Pressed the button!

Literally. That’s all it takes to wire a deposit for an SL-C.

In the interim, are there any suggestions for what to do in prep for the kit to arrive, like “must haves?” I’ve already got quick jacks for the chassis, but I know some have body bucks? I’m also curious if anyone has done an over/under storage where the body buck can be rolled over the chassis to conserve storage space.
 

Joel K

Supporter
Congrats Jeff. I did a body buck that rolls over the chassis. To be honest it was not all that convenient since I had to roll it away to work on the car. If you don’t have the room, I think maybe hoisting It from the ceiling on a platform may be a good option.

You can see what I did on post 31 of my build thread…
 
Thanks for the suggestion, Joel. Unfortunately due to garage door positioning and relatively low ceilings a ceiling hoist probably won't work so well, I'm hoping a rolling buck will be the least inconvenient solution, just one of the irritations of limited space that has to be dealt with.
 

Howard Jones

Supporter
How about something like this. You could make it out of wood and really low-cost casters pretty cheaply.
 

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That looks good, bow does it affect teh body shape during the remaining cure time? I know a few people here have said that the parts fit better resting on a buck in "correct" form.
 

Howard Jones

Supporter
Hum..........cure time...............That I can't really tell ya. My first thought is however that the piece you want to remain unaltered would be the center spider because of the windshield opening being so critical. But you won't know what shape everything needs to be until you fit the pieces to the chassis centered on the wheels and tires and locate the doors and windshield. So Really I would leave the fiberglass on the chassis for a few months and work around the on and off hassle if I was worried about the fiberglass getting misshapen.

I use my rack all the time when I intend to work on the car to any real extent, The rear, more often than the front I would guess. I have never removed the center section once it was painted. But then my car has been "completed" for a very long time. This would be a good question for the forum. How long does the fiberglass body take to finish hardening? And is it an issue how you store it until it does?

Note: Be sure you fit the windshield before you finalize the body part's location on the chassis. And be sure to set up the suspension before you do that. The windshield can not be formed to fit the spyder................ ANY!!!!
 
The body will flow into whatever shape it sits at, eventually conforming to whatever forces are at work. I bet that the body is cured by the time anyone would receive it. That being said, 'cured' does not equal permanently stable.

Example of movement - I was very careful to make sure the side of the clam and the side of the door were 'perfectly' flush when doing my body work, and you know what? Long after the car was painted and on the road the clam slightly contracted/'pinched' together around the glass opening area over time. This caused the driver side clam to door to become out of of 'level' on the side. Nothing I could have ever foreseen, but still a little annoying after all the work put in to prevent.

Remember - fiberglass will move more when it is hot, so definitely do not sit fiberglass out in the hot sun unsupported (and then let it cool that way)
 
maybe I was lucky, but on my 917 I just put the tail section in the corner of my garage, unsupported, for 2yrs and when I came back to it it fit exactly as it had 2yrs prior. I bolt it on at 6 points with no room for slop (i.e., all 6 points have to be perfectly aligned since they're drilled/tapped mounting points) ... the rear is like 1/8'' fiberglass, basically a wet noodle, so if it held it's shape for 2yrs I'd be surprised if something thicker starts moving around.
 

Randy V

Moderator-Admin
Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
If you have a secure area outside, you could have the body resting on a buck out there under the stars - it will get dirty, but the sunshine will help the fiberglass cure. Many bodyshops do this with fiberglass cars and boats. Factory Five even recommends this process as long as the bodies are properly supported.
 

Neil

Supporter
I think a body made with polyester resin is more subject to post-cure distortion than one made with epoxy resin.
 
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