70 Camaro - Boise, Idaho

[Goosesdad]

More boring details..... Ripped down a 1/2" piece of MDF to 1/4"wide, then hit it with a half-round router bit and then cut some kerfs in so it would bend.


Then CA glued it using a scrap piece to keep the radius accurate.

[Goosesdad]

A little fiberglass repair tip someone might find useful. Had to lower the door lever so had to relocate the hole in the door panel.


Scape with masking tape and a little release wax on the masking tape. Resin doesn't stick to masking tape much but wax insures an easy release.


Hot glued the scrap to the front of the door panel.


This the back of the door panel with the glass laid down with a little vinyl ester resin.


Resin cured and backing removed. Once sanded down the patch will disappear. Boring, but it might help someone.

[Goosesdad]

IT GETS WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER!! The seemingly chaotic approach here - makes me laugh too.

The foam for the speaker cover was mostly carved to shape and then covered with drywall mud in order to smooth to the final shape. This is still wet, sanding to come tomorrow, then I'll show how it gets glass'd and then how the foam and drywall mud gets removed.

The center section for the insert has the 1/2 round molding glued down and first sweep of filler laid down.

The rear foam is shaped and will be covered with glass, today. The wood was recessed a bit so the glass would have somewhere to anchor. Given the door panel is concaved front to rear and top to bottom, both this rear glass'd area and the front speaker area, actually add rigidity and keep the shape of panel once it's all cured. You can sort of see the horizontal relieve cuts in the plywood in the rear, that plywood is not only for the esthetic looks as it adds some dimension but it's epoxied to the flimsy fiberglass panel so it holds the vertical concave. If you go back a few posts, you'll see the scab'd on blocks that helped me clamp this in place tight against the door while the epoxy dried.

Lots of goal posts to kick between here (maneuvering around the roll-bar) while trying to make it flow and look right. And trying to keep it as light as possible.

[Goosesdad]

This florist foam is a nice lightweight medium for giving dimension to fiberglass, it shapes incredibly easy and polyester resins won't eat it.

As I need to keep the door panel anchored to the door to keep it's shape until the glass sets up, had to laminate it on the car. While the resin will stick to the foam, because the glass will be hanging vertically, the weight of it would just peel away and fall to the ground. So a quick brush of some really hot resin, let it tack up a bit and then 2 layers of cloth were laid down.

This pic is just after that first sweep of resin.


Then with the 2 layers of cloth laid down. This will get a sweep of filler to blend it into the panel. That front edge looks rough because it's puposefully not feathered in so I don't grind it away while smoothing it into the door. This will lock in the vertical concave of the door panel.

[68454RS]

Amazing work and I appreciate all the fiberglass tips you can give, I'm in the process of building a Factory Five '33 Hot Rod and it's all fiberglass.

[Goosesdad]

Originally Posted by 68454RS

Amazing work and I appreciate all the fiberglass tips you can give, I'm in the process of building a Factory Five '33 Hot Rod and it's all fiberglass.

Thanks! Your '33 looks like it's gonna be a ton of fun!
There is some good fiberglass tips, humbly, a few pages back. Hope they help.

[Goosesdad]

Blending the passenger side of the lower dash into the center AC panel and the door panel.


Here is a bottom view of the center AC vent panel.


Here is the back view of that panel. This is the just the wooden plug for the fiberglass mold. Thought you might enjoy the behind the scenes comedy of construction here!


Using 2 sided foam tape as the .065" spacer between the interior panels to make room for the leather.
The gauges, head unit and AC switches are of course only paper copies, keeping the real parts safe in the box!
Once this is done, I can get back to the center console. Still up in the air with how it will lay out.

[WSSix]

Where did you learn all of this fiberglassing work, John? Love seeing the boring steps. Helps me understand how it's done.

[Goosesdad]

Originally Posted by WSSix

Where did you learn all of this fiberglassing work, John? Love seeing the boring steps. Helps me understand how it's done.

Hi Trey! I worked at a shop called Odyssey Engineering when I was in college, a million years ago. We built all kinds of race car bodies and such but mostly Funny Car bodies. Got to spend time with the likes of Bernstein, Prudhomme and Kalitta, building the plugs and molds for their cars. Best job I ever had though the fiberglass dust in my lungs probably is gonna kill me.....I bet we all wish we wore masks when we were young! Glad this is helping you.

[Goosesdad]

Made the plug for the last part of the dash. Right now the thinking is the final parts will get covered with leather and then the inserts will be carbon.


Lots more to come here, those holes will get filled in for the final plug, before a mold is taken...just needed access to screw it up to the dash for now. There will be an additional piece to cover some of the AC evap but that will get made after the center console is done. Next.