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Fiberglass time........ugh

baddawgcustoms

Active Member
image.jpg Although I have a little fiberglass experience with boat transom replacement, I've never really had to make it look pretty. My intentions on the bucket body is to run about 4" of wood under the lip. Instead of having the fabric for the interior run all the way to the top edge, I want to fiberglass over the wood over the top lip of the car, so that it can be painted. This way I can glue the fabric for the sides directly to the inside of the body after smoothing it out. I'll have a lot of blending in to do on the top lip of the body. My big question is what cloth or mat to use over the top rail, and I then what product is best used to blend it all in at the top. I'm assuming the old kitty hair would be the go to stuff to use? For those who have seen exjunks interior, the top edge on his car is sort of what I have in mind. I've not done any fiberglass in years so any products you suggest or have had good success with would be appreciated. I stole exjunks photo just to see what I'm talking about.
 
I wish I could help. Never used fiberglass before and not looking forward to glassing my body but I like your idea. I'm going to store that idea in my rolodex lol
 
I wish I could help. Never used fiberglass before and not looking forward to glassing my body but I like your idea. I'm going to store that idea in my rolodex lol
I'll definitely take lots of photos. I got some great advice from a top notch fiberglass gentleman tonight and he's got me on the right path I do believe. It's going to be a little different from the norm but I believe it's going to turn out pretty nice. I haven't seen a nicer interior than exjunks ride so that's sort of what I'm shooting for but with a little old school styling. The seat construction will be pretty much straight off his build thread.
 
My roadster has the top lip molded into the wood reinforcement and is finished and painted because my interior does not roll over the top lip. I have done some pretty extensive fiberglass work in the past and used that experience here.:thumbsup:

A lot of folks don't know it, but auto body filler is a pretty good wood glue! It's not used as such very much because it's ugly, but nobody is going to see the glue joints on the interior wood in this instance. After I cut and fit all my wood reinforcement, I glued it in place with body filler. Rough up the interior surface of the body where the wood is going to be stuck with a disc grinder (24 or 36 grit). Mix up the body filler, slather it liberally on the back of the wood pieces, and put them in place (one at a time so the body filler doesn't kick before you get them in place). When all the wood is in place it's time to do the fiberglass work. Grind away any lumps where the body filler has oozed out, grind the surrounding areas where the fiberglass will go, and grind the top lip of the body. Apply two layers of fiberglass mat and resin over all the wood making sure that it overlaps the top lip and also blends onto the areas surrounding the wood inside the body. After the 'glass has hardened (at least overnight; I like to allow 48 hours if possible), grind the surface lightly to remove the gloss and any lumps. Also, grind the top lip of the body so that the newly applied glass is feathered into the older 'glass underneath. Finally, finish the top lip with body filler and sand it to final shape. I have attached a pic of my body right after the 'glass was applied and one of the finished product.:cool:

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That's right. Especially if it's thinned a bit with polyester resin. It has tremendous gap filling capabilities.

Try to pry a piece of wood off of properly prepared glass that's been attached with body filler. It ain't gonna happen.

I keep a squeeze bottle full of non waxed polyester resin for mixing body filler. I'll add some to make it creamy or soupy, whichever I need.

Then you can trim off any excess with a razor blade just when it starts to firm up.
 
Another really useful adhesive for this sort of work is builders glue. I have wooded out a few glass bodies with the stuff now and it is way strong. I use the extra strength, one hour setup one. It won't sand up and fair like body filler does, but it is slightly flexible when set up and seems to resist cracking very well.
 
Corvette panel adhesive is good if you can find it. A lot of the small local auto body suppliers don't stock it because it's not a fast seller.:rolleyes: I have used builder's glue or construction adhesive for other things (it's great seam sealer and good for putting the wood bows in steel bodies), but its flexibility is undesirable when wooding a fiberglass body. It's OK if you put enough fiberglass mat and resin over it and it's easier to work with than body filler, but the whole purpose of wooding these bodies is to eliminate flex.:cool:
 
Those Dollar Store ketchup squeeze bottles are great for applying soupy body filler and epoxies.
 
That's right. Especially if it's thinned a bit with polyester resin. It has tremendous gap filling capabilities.

Try to pry a piece of wood off of properly prepared glass that's been attached with body filler. It ain't gonna happen.

I keep a squeeze bottle full of non waxed polyester resin for mixing body filler. I'll add some to make it creamy or soupy, whichever I need.

Then you can trim off any excess with a razor blade just when it starts to firm up.
So you add the resin by itself, or do you add the hardener to it?
 
That purple or green liquid that rises to the top of an old can of body filler is just polyester resin (fiberglass resin).

Body fillers are polyester based. And the cream hardeners are a colored form of MEKP.

So you don't need any resin catalyst. Lay out the filler in a doughnut shape and fill the center with some resin. Mix that up first, then add your cream hardener.

You'll get the feel for how much resin to add.

Check out some of the car audio videos of the speaker boxes some guys make. They mix up soupy filler, brush it on and cheese grate it down.
 
Man, you guys are something with the fiberglass....I'll stick to motors. I know when I'm outta my element....makes for some interesting and educational reading....I'm learning alot from ya'll.
I can put a 8-71 blower together with my eyes closed....If I just look at fiberglass resin, it screws up....
 
I bought the street rod 101 DVD set. It has a lot of pointers for working with fiberglass. Nothing about mixing resin with fiberglass filler. I gotta try that. Sounds like a killer idea.
 
Wanted to share just one example of thinning body filler with polyester resin. I use it to the parting boards for my molds.

I cover the marked parting line with clear packing tape and wax it. Body filler will not stick to it.
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Then I mix up the body filler, put it into a zip-lock bag and snip off a corner to squeeze the thinned filler onto both the line and board.
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Pop it off once set up.
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It makes a part so tight, I often don't need to use any clay.
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Much thanks to you all. You've definitely been a great help as usual.
The only thing I could add would be to shape, cut or rout the wood for the edges as close to the end result shape as possible to make forming it easier, You still need a generous amount of material for strength, but if it is more uniform it is less labor intensive and will reduce materials needed.
 
I added to the top lip of my 27 body by putting the body on saw horses UPSIDE DOWN.....making a dam out of poster board and masking tape. Then lay up with fiberglass cloth and resin....using gravity and the dam to hold it in place until it is cured.
 

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