Projects Re fiberglassing and reinforcing a fiberglass T bucket [help]

Get a metal door. Fibergl*** ****s.

 

I don't think he was asking for you to critique fibergl*** bodies. If you don't like em, don't buy one !

Don

 

Good one Don.

 

Let me just throw this out for general info...When I started to do the glas work on my roadster project, I looked up a local shop that made f/glas products( lift bucket liners, fast-food booths, go-cart bodies, etc )
I went there, showed them pics of my project and they let me buy the resins,mat ,cloth, waxes, gelcoat, right out of their bulk supplies ...They even gave me a quick tutorial on the process to get me started . I saved some money , learned a great deal from them , was able to consult on problems and made some new friends..I made it a point to drive the car over after I finished to thank them...
Just another approach as far as a source of supplies...
Stan

 

This is an ideal situation, back when we were playing w/ boats , 1 of the guys worked for a c. that made f-gl*** sunroom roofs , we got most of a roll of damaged mat & all the outdated resin we wanted for FREE ..... plus the 2 guys who were in charge really knew how to handle the stuff..
dave

 

Don,
I noticed you had all your wood parts numbered, which made me curious? Was that just for your own reference, or do you have a set of Templates from somewhere?

Hi_Tone,
I second Chester Greenhalgh's book as a good one, if you haven't been there already, check out www.tbucketplans.com. I think the pictured edition is long out of print. and this is the current version
“How to Build a T-Bucket Hot Rod Roadster for Under $3000: kickin’ it old skool”.
It's available over there. They also have three different DVD's that go into T-bucket and other street rod fibergl*** body mods, paint and body, etc. (I don't have these yet, but they have some demo clips on the site.).

Lastly, what are your plans for upholestry? Do it yourself or pay someone? If you plan on paying someone, now might be a good time to visit a couple of shops (unless you already know whom you'll be using) with your body as they will probably have some input as to what they will need to attach the interior to.

Kurt (Blownfuel)

 

I don't care what it is, but fg is tough to repair.

 

Lots of good info from Don. As my screen name imply's I work in the marine industry, so I will add some to what Don started. There are a couple of things I haven't seen addressed yet - the contour of the body, and dealing with the seam line from the door.

First, the contour of the body. I am guessing that these "T" bodies are fairly flimsy to start with, and when the door was cut out I'm guessing it got pretty wiggly. Curing fibergl*** creates heat, and will move around more than people expect. It is important to both secure the door in the opening, and to jig the body into the correct contour while it cures. You want the repaired side to match the original side. In this case you have the other side of the body to use as a guide / template. If it were me, I would take the time to make two wood braces that tightly fit the contour of the good side of the body from the firewall, across the door opening, to the rear of the body - then use them to create a mirror image for the cut side. One as high up on the body side as you can get it, the other a few inches up from the bottom of the door. Secure them inside the body with screws drilled from the outside. Then secure the door in the opening. Once the door is gl***ed back in filling the holes is no biggie.

The other issue is the seam in the door. To get away from a lifelong fight with cracks or print-through of the door opening, I would do use the following procedure. Once you have the body braced as above, grind the area around the door opening back about 2.5 inches all the way around - you want the edge almost a point feathered out to the surface. Then grind the door the same way, from the edge feathered out to the surface. Now cut your mat in strips starting at 1/2 inch wide and stepping up to 1.5, 3.0, and 4.0 inches. Start your layers from narrow to wide out towards the surface. I would do this on the outside, and then just gl*** over the seam on the inside. You could do it from both sides, but I doubt the body has enough laminate thickness to work with to go both ways, and frankly don't think its necessary in this application.

Sorry for being long winded, and that the instructions seem like overkill, but both items will help result in the straightest and most trouble free body in the long run.

Good luck!

 

Boatmark,
I have a question we were discussing over on another thread that you might be able to help out with. Do you have any suggestions on how to recreate the raised body line that outlines the door opening once the body is structurally back together?

Thanks,

Kurt (Blownfuel)

 

Just a reminder: f'gl*** resin goes off with the absence of oxygen. A finishing resin has liquid wax (usually paraffin) in it and when it goes off and heats up, the wax rises to the surface and seals it off. Laminating resin usually does not have the wax, doesn't harden and remains tacky so the next layer/laminate of gl*** will stick to it. So when you're doing repairs like you mentioned with the door, make sure that you grind the surface wider than the repair area to remove any residual wax that could be left from the mfg. or use a proper wax remover (acetone or the like) that is made for this purpose.

 

Thanks every one for all your advice and don's hot rods I will look up a lot of books so thanks for all who threw a book name out there too

 

Well . . . . there are a bunch of ways to attack this one I guess. You could use the good side of the body, and pull an impression mold etc. But that is a lot of time, work, money and materials for a one off. So I'm thinking in this case I would do the following.

Use the good side to create a pattern of the bead. Use that pattern to build a hardwood frame that would encomp*** the bead, and a few inches around it. I'm thinking generic 1x oak from the home center. Then find a router blade, or combination of router blades that will get you to the profile of the bead. (I'm guessing the bead really isn't that tall) Carefully mill out the bead profile in the wood frame with the router. Now we have a quickie mold.

Next, steal a roll of common baking wax paper from the kitchen, and a can of spray glue. (the hobby stuff) Spray the mold, and apply the wax paper (wax side facing you) onto the mold. There are much more high-tech mold release alternatives, but for this scenario a couple of layers of wax paper will be fine. (use one, but if you can feel woodgrain through it, add another layer)

Finally, cut the material to fit, and laminate a part. I would do one layer with an overlap out onto the frame. Then as many narrow layers in the depression to build it nearly to the surface. Then one layer across equal to the first layer. I would be laminating this at the same time you are laminating the door into the body.

Once the bead has kicked off, but while still in that rubbery stage, carefully pull / peel it from the mold. Lay it on the bench, again on a sheet of wax paper, cut off the excess material so all you have is the bead. Mix some resin with a filler (cabosil, microballoons, or in a pinch baby powder) and make a paste the consistency of peanut ****er.

Smear some of the paste onto the back of the bead - enough fill small voids, but don't go nuts. You are essentially using it as a glue. For good measure, take some s**** mat, pull it apart, and press some of the strands into the glue (a few, not a lot) Apply to the still wet seam on the body, and lightly clamp into place. You might have to get creative - maybe turn the body with the door up, and just put some objects on the bead to hold it snug. Then take some of the filler on a finger and fill into the side of the seam around both sides of the bead. Enough to fill any voids, but again don't go nuts - you want the edge defined so you can follow it when doing bodywork and paint.

Once it is all dry you should a have a door bead matching the other side. It will still need to be tuned up during the bodywork stage, but will be a solid base to work from .

This is one of those things where there are several ways to skin the cat - I'm curious Kurt - Blownfuel, what were the other ideas thrown around in the other thread? (link?)

 

I can't remember if anyone came up with any good suggestions on how to reproduce it, we were more discussing the need to move it. One of the members is handicapped, and is trying to design a handicap accessable T Bucket. It's in the Bucket of Ugly thread (http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-bucket-of-ugly-a-de-uglifying-thread.824491/page-245). It starts around post 2734 if I remember right.

 

Well... In one sense it's hard, in another, it's a piece of cake. The downside it that then you need to fix it, it's broken into pieces (or at least cracked), you need to remove the damaged stuff, align the remains and make them stick together by adding new fibergl*** between and over the edges. Metal is, by comparison, most often only dented or rusted out and you "only" need to get it back to the correct shape, or weld in a piece with the correct shape. The upside to fibergl*** is that as long as you have most of the structure left, all you need to do is to remove the damaged areas, get it back to shape and recreate what's missing.

Boats have been repaired after the crane lifting them has flipped forward, crushing and cutting the boat in half with the boom. A huge and very expensive job ofcourse, but compared to a car it would be like a tree falling over the car, pushing the center of the roof all the way down to the ground and crushing everything in between. I'm sure some cars like that has been rescued, but very few.