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After lots of sanding and filing, I have the headlight buckets in the new front end. They still need a little work. Don't tell me that I need to add 3/16" of body filler to bring the tops of the buckets flush to the surround, they'll be so heavy they won't work At lease the high point across the front lines up...geeez.
Who manufactured your new "front end" (nose?). Is it hand laid? Did you buy it in pieces, or was it jig fit/preassembled? Depending on the manufacturer, you may have to take extra special precautions prior to painting.
When I removed the buckets from my project car, there was a full 1/2" of body filler on them (I am not kidding), across the trailing edge, feathered out to nothing at the apex. That is because the hand laid nose (which I replaced with a jig fit assembly)had been through the mill, and extensively doctored.
If your nose is dimensioned properly, and your buckets are good, then they should fit perfectly with no filler. I chose to paint mine off the car, and installed them later. That is probably not how they were originally done, but it made for a much cleaner job.
Sorry I can't answer your question about the headlight bucket alignment, but I've got a question for you. I noticed in your photographs you repaired a crack in your steering wheel. What did you use for the repair and how did it work?
Have you tried loosening the three bolts (through the hole) that secure the bucket to the outer supports? There is some adjustment available there, probably about 1/8" or so.
Yes, a little more work is required to make them fit properly. If you don't have any more adjustment you will have to elongate the holes on the plate. It won't take much but will require some grinding. Looking at the pics you supplied leads me to think you will not escape without some body filler on the corners to make them perfect.
Looks like a Sermersheim front end. Don't forget you have to seal the raw fiberglass gealcoat with a polyester based sealer. If you don't the paint job will go south in about 6 months of warm weather.
Steve, I used a clear epoxy for plastic and mixed in black and redish brown tint to get the best color match. Then I filled the cracks, I used a plastic hypodermic case to squirt the mix into the cracks. I've only wet sanded the wheel so far, haven't gotten around to applying the clear coat yet.
Don,
I picked this basket up in 1996 totally in boxes. I worked on it for about a year focusing on the chassis and then we moved. The new place didn't have much garage space so I just had to build a shop:) the bummer was I fell off a ladder sheeting the roof and broke three vertabrae in my neck, so that put things on hold for a year. After I got the shop done, I had to remodel the house, I finished that last year, the wife is happy now and I'm back to work on the car.
Glad you are back on your feet and back at it. Who did the front end? Are the panels pressmolded or hand laid? Someone posted above about Sermersheim panels being gelcoated, having to be sealed or the paint goes south rather quickly?
I heard that early Corvette Image panels had a problem but they supposedly have that problem ironed out. I thought both companies made pressmold panels without a gel coat? Aren't these two companys the best source for replacement panels?
Then your front clip is either Sermersheim's or Corvette Image. Both are VERY nicely jig fit by the same jobber (a familiar handle on this board, but not to mention names......). Sermersheim's parts are gel coated on both the inner and outer surfaces. Image parts are gelcoated on the outer surface only (panels older than approx 2002 are bare composite in and out, just like the originals). Corvettes were never gelcoated from the factory......the composite was primed and painted. When I say "composite", I mean the glass fiber-and-resin laminate that forms the structure of all older Corvette body panels. The reason that the reproduction panels are gelcoated, is to offer some measure of protection from moisture intrusion, and consequent paint blistering. Sermersheim's seems to have a better track record in this regard, because of the dual surface gelcoating process. The downside of the dual surface gelcoating, is that those panels are dead giveaways as non originals, because the inside does not show any glass strands. The Image panels are very close to originals, and will not blister IF THEY ARE TREATED VERY CAREFULLY. The original GM panels have a much slower moisture absorption rate because they were produced using a different process.......under much higher pressure as I understand it. They will still absorb moisture much faster than sheet steel, however.
Getting back to your problem. I would not condemn the jig fit nose. After all, you probably paid around 4 grand for it, and I can tell you from experience, that it is a very nice piece. Just guessing here, but either you assembled the bucket pivots incorrectly, there is a problem with the pivot shafts, or there is a problem with the buckets themselves.
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