63 Corvette resto

[Twin_Turbo]

The thing is all in 1 piece and the box from Mike showed up so we can get cracking at fixing this thing. The frame and some parts are wrapped in foil so no over-spray gets on it when the car goes to the painters. The a-frame/portal crane is a home built piece and it came in very handy.

 

[redvetracr]

very pretty car...

 

[saudivette]

When's it off to the painters TT?

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Not for a while at least. The front end needs to be fixed still, I have to jig it all out so it's straight and then bond & glass it together. Still have to get the 2 fender repair sections (there are parts missing), the pass side headlight opening is crooked and needs to be replaced (have old original panel I cut a section out of)

Them I'll have to fab a stainless exhaust for it and pull the diff lid. The owner mistakingly put the diff cover in the bin w/ parts to be powdercoated so it came back all nice and black but the damned thing is leaking now, fresh rebuilt diff, new gasket and everything. Didn't want to pull it apart w/ the body off the frame, it's much easier on a 4 post lift w/ axle stands and the weight of the car to keep the spring up to get the sping links back in again. With no weight in the rear of a rolling chassis it's just dangerous.

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Well, most of the engine bay is complete. Gotta hook up the heater hoses & surge tank (after I fix that damned fender) and fab new brackets for the tranny cooler. It's interfering w/ the bodywork. I eyeballed it wrong







Hood doesn't fit right anymore either, since it's the wrong hood we're now looking for a 63 one. Anyone got a lead on one?





figured out why there are 65 appearing gauges in this car, they ARE 65 gauges. Says so on manuf. dat on the back. Hmm.... kind of weird that they got their hands on some metric 65 gauges. Probably some Germans that did that, maybe because of some rules regarding imperial gauges back then? who knows.

Interior is crap too. Dash is drilled for misc. switches and stuff, needs to be fixed. that's the german way, drill a hole and insert ugly switch instead of actually fixing something like the indicator mechanism. Turns out the blue seats and blue door panels aren't even the same color. NICE!! more bubbaisms. Going to install original tan (or whatever it was called back then) interior and repair the holes in the dash since it's the original dash w/ date on it. Sadly no build sheet to be found in entire car. Floor is full of carpet adhesive, that's going to be a fun job to get rid of.

 

[Twin_Turbo]

I built a complete custom stainless dual 2.75" exhaust w/ X pipe for this car. It's almost a running car, steering column, pedals and hooking up the MC is all that is left.











A vid

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rk3LOAKGJM[/ame]

Other progress includes repairing all the cracks and holes in the floor and applying "dynamat" (it's not that brand but the same stuff), the interior is done, including the sections not done in the pic.







Also scored an original hood for it, it's damaged but easily fixed. Needs to be modded (notched) for the MC anyway

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Apart from the dr. side storage box the car is completely done w the insulating stuff.

The steering column and pedals are back in, all fully rebuilt.





The damaged side jacked up and shimmed out so it's on there straight



Bonding the damaged bonding strip back on, all the way to the front. This whole thing was put together with bondo and brass rivets (hence all the holes)





The wheel arches were completely buggered so new sections had to be installed. I cut it out, removed the upepr glass leaving the bonding strip in place and epoxy glued the new panel in. The I feathered it out, ground a nice smooth groove and filled it in with glass. It's now drying.











The severely damaged side again. After bonding the old sections in I cut out as much as I could to use the whole repair panel for the wheel arch. There's still some work left since the lip was ground out further than the repair panel stretches. Now, it's just waiting for the epoxy to dry and I can do what I did on the other side.





Yes, the front body line on the green part does not fit. This is because the knuckleheads that "repaired" (I mean bondoed) this thing before didn't fit it right, I'll have to build it up with lgass and reshape.

Hindsight 20-20 we should have gotten a whole new front from Shermerscheims

 

[Twin_Turbo]

continued with this build. After fixing the fenders my buddy stripped the entire thing down to bare glass, something I had told him to do in the beginning but he was stubborn. Sure enogh the front end turned out to be crap too. I had already seen that the drivers side headlamp cutout was all whacky and not perpendicular like the other side. it turned out the whole center was grafted together with pop rivets, sloppy fiberglass and bondo work on top o cracked stock bonding stripts and a slightly bend header bar. nice!! more work

He ordered a new partial front clip (not shermersheims, a cheaper 1pc option that still ended up costing almost 5K w/ shipping and taxes). Took some work to get it fitted properly. I'm 95% satisfied. It needs a little more trimming here and there. it's sitting loose, not bonded or screwed down temporarily in the pics.

itch itch itch

 

[1Michel]

very nice job TT, I love the exhaust

 

[MYBAD79]

Nice...... looking really good, guess I should have stopped by today

 

[Kid Vette]

I love these rebuild threads! :smash:

 

[Twin_Turbo]

More progress; Glued the front end on after a lot of trimming to make sure the replacement front would fit properly. Also removed the rear panel. Too much damage, weakened fiberglass and sloppy repairs.





test fit




epoxy adhesive (not poo )




Not coming apart again




The rear removed and ground out down to bonding strip. Off center there's a chunk missing, that's the area with the sloppy repair. Also, the torn out bumper holes were repaired (still need to drill them out), dozens of holes filled in decklid. Someone needed several attempts to locate the rear llogo and it had a fold down antenna that apparently needed 3 holes also.

 

[77Custom]

sorry to sound like an old woman... But why did you not just start over when this car appeared in front of you?

 

[Twin_Turbo]

What do you mean start over?? The entire thing has been redone.

 

[77Custom]

Twin... You have done AMAZING work on this... What I meant was why did you not just get a new front clip in the beginning? It looks like alot of work was done, then discarded?

 

[Twin_Turbo]

It's not my car. It's my buddies. In the beginning I told him there would be more damage under the paint but he didn't want to strip it. He was scared to death to replace the inner fender alone. It's his 1st resto (we did his 79 Trans Am after we started on this vette) and being his fathers car it has sentimental value. His pops got it from a junkyard (not a big surprise) We built the dolly to keep the body nice and problem free but sure enough there was some more nasty underneath. Only after cracks started appearing here and there I was able to convince him to at least repair the holes for the mislocated badges and that's when I found the horror underneath so then we stripped down parts of the paint to reveal the issues. He was convinced we could ix it like we did at first. We weren't aware of the problems with the front of the nose. I did tell him to just buy a new clip but with transport and all those things are super expensive. He was in fact postponing the inevitable and does now admit I was right all along. I was never for taking short cuts but then again, it's not my dime.
For a 1st timer it's gutwrenching to see someone else take your previously good looking and running car down to bits and transforming the body into wat you see above

You did the work yourself, it's a more gradual process that way and you make your own choices.

 

[77Custom]

I get it. Good Luck with it Mate!

 

[Twin_Turbo]

More damage & repairs LOL

rear deck where logo sits


torn out bumper hole (needs hole drilles), both sides were done


extended door skin here, someone sanded it down and there was a large opening gap there. Checked against the other side it looks like I need to reaise the opper front part too, that curved down corner is not supposed to be there


Front seams sanded down, will lay glass over the areas after sanding down a little more. Just sanded it roughy flush to final check fitment




damage to drivers side door


damage to passenger rear quarter

 

[Twin_Turbo]

More progress, ground down the bonding seams and laid glass for a uniform surface so that the bonds won't show in the paint. Also did some more work on the door edge, extending it up and started on the rear damage. Still have to do the other side







glassing it all

 

[mrvette]

That car is like Stinger's....

reads the movie by line.....

'I'll be BACK'.......


:yahoo: