Things not to do while doing yard work

[Malak]

Don't park your expensive car in the driveway.

 

[lxskllr]

At least it wasn't the Mustang. You can melt down some old toothbrushes to repair the Vette.

 

[Jodell88]

Ouch!

 

[DesiPower]

At least it wasn't the Mustang. You can melt down some old toothbrushes to repair the Vette.

What does that even mean?

 

[NFS4]

What does that even mean?

Reinforced plastic body panels

 

[jagec]

What does that even mean?

Corvettes are commonly referred to as being made out of plastic.

 

[phucheneh]

Defined 'reinforced'? Front and rear fascias are about as 'plastic' as you can get, like any other modern car. I'm not sure what the rest of a C5 body is made of. Assumably fiberglass, which isn't a plastic. No flex to it, it's a woven mat soaked in hardened resin (can that be considered a 'plastic'?). Fenders and hood are surely fiberglass. Later C5's on up starting moving to some carbon fiber bits.

 

[QueBert]

It already was a convertible, looks like the tree just helped mod it into a rat rod.

 

[IronWing]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the trunk is intact.

 

[jagec]

Defined 'reinforced'? Front and rear fascias are about as 'plastic' as you can get, like any other modern car. I'm not sure what the rest of a C5 body is made of. Assumably fiberglass, which isn't a plastic. No flex to it, it's a woven mat soaked in hardened resin (can that be considered a 'plastic'?). Fenders and hood are surely fiberglass. Later C5's on up starting moving to some carbon fiber bits.

And the Spruce Goose was actually made out of birch.

Your point?

 

[Markbnj]

Defined 'reinforced'? Front and rear fascias are about as 'plastic' as you can get, like any other modern car. I'm not sure what the rest of a C5 body is made of. Assumably fiberglass, which isn't a plastic. No flex to it, it's a woven mat soaked in hardened resin (can that be considered a 'plastic'?). Fenders and hood are surely fiberglass. Later C5's on up starting moving to some carbon fiber bits.

Interesting question. I'm not sure it's a plastic. I've heard it referred to as glass resin, and I think it's similar to two-part epoxies. Those are polymers, right? So I guess chemically they are at least close to plastics.

 

[BUTCH1]

At least it wasn't the Mustang. You can melt down some old toothbrushes to repair the Vette.

LOL, if you can afford a late model Vette and a collector Mustang maybe you should have hired the pros to take that tree down.

 

[Malak]

LOL, if you can afford a late model Vette and a collector Mustang maybe you should have hired the pros to take that tree down.

Well it looks like they were doing it right, except for one thing. And unfortunately, finding someone in the yellow pages doesn't necessarily mean they know how to do it right. There should have been ropes attached to guide the fall, but watch any video where a tree falls wrong and you'll notice a complete lack of ropes.

 

[phucheneh]

Interesting question. I'm not sure it's a plastic. I've heard it referred to as glass resin, and I think it's similar to two-part epoxies. Those are polymers, right? So I guess chemically they are at least close to plastics.

Glass resin is fiberglass. You have a resin and a hardener that are combined and then the woven glass mat is saturated with it. Resin makes it stiff, fiberglass is more or less 'rebar' for tensile strength. Yeah, it's like epoxy. Exothermic reaction and all that.

But I know nothing of plastic molding. Don't they just heat the plastic, inject it, and let it cool? So it's gotta be a totally different product. I've seen stuff kinda claim to be both ('Duraflex'). Supposedly fiberglass but with flexible plastic. Not quite sure how that works.

I've also seen plastic parts with glass fibers just thrown in them. Have a friend with an AR-15 lower like that...gotta think it's little to no different from just having one made of ABS plastic.

Anyhow, my main point was just that some parts are plastic (bumpers), others are fiberglass. Were the bumpers fiberglass, you wouldn't have that crazy flex in the rear fascia (see Top Gear review of C6). And some, I got no clue. I know the floors are/were steel, was thinking it would make sense that the quarters are, too. But historically, Corvettes have fiberglass bodies. So no mending them with toothbrushes. Fiberglass resin is actually a lot easier than welding plastic.