To fix or to scrap is the question!

[Igor]

So after i got to looking at the body i noticed some issues . with little effort all the new glass work and foam from the last owner came off to reveal the body's true self......YIKES!!!

now to fix it ? since i live in hawaii shipping on a new body might delay me ...AOLT! so now what.

 

[Igor]

when i got the body it looked as if it wer one solid piece.....then i found out it came with a door. lots of cracks and holes !!!!!!

 

[Igor]

 

[Igor]

 

[Igor]

as you can see ....its beat up bad. and all this was hidden under cheap bondo and flat black paint. i have no exp with fiberglass at all. i am ok at body work and i am a better sculpter lol so this is my issue. i will note that tonight i cut the cracks and tears to form clean gaps, sanded it down and glassed over those gaps with 3 layers of 6oz cloth . tomorrow i will sand again and fill whats left of the low spots with bondo brand short strand filler. any tips or advise will help me alot lol.

 

[Igor]

on another note ,,,,,,,,sorry for the mess of stuff in the background lol its a cardboard collection i started for templates n such also this is not the frame i will be using. my other frame is getting all the finer things in life added to it

 

[Igor]

and here is the new frame with jag mock up stage just so we dont all have to keep looking at the body lol

 

[Youngster]

Working with 'glass is an easy skill to learn. The tools you need are cheap and easy to aquire.

My 2 cents? Go for it! You've already started on the cracks. Finish them first and then move on to that missing piece of the cowl. Glass in some wood there as a backing and sculpt it out with kitty hair and mat. At the same time glass in a flat dash pannel. Then it's on to a floor, ribbing and hanging your door.

Ron

 

[lincolnuT]

Where you live I would do as Youngster said, Go for it you can do it..........

Mike

 

[RPM]

Yep fix it. Glass work is not hard at all, from what you said you will have no problems.

 

[donsrods]

I'll go on the other side of the fence.........I think you would be better off starting with a fresh body. Contrary to popular belief, fiberglass does not last forever. It can start drying out and the strands will start breaking away. I worked in the boat business for years and boats would get to the point where the hull was just too old to try to save. Years ago I bought a T bucket project a guy had given up on and the body was much like the one pictured. I could have saved it but I would have had more time and money in it than just buying a new one. Plus, once you get that nice paint job on I would bet some of these problems would start coming back out at you.

It looks like you are doing a nice job on the rest of the car and I think you would be shortchanging yourself to patch up this body. Just my honest opinion.

Don

 

[grazza]

I think I am with Don on this one. That body is more than likely going to come back and bite you somewhere down the track. If transport etc is difficult for you, why not repair that body with a heap more of that cheap bondo until it is all nice and pretty and knock a quick mold off it and make yourself a new body. As the others have said, fiberglassing isn't a difficult job to master (hell, even I can do it ) If as you said you are OK with bodywork, your half way towards being a fiberglasser . Who knows, after you have made the mold, someone might even want to buy the old body

 

[HenrysT]

I think I am with Don on this one. That body is more than likely going to come back and bite you somewhere down the track. If transport etc is difficult for you, why not repair that body with a heap more of that cheap bondo until it is all nice and pretty and knock a quick mold off it and make yourself a new body. As the others have said, fiberglassing isn't a difficult job to master (hell, even I can do it ) If as you said you are OK with bodywork, your half way towards being a fiberglasser . Who knows, after you have made the mold, someone might even want to buy the old body

+1 You just might start a new side job! (T-Bucket bodies) in HI , but make a good strong mold if you want to go that route

 

[Igor]

Well i figure that since i have some time on my hands i will go ahead and try and fix it. i hope that i can get away with it in the end lol. if not i can always sell it . i would build a mold but i lack the tools and mind set for that ! and if i dont know what i am doing then i leave it to someone who does. sadly out here i think there is only 4 or 5 T buckets on island i know 2 of those out of 5 are drag cars and the other ones are show cars that never see the light of day....This is my first T bucket and its the first car i have built from the ground up and i aim to drive it as much as i can lol.

i am still waiting on a email back from spirit to see if they will ship to me but i fear i will be waiting for a reply for a long time. i know they are busy so i will have to make due.

SO i sanded it all down and used the bondo glass to fill the holes and pits and glassed the missing parts of the front. sanded it smooth and waiting so i can do more body work. i am thinking about chopping it to extend the body a few inches....i am 6foot 1inch tall and 220lbs lol so i need a bit more room....also trying to figure out a way to add a 3rd seat without turning it into a Touring body.....not sure if this is at all going to work ...

also i think the door frame is warped so i need to figure out how to fix that or cut it out and make my own. any one know if there is a kit with door and frame at all? ......any one against making the door a suicide style ...or if anyone has tried it out ? ok i have ranted long enough lol night guys and thanks for all the info

 

[hollywood]

I say a happy compromise. Fiber-glassing isn't to difficult to learn, the required tools are cheap, and it's a valuable skill. Like anything practice makes perfect. With that in mind, were I in your position, I'd order a brand new body asap so that process is as least begun. Then pick up needed glassing supplies, which you've already done, and start glassing the current body. You have body work experience so picking up glass won't be overly difficult, and you now have an entire body which from the pictures would appear to cover just about every issue you could run into when glassing. So you start practicing and learning. Mistakes? Don't worry about it. Don't like the result? It's ok. Want to experiment? Go for it. Remember you now have a brand new body on the way. Then if any accidents happen on the official bucket, you'll have a decent amount of glassing experience. This also opens the door to many other possibilities, namely the chance to have a practice car. You already have an additional frame. Glass the current body, put it on the beat up frame, find a $500 beater on craigslist, and make a bucket. Even if it's not the same motor/trans/etc as the official car, the simple fact that when the new one shows up you'll already have experience building one, figuring out suspension systems, calculating spring rates, creating a wiring harness, getting to know Old Man Ackerman, etc. will ultimately lead to a massively better end product. Plus ideally you'll now have your extremely nice T Bucket and either an additional bucket for testing suspension or forced induction experiments on, or you'll be 90% of the way towards having a pretty sweet beach buggy, which I'm sure you could probably find a place to put it to good use.

Just my two cents. Hope it helps!

 

["The Bat" out of hell]

I'm with DON on this,get a new one! The time to get one is not near as much as what it's going to take to fix old,you'll be much happyer with the end

 

[Igor]

SO i got the price quote for the shipping charge alone today and its well over 600$ just on shipping! so around 2000$ just for a new fiberglass body.......hmmmmmmm i might just fix the one i have lol. its coming along well got all the cracks fixed got the holes and dash fixed . sanded it down a bit and i must say not to shabby.

now come the question Has anyone tried out a custom dash in a bucket that is a bit more angled ......i just created a mock up ill post pix in a min so i can get feedback on it.

 

[Igor]

Here is a bad pic of progress lol still have some little holes to fill and get the floor and firewall in

 

[Igor]

this is a concept of the dash i want to make.....the V shape angle matches the tie bar on the jag rear i have set up.

 

[Igor]

This is the whole concept ......the trans hump will V curve up the firewall behind the dash with layers stacked behind it. and the V curve on the dash comes down in front of the trans hump so that the 2 dont touch ...kinda like a 3d layered effect......might all be made of aluminium and brass or fiberglass and chrome accents ........2 much????? the whole car is angles and V shapes to go with the flow of the whole car but again its still a concept.