adamsocb

I have a decision to make...
I was planning to get a Concept 57 body for my restomod. Unfortunately the Concept 57 in out of production due to supply chain issues. The Body on my donor 1956 is in good enough condition that I can likely save it. I have done lots of fiberglass work over the years, but never on an old Corvette. My biggest fear is that I repair and restore the old body only to have old stress cracks reappear after its painted. The other big problem is that the trunk does not fit well at all and the hood is bad for sure. Stress cracks show at the hood, faux front fender vents, lower dash, and around the tail lights. Lots of the mounting holes are pulled our or broken. The prior owner had started on the body but not finished. Many pieces are new press-mold, but there is a lot of old stuff. The rear looks to have had the horizontal bumper blocks shaved off.
I will know more once I get the body off the frame and assess any hidden damage.

I'm looking for advice from the many experienced Corvette body restorers here.

Thanks,
Charles

New front valance



Cracked lower dash

Shaved rear

misaligned trunk


Hood damage

Hardtop mount damage

Tail Light stress cracks

Hardtop mount damage

Fender Scoop stress cracks

road pilot

Time,energy and expense to save the orginal body equals
(your number) After market body costs. And the difference is..
......? One other thing to think about the finished value of a restored
original body will be more that a aftermarket body. Time,energy, and
money (cost). Weigh the differences in your project and you will have
the answer. I usually throw in vision, but you already have that.
Good luck

AZDoug

Looks like a pretty solid body with sun damage up top. I would do my own work and repair all that stuff with new glass mat, properly rolled to squeeze excess resin out for max glass content. Chase down ALL the stress cracks and grind and fill with panel adhesive, and put a high build primer over the finished body, and long block by hand for straightness.

Then take it to a painter to do the paint right. Of course a good painter would do more body prep to assure straightness.

Doug

Robert61

Get it blasted soda or other. Then you’ll have a whole different outlook.

adamsocb

I've been using kevlar mat and epoxy resin on my race car body in critical areas. It seems way stronger than glass and polyester resin. What do you think about that on the C1 body?

njfl

Your car's body is in better shape than mine was when I got it. I was much like you and have learned a lot about doing fiberglass repair from searching on here, particularly DUB's posts. If you have common sense and patience you can do all of these repairs yourself after doing a little bit of research on the Corvette forum. I use and love the West System 105/205 products, used with pumps working in small batches.

Joe

Jeffthunbird

I’ve used West System epoxy with layers of carbon fiber ribbon on the backside of areas to strengthen. Applied like it’s a bandaid. Good results. This is just an idea for you and for further discussion, I’m not an expert on body work.

DansYellow66

Looks very useable to me but yes, a lot of work ahead. Nice thing about fiberglass is that it’s very workable and almost any panel can be repaired although it can make sense to replace a panel instead of spending time repairing it. I don’t know anything about the quality of the replacement bodies.

54vetteguy

I can be done - check out the thread by csherman on the 56 he is working on...... amazing what you can do with fiberglass!

[C1] 1956 Painted! aka Miss Bunny - "Hoppy"

John

Ken Sungela

Body looks real good to me. Get it blasted first. Buy an angle grinder with a flap disc to grind out the stress crack areas, Get a few yards of 1.5 Oz mat, bondo resin, rubber gloves, cups, 2" throw away brushes. Vette panel adhesive would be useful too.

adamsocb

Thanks to all who have replied so far. I am familiar with the structural techniques and materials. I have used the West 105/205 resin system, Kevlar cloth, and carbon fiber. I am also familiar with strengthening methods like balsa wood and and foam sandwiching as well as vacuum bagging to remove air and minimize excess resin. Most of my fiberglass/composite repair and fabrication experience has been with race cars where light weight and strength are important but resistance to stress cracking, finish, and paint quality not so much. I also have body worked and painted steel cars so I know what has to be done for final prep and paint.

My gap is in how to best repair damaged, cracked and delaminating fiberglass in a lasting way so-as not to have the flaws come back months or years later. I have seen many early Corvettes with cracks and delamination showing up through what would otherwise be beautiful, and I sure were very expensive, paint jobs.

So I think I have the structural part covered, here is what I know so far:

• Stress cracks and delamination, much like rust in metal, need to be removed back to solid fiberglass material
• The back of the repair needs to bond to clean solid material
• The front needs to be feathered into the existing shape
• There is a balance between too think and too thin. The repair should be thick enough to remain rigid and resist flexing yet not so thick it adds weight and could crack through expansion
• Fabric (glass, carbon fiber, Kevlar) to resin ratio is important for best strength without excess bulk
• Areas requiring high strength can benefit from sandwich construction using balsa wood, foam, honeycomb, etc

My big challenges are how to get from solid structure to primer and trying to align parts that don't fit.

For the intermediate step what are opinions on gelcoat vs. vinyl ester primer? I have read the vinyl ester is easier to apply and sand.

I found the reason for the trunk misalignment and lack of rear horizontal bumper tabs. The car must have been rear-ended at some point and a sloppy repair was attempted. The whole rear area is a mess with what looks like 3/8" or more of body filler. May be repairable with a couple of new pieces or perhaps a whole one-piece hand laid rear.




I will continue to assess what has to be fixed and decide what to do based on the time vs cost equation, as well as availability of the Concept 57 body. If I am leaning toward repairing what I have, it seems removing the body from the frame and getting it media blasted are the next steps.
Charles

Lotsacubes

I’ve done aerospace composites for a long time. Couple of things. Polyester and epoxy resins both have their place but we never mix chemistries. Bonding epoxies to poly laminates MAY work, but often it doesn’t for the long term. Poly body, I’d stick with polyester laminating resins. The only time we use Kevlar, which is about never, is if we want abrasion or impact toughness (race cars, belly landers?). For most purposes in our world E glass is usually good enough. Carbon is 2-3 times stiffer than Kevlar and 4-6 times stiffer than E glass. Several plies of carbon on the inside where long term cracking may occur will be much better than Kevlar and WAY easier to work with. I’d never use a paste adhesive as a filler. Poly and chopped mat then body work. I don’t claim to be a Vette body man. The above are composite fundamentals I’d use since you were discussing Kevlar and epoxies. BTW, we never use balsa core for long term integrity, hydroscopic. Foam or honeycomb. But core is not relevant here given the laminate base thickness. FWIW, I’d fix that body. Your end product will appeal to a much larger audience. Cheers. Larry

adamsocb

Thanks Larry,
Interesting perspective on the epoxy to polyester bonding. My earlier reading when researching how best to repair my racecar body turned up many articles recommending epoxy to repair polyester based on its better adhesion. What I didn't find before is that while epoxy sticks or glues better to cured polyester, the reverse is not true and polyester does not stick well to cured epoxy. I can see the importance of this when adding polyester filler or gelcoat to the outside surface for leveling and finishing before paint. Again this was not important for the racecar where strength trumps the finish. I will limit the use of any epoxy to hidden underbody areas that need the strength and not the finish.
On the Kevlar, good point, it is very difficult to cut. I used it on the racecar for high wear areas like the rocker panels and bumpers. Likely not needed on a Corvette where car to ground and car to car contact should be avoided! I will consider carbon fiber for any high-strength and/or stiffening needs.

I did some more investigating and verified the rear of my car was damaged and then repaired poorly. I found some photos the prior owner had of the car before complete disassembly and it looks like the car was in a "sandwich" collision with similar sloppy repairs to the front. The front now has new panels (hand-laid upper fenders-front and press molded lower panels) in what looks like a much more professional, if unfinished, repair than the rear. Given the complex curves in the rear area I am thinking replacement panels would be the best choice.
More Pics:

Old front-end repairs

Old front-end repairs

Old front and rear

New upper fender

new hand-laid upper front panel

New fender to radiator side pnl

On to the value question. Joseph and Larry both mentioned the final car could be worth more with a restored body than with a replacement. Is there evidence of this? My finished car will have none of the original running gear or mechanicals and I was thinking fit and finish would have more impact on value than originality of any parts including the body.

Lotsacubes

To someone like me, there’s a huge value difference between a Resto and a Kit car. You’re about to invest a ton of money and best odds for ROI is go with what you got. And where necessary use press molded composite parts. ALL are hand laid, but not all are press molded. Looking forward to following.

reno stallion

adamsocb

I have come to the conclusion the whole rear outer skin needs to be replaced. The rear collision damage extends almost up to the tail lights and there is so much filler the total thickness exceeds 1/2" in many places. The repair made no attempt to get the shape right before applying filler. The hood needs to be replaced and the cowl/dash need to be reinforced like the late 1957.

Thickness due to excess filler

Damage on passenger side

Damage on driver side

So far this is my parts list:

• Lower Dash
• Hood complete
• One Piece Rear Upper Body
• Rear Lower panel outer
• Rt Wheel opening rein
• Lt Wheel opening rein
• Rt tail pipe upper
• Rt tailpipe lower
• Tail light retainer (2) req
• Gas filler housing
• Rt rear fender rear BS
• Lt rear fender rear BS
• Rt rear fender front BS
• Lt rear fender front BS
• Rt Splash shield
• Lt Splash shield
• RR fender front baffle
• LR fender front baffle
• Purchased and fabricated cowl/dash metal and composite reinforcements

Cost of these parts is just over $5,000 plus tax and shipping. I got an estimate to soda blast the whole body for $2500, but it looks like since the front is new and the rear will be cut off and replaced, I may be able to get that down to ~$1500. Add to this ~$1000 for supplies and a $2000 rotisserie, I am at around $10,000. Then there are all the hours of my time that don't cost me directly, but will keep me from doing other things.

So... It would seem I can save ~$8000-$10000 compared to buying a Concept 57 Body if I buy the parts above and repair the old one.​​​​ However it will take several months of work and my time to get it done. I have to finish my racecar body first. I will see how much appetite for fiberglass repair I have after that. In the mean time I will continue to assess the scope of the repairs needed and maybe the Concept 57 will resume production.

Bottom line, my decision is still up-in-the-air.

Charles

DansYellow66

Sounds like it is one of those times that the time and effort of repair makes new parts the only practical solution.

adamsocb

A couple of things are pushing me toward repairing my 1956 body:

• The Concept 57 replacement body is still not in production, and I need to get started on repairs If I want to get the car done next year
• Recent reports of title and registration issues experienced by other replacement bodied cars trying to use an original VIN are making me nervous

This will be at least 4-6 months additional work compared to my original plan, so I better get cracking!

Charles

Factoid

I think you are on the right track repairing your oem body. I also subscribe to using epoxy to repair polyester but not the opposite. Once then sealed with a catalyzed epoxy primer, the body is about bullet proof. Love this project by the way!

DZAUTO

First of all, before I say one word --------------------------------- THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A GOOD FITTING 56-57 TRUNK!!!!!!!!!!!! So forget that!

Next, I see a ton of potential for doing the repairs to the 56 body, If you can do your own fiberglass work, so much the better. BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT, as you were rightly concerned, unless properly repaired, in time, the stress cracks will return on these old bodies.