My '76 restoration (long post)

[SuperBuickGuy]

They were on my dad's 76 El Camino. He bought the wheels new, then modified that boat by putting in a 5.7L diesel motor. That was what I got to drive for my driving test when I was 16.... but no, I've no idea why I hate them so much (did I ever mention I call el camino mullet cars? business in the front, party in the back... probably not relevant, but then again, it could be).

Thanks Aaron for the input.
I guess if my dad did bought a set of those I wouldn't find they that exotic indeed.

fortunately, I'm completely over it now :amused:

 

[denpo]

Lastest purchase : a set of vintage headlight beam tuning tool.
They just work on old kind of headlights thus come pretty cheap on Ebay.




I made a set of bracket to make my flare adjusting process easier





Well, it's time to fire the dremel, there will be not turning back beyond this point.

 

[phantomjock]

Wow - way cool FLARE ADJUSTMENT "tool."
When you're through, I could use those mid-May or so.
Won't be home for your April Trip.

Cheers - Jim

 

[denpo]

Wow - way cool FLARE ADJUSTMENT "tool."
When you're through, I could use those mid-May or so.
Won't be home for your April Trip.

Cheers - Jim

When I'm done they're yours.:drink:
Edit: That's unfortunate you won't be there in April, I'm sure we could have spend a couple of beer creatively. Next time.

 

[phantomjock]

Guess I could have a neighbor put one on the porch! Oh - it's CaNaDa where they'd stay cold! They'd be warm in FL.
Next time! Cheers.

 

[denpo]

Ok, no turning back now





I made a last minute change to the cutting shape on the back.




While my reference tells to cut through both layers of fiberglass, I preferred to just cut though the first, then with the help of an heat gun and some persuasion, unglued it from the back part. It's a potential support area.





So here's with the lip on:
In the quick setup pictured enlargement at the top is 1.4". I like it.
The tire's walls are still slightly protruding but all the thread it covered.
I may have to cut the inner face of the lip as a last minute adjustment, no biggie.















I wonder how it would look if you'd leave the bottom gap open and make a flat duck to go cool rear brake. How well, who want to cool rear brakes anyway.

 

[BBShark]

I don't know if this will make sense but, are you planning on widening by moving the cut lip out horizontally (middle drawing) or splicing in a new part (far right)?

 

[denpo]

I don't know if this will make sense but, are you planning on widening by moving the cut lip out horizontally (middle drawing) or splicing in a new part (far right)?

I'm moving the lip horizontaly (middle drawing).
For now I'm making more bracket and contemplating the setup.
Once I make my mind, I'll trim off the material from both side as marked by the two other line. Right now it's all about making sure the lip move horizontaly and only horizontaly.


Right now I'm at step 2

 

[denpo]

One more bracket at the front:



One more at the back:


Now I can set my final stance





Once I've put my the markers on the brackets I took the lip off, and with a belt sander I took all the upward curve off. Now the lip follow the exact angle at its border.



Then I projected the line from the lip back into the fender. I ended up pretty close to the upper curve change line.

Then I've cut the fender along this line:





The difficulty of blending the lines grows from back to front. That's why I stopped halfway for now. I'm gonna start with the back and see if I can learn that. The lip shapes at the very front are gonna be tricky to deal with.

 

[denpo]

I went full throttle this weekend.
I felt I had enough with planning and making mold and such, I went straight to the point.
I took woven fiber for the bridging part, because it's very flexible.
First I glued the fabric at the bottom, I just dabbed of epoxy on the body and pressed the cloth on it.


Then I glassed the whole thing.




Then I ground the top edge to maximize contact area.
And of course roughed the brigding area.




First layer of glassing on top of it.
As the initial bridging layer wasn't air tight I couldn't get rid of all the bubble.
But believe me it's not as bad at it look. It's actually pretty good.


After the second pass of glassing (6 layers of fiberglass total) and some quick sanding.

 

[MYBAD79]

Damn that is some great progress !!!!!

My personal prefernce is to hit the SMC panels with 60 grit and apply the glue on the roughest surface posible.

Looks like you're doing about the same .... Don't be stingy with the wax/grease remover, acetone works well...... Lol

 

[denpo]

Damn that is some great progress !!!!!

My personal prefernce is to hit the SMC panels with 60 grit and apply the glue on the roughest surface posible.

Looks like you're doing about the same .... Don't be stingy with the wax/grease remover, acetone works well...... Lol

Thanks Karsten.
Very productive weekend indeed.
I'm starting to foresee how I'm gonna do the front transition.

 

[phantomjock]

Guess I'm slow - but just noticed the rims - have you widened/planned on it ? Or, are you just using the "cyclone/hurricanes" for build up of the flares and other wheels when finished? With all that extra flare you'll have room for more meat for sure.

Cheers - Jim

 

[denpo]

The cyclone/turbine wheels are here to stay.
I had them machined a little bit last year so I can install them without spacers (before the spokes were hitting the calipers), and how much they stuck out is how much I flare the car.
Rims are 10.5" with 275 on it. May go 295 as Karsten advised.
I'll change rims only if I can find lookalike in 17" format, which is quiet unlikely.

Guess I'm slow - but just noticed the rims - have you widened/planned on it ? Or, are you just using the "cyclone/hurricanes" for build up of the flares and other wheels when finished? With all that extra flare you'll have room for more meat for sure.

Cheers - Jim

 

[denpo]

Sanded down to to the painter tape.








shaping the curvature with epoxy/fiberglass "potty"



Sanded again down to the tape







All done by hand, I had my share of workout this weekend.
Time to start the front section, that will be the time for matching for good the door shape to the body.

 

[denpo]

That's how I cleaned the front area.
Still reluctant to cut further, it could be structural and it won't show anyway.



I decided to bridge the area with fiberglass mat this time, it was okay, but I think I'll stick to fabric for now on when it's about bridging.
This time I put the bridge on the exterior of the body.



Here's my poor's man vaccum setup.
Saran wrap!


It allows me to force the fiber to stick at stiffer angle and use muuuch less resin. You push the bubbles out and nothing can come back in.
You can massage it while it cure with your bare hand, and it never stick.

In the middle of the fender I'm laying 7 layers of mat with barely any bubbles despite what the picture seems to show.
I've been using this trick since I started the fenders, but I wanted to wait before boasting about this.
However now I can say I love it, makes the job easier and less messy.

I started mudding the back area.

 

[MYBAD79]

Looking great !!!!!

I probably asked this already (too lazy to read thru the past three pages) ...... What resin are you using? I would hope it's SMC compatible and not just some Bondo resin.......

 

[denpo]

Looking great !!!!!

I probably asked this already (too lazy to read thru the past three pages) ...... What resin are you using? I would hope it's SMC compatible and not just some Bondo resin.......

Thanks Karsten, you're doing good asking, better safe than sorry.
Resin is epoxy and epoxy only.
I get is from the local fiberglass/resin supplier.
5 to 1 ratio.
All my kind of fillers are the very same resin mixed with "modifiers", so at least I know I'm compatible with myself :bonkers:

 

[427Swede]

Nice work going on here !!

 

[denpo]

Nice work going on here !!

Thanks you Mr Swedish metal wizard, I feel honored :beer: