Rookie's First Restoration Attempt...

I would take the whole rear clip off, you're 90% there already. That way you can have the birdcage powdercoated. Check out our belgian friends thread, he has great pics illustrating it. If you want to keep the whole thing intact (apart from what you chopped off already), you found 2 spots where the rear clip is bonded to the hoop already. The 3rd is at the T bat, there are 2 ribets and there's some bonding adhesive in the "trench", it's a PITA to get at but with a long putty knife it can be done. The other bonding area is the rear firewall, there are a bunch of rivets and a load of adhesive to wrestle through. After that you can just pull the whole thing off.
 
If you don't already have a set of these books ....... get you some...:thumbs:
Cause you gonna need um.......:D

I think you'll find them very helpful.

http://www.glas-ra.com/v3_4.html

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Holy cow.... :huh:

I didn't think you had to go this far with this body, didn't look all that bad... but now since you've done all this I'd go ahead and pull the whole thing as TT says.
What about a custom convertible? Looks like it's not that much more work than just getting this back together?

I remember a thread not too long ago that had photos of a plated birdcage, no idea how much they paid for plating... sure looked nice.
 
MYBAD79 said:
What about a custom convertible? Looks like it's not that much more work than just getting this back together?
Click to expand...

Not a bad idea........if I was going to re-skin the majority of the car anyhow
I'd make a '69 Racer out of it, Flared wheels, bubble headlamps, no bumpers,
etc. ............ JMHO. ;)
 
And it will safe a ton of money on the engine build: on a sunny day when the top is down the engine becomes insignificant.

There's a yellow vert on CF (Steve74 ??), he has a 80's rear bumper and sidepipes... looks really good, I never thought the newer bumper would look on a convertible.
 
SMYDA said:
If you don't already have a set of these books ....... get you some...:thumbs:
Cause you gonna need um.......:D

I think you'll find them very helpful.

http://www.glas-ra.com/v3_4.html

gr_sub_v3cover.gif
gr_sub_v4cover.gif
Click to expand...

I don't need no books - I have Mike Dyer to help me:yahoo: He's the one that taught me how to remove everything. I'm not sure how much farther I am taking it down - I don't want to take anything apart that I don't have to. I'm going to be building a sandblasting booth in the next week or so and I will sandblast the birdcage using my pressure blaster. That's gonna suck, but it has to be done. There is some welding that needs to be done on the birdcage and floorpans as well. I should of waited until I was older to start a project like this:noob:
 
MYBAD79 said:
And it will safe a ton of money on the engine build
Click to expand...

The engine build is on hold until I complete the body. Mike convinced me to spend the money I've been saving for the engine on the body. The reason being is that there is only one way to do the body, and there is no way around it. There are a lot of options for the motor - hell I could just freshen my old one up and drop it in if I wanted too (I'm still planning on building that monster motor though, I'll have to wait).
 
Sounds like a plan.... so what do you think about a convertible ? You're not going to drive the car in the rain .... :noworry:

Why build a booth ? If you use regular sand and one of these $80 outdoor (portable) blasters you can do it in the yard... I've don it quiet a few times, the sand doesn't hurt the lawn (there's nothing but sand here in FL anyways) :D

Definitely buy a good respirator: google "silicosis" or click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis
 
MYBAD79 said:
Sounds like a plan.... so what do you think about a convertible ? You're not going to drive the car in the rain .... :noworry:

Why build a booth ? If you use regular sand and one of these $80 outdoor (portable) blasters you can do it in the yard... I've don it quiet a few times, the sand doesn't hurt the lawn (there's nothing but sand here in FL anyways) :D

Definitely buy a good respirator: google "silicosis" or click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis
Click to expand...

Got in trouble with the neighbors for blasting in my driveway - now I have to build a booth every time I blast. The wind blew dust on their cars the day I was blasting, and, well, they freaked on me:suicide:
 
I think I'll stick with my coupe...too much work for a convertible right now.
 
I found some rust in the birdcage and that took the cake. Too many issues with this hunk of junk. I tried to convince myself to fix it, but it just isn't worth it. I discovered some more issues with the rear clip as well. I have decided to get a used one from a friend of mine. Putting together a list of parts to get at the same time as the body. Since I've decided to start "fresh", I've also decided to make a new dolly out of metal. There were some issues with my old one. Not enough working space underneath the car, the supports weren't right, and a bunch of other things. Here is a plan I drew up. Its 2''X2" steel. It will support the rear clip - the front clip will get installed when the rear clip is mounted on the car, so there is no need for a front support right now. A 5'' caster will be underneath each support. This picture is not to scale, so it looks a little odd. The body I am getting is everything from the firewall back, but is in great condition. I'll eventually get an aftermarket one piece front clip, but that won't be for a while.

DSC03582-1.jpg
 
SmokinBBC said:
Nice work there stinger. :thumbs:When do you get the body?
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Not too sure. I'm ordering a ton of parts to stuff into the body before it gets shipped here. Mike's helping me with that. I suspect it won't be here for another month or two.
 
turtlevette said:
The vin number is on the birdcage. Doesn't that create sort of a mess?

Not being critical just curious.
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How is it any different than replacing a rusted out frame with a good used frame? Its the same deal, the VIN number is also stamped into the frame.
 
The VIN on the frame is very often not readable anyways... legally, the title stays with the body so if you swap your body and install a 1970 body you legally have a 1970 Vette. This might vary by state and likely it's different in Canada.....
 
stinger12 said:
turtlevette said:
The vin number is on the birdcage. Doesn't that create sort of a mess?

Not being critical just curious.
Click to expand...

How is it any different than replacing a rusted out frame with a good used frame? Its the same deal, the VIN number is also stamped into the frame.
Click to expand...

You need to find out from the DMV first. Moving a VIN tag on a body in Calif. can get you in BIG trouble.
 
Yes, moving a VIN tag from one car to another can get you in trouble.... now, replacing the windshield frame and not swapping the VIN tag is probably not legal either but unless they suspect your car is stolen they would never remove the windshield and cut the front fender to inspect the windshield frame welds....
 
Like said before check with your local DMV and find out for sure.

I have swapped VIN's a number of times building wrecks........
mostly in swapping truck cabs..........BUT that's here in Alabama, USA.

I can test nuclear weapons here in my back yard and no one would care.
But let me smack my kid for disrespecting an elder and I'll get thrown in jail....:lol:

Just A Note: Those fancy little rivets that hold that vin plate on can be bought from GM...
(at least the last time I inquired..some years back)
But expect to pay around a $100.00 EACH.......:bonkers:
And have plenty of documentation.
 
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