Not a lot to report but I have finally completed welding in the first pair of chassis cross tubes.
Also decided that I need to mount the nose to the chassis in order to confirm engine and pedal placement.
Which means I need to complete some repairs as this body has been floating around from owner to owner for a long time.
Not all of them (none?) have taken good care of it.
Gouges in the gel-coat where someone dragged it while upside down, some crazing, probably also due to poor handling and age.
The worst is warpage, appears to be partly poorly placed joints in the mold and partly poor storage.
Anyone who is going to take years to complete their project needs to be careful how they store fiberglass body parts.
Unfortunately the typical storage is simply to let it lay in the yard and sunshine, NOT a good combination.
I think I will be adding some reinforcing ribs to the underside to reduce flex and resulting crazing.
Back in the day we laid cloth and resin over cardboard tubes taken from coat-hangers.
I suppose now I will be looking for around 3/8" closed cell foam rods or half-round stock.
I do know from mistakes made in my very first repair of an abandoned 'Glass body that it is important to put a layer of resin on anything being used as reinforcement first.
Even wood will draw the glass and warp/print to the outside if it is not made non-porous first.
The worst of all is going to be filling in some fairly large low spots in what should be a flat or slightly convex curved area.
Way too wide and deep for just adding more glass and I know better than to rely on Bondo.
Have to think about this some more.
May try screwing it to plywood then adding ribs to the bottom which should flatten it a lot.
Worst of the low area is close to 1/2"!
Maybe grind off the gel-coat and add some foam under another layer of 'Glass?
Would be strong but a LOT of work!
I did do some small repairs at the lower edge of the nose tonight.
Will fair them back in the morning after the resin sets up properly.
Pics of how I get along, or has that been done to death?