Fun With Fiberglass! Part 2!!

At the end of my last post, I some how managed to learn just enough about fiberglass to add a nice candy coated shell to my floral foam mock-ups.

And that’s exactly how they felt with a single layer of glass, they were kind of hard on the outside, but if you gave them a good enough squeeze you could feel the nugent inside!

After trimming up some rough spots and multiple test fittings with the headlight bezels I think I got to a happy place.

After the test fittings came the real work, hollowing out the foam!

Once most of the foam was removed, at least enough to lay down some more fiberglass I went to work.  While this has been a great learning experience, what a PITA this is!  Kudos to those people out there that work with fiberglass everyday!

After some trial and error I was able to lay it down in the inside and let it set for a few days before adding another layer.  I used 10 oz cloth, so I think it is thick enough, they certainly feel solid!

Since they are not structural, I tried to find a balance of making them strong enough to handle being on the car, but not so strong that they need to stop a train (not going to happen).  I think I have hit that goal.  Maybe a little more resin in spots than I wanted but I can always do them over down the road, unless I score some decent ’74 fenders!

Test Fitting:

I went out to the garage and test fitted them on the Monaco, and I am pleasantly surprised!

Taking into consideration that these are handmade pieces that relied on no exact measurements I am really happy they turned out as well they did.

They are in no way perfect, and if you look close enough you will see differences between the two, but hell the Bluesmobile was not perfect and it wasn’t meant to be, so I think we’ll be good.

I’m going to start the finishing work (sanding, trimming, priming) while they are off the car so I can attach with clips and make sure I am happy with the progress.

The plan will be to attach the backs to the fenders via a fiberglass to metal epoxy (like the use on new cars being built).  I may still throw a couple of bolts in the factory holes just for peace of mind.  A coat of filler over the seam to blend the pieces into the fender to make it look like a one piece fender like the factory is the goal.

I will also attach the fiberglass pieces to the header panel via factory bolts, but no need to blend since those aren’t one piece.