fibreglass repair
Discussion
How about tackling it yourself? Halfords do an "all in one" firbreglass repair kit that has everything you need (fibreglass matting, resin and hardner). Just chop/file out all the weak fibreglass around the hole you want to repair, and using the resin soaked matting, bridge the hole from the back. You can always support the matting whilst it cures (10 mins) with a piece of suitable wood, and remove it later. A little filler to smooth it over and some gentle sanding is all thats needed then. A can of suitable white spray paint will get it looking half decent.
The above will give you acceptable results which will be difficult to detect unless you really inspect the area close up. Given that the spoiler is out of most peoples line of sight and is generally open to future knocks anyway, I wouldn't really bother with spending a fortune on having it professionally repaired. However, if you want the "pro" finish, then the only way is to remove the spoiler, have it repaired in a similar way to the above and then have the whole thing sprayed. A body shop will probably do the spraying for some "mates rates" cash, although perhaps you have a friend with a compressor/spraygun?
Perhaps posting a picture of the damage on here/in your profile would help with some suggestions. I'm sure its nothing that can't be repaired quite easily :-)
Dan.
The above will give you acceptable results which will be difficult to detect unless you really inspect the area close up. Given that the spoiler is out of most peoples line of sight and is generally open to future knocks anyway, I wouldn't really bother with spending a fortune on having it professionally repaired. However, if you want the "pro" finish, then the only way is to remove the spoiler, have it repaired in a similar way to the above and then have the whole thing sprayed. A body shop will probably do the spraying for some "mates rates" cash, although perhaps you have a friend with a compressor/spraygun?
Perhaps posting a picture of the damage on here/in your profile would help with some suggestions. I'm sure its nothing that can't be repaired quite easily :-)
Dan.
I am in the middle of a wheel arch repair myself and as mentioned before I would have a go at it yourself with some chopped strand mat. If its structural or you want to be super pro then lay-up some fibers (in tension) to reienforce but it's not really nessecary for small repairs on TVR's. I added a bit of carbon fiber to mine for good measure but really aint needed. seriously I would give it ago yourself, plus the 'I did that' factor cannot be over looked?
I just had a go a glassing for the first time - to repair my self ejecting targa panel 
If you've ever used araldite its the same idea to mix the resin. Then its a case of plenty of resin followed by matting then drowned in resin again, patting it in all the time to get the glass soaked. And work like fury because the resin goes off in less than 5 mins. When the resin starts to get a 'thick' feeling or a bit jelly like stop immediately because its gone off and you'll only undo what you've already done if you carry on.
I shaped it by sanding it like you would a normal body repair.
It truly amazed me how strong the damned stuff is when its gone off.
I can't give a lot of advice obviously because it was my first time, but cover up as much skin as you can because it has the same effect as messing with loft insulation. And when sanding, do it out side if you can because it creates a hell of a lot of mess and wear some sort of goggles because the dust irritates your eyes like hell.
Have a go, its really satisfying to fix it yourself.
If you've ever used araldite its the same idea to mix the resin. Then its a case of plenty of resin followed by matting then drowned in resin again, patting it in all the time to get the glass soaked. And work like fury because the resin goes off in less than 5 mins. When the resin starts to get a 'thick' feeling or a bit jelly like stop immediately because its gone off and you'll only undo what you've already done if you carry on.
I shaped it by sanding it like you would a normal body repair.
It truly amazed me how strong the damned stuff is when its gone off.
I can't give a lot of advice obviously because it was my first time, but cover up as much skin as you can because it has the same effect as messing with loft insulation. And when sanding, do it out side if you can because it creates a hell of a lot of mess and wear some sort of goggles because the dust irritates your eyes like hell.
Have a go, its really satisfying to fix it yourself.
I did a job last year for one of the major oil companies: they had an FPSO ship that had snapped one of its 13 anchor chains. There was a frantic rush to devise a technique to ultrasonically insect all the other chains. To do this they needed 6 UT probes clamped to the chainlinks in precise positions, the slight drawback of course being that the chains were still insitu and the water wasn't very clear. I had to build a rig that could be carried down by a diver and strapped in place while topside techies performed the test.
They sent us half a chainlink (it weighs about a third of a ton) with the probe locations marked on it. I made up an MDF framework around it, used blocks of wood to simulate the probes and laid up 3 plies of mat and resin to create a block that fit precisely against the curvature of the chain. With the wood blocks extracted there were 6 cavities into which the probes fitted, held with silicon rubber
I included two chambers that could be filled with lead shot to trim the buoyancy.
When finished you could stand on the thing. It passed the diving tests, went on to inspect all the chains without a hitch (arf arf) and the last I heard it had been submitted to an awards scheme run by the oil industry for projects that save them sh!tloads of money. Last year someone won £25K for designing anti-corrosive scaffolding!
So GRP: it's good stuff
Edit: found it; see p12 of this...
www.oca-online.co.uk/docs/RBG%20Chain%20Inspection.pdf
They sent us half a chainlink (it weighs about a third of a ton) with the probe locations marked on it. I made up an MDF framework around it, used blocks of wood to simulate the probes and laid up 3 plies of mat and resin to create a block that fit precisely against the curvature of the chain. With the wood blocks extracted there were 6 cavities into which the probes fitted, held with silicon rubber
I included two chambers that could be filled with lead shot to trim the buoyancy.
When finished you could stand on the thing. It passed the diving tests, went on to inspect all the chains without a hitch (arf arf) and the last I heard it had been submitted to an awards scheme run by the oil industry for projects that save them sh!tloads of money. Last year someone won £25K for designing anti-corrosive scaffolding!
So GRP: it's good stuff
Edit: found it; see p12 of this...
www.oca-online.co.uk/docs/RBG%20Chain%20Inspection.pdf
Edited by wedg1e on Saturday 6th January 11:47
thomas7037 said:
Very impressed wedg1e.
When I bought my wedge I thought that other wedge owners must be problem solvers and engineers etc to keep up with the mntinance issues.
Will there be any degredation problems with the glass fiber in salt water?
When I bought my wedge I thought that other wedge owners must be problem solvers and engineers etc to keep up with the mntinance issues.
Will there be any degredation problems with the glass fiber in salt water?
Hmmm, I don't know, but I don't think it matters for now as the urgency was in making sure none of the other chains were about to let go - they can source replacement chains in the meantime. You'll note that neither I nor my company are mentioned in that article (we were subcontracted): the writer is trying to take all the credit even though he neither devised the technique (that was TWI) nor designed the jig. But then he does drive a Porsche, so what can you expect...
Gassing Station | Wedges | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff