Good job Richard! I'm glad you finally made it back and hope you keep up posting the updates on 'Sue's Corvette'...
The fenderwells looks great; you did a very good job removing the undercoating..
I also really like the aluminum plate reinforcements for your MC, swing pedal assembly, AC evap mounting, etc..
What primer do you plan to use on the body (over and under)??
Ohhh.. and Happy Birthday! Richard had his birthday Saturday! ... 74.. and still 'playing with cars'..
Richard has been working on Sues 59 Corvette since he returned from their trip (and before they go on another one)..
Here Richard is blowing a few bits of dust off the body before the primer was applied..
IMG_0624.jpg
IMG_0625.jpg
IMG_0626.jpg
And here Richard is inspecting the primer after his crew put on 3 good coats of SPI
IMG_0627.jpg
IMG_0628.jpg
Richard desires to apply Semigloss Black urethane to the floor shortly.
Some one here please convince him to use a different color than black? A black underbottom will soak up heat from the pavement and IMO there should be contrast between the bottom of the body/floor and the chassis (which is powder coated semi gloss black). note: 1st gen corvettes did not get any coating, not even primer, on the bottom of the floor; just bare beige/yellow fiberglass.
Last edited by BamaNomad; 11-09-2021 at 06:57 PM.
Thanks to Gary and friend Trey for the help today. Any luck and we should get the remainder of the body in epoxy Thursday.
The Corvette's body is now in SPI epoxy. I don't know how may of you have body-worked a fiberglass car, but this is my first (and may be my last!). Im going to be itching from fiberglass for the next week.
The steel-bodied cars clean up nicely with media blasting (I use aluminum oxide). There is very little prep before epoxy sealing. The corvette we blasted with soda, to minimize the media digging into the fiberglass, even then, there are some places it dug into the glass. The other problem is the soda blasting doesn't do a good job of removing all the paint. So, the groves and contours tend to have paint left. This had to be sanded out, it feels like most of it went into my arms...
The SPI epoxy appears to be sandable, so the initial bodywork will be done directly on it, later spraying high build primer and blocking. I still have the doors, trunk lid, and a couple other pieces to sand, so I'm not done with that yet, but making progress.
IMG_0345.jpeg
IMG_0347.jpeg
IMG_0348.jpeg
Richard, The epoxy is serving as your 'gelcoat' for the fiberglass; SPI recommends 3 coats exactly for that reason I suspect. The fibers need to be captured in either gelcoat or in the epoxy. Apply the heavy built primer for the sanding, otherwise you'll be exposing the glass fibers by sanding off your gelcoat (the epoxy)...
It looks good, but the fibers are impossible to see when they are sticking up thru the paint... so apply your high build primer before sanding... IMO...
Last edited by BamaNomad; 11-11-2021 at 02:21 PM.
good points Gary, I'd rather be safe than sorry later!
I followed Gary's advice and didn't sand the epoxy, just Scotch Brited it to remove any crud that got in it. Today we sprayed the body with PPG K38 high build primer. Now we can start blocking to see where work is required.
Also, spent much of the week sanding/preping more fiberglass items: the doors, truck lid, soft top cover behind the seat, and the console between the seats. They are now ready for epoxy. I still have a few fiberglass items to clean up for epoxying. I'll be glad when done with cleaning/sanding bare fiberglass!
IMG_0358.jpeg
IMG_0359.jpeg
IMG_0361.jpeg
It looks good Richard! (Much nicer in gray than black)..
PS. SPI does market 2K (high build) primers. They call theirs Turbo 2K. I just called Tony and ordered a 2-gallon kit of White Epoxy (which I will mix with the black to achieve the best shade of gray. He says the SPI 2K primer mixes at a 4:1:1 rate (4 parts primer, 1 part activator, and 1 part reducer) and should be sprayed with a 1.8 or 2.0 tip on your gun. He makes the run up here on Mondays unless we need it earlier he can make a special trip. (I can wait til Monday on my epoxy)...
Let me know if you need or want some help sanding.
When I get to sanding the high build, I’ll give you a yell. FYI, SPI makes 2 high build primers: 2K high build and 2K turbo high build. Based on reading their literature, the turbo is a fast dry version. I’m not sure if I’ll continue to use PPG K38 or go to the SPI 2K high build (mixes 4:1, no reducer) but not the turbo, it tacks up too fast for our use.
I'm in love with your Corvette already. Just ship it to CA when you're done.
1957 Nomad- LS1/T56 on C4 chassis
1959 Fleetside Apache 1/2 ton, shortbed, big window, 327ci.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote