# Finally got up the nerve to tackle the JL 'Vette ragtop... MAJOR cosmetic surgery



## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

I knew this one was gonna take a little work, so I've been away from the Dremel for several weeks now... finally had a little time to devote to it. If you recall, I was starting with this:










The blower hood is off the candy red hardtop. I don't like blowers, sorry...

Anyway, this is what happened when I tried to slam the body:



















You can see that a LOT of material was removed under the hood, and the tonneau cover was removed as far back as possible while staying under the roof, the same way you would if removing the interior of a Mustang fastback to lower it. Unfortunately, this isn't quite far back enough. Look how close the rear deck is to the driven gear and the back of the gearplate... and the underside of the rear deck has been Dremel-thinned to the point that I could see the red paint of one of the rear bodylines from inside the body. 

(more in next post)


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Therefore, this is about as low as you can get this thing...










... and you can see there's still too much air in the rear wheelwells.

Anyway, I chopped the top pretty much the way I did the '62 Impala convertible. Shorten the posts of the windshield and vent windows so the whole front of the roof and the windshield sit lower in the body. In this case, I also removed as much as I could around the "canvas" part of the roof without cutting into the rear window, so now it looks like the rear window sits right on the rear deck of the car with no white canvas showing beneath it. Dunno if that's prototypically correct, but it improves the stance of the car a heck of a lot:



















As for the hood, well, I said I don't like blowers. I like this better. It's just a section sliced out of the grille of a 1/24 scale model and ground thin from behind so it sits low enough. I'm trying to decide if I like it enough to swap hoods back between this and the candy red hardtop, which would be a good thing, so that everyone's paint would match...

The rocker panels are still not deep enough, but I have something in mind for that. Pics when I get to that step...

--rick


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## doctorslotcar (Jul 25, 2004)

excellent lines- great fabrications- its funny how the hours fly by when were customizing, eh.


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## noddaz (Aug 6, 1999)

Bzzzzzzzz....
you go --rick...!


Scott


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

I've been looking at this... part of the problem with the daylight in the rear wheelwells is that I went up too high when I opened them up, with the rears in particular. Guess the dremel got away from me a little.  And it's worse on the passenger side, which I didn't post a pic of...

oops

--rick


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

You could always slap a set of bigger wheels & tires on the back end. Then put on a set of Lake pipes to help out the section inbetween the wheels.  rr


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## mamilligan (Feb 1, 2003)

When I reshape a wheel well, I ususally out line it in masking tape before I start cutting. This is the only way I have been able to get close to even from side to side. Then again, I can't draw a straight line with a ruler.


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

I guess I get lazy. I did this one freehand and it came out okay, so I figured i had it down...



















Now that I look, this one has a little room in the rear wheelwells too...

--rick


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## jack0fall (Sep 8, 2004)

Rick, Glad to see that you got back into the "groove". The Vette "bubble" needed to have a little air taken out of it. Looks great. :thumbsup:

And the use of the grill piece is great. I like the blower but it just doesn't belong on some cars... IMO

Jeff


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## sethndaddy (Dec 4, 2004)

Rick, nice clean cuts, whats the dremel tip your using?


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

this one for the wheelwells and for most general hogging out duty










i generally shorten screwposts a little at a time using a gentle pass with a standard sanding drum tip... 

--rick


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