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Fiberglassing Materials


Guest tony78_280z

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Guest tony78_280z

I'm thinking of making wooden frames for the shapes of the body panels and sretching the cloth across them. Then after the cloth hardens removing the wood frames. Doing research on this subject seems to be kind-a hard.

 

To make body panels for a car what strength fiberglass cloth is needed? I'd prefer a single strong layer, and then a light weight fine cloth layer as a smooth, clean, pretty skin.

 

Where is the best place to aquire this product for a reasonable price?

 

Any other suggestions are welcome. I don't plan to start this phase of my project until the spring, but I'm gathering research and materials now.

 

-Thanks

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Guest ZracecarZ

The first thing I would do is read any post on the subject by Terry Oxandale (aka "blueovalz") and check out his "fototime" site (check his profile for the link).

 

That's what I did. I first used his floral foam technique to change my hood and that went so well that I got gutsy and made my own fender flares. Haven't posted any pix yet--still finishing with body filler before they are "post-worthy," but I'm happy with how those turned out too.

 

Based on other members' experiences, I used the mat instead of the cloth. I overlapped with the 8 square foot amounts you can buy at walmart for about 4 bucks, but the paint and body supplier I use can get much larger sections of it if you are concerned about integrity. I don't recall the exact amount, but the cost was more expensive than the smaller sections.

 

Hope this helps...

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Guest ZracecarZ

I get the impression you are doing a large area. That said, another tip is to find a place you can get the resin in gallon cans. Much cheaper than 4 quarts, depending on where you go...

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Guest tony78_280z

That is a frightening looking baby. Creepy!

 

I have read most of the posts on the Blueoval Z. It was very inspiring. And that is why I want to design my own personal front end. I've already got some realy cool Idears, and I'm sure by the time spring rolls around I'll have the entire shape of it all worked out in my mind.

 

What is Mat compared to Cloth? Is this mat stronge enough to with stand high speed winds without shreading? I don't wanna be cruising along the road and have my fender or hood tear off. Know of anyplace to get large quantities of Mat? Perhaps online ordering?

 

Where would one get large quantity of Floral Foam?

 

I'm definatly going to need a few gallons of resin. That said, where am I gonna get gallons worth rather cheap?

 

I've already toyed around with making a ventless cowl. I made a few mistakes but I've got a good idea of what works. A few more "test" pieces and I think I'll have a good technique.

 

Thanks for any information or Idears.

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You probably know this but:

A good place to get information about FRP construction is from those who build boats. If there is a boat factory around your area you can usually visit without any problem and watch them use the materials. Cheaper boats use the chop gun which takes the place of mat and is sprayed on the gelcoat. Expensive yachts use mat/cloth and are hand laid. At boat stores you can get materials maybe a little cheaper than at auto stores ( but never cheaper than Walmart). I have never seen pro's working with these materials without proper filter masks so I suggest you do the same. Fiberglass particles in the lungs is a bummer.

There is a book I found at the library called somthing like "Using laminates for automotive bodies". Sorry I dont remember any more but this hard cover takes you through all the steps including male and female plug construction and all the different types of laminates including FRP and Carbon Fiber. Should be easy to find look in amazon.

Hope this helps--good luck

Ferd

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I've already toyed around with making a ventless cowl. I made a few mistakes but I've got a good idea of what works. A few more "test" pieces and I think I'll have a good technique.

 

I`ve got a couple of pics and a small write up on the cowl panel mod I did.

Maybe get an idea.

My site, Z Car page

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i was reading Blueoval Z write up on his taillight panel and i was goin to us that some method to cover my sheet metal dash with fibergass. when appling that large of FG sheets do u you brush the resin onto the FG or do you dip it some how. ive worked smaller amount of FG in the past and then i just dipped the FG into the resin. didnt know if it was the same with larger sheets

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Guest tony78_280z

Do you think 10 Yards of Fabric will cover the front end of My Z for one layer? I want to Fiberglass the hood, front fenders, headlight eyeballs, and a ZG-like nose I will create.

 

From the webpage I mentioned above I'm thinking of 7&1/2 OZ cloth for the base layer and 2 OZ cloth for the fine skin. Any opinions?

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