"Fiberglass guys" can this be fixed?
10-05-2006, 02:48 PM
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"Fiberglass guys" can this be fixed?
just posting a few pics of my damage...DAMN curbs!
Anybody that knows fiberglass think this can be fixed?
Anybody that knows fiberglass think this can be fixed?
10-05-2006, 02:51 PM
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i dont see y not...may take some time and alot of fg but it looks to me like it shouldnt be a problem...i did a nice job on my vizage rear piece and had it fixed no problem. yea them curbs come outta nowhere huh?
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10-05-2006, 03:20 PM
#8
repair is basically hold the piece like you are, lay more FG behind it and resin inside the cracks. wait for it to cure, then bondo (the green on with fg in it) and sand it down until it smooths out.
fyi: the part will be alot heavier than before with the excess resin..
fyi: the part will be alot heavier than before with the excess resin..
10-05-2006, 05:46 PM
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actually, i would use tape and reassemble what you have from the front side, get it all in place and shaped properly so it looks like the other side mirrored. Then using a die grinder or dremel tool with a small abrasive bit, get behind the part and bevel all the edges to taper them, fiberglass is strongest when there are no bubbles and jagged or 90 degree angles are a pain to keep bubble free. Once you have that done, rought up the surrounding area by 2 inches or so. this will give the new glass something to bit into and help it stick.
Then you will need some supplies. Nitride cloves from Harbor Freight Tools are the ticket. Latex will disolve and fall apart pretty fast with acetone. You will need a small amount of fiberglass mat (not the woven cloth) and some resin and hardner. Acetone for clean up and de stickying yourself, several grits of sandpaper (like one sheet each of 80, 150, 220 and 360) and a sanding block that is somewhat flexable.
Leaving everything taped in place clean the backside of the repair with a rag and acetone. Just damp cause a juicy rag will ruin the tape on the other side. Dont skip this part cause shlepping resin on a part covered with road dirt isnt going to stick for long.
Using the fiberglass mat, TEAR a piece that will cover the entire area. The hard factory edges should be pulled off along all the edges. This will allow the patch to feather out and stick much better. If you are missing parts you might want to prepair some small filler patches that will fill the voids of the missing parts. The main idea here is to get everything ready and know it will fit the work area BEFORE you mix any resin. Having to stop and make parts later will make your hands turn into fiberglass fur ***** and hinder your craftsmanship.
Id recommend masking off the good paint areas in the area but it all will need paint when your done so maybe just work neat.
Mix a small batch of resin, enought to totally saturatrate the mat so that it turns see thru and limp and also enought to wetten the backside of the work area. I use cheapo paintbrushes from the Depot and then toss them out cause they are cheap and clean tools everytime keeps chunks of crap from getting in the resin.
Wet the backside with the activated resin and place the patch on the part. Position the patch and wet it with resin till see thry, smooth out as much of the bubbles as you can. I find that using a 1" paintbrush and tapping with the tip of the brush works well to get those damn bubbles out.
Now let it kick off and harden for about an hour. The resin you get at an autoparts store (bondo sells a resin) has wax in it. The wax smothers out air and when cured the patched area will not be sticky. IF you need to add more to the patch, you will have to grind off the glossy part on top to get a good bond. Boat resin will stay tacky when cured and you can relay glass with out this step. The tackyness will grind off as you shape the part and smooth things out later.
At this point you have reinforced the backside of the fragged part and it should now be all held together from the backside.
Remove the tape from the front and look things over, if there are pieces which seem to be out of alignment and protrude outward you will be grinding them down first. What you want to achieve is a surface that has no highspots and minimal low spots.
Using the 80 grit paper and the sanding block knock off the high spots
switch to the 150 and sand off all the blue paint in the repair area and then feather the paints edge at the far ends of the repair.
Using the same process as on the backside repair (beveling the edges and working clean), build out any low areas, allow to cure and then sand down any high areas, the trick to this is getting it close as you can in the fewest applications.
The shape is obvious as you sand and you will notice a shine were low areas are as things start taking shape.
You can fill small pinholes with just activated resin but use some pre torn mat if the lows are deep.
As the shape starts taking place, drop the grit of paper to the 220 to get the sanding scratches out.
Forgot to list a can of gray rattle can primer. You now need to prime the work area with several coats of gray spray primer from the autoparts store. I know it sounds kinda wrong to use rattle can primer but unless you have a compressor and spraygun this is your only option. Clean the workarea with a damp rag of acetone and let dry. Spray several light coats and allow it to dry for an hour. You want to build up a thick layer of primer and then sand it down to a common smooth surface using a combination of the sanding block and your hands, sand down the primer in a uniform manner. You are going to do this several times to level out the sanding scratches and some of the minor blemishes. Once you are lookin good give a final coat to seal the area but DO NOT spray primer onto anything that still has a gloss. It will only peal off. Gloss is evil and so is wax when it comes to painting anything.
BTW, toss a bed sheet over the car before you start spraying anything. Over spray will come off but why put yourself thru all that?
Painting the repair is another subject and i recommend you have someone paint the entire part rather than spotting in the repaired area. That color has alot of silver and mica in it and painting the whole part will look alot better for sure even if the color is slightly mismatched due to where it lives on the car.
Probably went overboard on the subject but it is one i have experience with.
Here is a bayboat project i did at home a couple years ago. Mostly all hand layup and simple tools, im sure you can fix your chin!
http://simsters.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=89
Kinda funny really, I found this fourm searching for some 350Z seats for my 300ZX!
Then you will need some supplies. Nitride cloves from Harbor Freight Tools are the ticket. Latex will disolve and fall apart pretty fast with acetone. You will need a small amount of fiberglass mat (not the woven cloth) and some resin and hardner. Acetone for clean up and de stickying yourself, several grits of sandpaper (like one sheet each of 80, 150, 220 and 360) and a sanding block that is somewhat flexable.
Leaving everything taped in place clean the backside of the repair with a rag and acetone. Just damp cause a juicy rag will ruin the tape on the other side. Dont skip this part cause shlepping resin on a part covered with road dirt isnt going to stick for long.
Using the fiberglass mat, TEAR a piece that will cover the entire area. The hard factory edges should be pulled off along all the edges. This will allow the patch to feather out and stick much better. If you are missing parts you might want to prepair some small filler patches that will fill the voids of the missing parts. The main idea here is to get everything ready and know it will fit the work area BEFORE you mix any resin. Having to stop and make parts later will make your hands turn into fiberglass fur ***** and hinder your craftsmanship.
Id recommend masking off the good paint areas in the area but it all will need paint when your done so maybe just work neat.
Mix a small batch of resin, enought to totally saturatrate the mat so that it turns see thru and limp and also enought to wetten the backside of the work area. I use cheapo paintbrushes from the Depot and then toss them out cause they are cheap and clean tools everytime keeps chunks of crap from getting in the resin.
Wet the backside with the activated resin and place the patch on the part. Position the patch and wet it with resin till see thry, smooth out as much of the bubbles as you can. I find that using a 1" paintbrush and tapping with the tip of the brush works well to get those damn bubbles out.
Now let it kick off and harden for about an hour. The resin you get at an autoparts store (bondo sells a resin) has wax in it. The wax smothers out air and when cured the patched area will not be sticky. IF you need to add more to the patch, you will have to grind off the glossy part on top to get a good bond. Boat resin will stay tacky when cured and you can relay glass with out this step. The tackyness will grind off as you shape the part and smooth things out later.
At this point you have reinforced the backside of the fragged part and it should now be all held together from the backside.
Remove the tape from the front and look things over, if there are pieces which seem to be out of alignment and protrude outward you will be grinding them down first. What you want to achieve is a surface that has no highspots and minimal low spots.
Using the 80 grit paper and the sanding block knock off the high spots
switch to the 150 and sand off all the blue paint in the repair area and then feather the paints edge at the far ends of the repair.
Using the same process as on the backside repair (beveling the edges and working clean), build out any low areas, allow to cure and then sand down any high areas, the trick to this is getting it close as you can in the fewest applications.
The shape is obvious as you sand and you will notice a shine were low areas are as things start taking shape.
You can fill small pinholes with just activated resin but use some pre torn mat if the lows are deep.
As the shape starts taking place, drop the grit of paper to the 220 to get the sanding scratches out.
Forgot to list a can of gray rattle can primer. You now need to prime the work area with several coats of gray spray primer from the autoparts store. I know it sounds kinda wrong to use rattle can primer but unless you have a compressor and spraygun this is your only option. Clean the workarea with a damp rag of acetone and let dry. Spray several light coats and allow it to dry for an hour. You want to build up a thick layer of primer and then sand it down to a common smooth surface using a combination of the sanding block and your hands, sand down the primer in a uniform manner. You are going to do this several times to level out the sanding scratches and some of the minor blemishes. Once you are lookin good give a final coat to seal the area but DO NOT spray primer onto anything that still has a gloss. It will only peal off. Gloss is evil and so is wax when it comes to painting anything.
BTW, toss a bed sheet over the car before you start spraying anything. Over spray will come off but why put yourself thru all that?
Painting the repair is another subject and i recommend you have someone paint the entire part rather than spotting in the repaired area. That color has alot of silver and mica in it and painting the whole part will look alot better for sure even if the color is slightly mismatched due to where it lives on the car.
Probably went overboard on the subject but it is one i have experience with.
Here is a bayboat project i did at home a couple years ago. Mostly all hand layup and simple tools, im sure you can fix your chin!
http://simsters.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=89
Kinda funny really, I found this fourm searching for some 350Z seats for my 300ZX!
Last edited by Greavous; 10-05-2006 at 06:04 PM.
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