RHD LeMans

[65beam]

Work continues on the right hand drive Le Mans. The blocking of the body is close to being done and the fiber glass top has a new gel coat applied. this body was almost rust free except for a few pin holes that showed up in the front floor on the right hand side after the metal part of the body was dipped. this was one of Ian Spencer's cars. Note that this is a late production car since it does not have the roof vents behind the side windows and it also has steel wheels instead of wires. I have been told that this may be the only RHD version in the states.

 

[bernd_st]

Could you tell me how you renewed the gel coat ?

 

[65beam]

gel coat

They used a sprayable gel that they buy from one of the corvette restoration houses.

 

[jdoclogan]

Bernd good to know you are moving forward on the HLM project. Of course I'm certain you are enjoying the Tiger.

Found this on ebay (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MWN7kbzutM ) but it is a brush on technique which can result in brush marks. There is a follow up video for sanding.

The spray on technique takes special spraying equipment and can give you grief because of the short work time (10-12 minutes) as the gelcoat is setting up after the catalyst is added. You might want to check out a local boat shop to assist in this spray on process of the HLM's fiberglass restoration.

 

[bernd_st]

Yep, thanks for the hints guys. A lot of good fibre glass repair Videos on YouTube. Just back from our German National and feeling motivated to resume work on the HLM again .
P.S. we went there not with the Tiger but with our good old SV which didn't miss a beat on the 2000km Trip.
P.P.S. Have a look onto our Homepage...

 

[65beam]

I picked up the seats today. Should have the back seat and other panels in a few weeks. Deer season opens this week so the shop owner has priorities.

 

[jumpinjan]

I recommend the sprayable gelcoat from Eckler's Corvette.
http://www.ecklerscorvette.com/spray-gelcoat-gallon.html
I have used it in the past on a Harrington top, and I didn't have any application problems with spraying or gel-time. It has a short shelf life (6-months), so I buy in quarts
Jan

 

[65beam]

LeMans

Jan,
That's the company whose product they're using . It's blended in what I guess you could call two formulas now. They have one for use on the early vette bodies and this is what they recommended for the LeMans since they say there is a difference in the fiber glass being used now. This shop repairs a lot of heavy trucks as their main business so they're used to working with fiber glass and aluminum and have all the equipment needed.

 

[bernd_st]

Very useful Update on the gelcoat Material and nicely refurbished seats. Still looking for a good upholsterer over here...

 

[65beam]

LeMans

Very useful Update on the gelcoat Material and nicely refurbished seats. Still looking for a good upholsterer over here...

The owner of the shop does good work. He also made the interior of my fast back .

 

[jumpinjan]

One tip on the gel coat is to remove all the paint (they say it will not stick to paint) and get all the filling and course/medium block sanding done first, then apply. The Eckler's product is pretty hard to sand. If you do sand through it, it needs another application.
Jan

 

[65beam]

LeMans

Jan,
When this car left Ian's and was shipped to California all of the paint on the top was gone and it looks like somebody used 40 grit to remove it. someone had applied some body filler to the top and it had to be removed. It had some type of epoxy primer on the metal part of the body. The epoxy turned out to be really bad stuff and was a bear to remove. The car was as shipped when I picked it up in Reno. The guys at the shop doing the work are pros at glass and aluminum work and have all the equipment to do the job. They have said just what you mentioned in your post. It looks like the body will be back to us in the next few weeks.

 

[65beam]

Picked up the back seat this week.

 

[65beam]

lemans

Picked up the door panels and rear panels today. The door panels don't have the arm rests installed yet.

 

[Bill Blue]

Why is the gel coat important? I know of one web site where (pretty savvy guys) that say it is only needed to facilitate construction in a mold.

Bill

 

[Chuck Ingram]

Why is the gel coat important? I know of one web site where (pretty savvy guys) that say it is only needed to facilitate construction in a mold.

Bill

Like its a finish. The gel,coat is polished to high quality after coming out of the mold.

 

[Bill Blue]

Like its a finish. The gel,coat is polished to high quality after coming out of the mold.

I understand. Back in the day, most kit cars came with a gel coat finish. Been there, done that. The kit car that I had was gel coated, but I did some modifications, using fibre glass and filler. The entire car was primered and painted. There was no visual difference in the finished product.

If the car is going to be painted, what does gel coat do that filler and primer cannot do?

Bill

 

[65beam]

LeMans

Bill,
The shop in Dayton that started on the car had tried to use body filler to cover the fiber glass after using what looked like 40 grit paper to sand the top. The filler was chipping off and the top appeared to have no gel coat left. These guys work on fiber glass on a daily basis so they decided to start over to get a nice finish. Ronnie said he will spray the gel, block it and apply a high fill primer and then block from there.This is the same shop that restored the body of our 69 GT so I'm confident of what they can do. We'll see what it looks in a few weeks.

 

[65beam]

Rhd

More pieces of the puzzle are now on the shelf. The new wiring harness I bought thru Sunbeam Specialties is here. Made in the U.K.

 

[jumpinjan]

...what does gel coat do that filler and primer cannot do?

The gelcoat hides the glass strands. Without it, you can see the glass weave in the finished topcoat, in some places.
Jan