[z24freak125]

how hard is it to fiber glass? i was thinking about making some fiber glass door pannels for the inside of my car but i dont know how hard it would be? id also like to do some stuff with my dash as well.

so if i make anything out of fiber glass would i have to use cardboard or something to make the basic shape and then use the fiber cloth and put that over the card board and them glass over that? im stupid when it comes to doin stuff like that..lol

thanks mike

 

[migzz]

yea u have the general idea the hardest part about fabricating fiberglass pieces is coming up with some sort of mold but yea use cardboard to make a mold its pretty much trial and error you will learn as u go along

 

[coony]

duct tape works to for a more rounded shape. I'd say Burn is the expert on this one. But ya you basically make yourself a mold of whatever you want, cover it in fiberglass, sand it smooth and paint it. Thats basically it.

 

[z24freak125]

thanks for the help

 

[ericksaint]

Try a google search for "fiberglass tutorials" or "fiberglass how to" or something like that, should give some good hits. Also here are a few I have read through.

Glassman Custom Forums
<LINK_TEXT text="http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/gla ... stomforum/">http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/glassmanscustomforum/</LINK_TEXT>

The 12v Lounge (I think it's affiliated with the above site) has a Custom Fabrication forum.
http://www.12vlounge.com/

The 12v Install Bay has a fiberglass forum. (I got alot of good info here by reading and searching)
http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/default.asp

I had this one bookmarked from a search at the above forums. He has step by step instructions with pictures to go along with it. It's a basic how to for creating a speaker enclosure.
http://chris.pfharlock.com/glass/

<LINK_TEXT text="http://webpages.charter.net/cwebster/JL ... losure.htm">http://webpages.charter.net/cwebster/JL%2012%20Enclosure.htm</LINK_TEXT>

<LINK_TEXT text="http://www.fbodyaudio.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1056012350">http://www.fbodyaudio.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=general;action=display;num=1056012350</LINK_TEXT>

Here is bookmark I just found to about 10 more fiberglass pages.
<LINK_TEXT text="http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~penielse/ca ... glass.html">http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~penielse/caraudio/fiberglass.html</LINK_TEXT>

I will add more if and when I find them but these should keep you busy for a while. Many are dealing with audio enclosures and things on those lines but the idea are all similar. The fiberglass forum at the12volt.com has a few hundred topics just try a search there for doorpanel and see what comes up.

Hope this helps ya out some

 

[z24freak125]

thanks for all of the sites they are very helpful!!!

 

[v6z24man]

Don't mean to steal the your thread. How hard would it be to fix a crack in my bumper by fiberglassing it?

 

[ericksaint]

Stock bumper? I'm not sure about doing repairs, I havent even started my first project yet, only been in the research phase. I read the procedure in a book on repairing composites. This is mosy likely not word for word or a good "drawing" but I will try.

If you have a crack clean thru a part start by using a blade or something else to v-groove the top of the crack. Top being the outside of your bumper the part you can see. Bottom being the inside.

Crude drawing to follow.

Before:
Top
||
Bottom

After:
Top
\/
Bottom

Now tape the bumper together on the top to hold the crack in place the best you can. Turn the bumper over and rough up the urethane a bit with some sandpaper, this may not be neccesary, so the fiberglass resin has somethign to stick to. Apply a thin layer of resin to the crack area, try to not let too much resin seap through the crack to the front side. To that thin layer apply some fiberglass mat and soak that with some resin. Apply a few more layers of resin and mat to build up strength around the crack area. Once that has fully cured and you feel it's strong enough it's time to move back to the front.

Remember that V groove you made? You will now fill the groove with body filler. Bondo would prolly work fine, but I suggest bondo-hair, which is body filler with fiberglass strands in it. Once the groove is filled it's time to sand smooth and prep for painting.

This may all be way above and beyond what you want to do, but that is how I understood it from reading. Try to google for "repairing plastic body parts" you may come up with a tutorial that has pictures. I have seen things online for repairing snowmobile and jetski bodies, it is the same process.