A little progress yesterday.

[John Mcgraw]

My front clip finally arrived for my project, and I got it installed yesterday.
Like always, The Semerschiems 'glass was first rate, and it took very little grinding and cutting to get it to fit perfect. My bonding adhesive did not come in on the big brown truck on Friday, so I did not have enough left to bond the gill panels on, but after bonding the top surround on, I fitted the gills and installed them with alignment screws. If my adhesive comes in Monday, it should only take me a few minutes to get them bonded on.

I hauled all my polished suspension pieces down to San Antonio Friday for a coat of reflective chrome powdercoat. With luck, they will be ready later this week when I take my chassis down for him to coat. I should have the body back on the rotissere by Wednesday at the latest, and have the chassis freed up to go to powdercoat by Friday. I am less than a week from taking it down there, and I still have not settled on the color choice for it.


http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1652590



Regards, John McGraw

 

[IH2LOSE]

John

Your other car looks spectacular sitting in the garage.

Looks like fun.

wont be long before your driving it, after finishing the other one this one should practically put it self together

 

[67HEAVEN]

John

Your other car looks spectacular sitting in the garage.

Damn straight. Hell, the garage looks spectacular.

 

[stepinwolf]

Congrats, on your great looking ( not surprising , considering who is building it ) project John, but I do have one question for you. I also have the exact same 67 front clip from Semerschiems, but mine was supplied with the grill panels already attached.

Would I be correct in assuming that you asked that it be delivered in this way. ?

Regards
Stepinwolf

 

[John Mcgraw]

Congrats, on your great looking ( not surprising , considering who is building it ) project John, but I do have one question for you. I also have the exact same 67 front clip from Semerschiems, but mine was supplied with the grill panels already attached.

Would I be correct in assuming that you asked that it be delivered in this way. ?

Regards
Stepinwolf

Bob,
You are correct. I ordered the front clip with the gills shipped unattached. I think that it makes the frontend so much easier to install with the gill panels off. You do not have to fight the fender bottoms over the cowl, and the ammount of bonding adhesive that has to be worked at one time goes down dramatically. As long as you get the crown on the fender lined up with the crown in the cowl, and match the contour of the upper door, everything will fall right into place. I thought that I was just being lazy, but John Hinkley tells me that this is the way Saint Louis did it as well.
I had a little dip in the coutour on both sides right below the crown, but it was only about 1.5" long, and was only about 1/16" low. I was going to shim these little dips up with some wedges, but the adhesive was setting, so I left them alone. I will just fill those little dips with some bonding adhesive when it comes in.

Regards, John McGraw

 

[Z28Canuck]

Nice pictures John. Thanks so much for sharing your project and the pics so we can enjoy watching your progress as you go. For most of us who will never tackle such a huge undertaking ,for a variety of reasons, we appreciate when all you guys take the time to do these posts and let us follow your progress. Something to watch the skill and pace that you and all the others do, amazing! Thanks again!
Doug

 

[Mac]

Fastastic... Thanks for the pics, John.

-Mac

 

[Tom Bryant]

Nice work John. I find it amazing that when you get a little progress done in a day it is more than I manage in a whole month. :L When I post that I have made a little progress it is just exactly that; little.

Tom

 

[John Mcgraw]

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the comments. I got the gill panels all bonded tonight, pulled the doors and skimmed the jambs with bonding adhesive to tighten up the door gaps. Hopefully, tomorrow I will re-hang the doors and set the final door gaps. With luck, it should be back on the rotissere in the next few days.


Regards, John McGraw

 

[00fxd]

Bob,

I had a little dip in the coutour on both sides right below the crown, but it was only about 1.5" long, and was only about 1/16" low. I was going to shim these little dips up with some wedges, but the adhesive was setting, so I left them alone. I will just fill those little dips with some bonding adhesive when it comes in.

Regards, John McGraw

Go show John. Any chance of pics of the above stated situation?

 

[John Mcgraw]

Go show John. Any chance of pics of the above stated situation?

Sorry, both the dips are already filled and sanded. If you look at the pics of the side of the car on the driver's side, you will see where the reflection changes due to the dip. It is right below the top crown of the fender at the door edge and only dips for about 1.5". Had I been paying attention, I would have shimmed them when the adhesive was wet, but I did not notice them until it was starting to set.


Regards, John McGraw

 

[00fxd]

I see John. Just thinking that must be a very "firm" area to shim without affecting the whole panel alignment. I have done my share of body work on steel cars but have never had to replace any panels on a Corvette. I notice that the photo's are labeled '65 Corvette. Is there any benifit to using the '67 front fenders? Brake cooling maybe? Or just personal preference?

 

[stepinwolf]

Bob,
You are correct. I ordered the front clip with the gills shipped unattached. I think that it makes the front end so much easier to install with the gill panels off. You do not have to fight the fender bottoms over the cowl, and the amount of bonding adhesive that has to be worked at one time goes down dramatically. As long as you get the crown on the fender lined up with the crown in the cowl, and match the contour of the upper door, everything will fall right into place. I thought that I was just being lazy, but John Hinkley tells me that this is the way Saint Louis did it as well.
I had a little dip in the contour on both sides right below the crown, but it was only about 1.5" long, and was only about 1/16" low. I was going to shim these little dips up with some wedges, but the adhesive was setting, so I left them alone. I will just fill those little dips with some bonding adhesive when it comes in.

Regards, John McGraw

John, it's funny although we travel different paths, we all seem to end up in the same place.

When I was pre-fitting the front clip on my present project, I encountered the same fitments problems as you have just experienced with your front end. With this build, ( 572/swc ) I opted for wider fenders on all four corners a-la " 67Heaven ", and because the front end was not as yet on the car, I was obliged to install the wide fenders onto the front clip before installing the clip on the car.

Once the clip was ready to install, I encountered the same problems as you did while trying to line up the fender crown, and the mid-body line. It became so frustrating, that I started looking into another way of bonding the front end on the car. Then while examining very closely, some of the factory, assembly line pictures, I noticed as John Hinckly mentioned, that the procedure that was used on the assembly line was to install the front end, without the grill panel, and once the top section was correctly in place, they then finished up by bonding on the lower grill panel.

As my front end already had the wide fenders bonded in place, I was obliged to cut the grill panels off the clip, and install some bonding strips on the fender area in order to have enough surface to glue the lower panels on later. The last thing worth mentioning is how I was able to line up both of the lower panels to get a 100% correct fit.

When I was ready to bond the grill panels in place, I took 3 or 4 galvanized self taping screws, and screwed them on the flat surface along the door onto which the grill panel was to be bonded. Then before using any adhesive, I pre-fitted the panels, by screwing in or out each one of the screws , until I got an exact same match between the grill panel and the door. Once the exact distance was established between the two, all that was left to do was to apply a generous bead of bonding adhesive to the mating surface, and glue the panel in place. By doing it this way I was able to align up the two surfaces to within thousands of an inch, without having any dips or bulges in either of the two surfaces, and there is absolutely no filler of any kind required.

The enclosed picture of the assembly line was taken from Nolen Adams " The complete CORVETTE Restoration & Technical Guide- Vol. 2 1963 Through 1967. "

It goes without saying that in the future all front clips that I will be ordering, will be ordered without having the lower grill panels in place.

Regards

Bob
a.k.a. Stepinwolf

 

[stepinwolf]

Ouppps I forgot to mention something

In the first photo I inserted in the above post , the front end looks as though it is hinged at the front radiator mounting. This is not the case, but rather the way I have devised in order to make the installation of the front clip, a " one person job ".

I used bolts that were an additional 3" long at the front attachment points ( lower radiator support ) and only tightened them down a few threads. Then I used a sturdy rope around the support, and frame cross member, and adjusted the length so that I could flip the clip, back and forth onto the car on order to check out all the mating surfaces. By doing it this way I was able to prefit the clip by myself by flipping it as many times as was needed to get the correct fit, and with out the need or intervention of an additional set of hands.

Just though it was worth mentioning.

Stepinwolf

 

[BarryK]

Bob
glad to just added that last post. When i was reading your previous one and saw the picture I was wondering if you decided to make your whole front end hinge open like a Jag "E" type.
What do you think? another two weeks and that car will be ready for the road?

 

[John Mcgraw]

I see John. Just thinking that must be a very "firm" area to shim without affecting the whole panel alignment. I have done my share of body work on steel cars but have never had to replace any panels on a Corvette. I notice that the photo's are labeled '65 Corvette. Is there any benifit to using the '67 front fenders? Brake cooling maybe? Or just personal preference?

It is not really too hard to remove small alignment issues like this with small wood wedges without affecting the overall panel fit. You just pull the wedges out when cured and squeege some bonding adhesive in the little voids that are left. There are places on the bond line where the adhesive is over 1/4" thick, and places where it is paper thin. The adjustable bonding adhesive thickness is equivilent to the shims used to adjust body panels on steel cars.

The 67 front end was just a personal preference. I like the look of the 67 gills the best of any years. Since there is absolutely no chance that this car will ever be restored, I figured that I would just go with what I liked rather than waht was "correct".

Regards, John McGraw

 

[BarryK]

John
as always your progress pics are great. I look forward to seeing them each time you post. your projects are always very interesting and your skills are incredible!
keep posting those progress pics!

 

[John Mcgraw]

Bob,

Yep, I recognize the long bolts at the radiator support, great minds think alike! I am constantly having to figure out how to turn a 2 or 3 man job into a 1 man job. I use the self-tapping screw process on all my body panels as well. It is so nice to just be able to turn the screw in another turn to bring the panel into alignment. Once the screws are pulled out and filled with bonding adhesive, nobody will ever know the difference anyway, even on a restoration! The little dip was actually in the glass before puttin the clip on, and it set too deep even before putting the screws in. I had the proper shims cut to fit and sitting on the car, ready for use, but I just ran out of working time on the adhesive. This was one of those times that I should have called my neighbor to come over and help me to apply the adhesive. I spent way too much time putting the adhesive on by myself, and really cut into my working time. It also does not help that I mixed the adhesive a little too hot for a 90+ degree day! I barely got the clip on and the screws in and the clamps on at the windshield before it started to set.

Regards, John McGraw

 

[stepinwolf]

Bob
glad to just added that last post. When i was reading your previous one and saw the picture I was wondering if you decided to make your whole front end hinge open like a Jag "E" type.
What do you think? another two weeks and that car will be ready for the road?

Barry, you are right on, it does kind'a look like a long "Jag " type hood in that position, but by doing this type of mod, I'm afraid the final fit and finish would probably suffer.

As far as finishing the Corvette in the next couple of weeks, well as you know, " now being a restorer yourself ", it will take considerably longer then that. However I am no longer in any hurry, because the Corvette has now been SOLD. A few weeks ago a customer brought in a 63 SWC for some mods to the suspension such as I have done on mine in the past, and when he saw the car , he fell in love with it, and purchased it on the spot.

I am planning on a completion date of Sept, or October 2007, but it will be completely paid for long before the project is finished. I had really planned on keeping this car, but there is no way in héll I could have turned down the very generous offer that was made. Come to think of it, it's actually too good to be true, and I will be getting the first of the three payments with in the next few days or so. E-me at my personal, if you would like additional details.

Regards
Stepinwolf

 

[stepinwolf]

Bob,

Yep, I recognize the long bolts at the radiator support, great minds think alike! I am constantly having to figure out how to turn a 2 or 3 man job into a 1 man job. I use the self-tapping screw process on all my body panels as well. It is so nice to just be able to turn the screw in another turn to bring the panel into alignment. Once the screws are pulled out and filled with bonding adhesive, nobody will ever know the difference anyway, even on a restoration! The little dip was actually in the glass before putting the clip on, and it set too deep even before putting the screws in. I had the proper shims cut to fit and sitting on the car, ready for use, but I just ran out of working time on the adhesive. This was one of those times that I should have called my neighbor to come over and help me to apply the adhesive. I spent way too much time putting the adhesive on by myself, and really cut into my working time. It also does not help that I mixed the adhesive a little too hot for a 90+ degree day! I barely got the clip on and the screws in and the clamps on at the windshield before it started to set.

Regards, John McGraw

Thank's for the compliments John, I like the " great minds " thingy

The little screw trick has proven to be a God send for me, and it makes panel alignments so much easier. I'm sorry to hear that you had so little time to make any final adjustments, with the high temperatures and all, maby you should come up this way and experience first hand, some of our cold weather. During the past week, 5 days out of 7, I have been obliged to turn on the heat in the garage, just to be comfortable enough to get some work done. As hard as it my be to believe, there are still some small areas in my back yard that have snow that has not as yet melted.

So you see when I hear someone complain about the heat these days, it kind'a gets to me.

regards
Bob