Fiberglass HELP

[Procrastinator]

After nine months of walking past my cobra which was just sitting in the garage collecting dust and becoming a general "catch all," I have started to work on it again. I was afraid it would become another unfinished Cobra destined to stay in a garage.

Tonight, I began to fiberglass the inner panels to the body, and I must be doing something wrong.

1. I sand off the gel coat.
2. Cut the fiberglass cloth.
3. Lay down aluminum foil.
4. Mix the resin, pour the resin over the cloth, carefully saturating it on both sides while the cloth is on the aluminum foil.
5. Transfer the now flimsy, ripping, shedding, and stretching, cloth to the spot its needs to be.
6. Work out the air bubbles, and as I do this the whole thing comes apart and moves.
7. Wait and hope like He** that it cures and stays in place.

Please help me is there an easier way. Does anybody have any great tips that would help?

P. S. is there an easy way to get the resin off skin?

Thank you,

Procrastinator

[KobraKarl]

1. wear disposable vinyl gloves (get a box very cheap)

2.wet the surface you are going to glass with a little mixed resin.(use a disposable brush, get a handfull)

3.you can assist the tack time with a hair dryer (not too much)

4. set your dry cut cloth in the now tacky area you wish to bond /patch...(get it right the first time)

5.soak the cloth area with your mixed resin (not too much)

6.as it cures gently work out air pockets by pressing the cloth in to the resin (add more from your pot if needed)

7. have a beer ,you just made a hard job look easy (not too many)

[Procrastinator]

KobraKarl,

Thanks, I have already started on the beer. I am going to get more brushes and vinyl gloves in the moring. I am on my last set of gloves and my second to my last beer now.

Procrastinator

[Neal Jackson]

Good sequence by KobraKarl.

Pre-cutting the cloth or mat to be added makes the lay up easier and cleaner to do. (Keeps the sizzors cleaner too)

You can also use a piece of plywood or similar flat surface instead of the alum foil as a work surface. Your method of pre-soaking the piece can work well for overhead or even verticle areas because trying to brush on the resin in those positions will often cause lots of dripping back onto the brush, your hands, your face, etc.

I use Acetone to clean resin from hands, arms, brushes, whatever.

[Bob Putnam]

Pro, (it sounds better like that - no? )

It sounds like you're using random mat, not cloth. Perfectly OK, except that the techniique is a bit different.

Mat is held together with a resin-soluable binder. When you wet it out, it loses it's integrity pretty quickly, so you have to work quickly. Don't wet it out quite so much - if it's only 1.5 oz weight, wetting it out from one side should be OK. Don't let it sit for more than a couple of minutes!

In order to get the mat to conform to any compound surfaces, it helps to tear the mat by hand (before wetting) so that there are lots of "broken" bonds within the mat.

Paint a little resin onto the surface that you're appying the mat to, instead of the second side of the mat.

Finally, work the mat onto the surfaces with a wet brush, then finish with a roller.

[Double Venom]

PS...
A metal (fiberglass) roller. Not a Sears Best!

Once you get the hang of it, it's easy!
DV...NOW is the time for all sponsors that want to be involved with the Fling to come forward!

[427SSSS]

Pro,
Call Tim at: http://www.kitcar.com/fiberjet.html

He's been fiberglassing for 37 years, one of his yellow Lamborginis(sp),(I think it was a Lam., could have been a Ferrari), was featured in late 60's Playboy centerfold. I'm still trying to track down issue....if anybody has a copy....

Tell him Wayne sent you.

[Slow Dawg]

Hey, Pro. Did you forget to call Lonny? He did the glass work on his own car.


Ron