Hello, I am asking for some help from individuals (customers) and any fiberglass manufacturers that read this forum. I am building a 1964 Falcon vintage road race car. I am allowed to run Fiberglass panels specifically: Hood, Fenders, Doors and Trunk lid. Ill be using the stock hinges for the hood and trunk minus the springs and the parts will need to be stock appearing including the interior structure. I have done some research on vendors and have found a few different companies that manufacture these parts but I have a hard time getting clear answers when I call them to discuss the quality and materials used. I have not had good experience in the past with the quality of glass panels I have purchased. I would like to ask for recommendations and experiences on where I should spend my money based on quality and customer service. Price doesnt matter when you have to buy it twice. I have the following concerns that I will list. Thanks in advance! Mark Edges of the panel: The edges of the unmolded part are vague (poor mold design) or trim guy trimmed away the edges on your hood or fender. I dont want to have to recreate what should have been there to start with. Panel thickness: Thickness of the outer and inner skins combined is too thick and the part will never sit on the car correctly even when considering the generous OEM tolerances for mounting. Matt : I want something that is not made entirely from matt or shot with a chopper gun. (There are a lot of things that could be listed here on materials but I will keep it simple.) Parts will require some work to be fitted to the vehicle: Sure I understand this as long as this doesnt become a restoration process on a new item. Shipping /Customer Service: They use the same packaging that is shown on the website. They dont just place it in an oversize box and let the part hammer all the corners off to the destination. And if this latter mistake is made I dont have to enter into a debate to get them to stop pointing their finger at the shipping company.
No,but a friend of mine recently bought a hood and deck lid and they looked pretty good. Back when we were working on Greg's car we used a lot of parts from this company.HRP http://www.critesperformanceparts.com/
Love to see what you are building, especailly since I have a 63 Convertible Road Race/Autocross Falcon. But first go here http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44274 and do what rule 6 says
crites performance parts ! built them all these years for the t bolts falcons and comets ! ordered a teardrop hood this summer for my 65 falcon ! fit like a glove and i was very impresed w the fit and finish inside and out ! nice thick glass ! quality piece in my opinion ! i plan on getting my fenders and trunk lid from them also !
I'd say the quality of my teardrop hood from Crites was better than average crap you see out there. Here is my bitchlist: They left the edges long which is good, however the hood is 1/4 flatter in the middle than the fenders. Hopefully I can fix this. I asked for a lightweight hood and told them it was going on a racecar with no need for latch provisions. What I got was a standard weight hood with latch provisions. It's a really wet layup too that is all matt. I also ordered a set of front and rear bumpers, again, same request for raceweight and got heavyweight. They did ship out the hood pretty close to when they said they would. If you have straight sheetmetal to deal with, I would suggest making molds and doing your own parts. Good quality composite parts cost. There isn't any way around it. Good tooling takes time. Stiff lightweight parts require quality materials and manufacturing practices. I'm interested in your Falcon build. What are your plans? SVRA, HSR, NASA American Iron Vintage?
Thanks for the reply Hotroddon. I will go ahead and get that intro out there soon. I’m getting all my photos uploaded and will share some of the project soon. I’d like to see your corner carving Falcon as well. Hi Dirtbag, The information on the fit sounds very promising from Crites based on your feedback. I want to stay away from buying anything that is thick however as the point is to get the car as light as possible as well as lowering the CG. Howdy MFP, Sounds like they didn’t listen to what you were asking for or don’t have what we are both after but wouldn’t tell you that. As far as making my own molds. I hear ya. I have done it before. I am doing the majority of the work on this car myself though and I don’t have the luxury of time to spend on this. On top of that I don’t want to spend the money on building the molds if its just for me. If I did this I’d have to sell parts to make sure they paid for themselves. On top of that these things take up a lot of space and are always begging to get damaged with moving them around. As far as plans for the car - Pikes Peak and RMVR are where I plan to run the car. Mark
Well it wasn't what I wanted, but I got something! Time to work on the racecar... what's that? Yeah, what started out as "just a set of disc brakes, shocks/springs, and a rollbar" ended up turning into a 2 year project so far. Sounds like we need a Road Race Falcons Done Right thread. I have some pics of my '64 Sedan over here: http://www.corner-carvers.com/forums/index.php Look under suspension, chassis, and fab. Plenty of Falcon/Mustang suspension threads over there to keep you busy for hours.
Okay, We have some feedback on two sources. http://www.critesperformanceparts.com/ http://www.usbodysource.com/ What about these others as well? Any experience here? Also.. is anyone aware of anyone else? http://www.showcars-bodyparts.com/falcon.html http://www.up22.com/falcongto.htm#FALCON http://www.glasstek.com/ Mark
Yes, she was all steel back then. I wanted to scale it "stock" to get an idea of what I was starting with. That's with no fuel or water and iron heads, but a 4spd Jerico. The Jerico prolly weighs a good 30lbs less then my toploader. Since then I've added some additional steel. I've also gone to a 9" with 11" drums so more added weight but in the right place. The rollcage is going to add another 100lbs easy. I think with the fiberglass hood, bumpers, and replacing all the side and rear glass with plastic I can still keep it at 2500 lbs. Those doors from US Body would be the best bang for the buck. If you've ever pulled a door loaded with the glass and window mechanics you'll know why. Personally I'd keep the trunk till last. It's a heavy piece but you're keeping some weight over the ass end.
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