fiberglass tips

[brett84]

Hey
Anyone have any tips or pearls of wisdom for fibreglass repairs?
Seeing as my exploding plenum blew the bonnet support off, i'm going to glass it back.
I've bought one of the kits, and been reading online but just wondered if anyone has any tips which might help or stop me wasting time doing something wrong?

[Barreti]

Once you have the resin / hardener mixed don't piss about.
Lay down multiple layers in opposite directions

Wear gloves
Cover anything you don't want covered in gel coat

[Alexdaredevils]

Just resin it back on

[brett84]

I've just been looking at it and it looks like it was just resined on then some coats of glass laid on top (which look to have added bugger all strength).
Do you think just resin will be strong enough to hold it?

[Alexdaredevils]

brett84 said:

I've just been looking at it and it looks like it was just resined on then some coats of glass laid on top (which look to have added bugger all strength).
Do you think just resin will be strong enough to hold it?

Held mine ok for 2 years and still on

[brett84]

ok cool i'll do that tomorrow.
Might get it back on the road for the weekend if Rob at V8D has any ported plenums in stock

[SILICONEKID345HP]

brett84 said:

ok cool i'll do that tomorrow.
Might get it back on the road for the weekend if Rob at V8D has any ported plenums in stock

Dou have the 45mm trumpet base and port matched inlet manifold ?

[johnh8]

Perhaps when you repair the plenum you should consider fitting a pop off pressure relief valve. The are available from 9APART for about £23 and will stop it happening again. I found out about them the hard way £700 for a new 911 air box.

[Colin RedGriff]

This is a really good book about fibre glass repair, little hard to get hold of now though

[phillpot]

This has been around a few years now but still worth a read..... Repairing fibreglass



Got my materials from Polyfibre, Top Tip the guy gave me was ensure everything is dust free before you apply resin, you may think it won't matter, will just soak into the resin but apparently you won't get a good bond.

[SILICONEKID345HP]

I used this stuff ,Fibral U-POL glass fibre filler ,just add hardener.

http://www.gtautosupplies.co.uk/products/u-pol-fib...

[TA14]

phillpot said:

This has been around a few years now but still worth a read..... Repairing fibreglass

Yes MW is the guru: http://www.fibreglassservices.com/

[brett84]

Thanks guys, i'm going to resin in back on for now then i'll lay some sheets on top over the weekend.
I'm not fixing the plenum i'm getting a ported alloy one instead

[TA14]

If you're going to do that then cut a small piece off a sheet of matting and break it up so that the fibres are loose then mix them into the resin and apply to the car; it's a lot tougher (i.e. less brittle) then pure resin.

[davelittlewood]

Are you using epoxy or polyester resin?

I found SP and west epoxy to be great, good bond strength and doesn't go off as quickly as the polyester resin.

Used them both for repairing sailing dinghies

[Alexdaredevils]

Scratch the hell out of the area's with a screwdriver first

[SILICONEKID345HP]

Even alloy plenums are not 100% safe ,ask Derek

[QBee]

That pressure relief valve sounds a good idea
Use thinners or similar to clean the area thoroughly before applying the new mat/resin (enlarging on the "no dust" comment).
Soak the mat in resin thoroughly before applying - an old large floor tile or mirror makes a good place to do the prep.
Only make up as much resin as you are going to use in a few minutes.
The thinners will also get the surplus resin off your digits.

[stesrg]

Alexdaredevils said:

Scratch the hell out of the area's with a screwdriver first

Yes preparation is the KEY like most things it won't stick very well unless you key the surface ;-) I use an angle grinder and lightly cross hatch the surface were I want to lay the fiber or bond anything to it .
Ste