Fibreglass body shell advice needed.

[LordTwaddle]

I’ve just bought an incredibly rare 1967 Trident I will be restoring. The car uses a fibreglass shell similar to a TVR or Marcos and it needs repairs and repainting.

Firstly I noticed the interior is bare fibreglass and I’m not sure if I need to paint it at all to protect it, I figured a few coats of satin black should do the trick. Is this wise or foolhardy?


Secondly the body shell needs some prep work, minor repairs and sanding before painting. Should I tackle this myself as a total novice or should I bite the bullet and send the whole shell away for the work to be done in a body shop?

[paintman]

Get recommendations for a bodyshop that know what they're about with GRP cars & let them deal with it.

[Chris32345]

Definitely don't try that yourself that needs significant work especially around the cracks


E.g cracks drilling through to stop the spreading the area grinding back to good soils fiberglass then new material putting back into to strengthen the area and level it out

You'd also need a good quality mask while do that work due to the fibreglass particles

[smokey mow]

That’s a bigger job than I’d want to take in.

Looking at your location I can recommend Applied Fibreglass near Stowmarket, they made a few parts for one of my cars last year and were reasonably priced.
https://m.facebook.com/Applied-Fibreglass-14434673...

[Arnie Cunningham]

paintman said:

Get recommendations for a bodyshop that know what they're about with GRP cars & let them deal with it.

This. Glassfibre is not hard to do, but doing a strong, tidy job that'll last takes practice.

I've done a lot of glassfibre over the years (boat stuff), and while I'd happily take on any structural repair, the final sand to shape of the bodywork takes a fine eye and a lot of patience. While you're learning, there's a lot of "I think that'll do" - which I can guarantee won't do, you'll always see it in the paint at the end!

Be mindful that most bodyshops don't know much about GRP though! It is a bit different. So do your research.

One car I did - this is just the dashboard area, had to fill all the holes to redo all of it. Before:


After:

Edited by Arnie Cunningham on Monday 18th January 15:27

[jeff666]

paintman said:

Get recommendations for a bodyshop that know what they're about with GRP cars & let them deal with it.

This ^^^^

And be prepared for a rather large bill at the end.

[Morris12s3]

I can very highly recommend Mark at Sporting Classics in the depths of Wales, he's used to doing Gilberns and does absolutely stunning work ..... but he's definitely not cheap and you may need to wait a while! Does aluminium and steel cars too but GRP is his speciality.

[LordTwaddle]

I’ve been looking and Bridge Classic cars seems to be my best option but I do want to tackle elements myself if I can.

Should I perhaps repair, paint and insulate the interior of the shell myself or just leave that to the shop too? I’m eager to work on the car but so far most of it seems to be an outsource job with an enormous bill at the end. I don’t mind paying for quality especially on such a rare car but it means a lot to me and I’d like to get my hands on certain stages of the restoration if I can.

[jeff666]

You could take the layers of paint off,

That will save some time and although messy easy enough to do, you could also flow coat all the internal panels this will help when sticking your insulation in place.

[paintman]

LordTwaddle said:

I’ve been looking and Bridge Classic cars seems to be my best option but I do want to tackle elements myself if I can.

Should I perhaps repair, paint and insulate the interior of the shell myself or just leave that to the shop too? I’m eager to work on the car but so far most of it seems to be an outsource job with an enormous bill at the end. I don’t mind paying for quality especially on such a rare car but it means a lot to me and I’d like to get my hands on certain stages of the restoration if I can.

Decide who you want to use & then discuss with them what you could do prep wise to reduce the end bill.

You could consider one of the forums dedicated to GRP cars & see what advice you get & who they recommend - I had a Scimitar in the 80s before we had the kids & still pop into the Scimitar owner's forum RSSOC. https://www.scimitarweb.co.uk/sgwrs/homepage

[LordTwaddle]

jeff666 said:

You could take the layers of paint off,

That will save some time and although messy easy enough to do, you could also flow coat all the internal panels this will help when sticking your insulation in place.

Flow coat?

[jeff666]

LordTwaddle said:

Flow coat?

It's a polyester topcoat,

A waterproof barrier for fiberglass, lot's of boats have the insides done in it, I do the undersides of my kits in it as it makes it smoother and easier to clean any crud off.

Google is your friend.

[Gary C]

Is firbreglass that hard to work on in cars ?

I spent many a year making and repairing chop strand mat, Diolin and epoxy kevlar/carbon canoes and the hardest part was dealing with de-lamination after hitting too many rocks.

Didn't seem that hard ? Is it the final finish thats the difficult bit ? (wasn't ever really a problem in a competition canoe )

Edited by Gary C on Friday 22 January 17:55

[LordTwaddle]

Here is the floor below the fuel tank, I would rather like to put a fresh layer of fiberglass over it and paint it before reinstalling the tank.

In the professional opinion of the boat and fiberglass bodied car owners out there, how good or bad does it look?

[Arnie Cunningham]

We can't see anything.