Early body work on Fiberglass kit

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PostPosted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 3:48 pm
I searched around a bit but didn't find much info (maybe some can direct me if this is already covered). I'm building a kit car and have new fiberglass body panels with a white gel coat? I don't know the quality or straightness of these panels yet. I'm unfortunately in the situation where I'm now building my car a couple miles from my house. This just means I can't pop into the garage and get things done and is going to slow my build down. Looking for things to "bring home". I currently have the front and back body panels of my car at my house and wondering how much I can do with the panel off the car (and it has not been test fit yet). I was going to focus on the front panel first and stay away from transition areas until on the car. I have no experience here but the steps I'm thinking are:

    Cross sand the gel coat to rough it up for prime and look for pin holes.
    I'd like to spray a colored non-build primer coat (would have been epoxy on a metal car) so I can see when I've gotten through filler/building primer. suggestions?
    Then spray high or regular building primer and a guide coat.
    block sand
    Repeat if necessary

Also wondering at what point you suggest cuting holes (lights, air in/out) in the process?

Here's a pic of the front panel for reference
Image

There's also some pretty heavy seams where panels were joined together. Is there a best practice for taking these seams down/filling etc. Easy to see if zoom on this picture. What material should I use.

Image

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 12:15 am
As I go into my 44th year of my kit car building hobby (obsession???) all I can say is.... boy, are you going to be busy.... You've got a pretty typical "new" kit car body there. That white stuff is probably a type of poly surfacing agent that is shot over kit bodies to make them look less terrifying to the customer. I almost wish manufacturing concerns would quit doing this so you can readily see the flashing seams that must all be addressed long before paint work is a consideration. All of the individual panels are done and while still raw put into the larger sectional molds then "flashed" together. While this process seems to make sense what you normally get within about 2 inches on either side of any seams are areas of of air voids, bubbles, and ragged glass. That heavy white coat hides all that.

I'd be inclined to sand the white stuff off a couple of test areas on seams (both inside and out) and see what things look like. If it's looking "fishy" then I'd be opening those seam areas up everywhere to re-dress them. They would best be roughed, picked open, etc., then filled with whatever resin your kit manufacturer has used or recommends. Another option is to use high strength epoxy resin IF you think those seams need to be stronger to prevent sag/flex. Those are awfully large body pieces you've got there so that could be a factor.

As far as sealing/priming here is just an opinion. With the generally crappy quality of most fiberglass now.... I cut all of the openings first..... I do a guide coat over all the white as the car sits RIGHT NOW, yes, now.... why?.... So I can take pictures of the sanded guide coat to see just what I am up against with body work, waves, etc. Those pictures are my reference for later. Next I mount ALL of the body panels as they will be done when the car is finished.... again, why????.... because you need to work out the NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) now before you get anymore coating on that car. Next I get all of the seam work done, get any major body work done (waves can wait till later) and surprise!.... I seal the whole thing up with epoxy and drive it for 6 months. Yes, I drive it for 6 months looking and checking every panel for movement, subsequent cracking, and just about anything else that I think is going to screw up my great paint job later. I even have my wife or daughter pace me with cameras/videos as the car moves looking for problem areas. Countless times I have found that I had to build sub frame structures to support vibrating or worse flapping panels. Better to get that stuff under control right now....

This might be of some help to you....
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=7938&p=48940&hilit=Darrelk+fiberglass+kit+build#p48940
That was my last full kit build. I don't think yours will be too far off from the same general principles I used there. Bottom line.... just make sure that body is absolutely solid mounted and "exercised" before you begin any fine tuning of the body work and paint process.
Oh, and just curious, what's your base.... Fiero, Mr2, Vette, Porsche?????
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!



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PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 1:41 am
Wow...thanks that is all certainly very helpful. So long story short I have very little I can do at the moment while I'm still building the car. Maybe that's good...I have a lot of learning to do in the meantime. Well the kit is pretty interesting I think. The base is a 2g mitsubishi eclipse basicly cut into thirds and subframes mounted front and back. Will be a midengine LS1 powered with porsche transaxle. C5 suspension.

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One with body work done...
Image

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 12:26 pm
Okay, now I can say, Wow! Ambitious but doable project. Not too different from Factory Five GTM layout. I did a lot of research on building that kit over the years and know a few guys that did build them. One thing I would stress is first concentrating on getting that chassis to a "go kart" stage since your body is a non stressed piece. In my opinion a lot of headaches can be avoided on body problems by taking the go cart to some place for a drive through all forward gears. If it seems reasonably stable I'd go ahead and mount the rough body and again drive and have someone pace you looking for problems.
Probably don't have to tell you trans. selection and the gear selection in that trans. is pretty critical to getting a good driveable car. Most of the GTM guys are spending 5k to 20k on modified Porsche trans. Mendeola and Ricardo trannys were being used as well.
Post pic.s as you go along and I'll give you as much help as I can. It's a great project, it will just take some time getting through it.
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!

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