Plastic Fantastic 2

woo hoo looks like we are back in business....did we lose a months worth of data in the forum crash? any body know what happened?

The database went over 1gb. It's taken a week to get it fixed but all should be good now.
 
yay! I'll do a catch-up post here in a bit.... photobucket jumped the shark so half is there the other half is on imgur.

So glad it's back!!!!
 
I looked at the PB pictures an I can sum up 50 pictures. I cut, I ground, I hacked fiberglass, I glued and we pick up at the gluing.

I used 3m 8115 to glue the fenders on - the CIC flares, I love them but hate them because they could be so much better... anyway, there's the intro and here we go

Rear spoiler
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the hardest part of all of this is gluing the inner supports back in place (since they moved up to 4")
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getting the rear in place was a challenge since it's narrower then the 76 - but with cutting everything fits eventually
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this is minor, but one of the issues with the flares is the wheel opening is in a different spot vertically and horizontally side to side which lead to things like this
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which makes recreating the door gap a challenge - for the record, I took nothing off the front of the fender - on hindsight, I should have left the edge and butted them together... live and learn :ill:
uI8tgGX.jpg

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the other side wasn't as bad, but still needed some work
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and that's pretty much where I'm at now. I still have a breathtaking amount of work fitting the front

I'm also changing the lights to projection then making the doors open a lot less
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and what the flares look like now they're glued on
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any questions, just ask
 
Looks good, it looks like you kept the rear spoiler much the same as stock. Some guys lay back that spoiler from cic and looks okay, but....

If you want less dust when cutting, you can get diamond blades for a dremel. Much less dust than an angle grinder.
 
Looks good, it looks like you kept the rear spoiler much the same as stock. Some guys lay back that spoiler from cic and looks okay, but....

If you want less dust when cutting, you can get diamond blades for a dremel. Much less dust than an angle grinder.

unfortunately the dust now is all sanding.... I could hook up my shop vac to it, but that's a lot of noise.

nice, i went to the MGA 5 years ago after missing metal work....now i am missing fiber glass work....

heh, when this is done, I have the 64 wagon (minor metal), then the 50 (major metal)....
 
Yesterday
fiberglass
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I'm sorry, I'm not letting it go - this particular spot is obscene, why CIC didn't make the panel too long is beyond my comprehension... to be honest, I think the fix will be imbed a dowl then fiberglass over the top of it.edited The biggest problem is the wheel well isn't in the same place on either side. On this side, it's too far forward. Again, this is 'normal' in my opinion for fiberglass work - but again, when you spend nearly 2000 for flares, you expect at least a certain level of quality. These failed.They said that it's 'better' now... caveat emptor.

and the wheel opening is lower on the panel - which this is my mistake, I presumed that it would be a mirror of each other and I used the old fender to rough in where the cuts needed to be... stupid me.
JqIQHlF.jpg

this is the the other side - note how nice the gap is? too bad the wheel arch is so screwed up (poor molding and an 'ship it' attitude - as seen by the gel coat they painted on the outside to cover up the screwed up edge)
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at least this gap is close - but were they so cheap they couldn't give me 1/2" to trim?
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on to filling holes
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I really need to aside here for a moment, though.edited About 1/2 of my problems would have been solved had I paid more attention then presuming they did great work. I love the flares themselves and all of this can easily be fixed... easily'ish. I'm not looking forward to making the outermost edge perfect - to the point that I may have some metal edges lasered out then adhere them to these fenders.... we will see

first, fitting
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trying to pull it together... it didn't go well
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take 2.... do note that most of these pictures show that I had to reattach the side bits .... bad words may have been said
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rather then throwing things, I went to the back for a bit.... clever, no?
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part of my problem (we're back at the front) was the inner mud guards were holding the bottom out
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hard to see, but this is actually better
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I'm down to this corner.... before nothing was right
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can i get a close up of that vise grip with the chain turn buckle on it....i like that idea

which ones? that is 2 turnbuckles and 3 vise grips..... or, a better description would be "what I had laying about that I could stuff in the bolt holes.... I do put the red in neck.
 
more work done that looks like nothing was done...

note the high-tech holding device
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a picture of the way of holding a front together (it gets better, wood comes in later)
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1/2 my time tonight was on this
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I think it was hit at some point because there's extra bondo here and nothing is lining up correctly
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this side looks great
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finally I gave up and cut more of the inner structure out
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and then stuff started to line up
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ish
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first step was knock all the bondo out
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and then the nose center didn't line up
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all it took was a block of wood holding the center up
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and yes, that's lined up because it bolts to the nose and will flex up that little bit

and finally time to glue again
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then onto the next step which is gluing the inner supports
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I feel like I have to re-engineer this or later this will be a problem again
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and finally, it looks just about the same as it did last week
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at least next week that strap will be off
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Is that a Ford IRS? You thinking about that for the Corvette?

I wouldn't have guessed that adding flares would have been so difficult. Looks like your getting there though.
 
in case you need some help in figuring out custom gas filling options

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that was one FUGLY gas cap solution especially with the crossed flag emblem

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Is that a Ford IRS? You thinking about that for the Corvette?

I wouldn't have guessed that adding flares would have been so difficult. Looks like your getting there though.

2010 -2015 Camaro SS

book says it's 63 1/2 wide. The seller says 66. stock c3 is 59 - but that was the entire point of doing flares, get more real estate to widen the track and improve the rear suspension...

and to be clear, I posted about it here to get opinions - it won't be on Corvette Forum or even facebook until it's done

it's difficult because I'm an amateur. I work cheap, though.
 
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as for gas caps. I liked what I did on my prior Corvette - so what happens here may be simply a more refined version (meaning no stainless surround). This car came with a chromed gas door of which I am not a fan. I have the old one from my other C3 somewhere.... which means I may or may not be able to find it (I've got a lot of crap floating about).

the replacement cap on my old C3
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The Camaro irs looks pretty compact. If you had a spare frame, mocking it up would be easier, or even somebody's junk rear frame (they show up on CL now and then). Plus upgrading it later on would be easy(hammerhead, etc.).

If you plan on a roll cage, hacking parts out of the frame is less of a structural issue.
 
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