Speedway body

[lkeuten]

I cut the door in my 23 T speedway body a little bit ago. The first thing I noticed when done was the variation in thickness throughout. This thing goes from 5/16" down to 1/8". Facing the door the upper right hand side toward the cowl is 5/16 it tapers down to 3/16 in the right bottom corner half way across the bottom it tapers down to 1/8 and continues at 1/8 one third of the way up the left hand side of the door from there it starts to taper back to 1/4 at the top. I also had a delamination between the gel coat and the fiberglass for approximately 1 and 1/2 inches. Is this normal? Before I go any further with the door I'm going to hand lay in a layer or 2 of glass in this bottom area that is thin and do the same to the opposite side. As for the delam I'm going to inject some epoxy in it for now. I took some photos but they didn't come out to well. I also sent an e-mail to speedway about this. On another note it's one of those beautiful days in Nebraska where a guy should be cruisin around the lake in a bucket.

 

[Old Rotor Flap]

It sounds like poor quality workmanship and poor quality control.

The delam may be due to the body not curing long enough prior to being pulled from the mold. Are the '23 bodies made in the USA or elsewhere?

I have a fresh cup of coffee that says you probably won't get more than eighty-cents and hour for your labor and only two-cents on the dollar for the materials from Speedway for you to bring the body to an acceptable level of quality.


EDIT;

I just looked at Diller, NE's proximity to Lincoln and I see it's not that far. You may very well get some consideration from Speedway if they'll exchange the body for a better one...... I hope it works out in your favor.

 

[GreggDaniels]

Sounds about right for a Speedway body I guess. I noticed some variations in the thickness in the back section where I cut the notches to channel it over the frame. I would also like to cut out a door but I'm afraid to. The body I got had a pretty noticable twist in it and I had to clamp in down to straighten it up then glass the floor in and let it set. I'm afraid if I cut the door open the body might twist all out of shape. It would sure make it easier for my wife to get in and out because she's not as excited about crawling over the top as I am. I guess cheap is cheap though and you get what you pay for. Good luck with your door.

 

[lkeuten]

Sounds about right for a Speedway body I guess. I noticed some variations in the thickness in the back section where I cut the notches to channel it over the frame. I would also like to cut out a door but I'm afraid to. The body I got had a pretty noticable twist in it and I had to clamp in down to straighten it up then glass the floor in and let it set. I'm afraid if I cut the door open the body might twist all out of shape. It would sure make it easier for my wife to get in and out because she's not as excited about crawling over the top as I am. I guess cheap is cheap though and you get what you pay for. Good luck with your door.

Handyman, I wooded the door area first because I had the same concerns. I clamped a 1 x 2 stringer across the top on the inside when I made the cut. I'm glad I did this after what I ran into, or it probably would have went to South on me. Now I have just a little router work around the edges of the door and the door frame to finish glassing in the wood.

 

[Ted Brown]

My suggestion about folks that want to beef up a body, without using WOOD! as wood takes up way too much room and pulls on the body panels so at times you can see just where each piece of wood is... PLUS, you NEED the extra room inside these bodies... Just lay up more glass mat to all the edges to keep them from flexing much at all... and if you want to cut out the door, make that whole area thicker as well, let cure well before cutting anything. PS, the floor does not need to be water tight, you want any water to be able to get out, if any gets in...

 

[Corley]

I bought the Unlimited Products T227D '27 roaster body our of Hesperia CA. I almost think they sent me the racers version (thin) instead of the street version (thicker), because it is so thin. (They sell both.) Most of it is around 1/8" thick. It looks to be hand laid up with thin mat, then backed with a layer of cloth. I prefer hand laid up to chopper gun, but this is rediculously thin. This body has no lip on the bottom, which is not a big deal, but I guess I just expected it to have one. Outer surface has some flashing and void defects, but nothing horrible. Not warped at all though, and came packaged well. I'm hoping it will be strong enough after wooding...

I remember back 30 years ago when I bought a dune buggy body, it was glassy smoth on the outside, and came pre-finished in your choice of colors or metal flake, no paint needed. Very impressive glass work, not at all like these bodies. I wonder why that is??? I guess you get what you pay for, and the Unlimited Products body was pretty chea.., er, I mean, "inexpensive"....

 

[Old Rotor Flap]

I looked at Unlimited Products products and opinions expressed by customers on several other sites and based on what I garnered from others' comments, decied against their body.