Feathering fiberglass repairs....

[Terry F.]

I have been working on a few fiberglass repairs. I decided to try something I saw once watching a guy do lead repair work on a steel body car. In any case, I sort of modified his technique a bit. I definitely won't call it my own idea though because I am sure that someone else has tried it. But I thought I would share it with people any way.

I love a perfect fiberglass repair. I think I am pretty good at achieving a strong repair. But, it takes me a lot of work to achieve a perfect contour to match the surrounding surface. The problem is too many compound curves???? Love the curves though!!! Well, to make repairs I tend to use a lot of original formula and fiberglass mat saturated with original formula and clamps (also I sometimes use epoxy and sometimes Lord fusor products). Then, I rough sand it and skim coat it with a plastic spreader. What I have found is that I can get very close to achieving good results with a plasic spreader but I have found something better!!!!! In my opinion, it works infinitely better. I NOW STARTED TO USE WELDING ROD! I take a long piece of welding rod and bend it to a shape of a three sided square. I grab the ends and use them like a handle. NOTE: The rod must overlap the repair far enough so that the rod will follow the natural contour of the fiberglass when pushed against it. I then grab the wire tool and smash it over the contour of the fiberglass near the repair and carefully drag it over the roughed in repair. With good light you can see any high spots and/or low spots. I then rough sand the high spots down and do a general rough sand of the area with 40 grit. Next, I mix up some original formula and spread it around the repair area (not too thick, just a thin coat). Then I take my tool and start off the surface of the repair and slowly drag it across the repair. The rod will nicely follow the contour of the body and recreate the contour over the repair. I have had great results using this technique. You can even bend the rod in two directions and work fender lips, etc. Hope this all makes sense. If you need a picture, let me know and I will send you some. Take care, Terry

[Tom B.]

Re: Feathering fiberglass repairs....

Good idea Terry. I have used several meathods of getting the correct contour over the years. I think yours is very easy to do and fast to form up. Thanks for the tip.

[Terry F.]

Your welcome! Terry *NM*

[Brad S.]

Re: Feathering fiberglass repairs....

Hey Terry, How big (diameter) is the welding rod And what do you mean by originat formula? Thanks Brad

[Terry F.]

Re: Feathering fiberglass repairs....

Brad, I have three different sizes of rod. The largest is about an 1/8 inch diameter. I sort of play around with it by trying the different sizes. If the curve is a tight radius, I use a smaller diameter rod so it will bend easier and form a natural curve. I use the rod as last step in finishing a repair and it seems to eliminate some of the sanding and guess work. If the filler starts to clump up too much it will fall off the rod and back on to the repair. Original formula is so easy to work with that I just make a pass over the repair. If it doesn't come out perfect I just let it harden, rough it up a bit and do it again. The better the job you do on the repair, the less you have to rely on the paint process (primer and sanding). The stuff I call original formula is panel adhesive that I buy from Corvette Immage. I like it because it is black and easy to work with and is the same color of the gray panels when sanded. It looks to have fiberglass powder and small fine fiberglass strands in it. It is similar desity to the panel and when you smash it into fiberglass cloth it makes a great repair. You always sort of have to know your limitations when it comes to making repairs though. But the adhesive can also be used for skim coating a fiberglass mat repair. At least that is what I have used it for. It is important to scuff the repair up so they will get max-bonding. Corvette perfection also sell some other stuff that is very similar but finer/thinner and a little different color. It is all a polyester resin base type stuff. Not trying to advertise the stuff, it just works well for me. I just made a small repair with Lord fusor product and I really liked it too. I think it might be the perfect adhesive for gluing figerglass that has pulled away from the steel door frame. You need to use primer on the steel though. I strongly recommend you buy a small/expensive can of high quality acid etching primer at a auto paint store. Works good and dries fast and the glue loves it. Terry

[Brad S.]

Re: Feathering fiberglass repairs....

Terry , I have 2 repairs on my 69 that i am concerned about . At some point in my cars life someone installed a scattershield . I am not sure if they used the wrong ball stud or throwout bearing. The clutch wasn't positioned right and there wasn't enough firewall clearance so out came the hammer and they beat a hole for clearance dirictly under the gas pedal. Rocket scientists HUH! It appears they used the same hammer to get the Positive battery cable grommet out of the battery box. What a mess! Any ideas?

[Terry F.]

Re: Feathering fiberglass repairs....

Send me a pictue of the damage if possible and I can comment on it better. I like fixing that sort of stuff because it is not visible and you can usually improve on anything that is there right now

My email address is tfringo@aol.com.

Some of it depends on what sort of fiberglass fragments are hanging around. You might be able to reuse them to some extent. The other thing is what you have to make the repairs with. If I have a box full of scrap black panels. I have often fused in another piece of black fiberglass to repair a hole. Hopefully, there will be some remnant of the original hole and you can sort of get an idea of where the new hole needs to be formed. Since it is under the car, you will have to clean it real well. I use lacqure thinner to clean fiber glass and soak the oil out of the area. The hole area needs to be clean so that when you grind you don't drag any grease or oil into the repair area

Try to email me some pictures if you can. How big is the hole in the fire wall or tunnel??

Terry