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
      NC MX5

      By GTSBoy · Posted

      Does that German restaurant still exist in the old place out the NW end of Goulburn? When I say "out the NW end of"...I am really being vague. It was 1997 when I was last there, and the only point of reference I can recall is that it was on the opposite side of the main drag from the big merino. And when I say "opposite side of the main drag", I don't mean "on the main drag". It was either a couple of streets back from there, or might have even been out in the sticks a bit further. Was an old farm building or mill or somesuch. And when I say "the big merino" I might actually be thinking of a completely different part of town, because I just looked on maps and the big bugger is not where I remembered him to be! The food was good, consisting largely of various German mystery-meat sausage/loaf things and kartofflen.
    • GTSBoy
      R33 GTR running -9 with no tune

      By GTSBoy · Posted

      So while the second sentence is completely correct and the whole point of the conversation, the first sentence bears consideration. If this bloke is just hoping to throw big turbos on and drive it around, because there are no helpful facilities at all in his tropical paradise** then he likely has zero chance of even knowing what the TP is on the last column in the stock maps, let alone know whether the ECU is operating anywhere near it or past it. So the point is very very moot. And, per what I said before, at stock boost on those turbos, you may well be off the end of the map. **I'm just back from Vanuatu, so I know exactly what small Pacific nations can be like wrt paradise without requisite facilities. But it's not even that simple. I put a high flow on my car and had to drive it around with a proper tune because of the lack of opportunity*** to put the bigger AFM and injectors into it to allow it to be tuned. I had to turn the boost down to less than I had before, and back off the boost controller's ramp, because it was exploring parts of the map that it didn't drive in before, and really couldn't access for tuning on the dyno either, and so was pinging. It was still well within the last column, because when I first**** set up the Nistune on the Neo I rescaled all axes of the maps to give some more space to explore. ***Family dyno was broken ****This was 13 years ago, and the TIM thing wasn't a thing then and so TP would definitely grow when pushing past the stock tune's limits.
    • joshuaho96
      Squeaking clutch/throw out bearing

      By joshuaho96 · Posted

      Yep, this bit another local owner. I caught it before putting the transmission back into the car, what I noticed was the pressure plate fingers weren't flat and even. It's more obvious with the pull style clutch because the throwout bearing ring was visibly not flat once everything is put together. Nismo should really update their instructions to call out this specific detail. I'm not even sure the clutch as-shipped orients everything properly.
    • jayden_l33
      Squeaking clutch/throw out bearing

      By jayden_l33 · Posted

      It ended up being that orientation of the float hub in relation to the clutch disk, when I installed it, I heard a loud click and being stupid, I decided to not take it a part and check it. The hub didn't properly align with the clutch disk and was causing the issue. Definitely an odd one! Dahtone Racing was able to fix me right up, stand up blokes!      
    • joshuaho96
      R33 GTR running -9 with no tune

      By joshuaho96 · Posted

      Right, but I'm saying on the stock ECU measured airmass from the MAF is no higher than stock. So it's accounting for the higher flow rate iso-manifold pressure. You just have to keep turning down the boost until you're within the stock tune's load scale. If you run off the end there's no telling what will happen. This does mean there's zero benefit to the turbos you're running vs stock, if anything it's just a straight downgrade because the transient response is worse, you don't even get the ECU's boost solenoid helping to pull the wastegate closed during initial spool, and peak power is only whatever the factory map can give you before you hit the R&R corner. On a -9 I would bet that you would have to change out the wastegate spring once you have a real ECU and you're tuning it for real. I'm not saying this is a remotely ideal state of affairs, it's just a way to keep it driveable until you can get a proper tune done.
×
×
  • Create New...