wondering about if i should try to make a fiberglas body of a car , since there is realy hard to get a nice american car that i can build a hotrod from. so how is a fiberglas body lasting vs a sheet metal one i would realy like to finde a willys coupe here in iceland, but just is not in a condition that it can realy be saved at least i´m told , so who of you hav build a fiberglass body of any car just want tips and some knowledge .
There's a company making absolutely incredi ble '33 and '40 Willys in fiberglass; some of the highest quality I've seen. IMO, if you are not a very experienced composites guy, you would be overwhelmed trying to do a project like that, especially a coupe or more complex body shape. Fiberglass bodies are not hard to get; they may be expensive to ship to Iceland, but they are available, and very durable if you shop wisely and find a company that makes a quality product.
well the thing is importing a fiberglas body is not an option at the moment and in general just wondering who hase made a fiberglas body by him self
Try talking to your boat building friends, there is not much differance making a fiberglass boat or a fiberglass car body.
I made a fiberglass Formula Ford body from a crashed body. A friend who was a fiberglass mold maker taught me the how to do it. Short instruction: Find good body to copy. Cover liberally with mold release, Make mold, make bracing on mold while on original body, get mold off original part, reassemble mold, apply lots of mold release, gel coat, build up fiberglass, get body out of mold, and bond parts together. Now thats not to complicated is it, would I do it again? NO. good luck Jim H
A few years ago I talked to a man who made f-glass shower stalls. He told me then if I had the mold he would spray it with f-glass for me. I didn't do it but he did several car hoods and bumpers for me. They say the chopper gun style isn't the best but it worked for me. In my opinion I think you would lose a lot of money unless you were able to do a bunch of them. Once the mold is done most of the labor is done,and your materials are only for the bodies. Best of luck.
ussrjeppi.....You need a body first to pull a mold from...Then making the mold is costly and time consuming,,then making the copy from your mold..is also very costly...Its much cheaper for you to just buy a Willys from existing mfg.. Price the raw materials and you will come to this same conclusion
Here's a thread that will give you an idea of what's involved... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=557888
I can't specifically answer your question...but I offer this for inspiration(?). I built this 4 yrs ago
It wouldn't be easy to make your own mold for a Willys but it should be possible to make your own mold for a vintage style roadster body. Boat builders would probably be your best source for information on materials and methods.
ussrjeppi Steve Lang..Langy on here and the NSRA (uk) site www.nsra.org.uk makes Willys coupe bodies in fibreglass in the UK. his build thread of one is here http://www.nsra.org.uk/newforum/showthread.php?t=44344making a mould can be done but for the mould you need a complete body to start with....making a one off body can also be done but both are time consuming and can be very expensive...it's prob cheaper and easier to import a glass body than build one yourself. Have a chat with Steve about importing one from over here. he may be willing to cut one in to smaller sections to pack it down smaller to reduce shipping costs.
I agree with paulatxntric; if at all possible, look to buy one, not build one, unless you are an experienced composites guy. I also disagree with talking to boat builders, their method is absolute s**t for car work. I'm a career composites guy, and have built everything from the Space Shuttle to wind turbines, and parts for Ferarris and Viper's, plus designing and building complete bodies for pro race teams and chassis builders. It's not an easy task, and when you become overwhelmed at the effort it takes, its easy to lose interest in the whole project. Just my humble opinion...
i built my own..little blue body in my pics. best tip i can give you is use good quality resin not the cheap off the shelf stuff. i got mine from a boat factory here in NC that buys it by the tanker full every week. shelf price on the cheap shit here is $40 a gallon. back door price of resin at the boat place for the good stuff $8 a gallon. i built mine with wood, soaked steamed and bent to shape. it was def a learning process and i prob wont do it again. after i glassed it i used tiger hair filler to fill in the low spots, then i primed it with poxy primer then sanded for a week straight. then used reg filler. STORM KING is right it is very hard to do and it will be overwhelming but if your a hard head like me then go for it. and the guys on here are right its alot cheaper time and money wise to buy one if its possible. i built a easier one being a "T" style based body...i could not even get the nerve to do a full body car with alot of curves. good luck
could you buy a whole body, have it cut into pieces and import it as parts? then glass it back together. just a thought. oh... wear long sleeves and wash up with cold water.
thanks fore the replys will probably save more money and buy a fiberglas body . but how long does a fiberglas body last where are the weak spots
My (mostly) fiberglass body has lasted for almost sixty years now. The sun is probably the single most destructive force you will encounter....
Yeah fiberglass is a pretty tough material ... Think about all the boats they have made out of it . And they have come along way in manufacturing the bodies . Fit , finish and quality is out there with several body manufacturers .
They last forever if you don't leave them out in the weather. Weak spots would have to be in the inner structure or lack of it in some bodys. Check the websites of various fiberglass body builders and you will see that most of the good ones spend a lot of time telling about their inner structure and metal frame work that the body has. Wescott is a good example. http://www.wescottsauto.com/ They have been around for a long time and put a lot of work into the metal structure of the body. When you look at the Outlaw Willys bodies they have steel and wood support structure in them http://www.outlawrods.com/index.cfm...category_id=84/home_id=71/mode=prod/prd43.htm It isn't just popping a body shell out of a mold and sticking it on a frame and heading down the road.
I have made my own race wieght hoods, bumpers and fenders. Its not overly difficult, but it IS labour intensive and not very pleasant work.
had a Gazelle kit car, kept it in my greenhouse every winter [full sun, high humidity], then out in the field as the plants needed more room [april] body held up fine, jellcoat faded
Finally a subject on this board where I can share some of my knowledge instead of lurking and learning everything I can. To the op: After building two OT composite vehicles ( I hesitate to call them cars) I will join the others here in saying you’re better off buying a body due to the expense and steep learning curve. That being said if you’re interested in putting the time, money, and effort into learning how composites work and how build with them, then by all means go for it. Just keep in mind that it will always be cheaper to buy a body than make one of your own. As far as strength and durability goes composites are just as if not stronger/ more durable as steel , if done correctly. I think the reason fiberglass gets a bad reputation is people treat it like steel. Composites are strong in tension (like pulling on a cable) not in shear ( ie. side loads, punctures). Treat them right and with proper internal bracing they’ll hold up just fine. Plus no worries about that rock chip rusting
well will try to buy the fiberglass body of a willys coupe . but will defenetly make a mold of the old truck body i have , and keep it inside , was even thinking about combining fiberglass and steel into a car body make the floor fromm steel, and make a square tubing structure and make then the outer body of fiberglass .
You will need good panel to pull a mould from so I'd look at a pre made kit as above. I did my MG hood from carbon fiber and will do the trunk soon - using proper technique you can get an A surface using resin infusion The seam in center will have a pin stripe to cover it - that way the pattern sweeps back real swoopy like Poverty leaves an impression
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