Anyone got any spare fibreglass :)

[gsx600]

Well did some repair work last few days, just need about 10kg of fibreglass mix and a few hundred meters of matting !

Anyone know of a reasonable / cheap supplier ?

Have a look here at the progress

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2065172&...

Only screwed in place at the moment but seems quite firm, so slowly taking shape

Some strange things going on as it seems the 350's have a larger gap between bonnet and front end ? As I now have a lopsided gap, quite close on the 400 side and miles apart on the 350 side, but using the 350 bonnet located on the 350 corner. So may have to move the 400 bonnet fixing back a tad to compensate (well have to install it again due to being ripped out by firemen !)

Hopefully its given me the basis to attach it all back again

Also need to find out how to take a mould of the left hand outer wing so that I can make a copy to attach to the right hand wing once the inner wing is all attached properly !

Then got to think about the bulkhead and cutting out the old and cutting in the new or fixing new fibreglass on the inside to beefen it back up and re gel coat the engine side (Can you get fire resistant gel coat?)

Also when I chopped the 350 screen aperture out I found it had a lump of square ali running down the middle of a solid pillar so maybe there is some crash protection after all

Edited by gsx600 on Sunday 6th June 23:19

Edited by gsx600 on Sunday 6th June 23:20

[heightswitch]

Central fibreglass supplies.

google them. They do mail order.

edited for linky..

http://www.cfsnet.co.uk/acatalog/contactcfs.html

N

Edited by heightswitch on Sunday 6th June 19:50

[pjtvr390se]

Nice looking job, well done!

A friend of mine had the front of her Wedge reshaped by a tractor on a country road some years ago. The bodyshop obtained a new front end from TVR and were horrified at the fit. They spoke to TVR and were told that they should make up the gaps to make it look right. A superb job was done - it looked great and it didn't notice but if you put a tape measure over it it was not symetrical. The body shop measured the bits they had cut off and it proved that the car never was perfectly symetrical.

Keep up the good work.

[adam quantrill]

Sweet - with it looking almost the same colour you probably won't have to reapray it either ;^)

Nah but seriously it does look like the captive hinge nut is in a different place, you'll have to chop it out and re-glass it in further forward.

[york33]

Good effort Paul! The bits all look quite convincingly in place, bit of filler and some t-cut..... Seriously though, good luck with it, hope you're back in one piece again soon!

Dave

[Wedg1e]

pjtvr390se said:

Nice looking job, well done!

A friend of mine had the front of her Wedge reshaped by a tractor on a country road some years ago. The bodyshop obtained a new front end from TVR and were horrified at the fit. They spoke to TVR and were told that they should make up the gaps to make it look right. A superb job was done - it looked great and it didn't notice but if you put a tape measure over it it was not symetrical. The body shop measured the bits they had cut off and it proved that the car never was perfectly symetrical.

Keep up the good work.

GRP shrinks as it cures, generally about 2% but it's affected by the amount of resin in any one place and the way the weave of the cloth lies (apparently ). In GRP moulding you try to aim for cloth symmetry and an even doping of resin but that's where the human factor comes in.

ETA I've used E&F Products in Hartlepool and East Coast Fibreglass in Newcastle before now; E&F are local but the mail-order service from ECF was fantasic.

Edited by Wedg1e on Monday 7th June 00:24

[Waynester]

Thats quick some progress Paul, it's starting to look Wedge shaped again!

Reckon you might have her together & finished for BBWF??

[Wedg1e]

Paul, I found that a good way to take a mould off something was to cover it in brown parcel tape first - polyester resin won't stick to it. Cling film works just as well but it's a nightmare to get the air bubbles out.

[gsx600]

Thanks Ian that sounds like a good tip

Save me waxing the wing

Does it not leave ridges or do you try and not overlap ?

And I suppos once you have made the mould you line it again with the tape to make the part ?

[heightswitch]

Wedg1e said:

pjtvr390se said:

Nice looking job, well done!

A friend of mine had the front of her Wedge reshaped by a tractor on a country road some years ago. The bodyshop obtained a new front end from TVR and were horrified at the fit. They spoke to TVR and were told that they should make up the gaps to make it look right. A superb job was done - it looked great and it didn't notice but if you put a tape measure over it it was not symetrical. The body shop measured the bits they had cut off and it proved that the car never was perfectly symetrical.

Keep up the good work.

GRP shrinks as it cures, generally about 2% but it's affected by the amount of resin in any one place and the way the weave of the cloth lies (apparently ). In GRP moulding you try to aim for cloth symmetry and an even doping of resin but that's where the human factor comes in.

ETA I've used E&F Products in Hartlepool and East Coast Fibreglass in Newcastle before now; E&F are local but the mail-order service from ECF was fantasic.

Edited by Wedg1e on Monday 7th June 00:24

I also buy from ECF. Who I would rate more highly and cheaper than CFS.

Didn't realise they did mail order.
N

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

gsx600 said:

(Can you get fire resistant gel coat?)

They do fire resistant resin
http://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/category/pro...

[ed_crouch]

I've got a load of GRP. The resin, however, is fairly old - approxiamtely 3 years old. I also have a big roll of Chopped Strand Matting. You'd be welcome to whatever you would like, but I have to warn you that the resin is 3 years old - some of the GRP gurus on here may advise that it wont be any good now.

Pukka stuff though - MEKP catalyst.

[gsx600]

Hi Ed

Drop it off at the usual location Think she is working tomorrow

I can always try and make my mould with it or at least practise on something that won't get ruined before I take a mould of the wing

[Wedg1e]

gsx600 said:

Thanks Ian that sounds like a good tip

Save me waxing the wing

Does it not leave ridges or do you try and not overlap ?

And I suppos once you have made the mould you line it again with the tape to make the part ?

It will leave ridges (and maybe air bubbles) but on the scale of the job you're doing, surely a minor detail? You could hide the marks with a rubdown/ primer-filler etc.
Yes, you can line the mould with tape as well, but I've had good results with a non-silicone furniture polish (beeswax, basically). I took a mould from the leading edge of my front spoiler to do a 'proper' repair on a 6" section that had been bodged with mucho filler.

[Wedg1e]

ed_crouch said:

I've got a load of GRP. The resin, however, is fairly old - approxiamtely 3 years old. I also have a big roll of Chopped Strand Matting. You'd be welcome to whatever you would like, but I have to warn you that the resin is 3 years old - some of the GRP gurus on here may advise that it wont be any good now.

Pukka stuff though - MEKP catalyst.

I'm no guru, but I recently had to bin some 1 year old resin, half of a 2.5L can, because it had turned dark and a trial stir showed it to be lumpy. Maybe I should have decanted it into a smaller container so there was less air for it to react with, or maybe it goes off anyway, I'm not sure.

What's really entertaining is trying to mix small batches of resin with colour added; the colour pigment is added by weight and you find yourself trying to weigh 2 grammes of the stuff... probably easier if you're a drug dealer. One of my sea kayaks is yellow and I was trying to do a decent repair on the sharp edge under the bow (keel, for want of a better term ) - that gets chipped on rocks, jetties etc. - but I only needed about three tablespoons of resin, ended up mixing a marmalade jar-full and chucking most of it away

[wooly350i]

Hi Paul,that looks like good progress in a short time,thought you would be upto something like that.Are you sure the front end is'nt slightly twisted re the bonnet fitting?You'll need a roller to press the air bubbles out as you do each layer. Is using my Wedge as a template any good bearing in mind it has a longer snout,John

[gsx600]

wooly350i said:

Hi Paul,that looks like good progress in a short time,thought you would be upto something like that.Are you sure the front end is'nt slightly twisted re the bonnet fitting?You'll need a roller to press the air bubbles out as you do each layer. Is using my Wedge as a template any good bearing in mind it has a longer snout,John

Don't think it can be twisted as using the new corner with the new bonnet so even with out the other side bolted down there is still a large gap , will get the ruler out next time as I still have the other side that I've not cut up yet


Ian you are right about not worry too much about the ridges given the amount of filler I will probably need , just a general question

So you used the tape and then just put the Gel coat directly on the tape ?

[wooly350i]

Paul,just spoke to my uncle who used to be in the fibreglass trade and although he said things may have changed/improved going on what used to be he would use a couple of coats of release agent painted over an original shape, ie;wing,then once dried polish it up to a high standard before applying gel coat and matting to build up a mould.The better the mould the better the finished item will be which is why he said to polish over the release agent.I asked about using tape or cling film but he said you'll get a crap finish and it may be difficult to remove from donor mould,John

[gsx600]

Jon

your uncle doesn't want to practice mould making to keep his hands in the game and get used to modern material

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

Some other options of supplier here.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...