Who has fiberglass experience and can offer advice.

I want to finish the C7 seats so I can slap them in the coupe and get some use out of them. The main thing I have not solved yet is making a cover for the side impact airbags I have removed.

I encountered a cool fix elsewhere where the guy in Norway did it with fiberglass, but using a panel which appeared to have a hexagonal honeycomb frame within it. The final product looked clean enough for me so I'm down to try replicating the work. I just have never worked in fiberglass before.

I did find a product with pre-preg sheets which cures rapidly with a UV light called RapidFix. I am not sure if that is the answer for my interest though.

The seatback shells are symmetrical and I believe I can use each to create an accurate mold to use to cover the holes. Again, no experience with that but maybe I'm about to learn.

I thought I'd see who could offer what for advice before go about collecting equipment.

 

why didn't you just leave the airbags on there and avoid these types of issues?

 

Not ashamed to say so, but one aspect is appearance.

The other is practicality. Not only can they not work with this car but if or when I install the cage currently in my basement the removable swing arms which fit tightly to th door skin will go right through the space occupied by the bags.

 

Could you possibly start with the OEM mount points and create a 3D printed cover?

 

 

Yeah i think 3d printing would probably produce the cleanest part to insert there

 

Despite having started the thread for 3D products, I have no scanner or printer here with which to complete the job. Though it would be awesome to design a piece like that and add in pressure lock tabs and leave a pry point if they ever needed to be removed.

 

There's not much to it. Get the bondo kit at walmart or lowes and make some practice pieces. Fiberglass + epoxy will be transparent. You could attach any material pattern you fancy into the epoxy, lace,newspaper. Scraps of carbon off ebay shouldn't be too expensive if you want a raw look.

I made some carbon orthotics of my feet. Just put plastic bags over them wetted carbon pieces with a squeegee, placed them under my feet, then another plastic bag and taped around my feet and took a nap. You could prop a sandbag or weighted blanket to form it while it dries.Tried to do a similar custom shaped fiberglass seat back but never ended using it. For a smooth finish you can sand, paint on more epoxy or even clear spray paint and it will have gloss.

I used one of those uv kits on a rusted wheel well and it stuck but wasn't too pretty. They may have a shelf life.

Back in the early days or aero bicycle design I added foam and carbon airofoil shapes to a bicycle frame's tubes too.
Most recently I had a phone with a glass back (along with screen) that would crack just looking at it and was tired of replacing. I made a flat panel of carbon to cut into the phone shape. Then I thought I should look into its transmission qualities before gluing it on. Carbon is about the worst for allowing frequencies through.

 

That's motivational to hear

 

The 90 degree weave style will drape to the shape way better than the multidirectional chopped mat. laying it on a 45 will curve even easier. The UV kit I had was the matted style.