zeke5551

I was just looking for good sources of fiberglass repair supplies; resins, cloth, gelcoat and bonding adhesives. Will be starting on some major repairs on a damaged 61. I have mostly original body panels for the repairs, except a few small pieces. Is there a manufacturer/supplier that you guys recomend for body panels? Also, has anyone heard of any books specifically geared for fiberglass repair on cars (or specificaly Corvettes). I'm a aircraft mechanic and have experience/training making aircraft composite repairs, but the proccesses and materials are way more advanced than automotive. Plus, the supply sources are very expensive (over kill). I haven't found a local body shop that seems to have enough experience with fiberglass repairs, so I wil do them myself before passing the body on for finish work and paint. Can anyone recomend a stripper that will remove old paint and not soften the resin? I've gotten lots of opinions locally, so I thought I'd ask the guys who are really working on their Vettes. I only want to do this once. I know I asked about a dozen questions, but I really appreciate any input.
Thanks, Zeke

Mike Geary

Zeke:

There's a one-man shop here in Tucson who specializes in fiberglass supplies. You walk in, look around, and you know you're in the right place. He's got mat in all weights and widths. Same with cloth. He's got fresh, primo polyester resin. He's got pigments so you can create cream or charcoal colored layups. Gelcoat & PVA? No problem. Chopped strands and milled fibers too for repair mixes.

Don has been in the FRP supplies business for over 40 years and when he hangs it up --it will be a big loss. He basically keeps the business open as a retirement hobby.

Don can be reached at 520 791-9986 before 1:00 pm every weekday except Wednesday.

DansYellow66

The polyester resins as noted above are far improved over the old resins. For a paint stripper, try Captain Lee's paint stipper for fiberglass. A lot of people here have used it successfully. In general, Evercoat supplies a lot of good quality fiberglass supplies and can be found in most auto paint supply stores.

I bought most of my stuff years ago through Ecklers Corvette as they built up a little nich in fiberglass repair and gel coat products. But, I'm not sure they are the same company today they were years ago.

zeke5551

Please keep this advise coming. I just hate doing things twice or have paint come up after a year. My car was restored previously, but after 10 years the paint/filler is coming up in large sections...very scary. I will take it all down to bare fiberglass, so the info on stripper is going to be very useful. After fixing the previous owners damage and bad repairs, I wanted to gel coat the whole body.
Thanks, Zeke

stylin64

The stripper that I used is called Citristrip. It is orange, and smells like orange. It is a mild stripper, that will remove the paint, and it leaves some of the primer. This is good, since you really don't want the stripper, on the bare fibergalss. I used this to strip the paint, and I used a 5" rubber sanding block to remove the primer. Make sure that you use plenty of water, to rinse the stripper residue. This stripper does not contain methylene chloride, which will harm the fiberglass substrate. Another plus for this stripper, is that it is, non toxic. Good luck.

csherman

Fiberglass repairs and bonding - I use Glasin
Especially for cracks.

mrg

For fiberglass replacement panels many here have recommended Sermersheim's. That's who I used when I did some panel replacements on my '64. The Sermersheim panels I received were very good quality PM (press molded) panels.

For a bonding adhesive, in my experience Lord Fusor 127EZ worked really well. With a 60 minute 'cook off' window there's plenty of time to get panels and/or bonding strips lined up just so.

Tap Plastics was my go-to source for fiberglass mat and resin. Vette Panel Adhesive was used to fill the bonding strip gap between panels. I found VPA to also be a great 'bondo' body filler so it was also used for that purpose where needed.

For mixing catalyst and resin (if using polyester resin): 10-15 drops of catalyst per ounce of resin works well. Varies slightly +/- with ambient temperature.

Glas-Ra publishes a how-to on fiberglass repair. Eckler's also has a fiberglass how-to repair guide but I believe that booklet is out of print.

It sounds like you have experience working with composite materials. Working with fiberglass mat and resin should be right up your alley. You'll get the hang of it pretty quick, I'm sure.

Use 36-40 grit sandpaper for roughing up the surface you intend to repair to give the mat and resin some 'teeth' to adhere to. A roller should be used to roll out, smooth, and remove trapped air between the added new mat and resin and/or between layers of built-up mat and resin.

Build up the mat and resin to surrounding body height, or slightly above. When 'dry', block sand to contour - 80 grit initially, then finer grits until just so. If more mat and resin needs to be added on top of mat and resin already applied, re-sand (36-40 grit) the area where new mat and resin will be applied, roll out, etc. ..

Once you get good at it you can come pretty close to doing a fiberglass mat and resin repair that will finish out at body height, or just slightly under. Usually, a body filler material will need to be applied to finish out the repair, but it won't be much.

zeke5551

This is all terriffic info. I've done a lot of wet lay-up repairs on small aircraft wheel pants and cowlings, so the proccesses are no big deal. I really need good sources of supplies. The one thing I've never done is bonding new panels in and working with gel coat. I just had my frame trued and will make a rolling fixture matching the frame to body points. I've owned C1s, C2s and C3s, but they were decent cars with few body issues (stress cracks at the worst), so this is pretty exiting to bring one back from the grave. My wife calls it a kit car, because it is made from so many different pieces of cars...all in fun.
Thanks, Zeke