shoddy repair sometime in the past...

The general idea is to do a full thickness repair involving these steps...

• Dish out each side of the panel with a sanding disc.  Lungs and eyes don't appreciate fiberglass dust so I was sure to wear proper protection.  Skin doesn't like it either... I covered up the best I could, but it was still a very itchy job!
• Wipe down the area with wax/grease remover and dry with compressed air
• Prepare fiberglass mat patches that you plan to use
• Mix up the fiberglass resin and hardener according to instructions.  Be prepared at this point to work fast as it will harden quickly.  I learned the hard way to be prepared with enough fiberglass mat pieces ahead of time.  It is tough to pull off fresh pieces of the mat when you already have resin all over your fingers, etc.
• Dab some resin on the area to be patched with a brush.  I used cheap wood brushes that I just disposed of after a patch job.
• Apply a piece of fiberglass mat and dab it on with more resin.
• Keep repeating with the number of fiberglass mat pieces you see fit to use.  I tended to use 5-7 pieces on each side of the repair.
• Let the area completely dry and harden.  I waited at least 24 hours before doing the other side of the repair in the same manner as above.

Supplies I used for the job are pictured below.  That fiberglass mat box used to be full to the top, so you can see how much fiberglass work I've been up to!

Some pics of the area during and after the work are below.  For a hole like this, I used cardboard lined with aluminum foil as a backer for the initial repair... you can see this in one of the pics below.  The resin won't stick to the aluminum foil and you can just peel off the backer when the patch work has hardened.  Once both sides of the repair have completely hardened, they can be sanded down to blend in the repair with the surrounding original fiberglass.... although this initial repair will never be seen so I wasn't too concerned with that here.

TAIL LIGHT PANEL

The next job I tackled was the tail light panel.  When the paint was removed, it became obvious that my corvette suffered a rear end accident at some point in its life.  The tail light panel was so badly damaged that I decided to replace it with an aftermarket piece.

damaged panel...

First I rough cut out the tail panel, and then used a heat gun and painters tool to pry off the remainder from the body and bonding strip....

Once this was removed, damage to the bonding strip was noticed as well.  I decided to remove and repair the bonding strip instead of buying a new one.  The damage in the left rear was up the rear deck as well.  This area was repaired before reattaching the bonding strip.

With the repairs to the bonding strip and left rear deck completed, the bonding strip was reattached to the body with Lord Fusor 127EZ adhesive.  This needs a special gun and applicator tip to apply, but with lots of fiberglass repairs on my to do list, the necessary items were purchased and I got to work.  Several clamps were used to hold it in place while the adhesive cured.

With the bonding strip back in place, the new tail light panel was fit to the car.  It needed some trimming which I did with a die grinder.  It was then bonded to the car in the same manner as the bonding strip and clamped down with several bolts and fender washers.  Where the new tail light panel merges with the car will have to be extensively body worked, but going to postpone that until later so I can just focus on major fiberglass repairs.

I decided to do away with the rear antenna and patched this hole as well while working in the back of the car.  Rear wheel wells needed some tender loving care as well...

FRONT VALENCE AND LH FRONT WHEEL WELL

The front of the car had even more damage than the rear.  I ended up scrapping the front valence for a new one and bonded it to the car in the same manner as above.  The left front wheel well also had damage...

damaged areas...

To be able to access the inside of the body for a full thickness repair, unfortunately I had to cut out some of the wheel well.  You can also see a new bonding strip clamped in place as prep for the new front valence which got installed soon after...

the left front wheel well piece glassed back in place and bonded to the inside of the body...

The left front wheel well repair...

OTHER REPAIRS...

There were lots of other smaller repairs as well, but the most noteworthy would be the area pictured below that is just under the left front side grille.  It was mostly missing altogether.  I made a mold out of cardboard using the right hand side as a guide, hand formed a replacement, and glassed it in...

This brings the blog and car work up to date as of now.  I believe I have completed all of the fiberglass repairs that need to be done before putting the body back on the chassis, namely areas that can't be accessed with the chassis in the way.  At this point, my plan for the sequence of the remaining car work is the following...

1. paint under body, apply truck bed liner to wheel wells
2. rebuild engine, dyno it, and install back onto the chassis.  Machine shop has block, crank, and connecting rods right now to get magnafluxed and checked out.
3. install new 5 speed transmission and drive shaft
4. install new exhaust and parking brake
5. reattach body to chassis
6. new wiring harness, connect fuel lines and brake lines
7. complete exterior fiberglass work
8. body work and paint
9. interior
10. get her back on the road!

Paint Removal & Fiberglass Inspection

Somehow it's been two years since an update on my project.  Work was real slow during that time... brief paint removal tasks once in awhile, but mostly a long hiatus.  Lots of things get in the way... family, work... but lazy too.  Not to mention that the main task at hand was stripping the paint, which by far has been the least enjoyable part of the whole process for me to this point so it was easy to not be motivated.  The paint is finally off now though as you can see below.  Glad that PITA is over!

Media blasting, chemical stripping and mechanical stripping were the methods I considered before getting started.  They all have their own pros & cons... no one way is perfect for this car in my opinion.  I decided against media blasting for a few reasons.  For one, I couldn't find anyone near me experienced with Corvette's.  But even if I had, the common method of soda blasting as a gentle approach for fiberglass would still have had me concerned since any soda residue not neutralized and left behind can alter pH thus affecting the quality of a final paint job.  I decided against chemical stripping for the same reason.  That leaves mechanical stripping which alleviates the concerns about soda or chemical residue affecting final paint.  However, it takes much more time and for me was mind-numbing labor at its worst!  I used two different approaches:  heat gun & scraping with a razor blade and sanding.  

Paint Stripping - Heat Gun & Razor Blade 

I first learned of the the razor blade technique on the Corvette Restoration website.  This site has been an excellent resource for tips & tricks. (video link of it in action)  It worked ok, but would usually just take off the top layer of white paint.  My car was war bonnet yellow in color originally though, so more layers of primer and paint were underneath.  Eventually, I tried my heat gun to heat up a small area and then scrape with the razor blade.  The addition of the heat usually helped to remove all the layers when scraping.  Gouging the fiberglass was really easy to do though, and I did so more than I care to mention.  Also it still would frequently leave stubborn patches of paint that could not be scraped, and some of the contours of the body didn't mesh with the scraping process as well.

Paint Stripping - Sanding

Eventually, I switched to sanding as my primary approach to mechanically stripping the paint.  My dual-action sander with 80 grit paper worked pretty well.  Harder to reach nooks and crannies of the body were attacked with a sanding disc on a die grinder and even a Dremel.  The process creates lots of dust, so I was careful to suit up accordingly and moved outside as well.  All in all, this was the most effective for me, but you have to be careful to not sand too deeply though into the fiberglass fibers.  I did so more than I care to mention again and added more work for myself at the end to be sure those fibers are sealed before final paint... sigh.

Unfortunately as the paint came off, more & more fiberglass repair needs were discovered.  Some pics of the major needs are below.  Looks to me like my car has had at least a couple accidents... a rear bump to wreck the tail light panel, and a LH front bump to mess up that area.  I hope to get much of it repaired in the next several months as time permits.  Some parts & supplies are on order right now.  I think I'll get started with the rear and then work my way forward since the front end is most heavily damaged... save the 'best' for last!

Rear End Work:  Replace Tail Lamp Panel & Repair Seams, Repair Crack in Rear Deck Lid, Repair Ding In LH Rear Wheel Well

 

Interior Work:  Repair Floor Under Driver's Seat

Front End Work:  Repair/Replace LH Front Quarter Panel & LH Front Inner Skirt & Repair Seams, Repair LH Headlight Surround, Repair Ding in Nose, Replace Front Valence & Repair Seams (also entertaining the idea of instead just getting a new one piece front clip... what do think?  Let me know in the comments!)