Progress on #782

[DanEC]

A little more progress.



Because I'm running undercar exhaust I applied a thermal ceramic heat coating (from Second Skin) to the underside of the floor boards, trans tunnel and differential area floor panels. I rolled it on with a foam roller. It' a heavy paste but I guess an undercoat gun would spray it. I doubt it would come out much smoother or uniform from an undercoat gun however. I've decided to leave the aluminum panels out for the body prep work. I may even wait to install after paint. I'm not sure of when ERA does this in their shop - before paint or after?



I ground down the mold seams with a dremel tool and sanding drums after wiping the body down with Acetone and 3M scuff pads.







Initial pass with sanding boards and blocks on the body to show high and low areas. Many of the low areas are very shallow and may come out with more boarding. I think I'll leave the low areas alone for now and work it a panel at a time - scuffing up the low areas just prior to skimming with a thin coat of lightweight filler to help me avoid losing track of where they are and where I am. Some of the deeper areas around the panel openings, I'll probably use a fiberglass reinforced filler initially to flush them out.

[Jim Holden]

ERA permanently mounts the body to the chassis, installs the floor panels, but waits to mount most of the other inner panels until after the car comes back from paint.

Jim

[cscobra]

Great progress, Dan. And, great pictures.

I finished complete disassembly on December 31 and removed the body with the help of several friends on January 1. I painted the complete inside of the body with satin black paint (500 degree ceramic paint), touched up the frame, and drilled a few holes that were more accessible with the body off. I bonded/reinstalled the body on January 2 with most of the same friends from the previous day. (I had already drilled all undrilled holes as I removed the aluminum panels). I reinstalled the screws holding the body to the frame at the firewall, the rear frame support, and the single screw (not replaced with a rivet) you've already discovered at the front of the car, as well as the screws holding the rocker panels to the frame. I also reinstalled the two metal plates (six screws each) at the forward upper portion of the trunk area--these also help to center the body and I plan to leave them as they are (no rivets, just screws). I then replaced all of the basic mounting screws with rivets (easily done with a hand riveter)--a total of 34 rivets hold the body to the frame (9 at the firewall, 7 for each rocker panel, and 11 at the rear frame mount). Your total may vary (especially the rocker panel count).

And, that's all I took to the body shop on January 13, where superb prep is slowly but progressively taking place (they love the presence of the caster wheels). I did leave the fuel line and the rear brake line mounted, as these were shaped by ERA while they were being installed and I didn't want to redo those lines--I did, however, remove and seal all of their mounting screws to prevent rust in the future.

I can now clean and prep the aluminum panels at my leisure without any concern about paint overspray. I am also painting the many other parts that need it so as to be ready when the body/frame unit returns.

Bottom line--it's OK to present only the frame and sealed/mounted body to the painter. I had previously checked on this with ERA, and I deliberately disassembled the car until only the body mounted on the frame remained so as to prove to myself that it was possible to do so and to reassemble it the same way.

I admire the fact that you are blocking/filling/sanding the body yourself--I have no talent in those areas. Are you also painting the car yourself?

I also like your solution to the undercar exhaust heat consideration.

I must say that I am highly impressed with ERA's engineering and how easily everything lined up when we reinstalled the body--it essentially centered itself (proven after we verified everything involved). Like you, I am so glad I chose to do it this way.

[DanEC]

I'm impressed you got the body off the frame and back on. The way it wraps around the frame outriggers - that looks like a chore and nail-biter. Good idea on painting the underside of the body. I have an old Corvette and there is some history of engine and chassis fluids migrating through the underside of the fiberglass on some cars and lifting the paint. Looks like you have killed that potential problem. I haven't replace the rocker panel screws with rivets yet as I'm going to have to do some body work down there due to the mold line.

I'm currently planning to paint it myself. If I come across a good painter that I have reason to trust I may decide to not convert my garage to a spray booth. We'll see. I do plan to take it at least through high build primer. Good luck with your build - sounds like it will be nice.

Dan

[cscobra]

I talked with ERA a bit before taking off the body--it didn't make as many funny noises when "stretched" as I thought it would! Gravity made the reinstall much easier and anti-climatic. I just followed their procedure.

I also obtained all sealing materials and rivets from ERA so I could use what they use.

Painting the inside of the body completely was their suggestion since the body was going to be completely removed from the frame--they cited better protection as well as better appearance for those areas that will still show. Admittedly, I can no longer show off the coremat at the top of what will be the fenderwells.

It sounds like we are taking similar approaches to building our cars.

[ZOERA-SC7XX]

After seeing the work involved, I'm glad I had ERA bond my (Cobra) body to the chassis. I twisted all the wrenches to assemble it, but all that glue & rivet stuff is for the birds. Good luck with your build.

[cscobra]

It's only "for the birds" if someone doesn't have the interest in doing it--some do, some don't. Everyone does what best meets their needs.

Let's leave value judgments out of it and instead enjoy the experiences we choose, no matter how different those choices may be.

[ZOERA-SC7XX]

Originally Posted by cscobra

It's only "for the birds" if someone doesn't have the interest in doing it--some do, some don't. Everyone does what best meets their needs.

Let's leave value judgments out of it and instead enjoy the experiences we choose, no matter how different those choices may be.

I would guess you feel better now.

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by ZOERA-SC7XX

After seeing the work involved, I'm glad I had ERA bond my (Cobra) body to the chassis. I twisted all the wrenches to assemble it, but all that glue & rivet stuff is for the birds. Good luck with your build.

I understand. But I did a full frame off restoration of an old, rode hard 427 Corvette years ago - so fiberglass bonding agent, bucking soft aluminum rivets, fixing loose bonding strips, replacing body panels, and resin and glass mat work are nothing new and just part of old cars. Besides, this is really easy with all nice, new, pre-fitted clean parts. No rusted fastners, no warped frames, no broken fiberglass, no multiple layers of paint over 30 years to strip. Piece of cake compared to that so far.

Thanks

Dan

[cscobra]

Originally Posted by ZOERA-SC7XX

I would guess you feel better now.

Much better. Don't you?

[ZOERA-SC7XX]

Originally Posted by DanEC

I understand. But I did a full frame off restoration of an old, rode hard 427 Corvette years ago - so fiberglass bonding agent, bucking soft aluminum rivets, fixing loose bonding strips, replacing body panels, and resin and glass mat work are nothing new and just part of old cars. Besides, this is really easy with all nice, new, pre-fitted clean parts. No rusted fastners, no warped frames, no broken fiberglass, no multiple layers of paint over 30 years to strip. Piece of cake compared to that so far.

Thanks

Dan

No intention to dump on you for the great job you're doing, just commenting, for which this forum is designed.
Being only fifteen minutes from ERA, I've been in the fab shop on numerous occasions and have seen the guys doing this work (you should have seen how rough the pre-731 bodies were), and it's no picnic.

[DanEC]

No offense. Everyone has different perspectives and approaches to something like this.

[DanEC]

Progress has slowed down due to work in the last couple of months. But, I'm still plugging away at body work.

I got the wheel well openings roughed in fine. After that I've been working on matching up all the panels and smoothing out the match-mold lines. A lot of this is just rough fill to get things up flush and then I will have to skim coat over the top and a good portion of the panels for the final block sanding. The trunk lid area and upper front edge of the doors have taken the most work to get everything matching up. I don't think any of it is out of the ordinary however. I made up a couple of tools for finishing the rounded cockpit edges. The simple wood tool has worked best so far.

I started out using Rage Extreme - figuring most expensive had to be the best. However, I tried some Rage Gold on the cockpit edges and I think I'm going to switch over to it as it seems a little easier to work with and sand.

The motor is pretty much all squared away at Keith Craft but I have them holding off on assembly until I get further along. After frantic research into what to use for a dual quad intake for a Street car I found a nice 427 low riser manifold and I'm having it professionally re-skinned (refinished) at a resto shop. I've seen his work on the Corvette Forum site and they come out looking like brand new.

Well - back to sanding, and sanding some more.

[DanEC]

A couple more photos of bodywork and also one of the dash. I have it sitting in an exercise room - never get tired of looking at it.

[cscobra]

Beautiful dash, isn't it?

I see that you also decided to go with the original-type glove compartment door handle, as did I. However, at the last minute, I opted out of the counterclockwise speedometer option. It sure looks nice on your dash, though!

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by cscobra

Beautiful dash, isn't it?

I see that you also decided to go with the original-type glove compartment door handle, as did I. However, at the last minute, I opted out of the counterclockwise speedometer option. It sure looks nice on your dash, though!

Thanks, I had second thoughts on the speedometer also. I may regret going with the CCW unit. Peter said I probably would.

[DanEC]

I found a low riser dual quad intake to clear my scoop-less hood. It had one small chip in a bolt seat and was pretty oxidized so I sent it to a place that repairs aluminum and cast iron and uses some sort of re-skinning process to re-finish them. Yeah - I know, it sounds like paint but it's some sort of plating process from what I can tell - not paint.

Back to block sanding.

[DanEC]

It was a long, hot summer and my body work on #782 fell off schedule as a result. Finally have everything pretty much flushed up, flattened where it needs to be flat, gapped, and filled where it needed filling. Looks like a lot of filler but I think I did a lot with filler that many rely on high build primer to do. I need to go back over it with 120 grit and glaze in a few pin holes and I can prime. There is some dim light at the end of the sanding tunnel.














Oh yes, I forgot - and Keith Craft is gather all the parts to start on the engine build - a 460 FE.

[ERA Chas]

Nice patient work Dan. Are those bolt-on rear wheels??

[DanEC]

Yep - using 5-pin Vintage wheels. One of the economizing decisions I had to make and one I'm wondering how necessary it was. The additional cost of the KO adaptors probably would have been a good down payment on the 6-pin components. Live and learn.