Got all the ceramic coated parts back yesterday, they look amazing.
Ah, more fiberglass fitment issues - the front end is a problem.
The firewall is done, got told the under belly of the car is a mess and needs cleanup, ahh, more money, the side skirts have been fitted and mounted - they look good. I was hoping to have the car in May, not it looks like end of summer at this rate. Gotta say I'm disappointed today.
Easy to get hopes up considering the issues you have had, but, you have a capable shop doing the work that you want....patience, its going to be a sweet car.
The buckets weren't bad - it's the lower valance that connects the buckets together with the upper nose bridge that is way off.
But my body guy is going to work through the fitment issues and do what he has to do to make the fiberglass fit. He also think it will fit and hold up better if we bond the front-end together as one solid piece. This will also allow him to fill-in the gaps and smooth the fiberglass.
We built a '67 Shelby Convertible clone a few years ago. We used all Tony Branda parts which were supposed to be the "best" Shelby reproductions on the market. We had all kinds of fitment issues, the nose was the only thing that actually fit! The center of the hood had a huge bowl in the middle of it, the decklid to quarter panel fitment was the worst, I could fit my fingers between them. Come to find out another customer of ours had an all original '68 California Special, and the decklid fit the same way!! So it's not so much as the parts didn't fit, but the original parts that the reproductions were made off of didn't fit either!
The stang-aholic fiber glass was pretty good quality. It's really only the lower valance that is throwing everything off - the other parts just weren't the greatest fit or were a little thin in areas, but according to multiple people, the original Shelby fiberglass, which they made the molds from wasn't that great either from the factory. I've looked at a ton of pics of original shelbys - fitment sucked on a lot of them.
Yeah fiberglass sucks in general. I am building a '68 Shelby clone and I used the headlight buckets (from NPD) but fabricated everything else in aluminum (as its a widebody). I have a Maier Shelby decklid (coupe) and it fits pretty good considering, gaps are a bit big but the "curve" is good. Damn thing only weighs 1 lb less than the steel decklid though I thought the point of FG was to save a few pounds. I also have a Maier 3" cowl hood left over and it has always had a nice fit, so it is hit and miss with FG parts. For my Shelby clone I"m trying to decide whether to use the FG hood and widen it using fiberglass or just build one out of aluminum from scratch.
You can't beat doing it yourself, you would probably spend as much time fixing the fiberglass one. I can say that the stang-aholics Hood and Trunk were perfect. The headlight buckets were a fair amount off, the tailpanel was really off, the rear quarters were slightly off, and the lower valance was completely off.
The MustangPlus ground effect were actually really good. They fit really nice and really help widen the body.
Quote:
Originally Posted by preston
Yeah fiberglass sucks in general. I am building a '68 Shelby clone and I used the headlight buckets (from NPD) but fabricated everything else in aluminum (as its a widebody). I have a Maier Shelby decklid (coupe) and it fits pretty good considering, gaps are a bit big but the "curve" is good. Damn thing only weighs 1 lb less than the steel decklid though I thought the point of FG was to save a few pounds. I also have a Maier 3" cowl hood left over and it has always had a nice fit, so it is hit and miss with FG parts. For my Shelby clone I"m trying to decide whether to use the FG hood and widen it using fiberglass or just build one out of aluminum from scratch.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
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