R34: Making Fiberglass Eyelids

[Howie]

Seeing as Nissan wanted $180 dollars for a pair of colour coded headlight eyelids, I thought i'd give it a go myself with some good old fashion fiberglassing and document it along the way.

1. Mark out with some masking tape whereabouts roughly you want the eyelid to sit eventually.

2. Lay a sheet of aluminum foil over the headlight area, and cover your bumper bars etc in case of spillage.

3. Get a hold of your fiberglass kit (includes the fiberglass matting, resin and hardener). And mix as much solution as you intend to use in the next 15-20minutes.

4. Then dampen the aluminum foil paper with your mix, using a fine brush. This allows the first sheet of fiberglass matt to stick to the alfoil.

5. Begin laying down your fiberglass matting and pasting the sheets with the solution.

6. You'll need three sheets to do the job. So continue until it looks like this :

7. Allow to dry completely. And remove.

8. Cut to shape, always comparing to the lines on the car.

9. Then using body filler (bog/putty), allow to dry, sandback to a rough finish, and wet-rub to a fine finish until satisfied it's all straight and ready for spraying.

10. Prime with suitable primer, and paint it.

11. Stick to car with double sided tape (the kind used on badging).

Then just sit back and enjoy your new eyelids

Hope you enjoyed this article.

Edited November 23, 2006 by Howie

[ali-turko]

good work buddy

[lingeringsoul]

excellent stuff, how much was the diy fibre glass kit?

[Howie]

Thanks fellas. LingeringSoul, the fiberglass kit was $27 bucks from memory, (which was the matt, the resin, the catalyst, a brush and mixing cup).

[tek_01]

awesome, will do that to my r33 when i get it on tuesday

hope they turn out good. how did u get the lines? im a bit mixed up on how u done it

[Howie]

I used masking tape to make it slightly raised.. then when you take off the fiberglass you can see where the line is (kinda like etching). It's not perfect, so you'll need to constantly check your lines/angles against the car.

[tek_01]

I used masking tape to make it slightly raised.. then when you take off the fiberglass you can see where the line is (kinda like etching). It's not perfect, so you'll need to constantly check your lines/angles against the car.

ok i see, i want to make my own aswell as all the ones out for r33 im not too keen on

[Cubes]

Top stuff Howie.. Look awesome.

I've recently bought a fiberglass kit from bunnings. It too was just under $30 so I'd assume it was the same one.

You have inspired me to get to work and make my center 3 gauge panel for the dash.

[Howie]

Thanks mate, i'm starting work on a couple more items.. one's a 2 1/4" gauge cup similar to mearcats, but it'll sit underneath the dash rather than above. Also going to do a fiberglass airbox and a center console when i get some more time.

Let us know how you go with your fiberglassing project mate!

[R33BORN]

those look mint! awesome job

[adoboy666]

by using this tutorial i made some for my r32

[Howie]

Looks pro mate