C3 battery box

[Richard M.]

Just purchased '68 C3, car in "original unrestored" condition, 53K documented original miles.
Biggest issue I have to begin is the battery box behind the driver's seat has apparently been eaten away while the car was in storage, when looking down I see the ground!
The center storage box is also almost completely gone.
I believe those are part of the tub and not separate pieces but are there any restoration pieces available, or a proven process to bring them back so I'm not looking at air when opened.

Thanks for any suggestions

[Patrick H.]

Re: C3 battery box

Richard,

About the only source of parts would be other Corvettes. As funny as it sounds this is not an unusual problem, and I've seen it several times. You would have to either remove the same parts from another car and graft them in, or use the other car as a template and make a new box.

Good luck with the car!

[Alan S.]

Re: C3 battery box

Hi Richard,
Welcome!
I'm glad you've become a part of the NCRS!
The center glove box isn't really a fiberglass compartment like the jack and battery compartments. It's just a flocking covered cardboard box that sits on the fiberglass drive-shaft tunnel.
Maybe this would help? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Corvette-Ori...-/171030100425
Also, on the CF a member and vendor known as 1960fi has bodies he's cutting up. You might want to check with him to see if he may have the pieces you need.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

[Joe L.]

Re: C3 battery box

Richard,

About the only source of parts would be other Corvettes. As funny as it sounds this is not an unusual problem, and I've seen it several times. You would have to either remove the same parts from another car and graft them in, or use the other car as a template and make a new box.

Good luck with the car!

Patrick and Richard-------


Yup, this is pretty much how it is.

By the way, another event that destroys these underbody compartments is a catastrophic u-joint failure that allows the half shaft to separate and "flop around". That's one of the primary reasons that I tell folks to make sure their u-joints are in good condition and always replace them with high quality u-joints whenever the half shafts are out of the car. U-joints are relatively inexpensive. The kind of problems a failure can cause are not.

[Jimmy P.]

Re: C3 battery box

Hi Richard,
Welcome!
All the vendors sell the glove box (center storage compartment) I purchased mine from Paragon Reproductions, pictured below. The bottom of mine was gone too! Just as Patrick and Alan said you are probably going to need to search the Internet for a battery box. There are a few guys on Ebay who part out cars and actually sell just that section. Alan shared the BigCity Corvette listing above with you. If you email them, they may have one for you. I've purchased a lot of original parts from them with no problems. The corner of my box where the negative ground cable passes through was eaten away when I got my car. I was able to repair it with a fiberglass repair kit. A messy job, but I got it done.
Regards,
Jimmy

[Gary R.]

Re: C3 battery box

I had that problem with my 69 for years. When I was driving it everyday I just fab'd up a piece of sheetmetal to hold me over till I could fix it right. Well that was about 10 years of driving before I bought just the box from a junk C3 and glassed it in to my box. The bottom was gone completely but the glass work wasn't a bad job and once painted looks pretty good. I got the box from Gary Gruhala in St Louis, I haven't spoken with him in years so I don't know if he is still in business but his price was a lot less then that ebay ad. There is a guy here in CT that cuts up late C3 to part out he might have something.

[Jimmy P.]

Re: C3 battery box

Small world Gary,
Yes, Gary Gruhala is still in business. I purchased some really hard to find items from him for my 73. Yes, he is very reasonable,
Richard if you want his emaill address send me a PM and I'll be glad to give it to you.

[Michael B.]

Re: C3 battery box

Richard,

I recently made the same repair to my 72. There are some unique moldings on the bottom of the battery box, so if you're concerned with making this an accurate repair you'll have to do more than just lay new fiberglass in the bottom of the box. Fortunately, I own another 72 from which I was able to make a mold. I covered the good battery box with a self adhesive foil tape, then brushed a release agent onto the tape. New fiberglass will not adhere to aluminum foil but I did the release agent as added insurance that I would be able to easily remove the mold. It was a pain in the rear, and sloppy, to apply the fiberglass upside down but, eventually I was able to get the job done. I only had to go about four inches up on the sides of the box mold as the upper portion my damaged battery box was still in good shape.

After removing the newly formed mold there were some slight imperfections due to wrinkles in the tape, and some air bubbles. A little sanding and some body filler corrected these imperfections. I then applied foil tape to the inside of the mold, brushed the tape with release agent, then pushed the new mold up onto the outside of my damaged battery box after first removing all the corroded fiberglass. Once it was in the correct position I held it place with a floor jack even though that probably wasn't necessary due to it's tight fit. I then applied new fiberglass into the mold from the inside of the car.

This was a time consuming repair but perfectly replicated the factory detail of the original box . The only tell tale evidence that a repair was made is the flat black paint I used to cover the repaired area because I've never been able to reproduce the factory look of the white fiberglass strands.

I hope this helps with some ideas.

Mike

[Gary R.]

Re: C3 battery box

Glad to hear that, Gary is a good guy and was always easy to deal with.