Jump to content
SAU Community

Fibreglass Experts Needed

SKY 34

By SKY 34,
in Exterior & Interior Styling

 Share

Recommended Posts

SKY 34 Mentor

SKY 34

Posted
Posted

hiya,

I'm trying to make my own fibreglass interior middle panel thingy, the radio stuff.

The idea is to use plaster to mould the interior panel from the inside, then do a reverse mould. and add some custom bits into the plaster.

Get fibreglass resin and voila..

the problem is, I have no idea how fibreglass works...I have seen those fibreglass pack thingy sold in bunning, do I get one of these and it'll work? or do i need like a seperate resin to stuck everything together?

I intend to make a sort of "sliding panel" to hide my head unit, so the fibreglass section have to be thin. From what I have read so far, I need to sand the fibreglass to get smooth surface. but if my fibreglass is thin, I think it'll crack the moment I sand it... can I just spray a really thick layer of primer making everything smooth?

How do i get the super glossy look the audio shops produce when painting the panels?

cheers

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/141746-fibreglass-experts-needed/
Share on other sites
dori34 Grand Master

dori34

Posted
Posted

make the panel with 2-3 layers of fibreglass if you want it to be extra strong, mix up the resin itself and brush it over the finished product - then you can prime it up etc make it smooth & ready for painting.

the fibreglass repair kits they sell @ bunnings would be sufficient,

Omurru Veteran

Omurru

Posted
Posted

either that or look up your yellow pages and find a shop that sells firbeglassing and moulding stuff, they will be able to help you out with supplying a proper fine weave glass (the bunnings kit's I have seen are only chopmat). Using a fine weave glass over chopmat will give you a better result with 'sharper edges' especially as it's only a small component.

To make the mould don't worry about making the inside mould just make the reverse one with the insert to begin with, polish the insert up with some floor polish so that it doesn't stick to the plaster mould. Then when laying the glass polish the inside of the mould with the same stuff so the resin doesn't stick to it.

For best finnishing results either do a gelcoat layer (this is easy and you dun have to mess around with sanding and painting and shit) the gelcoat layer just gets painted in before you lay the glass. The way they get the really shinny finnish is they use a 2pac paint and gloss out of a gun. Because it's an interior panel just bog it up with carbog to smooth it out and get a good surface for painting.

The sliding panel is a bit beyond me though, if I was gonna do that I would just use a plastic piece and paint it the same and find some plastic U channel for it to slide on and use some glass and resin to fix it into the back of the insert, as for keeping it open perhaps a small magnet or something.....

Silent Proficient

Silent

Posted
Posted

Heres my custom dash, is this what you mean?

I cut out a piece of arcylic to suit with a jig made for my router, then glasses it in from behind. Unless your good with a router I would nt reccomend it.

post-30928-1162698582.jpg

Godzilla32 Veteran

Godzilla32

Posted
Posted

I used to design and build fibreglass body kits. If you need help on mould making and replication using gelcoat and fibreglass i will be happy to help. Its tricky if youve never done it b4 but once you know how its all pretty much the same technique.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • GTSBoy
      Unpeeling the Orange

      By GTSBoy · Posted

      The rain is the best time to push to the edge of the grip limit. Water lubrication reduces the consumption of rubber without reducing the fun. I take pleasure in driving around the outside of numpties in Audis, WRXs, BRZs, etc, because they get all worried in the wet. They warm up faster than the engine oil does.
    • Dose Pipe Sutututu
      Unpeeling the Orange

      By Dose Pipe Sutututu · Posted

      When they're dead cold, and in the wet, they're not very fun. RE003 are alright, they do harden very quickly and turn into literally $50 Pace tyres.
    • GTSBoy
      Unpeeling the Orange

      By GTSBoy · Posted

      Yeah, I thought that Reedy's video was quite good because he compared old and new (as in, well used and quite new) AD09s, with what is generally considered to be the fast Yokohama in this category (ie, sporty road/track tyres) and a tyre that people might be able to use to extend the comparo out into the space of more expensive European tyres, being the Cup 2. No-one would ever agree that the Cup 2 is a poor tyre - many would suggest that it is close to the very top of the category. And, for them all to come out so close to each other, and for the cheaper tyre in the test to do so well against the others, in some cases being even faster, shows that (good, non-linglong) tyres are reaching a plateau in terms of how good they can get, and they're all sitting on that same plateau. Anyway, on the AD08R, AD09, RS4 that I've had on the car in recent years, I've never had a problem in the cold and wet. SA gets down to 0-10°C in winter. Not so often, but it was only 4°C when I got in the car this morning. Once the tyres are warm (ie, after about 2km), you can start to lay into them. I've never aquaplaned or suffered serious off-corner understeer or anything like that in the wet, that I would not have expected to happen with a more normal tyre. I had some RE003s, and they were shit in the dry, shit in the wet, shit everywhere. I would rate the RS4 and AD0x as being more trustworthy in the wet, once the rubber is warm. Bridgestone should be ashamed of the RE003.
    • Kinkstaah
      Unpeeling the Orange

      By Kinkstaah · Posted

      This is why I gave the disclaimer about how I drive in the wet which I feel is pretty important. I have heard people think RS4's are horrible in the rain, but I have this feeling they must be driving (or attempting to drive) anywhere close to the grip limit. I legitimately drive at the speed limit/below speed the limit 100% of the time in the rain. More than happy to just commute along at 50kmh behind a train of cars in 5th gear etc. I do agree with you with regards to the temp and the 'quality' of the tyre Dose. Most UHP tyres aren't even up to temperature on the road anyway, even when going mad initial D canyon carving. It would be interesting to see a not-up-to-temp UHP tyre compared against a mere... normal...HP tyre at these temperatures. I don't think you're (or me in this case) is actually picking up grip with an RS4/AD09 on the road relative to something like a RE003 because the RS4/AD09 is not up to temp and the RE003 is closer to it's optimal operating window.
    • Dose Pipe Sutututu
      RB20DE NEO smallbox clutch.

      By Dose Pipe Sutututu · Posted

      Either the bearing has been installed backwards OR the gearbox input shaft bearing is loosey goosey.   When in doubt, just put in a Samsonas in.
×
×
  • Create New...