64ford

Okay, I got a deal on the GTR hood for my '05. It has some damage on the corners on the windsheild end. Anybody know where I can read up on fiberglass repair? I probably will have it done but I figured i would read up on it a little

andyman

how much for the hood?

spyder can probably tell you all about fiberglass, he said he is good with it.

64ford

$200, I figured it was worth it even with the damage

spyder7724

fiberglas is easy to work with...itchy but easy. if you check at a local auto store they will have a fiberglass boat repair kit or something along those lines. it will come with everything you need to do the repairs you need. you can always buy extra cloth if you need more. first clean the part with lacquer thinner so it's free from oil/dust. cut some small pieces of cloth you will need to layer it so for each are cut 5 or 6 pieces. then mix the resin and hardener together. use a small amount to start with since you may have to adjust the amount of hardener if it dries too quickly or too slowly.with a paint brush(1" or 2") glob some resin/hardener mixture on the area/crack then lay a piece of f/g cloth on it. dab the cloth until it's saturated with resin then apply another layer and again saturate that one...again...again you get the picture. build it up some so that when it dries you can shape it with a sander. it may take 24 hours for the resin/cloth to harden completely. if it's not then next time use more hardener. the hardest part is just getting the right mixture of hardener/resin so you have time to work with it but it doesn't take a week to cure. the can should give you a starting point and it will get you very close. you can make a hood if you really wanted. we have had bodies for our race cars that were so bad you actually could see through them. and they were new! race f/glass really sucks you should see the hood my brother got for his t-bird... it kind of resembles a t-bird hood(if they had a trapezoid shaped hood) it's going to take a long time to make it fit decent.

The Ghost

I also do glass work having restored a number of boats and actually having made some molds. If it is a small area that needs to be repaired there is a product called "stranded glass filler" or nicknamed Gorilla Hair. It is the resin with chopped strand mixxed in. It is much easier to use than the resin / mat and just as strong. Spyder pretty much nailed the glassing part, but a couple things that might make it easier for a noob. It is really best if you roll the air out of the repair, boat dealers carry a tool that does this and it will reduce your finishing time by a bunch as well as make a stronger fix due to forcing the strand or mat to get close together. Very often you can apply as many as two more layers of mat without adding any more glass. Overbuild your repair area with the intent of sanding it into shape. Glass sands easy an it's better to have more than less in most every situation. Rough shape with 120 grit, finish shape with 220. At this point you WILL see imperfections. Use a product called body light filler and cover the entire area with it. It is about the consistency of cake icing and spreads great. It will fill any bubbles or voids in the glass and unlike Bondo (NEVER EVER USE BONDO) it does not absorb water. Final sand with 350 which is paint grade. Prime and sand with 350 again. Fill any imperfections with a very thin coat of the body light filler (it can be used over primer) sand/prime/sand/paint.

fairlane292

Just my 2 cents: I've done a lot with glass repair: started out in a family owned marina, helping out, doing glass work; then some significant glass repair on mid year Corvettes. Anyway after trying different materials I find that fiberglass cloth is better than mat and because it is a woven product it has great structural integrity (much more than Gorilla Hair; thats ok as filler w/o structure). You'll get the hang of amount of drops per resin, start by sprinkling a moderate amount of drops over the resin; I often use a couple paper plates at a time, pour out a 6" circle of resin and about 8 or 9 drops for a first practice run. Have your cloth pieces all pre-cut before you mix the resin; once you swirl mix it be ready to go. Now you must have already ground the area to be repaired down by a 1/16 to an 1/8 depending on the thickness of your repair. If you are adding on a broken corner for example you must grind away both sides for proper build and strength of the new corner. (don't try to build up too much all in one application) I suggest tapping the work as you apply resin with a 1" cheapo paint brush, they are available for about 50cents; can put in lacquer thinner and get a couple uses. Tapping the work with the tip of the brush will remove air bubbles; the roller is good for larger flat areas and takes a bit of technique or you'll make a mess. Once the glass is solid but not rock solid; (time will depend on how much hardener you used 1/2 hour is cool; take a flat 3/4" wide wood rasp and get the surface down to where it needs to be. Sanding, minor polyester fill, primer, etc from there is a another story. Hope that helps on the glass work anyway. Oh yeah, wear long sleeves and a paper mask at least. btw I do my grinding to reduce the thickness of the area first, with a couple different types of air sanders/grinders but if you don't have air a belt sander with vacuum bag is pretty good. Know one thing: once the glass is fully cured it's like steel; you can't sand it, you GRIND it. ...have some fun. Any questions just ask, guys on this post have some good experience. ...Jim

The Ghost

Not putting anyone down cause' there are a dozen roads that lead into most towns. But our boat shop rolls everything in order to save on the amount of resin used and force the cloth tighter together = strength. Rollers come in a dozen different widths and shapes for getting into corners or doing curves. And cloth/mat is the same thing, the thicker heavier version is called woven roving and looks like a door mat, used for extreme structural rigidity such as floorboard where body mounts are and boat transoms. NOTE: if you do opt to use mat allways tear it, not cut it, this provides for a featherd edge that comes out nearly invisible. We actually build boats from the mold out. I help design interior layouts in my spare time nowdays, used to be right in the thick of it. We use mat as the first layer throughout, followed by chopped glass throughout (fills the voids between pieces of mat), and then hand roll the whole thing. Lay in 3/4" PVC sheeting to controll flex and provide a substrate to mount stringers, and go through the glassing procces again. Heavy stress areas (transoms, hatch surrounds, keel, and cleat areas) get a layer of woven roving, our high performance rigs get a layer of kevlar down the middle and in flex zones.

fairlane292

The Ghost: Obviously you have the most experience here especially on major structural work. I mistated my preference of cloth over mat. I wanted 64Ford to know that if one is shopping in an autoparts or autobody supply store you'll often find both mat and cloth. (They are not the same). You'll see these two products (mat and cloth) from 3M for example: (see link)

http://multimedia.mmm.com/mws/mediaw...FFF3AwRIeeeeD-

My preference of these two products is the stranded mat offered by 3M and others.

64ford

Thanks for all of the input!!!! I am sure with this info I can make it happen, I am still going to get a price from a pro and then weigh the options.....[8D].... I like doing the work myself but rather have it done once and right than 3 times and still not right.. ya know what I mean? Oh yea,spyder, didn't you do the hood locks? I found the '70 style I was looking for...but I paid the price for them. Thanks again for the input!

spyder7724

i was going to put the 70's style locks in but i went with these instead they were about $80aerolatch from coastfab.com