update on BABY in body/paint shop 11/2/04

[BarryK]

Barry,

A rule of thumb on glass scratches is that if you can catch your fingernail in the scratch it isn't going to polish out. Is you could polish that deeply there would be a wave in the glass like sanding out a scratch in the paint without feathering it out to the surrounding area. It makes you wonder why the last guy was too lazy to put a couple layers of duct tape along the edge of the glass before he started sanding.

Joe is a saint. I have stripped several cars and I don't envy anyone the task. My '59 had been painted 5 times at least and took 3 gallons of Zip Strip. The worst one I ever helped with was a '66 coupe that had blue metalflake on it. What a job!! I'm glad you are only finding minor past bubbas and nothing big.

Hi tom

yes, i know if i can catch the scratches with my nails they are too deep to polish out. I haven't really checked the scratches that much in detail yet to see how deep they really are other than just seeing them on the glass. Probably my next visit to the car I'll look at them more closely to see if polishing is a real possibility or not. If not, i'll just have to live with the glass as it is for a while until I can afford to buy replacement glass that is properly tinted, logo'd , and dated.
As you say, it's a wonder the person who scratched it didn't take an extra 5 mintes or so to tape off the glass to protect it before hitting the car with the sander! It's really a shame as all the glass on the car except the windshield is the original glass and I always hate to replace an original item with a replacement unless it's REALLY needed. Although my car have gone thru a body-off restoration, i do appreciate originality and the car still retains a fair number of it's original parts.

I don't envy Joe the work he has to do on the paint stripping either! what a messy, nasty, time comsuming job that is!

 

[IH2LOSE]

Whats the update Barry how are things going? How much new stuff you purchase so far

 

[BarryK]

Hi Larry

i've been following the progress of your car and you have me beat by a mile!


Actually, I just called the shop yesterday before I was going to run over there and I ended up not going afterall. Not enough progress from last week to justify the trip over.
At this point he is finishing the last little bits of stripping. the main body is not all stripped of paint he was finishing up on some minor body pieces he had removed to make the stripping go easier like the grill pieces that are under the windshield wiper arms and the real valance pieces. He had removed and was stripping the headlight buckets when I was there last week.
Everything should be completed by the end of this week and he will be sanding next week to prepare for the first primer/sealer coat. Once that is down he starts on all the actual body/fiberglass repairs.

I know it's going slow but that's how this guy works and i knew that going into this project. He is the only one in the shop and he has a full shop of cars to work on so he usually only gets to spend 4-8 hours a week on any particular car.
I figured when I dropped it off in Sept it was not going to be done until Spring and that's about the time frame I see happening. It's no problem though because in the meantime I have my BABY in a climate controlled heated garage over the winter as the works being done as opposed to my cold garage here at home


As for parts, I've spent about $900. mostly on new SS molding pieces for the windshield, new molding clips, new rubber gaskets for windshield and rear window, new weatherstripping for both doors (door weatherstripping was already new but we got more in case it gets damaged during removal to paint the door jambs), a new control cable for the rear blower motor (the old one was rusted up and never worked since I got the car - with the car already half apart inside also it was the best time to replace it), and a few other misc. pieces.
I would really love to replace both the windshield and rear window glass since both were scratched (DA'd) by a previous owner but I just really don't have the extra $800-$900 to spend on that right now. I know it's the best time to do it since both pieces of glass are going to be removed for the bodywork and painting but tight funds are tight funds. At least with new rubber gaskets, new clips, and new moldings it should be easier to remove the glass if needed in the future to replace it than. All the glass on the car except the windshield is the original, properly date-coded, tinted glass. To replace the windshield and rear window with the same correct pieces properly date-coded and correct logo is just too expensive for me right now
Don't you just hate having to work on a Vette within a tight budget! :LOL

As far as we can tell so far these are really the only parts I'm going to have to get.

 

[IH2LOSE]

Barry

I think on this forum a while back (more then a year)some one had a post on how to minamize the D A sanding marks from stainless steel with steel wool and special polishing roushe. (I think it was in the C3 section )You might want to start a post on how to get those marks out.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress

Larry

 

[BarryK]

Larry, the DA marks are on the glass itself, not the SS molding trim.
Even if the SS moldings were a bit scratched it wouldn't have mattered as they were somewhat bent out of shape in places anyway and it was better to just replace them so they fit correctly and fluch with the body.

On the glass it's my understanding that minor scratches can be polished out a lot of times if it's not too deep but these DA scratches on my windshield and rear windoware a bit too deep for that as you can feel them and just catch them with your fingernails. It's really a shame too because after this bodywork and paint job the entire rest of the car will be practically perfect - not perfect as in "Top-flight NCRS" but at least perfect for a great condition driver car as this body and paint work is the last to do - it already had a complete body-off restoration just before i bought it.
Maybe i can get the glass polished enough to at least minimize the DA marks. Even if they won't come out completely if they are reduced they won't be as noticable.

Oh.....almost forgot. the only thing really left to do at some point is to have the clock and radio repaired. The clock only works intermittently and the radio just plain sucks - barely gets one station on a good day but with the sidepipes i can't hear it anyway so it's not a priority.

 

[ZRGator]

Barry,

Where are you getting the date coded glass?

Ypu call yours "Baby", Rick calls his "Lady" and I'm thinking of calling mine "The Beast" cause it's sure been one, so far.
Dennis

 

[BarryK]

Dennis

i'm NOT getting the glass. It's something I'd like to get and replace but it's not in the budget right now unfortunately.



Believe me Dennis, BABY has been somewhat of a Beast at times also!!
:LOL


Barry

 

[Viet Nam Vett]

Glad to see the car got started....Spring is just around the corner. Before you know it you'll be doing the final assembly....Have Fun..


I finally got a date of 12/22/04 for pick up of my car to the shop for the 502 project. Just in time...it's now in the 20's ...freezen out..So I'll start getting the 65 ready for the body to come off this weekend in my nice Heated gree-rage..!!

Wendsday Rob will be over to trailier it back to his shop for body removal.
It's a Corvette Xmas ...In Joisy.....:L

 

[Vette66AirCoupe]

What's the World of Wheels Show? I used to live and work in the DC area but never heard of that show.
i'm still only about 2 1/2 hours from there so that could be a nice show to go and see.
What an honor to be invited to have your car in the show, you should do it, especially after all the hard work and $$ you put in your restoration you should get it out there and show it off after it's done!

Hey Barry,

Glad to see things moving along. Here's a link to the World of Wheels shows. They aren't just in DC.

Championship Auto Shows Official Site - World Of Wheels, Autorama, Cavalcade of Customs

 

[BarryK]

Terry

thanks for the link.
looks like it's in both Baltimore and Washington so I hopefully could get to at least one of the shows.
Your car is going to be in the Washington show?

 

[ZRGator]

Dennis

i'm NOT getting the glass. It's something I'd like to get and replace but it's not in the budget right now unfortunately.



Believe me Dennis, BABY has been somewhat of a Beast at times also!!
:LOL


Barry

O.K., I'll be more specific...where were you looking to get the glass?
I'm shopping some suppliers, do you know any?
Dennis

 

[BarryK]

Dennis

I know I looked at Paragon reproductions for the replacement glass plus one or two other suppliers but without looking thru all my catalogs I can't remember which of the other suppliers it is now. Once I realized the extra $800-$900 for the glass woudn't work with the project budget right now I tossed my notes.
I do remember that from Paragon at least the front windshield was about $370 and the rear window about $420. Those prices were for properly logo'ed and dated glass and you can choose tinted or non-tinted. That came to about $790.00 plus whatever the cost for the shipping would have been.
Overall it's probably not a bad price to be able to replace the glass with correct logo'd, dated, and tinted glass but things are a bit tight around here at the moment on the Vette budget so it will have to wait.
Of course, if you are ordering some replacement glass yourself and want to order me a set also it would make a wonderful holiday gift and I'll let you know the date stamping I'll need!!!

 

[Vette66AirCoupe]

Barry,

My car(s) won't be in any of those shows.

Terry

 

[BarryK]

Barry,

My car(s) won't be in any of those shows.

Terry

Sorry Terry
I thought I remembered someone telling me their car was going to be in the Washington show and when you sent me the link I guess I assumed you were the one who told me that.
I must have been mistaken. Gee, it's only noon and already it's the 4th time i was wrong today! I think the first mistake of the day was just waking up!

 

[1KULC7]

Sorry Terry
I thought I remembered someone telling me their car was going to be in the Washington show and when you sent me the link I guess I assumed you were the one who told me that.
I must have been mistaken. Gee, it's only noon and already it's the 4th time i was wrong today! I think the first mistake of the day was just waking up!

Barry,

Think this might be me you are thinking of, I have an invite to the World of Wheels early March in DC...if all works out I plan to attend and show car for first time. Glad to see things are moving along...you are getting that bug I talked about some time ago...."Oh well, I will replace this or that while its apart"...

Keep giving us updates...Regards

 

[BarryK]

Barry,

Think this might be me you are thinking of, I have an invite to the World of Wheels early March in DC...if all works out I plan to attend and show car for first time. Glad to see things are moving along...you are getting that bug I talked about some time ago...."Oh well, I will replace this or that while its apart"...

Keep giving us updates...Regards

Collin

yes, Z28Canuck (Doug) PM'd me and told me that I had beeb mistaken and it was your car that you mentioned to me that may be in that show. sorry about the mistake.
Your car came out incredible and would look great being shown off in the show - especially under those lights inside that will make that new paint job just SHINE AND DAZZLE everyone!


yes, i did catch a little bit of that "big' but luckily for both me and the budget there wasn't much that needed to be replaced. The biggest and most expensive items were the new windshield molding pieces. Replacing the windshield and rear window glass would have been nice to do while we were at it and the old glass would be out already anyway, but the budget just looked me square in the eyes and told me a big "No Way Jose".
Oh well, eventually in the future I'll get around to those two pieces.

Besides the new paint, the biggest thing I'm really looking forward to on this project is to get all the seams and gaps, especially around the doors, all perfect like on your car. I've learned the more cars I look at that slightly irregular gaps aren't all that noticable until you find yourself looking at them than they really stand out at you so having perfect gaps will than stand out as exceptional like on your car. Same as the peaks on the top of the front fenders. I hadn't realised how "sharp" the crease of the peak is really suppose to be untill I looked at a number of other midyears. Mine had been somewhat rounded off over the years through various work on the car by previous owners and they were sanded down to being too rounded over. This is another area that will get fixed so when it's done all the lines of the body sholud be perfect, straight, sharp, and with perfectly even gaps around the doors, headlight buckets, etc.
I think with these minor repairs over various areas of the body will really make an overall very significant difference when she is done.
I figure the next pictures I post will be when he is finished sanding the whole car down (he just finished the chemical paint stripping and is about to start the sanding). at that point after the sanding he will be able to pretty much see 100% where we are at in terms of just what needs to be done where on the body to make it to the goal state. When the sanding is completed I'll post pics so we can see what the "before" point is and it will be nice to be able to go back and reference that later on after the bodywork is completed.

Barry

 

[1KULC7]

Barry.

You are doing all the right things, especially recementing the panels. It takes time, but its worth it at the very end. I am sure you will be really happy with your results...like everybody says, 90% of a good body/paint job is in the preperation....sould like the person who does you work knows this.

I love seeing the photos because each time you see the newer ones compare them to the very first one you took, and you will see the progress much clearer.

Keep us informed....Collin

Thanks Doug for letting Barry know.....