where can i find the raw fiberglass? I LOVE what your doing

 

That is comming along nicly. Would aluminum tubing work better that the PCV?

I think finished in a leather wrap would look rich as you example photo.

 

Just about any good auto parts store. Even Wal-Mart has some cheap stuff.

 

Just remember that there are different "styles" of fiberglass including mats, strands in a can, and weaves. They have different strengths and uses and some are easier to sand and shape.

 

That is what I was thinking of doing, cutting the pvc to follow the curve, with all of them angled toward the driver. I planned on painting it with a mettalic blue similar to my car color, but I may change my mind once I get to that point...

I took picture of the polyester resin and mekp that I used, it has the name on it, you can also order from www.uscomposites.com, pretty widely know as the go to shop for fiberglass supplies. Thanks for the compliment...

Never thought of using aluminum tubing, suppose it would work, actually may work better since there are some bonding issues with fiberglass and pvc. Will have to check that out next week when the steel yards in my area are open... I agree that leather wrap would look a little classier compared to a painted finish, I will have to read into leather wrapping and see how difficult it is...

 

I see this is your first time with fiberglass work I am becoming very intereted and i was wondering if you find this work very difficult. I was looking at the fiberglasfourm and it shot so many ideas into my head

 

I have been reading every post on the fiberglassforums for the past few years, but have never even so much as seen fiberglass before this project. I recommend reading as much as you can beforehand, so when something goes wrong, and it probably will, you know how you can fix it before the resin sets up, or how you can fix it once it hardens. A problem I ran into was the chopmat had some bubbles in it, so I ripped it off while it was still wet and layed some fresh chopmat down and tried a different way of applying the resin, more of a stab/brushing motion. I also ran into a problem of the duraglass setting up way too fast, and setting up with huge irregular clumps on the dash, about the only thing I could do was let it fully harden and break out some 60 grit paper, next batch I mixed in a few drops of polyester resin into the duraglass and a little less cream hardener and got a smoother paste and filled in the holes. On the last batch of duraglass I mixed in too much polyester resin and not quite enough hardener, this was on Friday morning and I don't think it has still hardened, so tomorrow I will have to sand or file off the last batch. Not really huge problems, just minor inconviences that make it annoying, but it part of the learning experience. You can check out my post on the fiberglassforum or other good post here, http://www.fiberglassforums.com/showthread.php?t=4455

 

hmmm ive been studying that site all day....now only if i could do it for my schoolwork.... but the one thing i have not seen anything about is price. Is this expesive work?

 

Hey David, what's that stretchy fabric that you pulled over the wood frame?

 

A gallon of polyester resin will run about $30, chop mat runs about $2.50 a sqaure yard, a box of 36 brushes runs $15, $20 for a respirator. Pretty cheap overall, its the other things that get you, like new gauges to fit in your new dash.

 

Its just some polyester/spandex like material I picked up at Walmart, it stretchs really far in all directions. I know other people use old bed sheets, fleece, t-shirts, its all personal preference or whatever you can get your hands on. Just make sure whatever you use you wet it out all the way. The material will not give any structural strength, it will only hold the shape so you can apply fiberglass chopmat. Also make sure you stretch it really tight, I was right at the point of it ripping before I glued it to the frame with ca glue and began brushing resin on it.

 

you might want to get a hole saw and drill out the holes for the tubes and then position them/jig them up and fiberglass the inside to lock them on place...... i would also drill a few 1/4" holes in the tubing if you send it through the form so this way the resin has a way to lock into the tubing...

b

 

I am thinking its too cold to do any glassing right now, I will have to bring the car in tonight.

 

Misted the fiberglass with some primer, then block sanded it with some 60 grit, you can see there are still low spots, but the fiberglass was getting pretty thin on the edges, so I then layed some fiberglass cloth down and wetted it out. I am also still trying to figure out an easy way to get the gauges so they all stick out and are even without getting cracks later on down the road when the pvc pops loose...

 

I laid up some fiberglass chopmat and sanded that down, then filled in the low spots with duraglass and then gave it another sanding, it is really flat and fairly smooth for now so I moved on. I cut the back of the console open and laid out some guidelines for the gauges on the front side. I picked up a 2.25" hole saw bit and drilled holes for the gauges on the drill press. The holes are 2.25" but I will need ~2.375" for the pvc to fit into, but this is what I want it to look like when I get finished.

 

Added some chopmat to the back where it seperated from the wood, and drilled the rest of the holes. I still need to do a little sanding on the holes so they are all in line and equally spaced, but it is close. Ordered some 2.25" o.d. aluminum tubing today, I will be using that in place of the pvc, due to bonding issues with the pvc.

 

still coming great i cant wait to see it!

 

Looks interesting, I will be watching this thread for sure!

 

looking good.

 

Thanks!