Guest PBooty Posted January 17, 2005 Share Posted January 17, 2005 Any pics of this kit installed properly that ISN't molded into the body? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 I have an MSA front spoiler and Side skirts, custom fiberglass flares in the rear. The flares and side skirts are molded onto the body. This was done using AL rivets followed by fiberglass on both the side skirts and the flares. I've had no problems with cracks or rust etc from these pieces. The front spoiler, Is a piece of SH*T you just can't get quality body parts for these cars I think. I've glassed the front spoiler so many times, even had the damn thing crack on me. Yes i have gaps on the side by the lower fender, but I addes some glass to make the gap about a steady 1/8". The front spoiler is often removed on my car so re-inforcing it with additional glass has proven beneficial. I don't have a pic of the edges mounted up on the car, as i'm in the process of a paint job. -Ed Fire and cars don't mix well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PBooty Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Rear corner... I love how the rounds match up Airial Shot of the rear bumper.. look at the fatty gap another shot of the same side rear bumper..look at that edge!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PBooty Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 another shot of the rear front passenger side another shot of the front passenger airial shot of the front passenger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PBooty Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 front driverside and another another shot of the rear and another... i don't know what the hell they gonna do... i have no idea when i'll get this car back... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Jarvis Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 It's hard to tell from the pictures, but if that is indeed PAINT running between the metal and fiberglass in places, the first thing to do is have them pull the kit off and clean up the sheet metal and put a decent coat of paint on there. If it is as bad as it looks, you'll be distracted from the poor fit of the kit by the paint peeling off the car in a few months..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PBooty Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 well..this WAS the paint...its been sanded down a lot since I last saw it. the shop agree to install a new weatherstrip kit (that I provided), but they decided to paint THEN install the weatherstrip. After painting there was A LOT of overspray onto the rubbers, so when it came time to remove the old weatherstrip a lot of the paint was damaged. So i guess they decided to resand the entire car and start over..i dunno the point of my pictures was to "show off" all the uneven edges, and huge ass gaps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Magnum Rockwilder Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 That looks like they gave themselves paint enemas and sprayed it on the car from their asses. What "body shop" was this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ckoontz Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 My body kit was filled with a fiberglass bondo 5 years ago, and still looks good today, no cracks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.I.jonas Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 That is so rediculous that they apparently tried to fill the gap with paint,ROFL!!l...oh sorry i mean that sucks.I also am wondering who did this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WizardBlack Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 Hmm, may I chime in here? I own a tier 1 auto paint company. That means my company manufactures and (among other things) paints parts that go out the door as OEM auto parts. I will say that they did a horrible job with the paint. Methinks they almost used a roller. LOL. I feel for ya, but that is just terrible. I also have operated (in the past when I had time) a speed shop and dealt with 'body kits'. First of all, every body shop must learn the hard way, but I would only do installation of body kits on a time and materials basis. The shop has NO IDEA what the body kit is going to be like until they try to install it and make it fit right. The absolute best body shop in the world can't make a shitty body kit look right (except for 'money no object' installations). If the bumpers are too narrow or too wide, they can't fix that very easily. It's an extremely labor intensive thing to correct. Ultimately, you should spend more on a body kit and you will have less cost in the installation. On a side note, bondo can be used (with support) to fill lines in, but if you can take ahold of the part and jiggle it with a firm jerk AT ALL, then the bondo will eventually break. Bondo isn't designed to be a structural component. The body shop should know how to use various 3M two component systems (similar to a glue, but they aren't). This is the proper "band aid" for a seriously deformed kit (which is what you have) if you want to fill lines in, etc. By looking at the pics (aerial ones of the rear bumper), you can clearly see that the kit came with too much material removed from the radius of the corners. My advice? Ebay it and find a different brand. Also, take your car to a reputable body shop and be very clear about what you want and what you expect. Not that it describes you, but I've seen ppl come in wanting a $500 all over paint job and expect it to look like it's OEM (which runs more around 10X that starting out). They just don't understand the time and cost involved with something as 'measly' as painting a vehicle. It ain't gonna happen, though. That won't cover one man for one day at shop rates. An all over paint job is easily a 40 hour job for an extremely simple car. Many are more like 80 man hours if you want it done right. Tell them what parts are to be taken off the car. It looks like they only removed the bare essentials (turn indicators, etc.). The bumpers weren't removed, etc. The headlight covers can be fixed by (carefully!) heating them with an industrial heat gun once they are installed to take the stress out of them and then adjusted again for better fitment. As far as the jagged edges of the kit, that's a tough one. Smoothing it out by taking more material away is an option but leaves a bigger gap. Smoothing it out by adding bondo is a temporary fix that will break easily. Bondo is little stronger than dried clay, basically. There is only so much even a good body shop can do with a body kit without spending astronomical time on it. Hope that helps. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil280zxt Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 FYI, this thread is 2.5 years old.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naviathan Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 Man, a lot of threads brought back from the past....Wow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 still a good thread regardless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WizardBlack Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 FYI, this thread is 2.5 years old.... LOL, so it is.... I guess someone did a search and found something they wanted to comment on. heh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil280zxt Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 BTW, it does make for an interesting read though. I often times wish the original posters would respond with the final solution to their problems / questions. That would definitely make the archives more meaningful if you knew the outcome of a situation like the one above or what the technical solution was for the original issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagster Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Very nice, that's quite similar visibly to what I am working on, I'll have to check out your album. The first time I read this post the pic didn't show up, so I just saw it for the first time.... Jason Fiberglas is not the best material for a car body, and trying to combine it with steel is an invitation to disaster. I had a 76 Z with the full kit, and it looked horrible when finished. No amount of discussion with the body people would resolve the issues. After a couple months, the cracks started appearing. I wound up selling the car to a lady who thought it was a 'cool-looking ride' and she looked right past all the flaws. Go figure. Any mods I do will be metal to metal, maybe some lead or braze to hold it all together, and make it smooth. The older vettes were famous for cracks at stress points, and they got lots of strengthening when they were getting prepared for new paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Fiberglas is not the best material for a car body, and trying to combine it with steel is an invitation to disaster. I had a 76 Z with the full kit, and it looked horrible when finished. No amount of discussion with the body people would resolve the issues. After a couple months, the cracks started appearing. I wound up selling the car to a lady who thought it was a 'cool-looking ride' and she looked right past all the flaws. Go figure. Any mods I do will be metal to metal, maybe some lead or braze to hold it all together, and make it smooth. The older vettes were famous for cracks at stress points, and they got lots of strengthening when they were getting prepared for new paint. Do you realize that you're posting a response to a comment that was made 3 1/2 years ago? Just checking... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WizardBlack Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 LOL this one won't die. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240zwannabe Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 i work at a body, aftermarket parts rarely fit the way you want them to without modifying them. but, as far as him saying he didn't want to bondo the gaps to make them fit better...thats not his decision. it's what the customer wants as long as he pays labor/materials. body men at my work love it when the customer says "just make it work" because that means easy money. they may not want to modify the kit to make it work because they don't want to mess it up and have to pay for a new one. in my opinion, you should go there raise hell, threaten a law suit and then have them redo the body work. edit: i just now saw the pictures, i didn't read that far into the thread. WHY IN THE HELL DID THEY PAINT THE CAR WITH THE BODY KIT ON THERE!!!!!???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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