Calling Fiberglass Experts;

[AE82stew]

Hi guys,

 

Not sure if this is the right place for this thread, but I'll give it a shot;

 

Howdy,

 

So, I had a good day at the wreckers today. I managed to pickup an original Toyota AE82 front spoiler for $30.

 

The downside is, it's pretty shagged. There is splits at each corner and someone attempted to screw it back together (fail attempt).

 

So as my idea goes; Perhaps I could mold it and make a fiberglass replica. The two things going against me are, I have NO fiberglass experience at all, AND the spoiler is made of rubber (thus making it hard to mold, as I would imagine).

 

I'm keen to make this work for my project car, and it will be the perfect touch for the front end.

 

If you reckon I should give it a go, give me as much info as possible. I've had a look on youtube, but it can be confusing.

 

What do you say?

 

1. Give it a go!

2. No way dude... Get a pro to do it.

3. Other suggestions.

 

If you do know of a good (reasonably priced) body works, let me know!

 

Cheers,

 

Stew.

 

Here's some pictures FYI;

 

 

[Trev]

Looks like the same spoiler (not 'the' spoiler) I went to go buy from Oxley the other day, if you get a mould done then I may be keen for one.

[AE82stew]

Looks like the same spoiler (not 'the' spoiler) I went to go buy from Oxley the other day, if you get a mould done then I may be keen for one.

 

I was thinking that too. If I could get a few molds done if I got a bit of interest. Only question is price. If it's 'over the top' pricing i.e. more than $300, I probably won't bother.

 

In that case I will try and make do with the one I have. If that's how it goes, I'll want to paint it to fix the cracks and paint it to match the car. Is there any way to 'seal' the rubber for painting? What do you guys recommend to permanently seal the cracks?

 

Is it worth the hassle?

 

Stew.

[GJM85]

Unfortunately its making the mould that costs the most. Could cost you thousands to have it copied....

[altezzaclub]

You need to reinforce the back of that lip to hold it all in the right place, then fill the cracks.

 

Making a mold is not hard, here's what we used to do in the 70s/80s. These days there might be better prducts to use.

 

You need that lip held on a wooden frame so it has the correct shape. The surface needs to be as clean and smooth as possible. You polish it, coat it in IPA (iso-propyl alcohol) which dries off to a thin skin. Then you paint on a layer of gelcoat, which is the epoxy resin without any fibreglass in it. Over that you lay your first layer of cloth and paint resin into that. When its hard you put another layer on. Don't use the cheap chopped-strand mat, get the expensive but better woven fibreglass. Now the hard part, you need to get the fibreglass mold off the bumper without breaking it- flex it an pull it until it pops off.

 

Then you can add some strenthening to the mold to keep its shape. Put it back on the bumper, and make some cardboard tunnels to go along the back of it. Fibreglass these onto it, any 3D shape that makes it rigid.

 

To make your own lip, you do it all again- Polish the inside of the mold, paint the IPA then the gelcoat, then reinforce it with two layers of glass. When you pull your lip out of the bumper it will need some way of attaching it, I don't know how it is screwed on. You can then fix any problems with filler and paint it.

 

Its not hard, but it is messy, dirty stinky work and the chemicals/sanding dust is toxic. There must be stacks on the net about how to do it. We made bumpers, boots, bonnets and front guards for the rally car. Light as shit and carefully reinforced. A lot of it was one layer of glass with expanding foam strips put on from aerosol cans, then those ribs were glassed over. The bumpers were one layer of glass filled behind with foam.

[carbonboy]

What altezzaclub has said is it in a nutshell :-) Having done a bit of this kinda stuff both for employment & personal projects, I can recommend that you do some browsing via Google etc for different methods/techniques & traps for new players if you're going to take it on yourself(such as methods of preventing air entrapment in you laminates). Getting it done professionally will equal $$$$, not necessarily because the materials are hugely expensive but because you're throwing labour cost at it & to get it right takes time. If you're still keen on it I can recommend that you have a few practice runs on some smallish stuff to get the hang of it then go nuts :-)

 

By the by fixing rubber has been near on impossible to do with a neat finish (i.e heat sealing & glues=FAIL :-( ) but what has worked for me in the past is a small metal backing plate with screws holding the edges together but mounted at the rear so it cannot be seen.

 

can't believe I forgot this....here's a shot of the front lip I made for my AE82 a while back...I don't have the tooling for this one anymore but it was pretty simple

Edited February 7, 2011 by carbonboy

[carbonboy]

Sorry for extra post, I am only just beginning to relearn internet browsing on a PC rather than a mobile phone!

 

Front bumper lip layup

 

Front bumper lip close up

 

Airbox for AE82 TC

 

Passenger mirror for AE82

[altezzaclub]

Nice! That mirror is the go!

 

There you are. For a couple of trays Carbonboy will come round and teach you... :laff:

 

I've still got my glassing roller somewhere- its like a paint roller crossed with a farmer's disc set. Its a metal roller about 12 or 15mm diameter by 75mm long with grooves around it, and you use it to work the resin in and the bubbles out. An old stiff paintbrush will do the job, just not quite so good on bigger flattish areas.

[carbonboy]

Luckily I managed to 'borrow' a vacuum pump for when I did the layup of the bonnet, its still a work in progress (i.e not finished & stashed in shed) & I think I still have the mould floating around gathering dust somewhere :hmm:

 

[lachiereeves]

Found this on David's thread about his Ke70 racecar....So this is all him, I just found it. Like everybody is saying it'll be too expensive just to make a one off mould just for one door, bonnet ect.

 

'there is many ways of making fiberglass parts

I can only tell you what I did

 

first you must have a perfectly good hood with no dents or rust

 

then you need to buy polyester and hardener, gelcoat and hardener, fiberglass matt ( I used 300g/m2 ) expect use 10 liter polyester and 20/m2 fiberglass matt for the mold and 1 final product

wax for molding ( the product I use is named norpool wax 75W)

and nonslip liquid ( norpool nonslip)

a metal roller, various painting equipment, ++

 

I polish the hood that is already in a perfect overrated condition with autoglym 3-4 times to get low friction

then I wax the hood 3-4 times with norpool wax, and you must wait between layers

when that is finished you apply nonslip liquid and let it dry completely

then you mix gelcoat with hardener and paint the entire hood and wait untill the next day so it's dry

I would lightly sand the gelcoat the next day so you when you put on polyester it will attach to the surface

mix the polyester with 2% hardener or whatever is written on the box

paint the hood and put on 1 layer of fiberglass matt

then add some more polyester and roll out all air bubbles

 

since this is your first layer it's very important it is perfect else the mold will look crap

 

wait until the next day or atleast 12 hours and then repeat the progress

after the first layer you can add upto 3 layers each day, but you must add 1 at a time, if you do more than 3 maybe 4 layers it might get too hot and the mould can warp

 

I would use minimum 7 layers on the mold of the hood, you should also add some reinforcements, rope is good and when soaked with polyester the rope will be very stiff

you should also add some layers of fiberglass matt over the rope to get it even stiffer, I say minimum 3 layer over the rope

 

when that is done wait minimum 24 hours after the final layer is done and you finished the mold, you can now remove it from the hood, I find that air compressor gun is very nice

if you did rush the waxing you might have a big problem removing the mold..

wash the mold with water after it's removed and trim the edges, if some areas is not perfect do the repair now!

 

repeat the progress to make a final product:

wax the mold 3-4 times, add nonslip liquid, add 1 layer gelcoat, wait, add 1 layer fiberglass wait, add 3 layers fiberglass, finished

I use total 4 layer fibreglass on the hood for a racecar, you might want to add a rope in the front for reinforcement, if you use 5 hood locks it might not be neccesary, depends on how stiff you need it too be

4 layers + rope in the front + 3 layers outside the rope = approx 4.5kg

for the trunk I use total 3 layers without reinforcement, for front fenders I would use 3 or 4 layers

 

if you use too much polyester the product will be weakened, if you use to little it will be air bubbles and crap

do not mix too much hardener it will harden too fast! I find it better to use alittle less

it's a good idea to be 2 people when you've never worked with this before..

wear a protective mask or you will feel funny after a while breathing the polyester

also wear gloves because polyester is not nice for the skin and it's very messy to wash off

 

expect that your first product will be scrapped

 

if you can buy a fiberglass hood elsewhere I suggest you do it, you won't save money on making a mold only to make 1 hood'