MAJOR body panel replacement
I'm the original owner of a 64 coupe doing a body off resto. In the car's short 13 years on the road lifespan(don't ask), the car has incurred TWO rear-end collisions. The 1st repair consisted of a donor piece sectioned in horizontally across the rear, through the middle of the gas tank filler opening, with a makeshift bonding strip underneath, down to the tailight panel, it's bonding strip is pink in color The second repair was a repair of the first. You can probably imagine how it looks underneath. I HAVE a NOS roof panel. I have considered attempting to grind away the makeshift bonding strip and mat/glass the area underneath, in order to save a lot of time/work/grief? I need to be put in touch with someone who has done this HUGE panel replacement or some really good advice. Sorry for the lengthy post but this dilemma has bogged me down for FAR TOO LONG, and I need to get off the fence and pull the trigger. Thanks, Jack J.
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
Jack,
in order to answer your question I need to ask some...what is your goal for the car...driver, very nice show car, NCRS/Bloomington quality, or 100% undetectable repair.
Depending on the responce I can sugget how to best make the repairs.
Also were the 1/4's and bonding strips replaced/spliced in.
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
Probably not what you want to hear, but I would first try to correct the first and second repair.
The beauty of fiberglass is that the repair can likely be ground right back to where it was at your first attempt. It will be a lot of hot, sticky, itching work, but the effort will provide good practice even if the repair isn't successful. If it does succeed, you will have an NOS roof panel from which to recover your investment.
A couple of points: (1) A bonding strip will not replace or substitute for the strength of a tapered full thickness lamination. Two panels cannot be butted together with bonding strip underneath and a minimal token taper of little more than a V groove at the joint and be expected to not crack.
If you taper grind the adjacent panels (over a two inch width each panel) to near zero thickness at the joint and apply four or more laminations, first to the top side and then the underside, you will have a repair that is very near original strength. This assumes fresh resin materials, optimum mixing of the resin, good lamination technique, and good working and curing conditions...not too hot, not too cold. It may already be too hot if you're in the South; Fall may be your best bet now.
You won't have to worry about finishing the underside, but the top side will require some careful grinding (especially at the edges) to get the cured fiberglass back down to contour. You can reduce the amount of grinding and sanding by narrowing the mat width of each successive layer; this concentrates the thickness where you need it...at the center where the depth is greatest. My goal was to end up with no depression in the fiberglass directly over the joint.
You'll end up handling strips of saturated mat that are near full body width and approaching 5" wide, not to mention working upside down for the underside. You'll have to be really motivated, skilled, patient, and able to deal with the challenges of dropping/losing an entire lamination, dripping resin in your hair/face, and constantly pulling apart impossibly sticky gloved fingers.
(2) Perfect surface angular alignment across the joint is essential, or the repair will be painfully obvious when the surface is finish painted to a glossy surface. The flatter the surface, the more exact the alignment has to be. I used steel angle cut in 9" sections, bolted together top and bottom and spaced every foot or less across such a joint to insure that the original panel surface and the donor panel were perfectly aligned.Comment
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
Rich & Chuck, I know that if I want to restore to NCRS standards, that I need to replace the entire roof panel. I guess I'm really looking to get it back on the road after all these years- somewhere between a nice looking show car and NCRS. Removing the old roof panel is one thing,but replacing and bonding it in is another. Chuck, both repairs were done by a local Vette repair facility,now long gone. Actually, I think externally, they did a good job at the time, but you can see where they cut corners underneath-part of the left 1/4's bonding strip tip is missing(end piece), corner bonding strip-half new and half old,etc. For bonding strips (two), they used about 4 inch wide strips fabricated from the damaged panel's contour underneath on both sides of the filler opening. On top you see a 1/2 to 1" black seam, like the typical seams on fenders and 1/4's. I need to take pics and post but in reality, the underneath looks like crap, but I have to ask myself-just what are my goals. As the original owner(20 at the time), it would be nice to properly restore it. Jack J.Comment
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
Wayne Womble would be a good contact to answer your question. I do not think that there is a piece of fiberglass on a C-2 that he has not either repaired or replaced on a C-2. He has only been doing this 30+ years.Dick WhittingtonComment
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
Jack, without being able to see the repair, I will give you my opinion. Sometimes the work involved, in repairing is more time consuming, than replacing. Again without seeing the repair, it sounds like it is pretty ugly underneath. I am not sure, what level of body repair you are comfortable doing, but replacing this panel is not as difficult as it may appear. Most of the work needed to be done, in replacing, would be done from the top side, unlike earlier mentioned with repair. Remember it is alot easier to drink beer, while standing, than lying on your back. In my opinion, the end result, would be much nicer in replacing, than repairing, but again, this is only my opinion. Good luck, with whichever route you choose to go.Comment
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
Dick W., like I said, once started no turning back. Not only replace the panel, but I would have to remove the vent backing panels from the original panel and cut both right and left openings for the louvers on the sides. I guess my main concern is proper location and securement while the panel sets up. Even right now, the bond between roof and back bulkhead is broken. One really has to have a game plan. Hope Wayne chimes in. Jack J.Comment
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
Jack,
Replacing the panel is not too difficult, but we would have to see the area of the bonding strip to know what can be done there. My guess, it would be better to replace the rear lamp panel and bonding strip at the same time to clean up all of that mess.
Pictures would help.Comment
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
I will try to shoot some pictures tonight or tomorrow. It will give me the opportunity to learn how to post them so all who advised me can see what I'm up against. I really appreciate all of who responded! Jack J.Comment
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
Damaged roof panel pictures.Comment
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
More pictures.Comment
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
And more pictures.Comment
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
Just one more for now.Comment
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
Nasty. I'm thinking the extensive cracking with smeared bonding adhesive is from the second repair; the cracking should have been repaired with lamination as I described or the panel portion replaced again (easier).
Wayne was right...needs cleaning up all the way to the tail light panel. That orange bonding strip at the tail light panel definitely has to go. It's probably visible for judging.
You have just enough room left in front of the bulkhead to do what I described if you decide to go that way. The Corvette Image can likely provide a repro donor panel segment (wouldn't waste the NOS) and authentic looking bonding strips. I would suggest skipping the bonding strip at the joint, but we'll see what Wayne says.Comment
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Re: MAJOR body panel replacement
From what I see, I would replace the roof panel, and the rear bonding strip.
It looks like the RH fender and strip is good, I cant really see the LH side. The rear panel has already been changed. Wrong color, but otherwise OK and can be saved.Comment
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