stripped vette

[topless82vette]

this is how far I've gotten with the heat gun process

thanks chris for your help

 

[topless82vette]

heres another

 

[topless82vette]

another

 

[topless82vette]

another

 

[JonM]

Little music while you strip it ...

Strip 4 U

 

[Tom Bryant]

I'ts coming right along Jeff. A few questions.

How long to get to this point?

What are you using for a scraper after the paint is softened?

What is the surface of the glass like after the paint is off?

Tom

 

[topless82vette]

tom

for the most part its smooth, I used a putty knife, it took about four weekends but my job slowed me down quite a bit since I work alot. heres better pictures

 

[Tom Bryant]

It's interesting to see some of the areas where the convertible conversion was done. That has been a lot of work so far but you are being rewarded with a nice body underneath. A lot better that some I have found under the paint. My '59 was not pretty when I got the many coats of paint off. I found way too much hidden collision damage. I helped a friend strip a '63 coupe many years ago that he bought for $850. and drove home. After we had the paint off we decided that he had been cheated out of $850. the body litterly fell apart once the bondo, galvanized sheet metal and pop rivets were removed. Then there was the '66 coupe his brother bought in NC painted blue metalflake. The hardest stuff to strip I have ever experienced. Heat gun ended up working the best on that one.

Your car is going to look great when finished.

Tom

 

[topless82vette]

at first my wife wanted the car to be painted two tone blue, since then she saw a two tone red one, autumnred/dark claret so that will be the color of it when its finished, when we first bought the car it was a extremly nice car, my what a quik paint job can hide and lots of bondo, so at anyrate stripping it to bare glass turned out being the best idea I believe this way I will be assured nothing will come back to haunt the new paint job

 

[BORDERBUM]

nice work,

when converting your 82, did you have to change the floor in the back carge area for the dicklid hinge spring plates? I am debating either converting my 76 to a convertible or fixing my body on my 72 convertible. my 72 had a interior fire.

 

[GerryLP]

Topless,

Will you be using the same process for the rubber bumpers??? It would seem that the heat gun could distort the bumpers.

 

[topless82vette]

borderbum

the floor area where the hinges mount is the same on coupe and convertible, a bolt goes up through the rear body mount and threads into the decklid hinge, I went ahead and grafted my clip at the wheel wells, and my 82's floor where this hinge is looks the same as the 74 convertible clips.

gerryLP

the bumpers are going to be replaced with fiberglass bumpers front and rear, and no on a low heat setting the covers didnt distort however I wouldn't recommend using it anyways.

tom

you know I completely forgot about posting pictures of the coupe to convertible mods that had to be done however the hardest part to install was the third center roof latch, and cutting the roll bar off at the right height.

 

[BORDERBUM]

topless,

I was wondering if you had the pics for your conversion, I think that a whole lot of people would love to see them and i know that i am more than interested i am drooling! I am right in the middle of deciding weather to graft a 72 convt back end on my 76, or fix my 72(fire on inside). Did you weld a convt top windshield frame on yours or did you modify your 80?

 

[Vanity Plate Bob]

What's the little guy saying? "Gee Dad, easy entry for me".

 

[JonM]

 

[paintdaddy]

I think your helper has a full diaper. Looks like your bringin him up right.Nice job on the vette!

 

[Twin_Turbo]

hahahahaha Jeff, another one that noticed the diaper

 

[topless82vette]

borderbum

the original windshield frame was modified for the 3rd top latch if thats what your asking about, and instead of grafting the vert's clip onto your 76 why not just buy a convertible 75 upper deck alot simpler doing it that way, they cost about 600 bucks


Marck

be nice LOLOL or I will be forced to forget my username and password again LOL