E I, i have two Vettes at work right now, one a 68 convertable and the other a T top 81. if money isnt a problem have it soda blasted by a repituable blaster, it is very easy to ruin a vette. it will save you a hole lot of time, vettes are almost always repainted some where down the line, as far as repairs where ever is cracked drill out the ends of the cracks with a 1/8 drill bit bevel out the rest of the crack, then layer your fiber glass, resin first then matting tnen resin again and so on. if you mix the resin too hot it will become brittle when cured and fall apart .after cured knock it down with 80 on a DA then finish it off with a polyester putty.some areas to pay attention to are the conners on the nose around the hood and those seams on the quaters and fenders. the bumpers especially the back are pretty lumpy, the only real fix is to replace them, but they eventually do it again. After all the body work is done prime away, it usally talkes two primeing sessions to get it fairly straight depending on how fussy the customer wants to get. Seal and spray away. either you will love working on vettes or hate it there is no in between.
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81 vette job
- Thread starter ezrider
- Start date
I hate them personally.The only nice ones I've done was a 64 ragtop that was immaculate and we blocked it down and relacquered it in the original lt blue metallic,I'd almost give my scooter up for that car it was so beautiful.The other was a 69 T top stripped to bare glass and worked back up to black lacquer after a new rear end was put on.We regelcoated the whole car and I'll never do that again,it seems I blocked on that stuff forever before I started priming and blocking.He got a few trophies for the car but a few years later he lost it again and tore the car to pieces.Had a bad 454 with 2 750s poking out the hood on a tunnel ram.What a waste of time and money that one turned out to be.If anyone asks you to mold in some Ecklers glass bumper covers charge 3 times what you think it will take,they don't come close to fitting and they're warped so bad they look like the OEM urethane ones that have been sun baked for 20 years,never do that again either.
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Envious Interiors
Guest
so, at all the cracks, i need to drill, then sand them down a little bit to add fiberglass resin? theres also a couple of holes in the fiberglass? what do i do on these? well, and im not sure money is not an object, but he was willing to pay 367 bucks just for the gallon of yellow paint. but, the car wont have an engine, and you know how much fun it is to move a car without and engine. can i just 80 it with the DA down to the fiberglass. i have to guide coat and get everything perfect, and i have plenty of time to do it too. what color of pearl do you guys think is going to look the best on a bright yellow. i was thinking black or silver?
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Envious Interiors
Guest
hey guys, i have a buddy of mine bringing me his 81 vette to be completely taken down to fiberglass, have some of the cracks fixed and a couple of other problems with the fiberglass, then he wants it sprayed a viper race yellow($367 a gallon!! my cost) and sprayed with pearl flames, and then somewhere around 5 or 6 coats of clear over that. any ways, i need to know what steps to take from fiberglass. primer surfacer? or what? then sealer? im not completely sure how to do it. its all going to be urethane paint, and money is aparently no object to him with this car. he also told me to choose the color of pearl to do in the flames. i was thinking either black, or silver pearl. let me know what you guys think, and possibly some tips of fixing the fiberglass. thanks a bunch
If you can get to the back of the cracks I lay up a few pieces of resin soaked matting then V out the cracks and grind into the new patch after it has hardened.If not do as EZ saiid and drill a stop hole at the end of the crack and then V out the crack and fill it with matting.The best way I've found to lay up matting is to brush a coat of resin over the ground area.Then take your pre-pulled matting patches and lay them on a piece of paper or cardboard and brush enough resin on to wet the whole thing thouroughly except the end you're holding with your finger.Lift up the piece and slide the brush under it to support it as you put it in place.Work it into place with the brush and wet the corner oyu were holding.I prefer to pull the pieces of matting off the sheet instead of cutting them out with scissors and wear some medical gloves while you're working with the resin.For the holes it's about the same.Grind the back side and make a backing patch again,but use tape or something on the outside to cover the hole.After the patch is dry pull the tape or what will come off and grind the outside to taper it out and grind the patch,then lay up the outside.The trick to a good repair is leave no square edge on the original glass crack or hole-grind it so it tapers from the back of the panel thickness to the outside and there are no cracks on the edge,that's the reason for drilling the hole at the end of cracks.Once this tapered area is sandwiched between the backing patch and outer patch you should never have a problem with it.If I can't get to the back of the repair I won't guarantee it.
I'm not much of a silver person but it wouldn't look bad.I think if I did the black pearl I'd jazz it up with a light to medium overlay of crushed glass.I think the name of PPGs version is Flamboyance but I'm not positive.If you haven't seen it it's a little bigger than a pearl flake but it's shaped to reflect the whole light spectrum instead of being plated a color like pearl.Come to think of it I think that would be even better over the silver.
I'm not much of a silver person but it wouldn't look bad.I think if I did the black pearl I'd jazz it up with a light to medium overlay of crushed glass.I think the name of PPGs version is Flamboyance but I'm not positive.If you haven't seen it it's a little bigger than a pearl flake but it's shaped to reflect the whole light spectrum instead of being plated a color like pearl.Come to think of it I think that would be even better over the silver.
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DenB.
Guest
from personal experiance. if you haven't done glass on 'vettes before "DON'T DO IT" if it's a friend your can lose one real fast if you are at all short on experiance just my $.02 worth. good luck