Working with glass fibre

[450Nick]

I need to do a small amount of fibreglassing on a glass-fibre bodied race car I've recently bought. the problem is that the existing glass is obviously all dry, painted and hard. If I wanted to add some more to seal up holes or heal up a crack, what's the best method of preping the area and applying the new glass?

I've worked with glass and carbon before, but only really when its new and therefore sticks to its self properly. I've not tried any repair type jobs before. It doesn't have to be neat, but a nice strong joint would be nice (we're talking small areas by the way, eg small holes no longer required, and a couple of damaged areas where a small support piece has been torn but not ripped off...

Any gurus with some tips? Or is it just a case of power sanding it down and adding new mat & resin?

[tegwin]

Provided the surface is free from oily contaminants, wax and gel/topcoat.. I usually score the surface around the area with a knife blade to give a bit of something to bite onto...and then lay the matting on with plenty of resin.

If you are fixing up holes... I suggest you stretch clingfilm over the hole on the outside and hold inplace with ducttape+cardbboard.... and then add chopped strand matt into the hole and around the hole from behind, working it in well with a brush..

Once its cured, remove the tape+clingfilm from the outisde and either fill+sand, or put some surface tissue inplace and paint...