Rookie's First Restoration Attempt...

[mrvette]

OK, got my curiousity up....what are they for, and how to use them??

all them steel body tools I seen before, tried a few decades ago, never had the 'touch'....so WTF are these about...??

:friends:

 

[1Michel]

http://www.melomotive.com/Products/Metalwork/tabid/304/Default.aspx

 

[stinger12]

Test went great...I thought it was easy, I'll know within the next two weeks what I got on it.

I decided a couple of months ago that I needed to get setup for my future, because the more tools I buy, the less the drawers on my other chest wanted to open! I scouted the classifieds for a couple months and finally found a fair deal on the one I wanted.





The granite top weighs 150 LBS...and the box weighs around 400 LBS without the top and when it's NOT full of tools.

I have been buying a lot of tools the past couple of months, and I now have the majority of what I needed. That's good news because now I can start financing the vette again:woohoo:

I also got more stuff from Mike last week.

 

[stinger12]

Here is the hood repair finished.

 

[C6Z51]

You're doing a great job :thumbs:

 

[stinger12]

 

[stinger12]

Making the wheel arch round, like it should be.

 

[stinger12]

I passed my exam:thumbs:

 

[denpo]

:clap::bestwishes::yahoo:
Congratulations Jeremy.

 

[mrvette]

I passed my exam:thumbs:

:banghead::clap::drink::drink:

should have been easy as shit for you......

but more importantly, you need take a few business courses at your local college type place, even mail order if you have to, you need that grounding in order to run a successful business.....at least know how to read a P&L, and keep a set of books, know WTF you are doing in the MONEY side of things, or you will have nothing but grief over it......believe me, my wife is a book keeper for many small businesses, and the things she says leave me dumbfounded some daze....seems 1/2 her clients dunno a ledger from toilet paper.....

:gurney:

 

[1Michel]

Congratulation Jeremy.

 

[Mr.Kiss]

Congrats on the exam .... my vette went into get painted this week

 

[GT6Steve]

Well Amigo, I'd have been shocked if you didn't pass the first time. I've learnt so much from your thread and still produce a lesser product.

Good onya Mate, as the Brits would say. You're a credit to the youth of America!

 

[stinger12]

Some more pics...

 

[stinger12]

My original panels are SMC, but the new ones are regular polyester, and I HATE fiberglassing with epoxy resin and fiberglass matt...it takes ten times the effort of regular polyester resin. So, what I have been doing is fiberglassing with epoxy where the new and old panels come together, letting it cure, sanding it, then going on top of that with regular polyester resin and matt. Its a pain in the ass...but oh well, that's the way it has to be done.







Here is an example of where I will be using epoxy resin...



And now some pics of the front of the flare progressing...

 

[mrvette]

On those front fenders, down on the lower rear section near the rocker panels, you maybe want to hold the aluminum panels up there to the holes and check the glass is in some sort of alignment with the length of the rocker panel aluminum....that was a defect on my car, previous body work had the glass too far back on driver's side, so it looked goofy, as if the aluminum was too long...I fixed that when I did my lousy green paint job.....

 

[JE Caudle]

Are you using a fast hardener? Take a look at http://www.westsystem.com/ss/product-selection-chart/

I like epoxy because it does not have that god offal smell that vinylester (sp?) has.
Also you can use almost any foam as a form and it cleans up with alcohol.

 

[stinger12]

On those front fenders, down on the lower rear section near the rocker panels, you maybe want to hold the aluminum panels up there to the holes and check the glass is in some sort of alignment with the length of the rocker panel aluminum....that was a defect on my car, previous body work had the glass too far back on driver's side, so it looked goofy, as if the aluminum was too long...I fixed that when I did my lousy green paint job.....

I will, but that is the least of my worries right now. Once I get the flare round, then I will finesse where the rocker moulding bolts up to...one step at a time.

 

[stinger12]

Are you using a fast hardener? Take a look at http://www.westsystem.com/ss/product-selection-chart/

I like epoxy because it does not have that god offal smell that vinylester (sp?) has.
Also you can use almost any foam as a form and it cleans up with alcohol.

Yeah, I use the fast hardener. Its still a pain in the ass to use. It doesn't wet out regular matt like polyester does.

 

[010752]

My original panels are SMC, but the new ones are regular polyester, and I HATE fiberglassing with epoxy resin and fiberglass matt...it takes ten times the effort of regular polyester resin. So, what I have been doing is fiberglassing with epoxy where the new and old panels come together, letting it cure, sanding it, then going on top of that with regular polyester resin and matt. Its a pain in the ass...but oh well, that's the way it has to be done.

A primer on epoxy

Caution must be observed when using epoxy resins along with
polyester resins . Observe the general rule that epoxy resins may
be applied over cured polyesters that have been dewaxed and
well sanded but polyesters should never be used over cured epoxy
resins. Unreacted amine in the epoxy inhibits the peroxide cata-
lyst in the polyester causing an incomplete cure at the interface.
Sanding does not get rid of unreacted amine. The result is a poor
bond even though the surface appears cured.

Source:System 3 book, includes temp/time charts.
http://bristol29.com/Sources/system three epoxy book.pdf

Yeah, I use the fast hardener. Its still a pain in the ass to use. It doesn't wet out regular matt like polyester does.

If you have problems wetting out, then you are using the wrong mat with styrene binders, that are not dissolving.
Use stitched mat instead.