Heater box reatoration

[HEMICUDA]

Seams like 99% of all ebody heater boxes are broke right where the passengers right foot would be.  I refuse to grind and square it off like other lower end restorers do, we replace the "lip" and match the dark brown paint with a process of adding the fiber back where it needs to be during the paint process.  This one is going into the pink AAR currently in the shop, the owner has been posting progress pictures of his car on the e-bodies.org facebook page. 

When the box is repaired, with the restoration kit from Detroit Muscle Technologies, it's simple.  Get the original stamps from the artwork that Cody was so gracious to share. 

[JS29]

  That looks fantastic Mike! 

[RUNCHARGER]

Nice job: I've always fogged paint but always felt it was compromised even though no one ever noticed it.

[VCODE]

That looks fantastic Mike! 

2nd that
Bob

[fireguyfire]

Amazing job; thanks for sharing

[RUNCHARGER]

For sure Mike. I could never duplicate that finish so that's why I would just fog in the minimum I could and save as much of the original as possible. Very nice job you're doing there.

[JS29]

BTW, the whole box was painted with the fiber like original, not just the lip.

What did you use, Jingel can i presume! 

[larry4406]

I will plead ignorant, but I am unsure as to where these are typically damaged?!

Looks fantastic!

[Cuda Cody]

That's very impressive!     

[Katfish]

I will plead ignorant, but I am unsure as to where these are typically damaged?!

Looks fantastic!

Me too, can't tell what was fixed.

[1 Wild R/T]

For those who don't know the heater boxes are typically broken by someone putting their foot on the lower lip.....
Repair looks great Mike... As usual.. And as expected...

[HEMICUDA]

For sure Mike. I could never duplicate that finish so that's why I would just fog in the minimum I could and save as much of the original as possible. Very nice job you're doing there.

I would have done it that way also, problem was, half the top lip where the seal sits was missing also.  It was easier to paint the entire box.

[larry4406]

Mike - tell the rest of the story!  How did you make the repair and perform the spray?

[HEMICUDA]

Mike - tell the rest of the story!  How did you make the repair and perform the spray?

Honestly Larry, the fiberglass & resin repair was the easy part, matching the color wasn't an issue either, the tough part was figuring out how to add the fiber after the repair.  Ok, here's how we did it, if you can't paint match with the correct sheen, don't bother.

After the glass repair and the paint match, we painted the box and threw shopped up glass fiber matting in the wet paint.  After the paint dried, we dry sanded the box to remove the fiber sticking up thru the paint then dusted the last coat on the box and called it good.

I have been vary fortunate to find and paid a pile of money for the unbroken boxes in my personal cars, never thought about how to fix them to look non-manipulated until I opened the shop to help out customers.  There is no way on the planet I would ever put a broken heater box in a customers car.   That's one of those, in your face pieces ebody guys look for.

Any "real" ebody restorer would never put a ground lip box in a car and call it "good".  It's this kinda detail that separates the men from the girls.