Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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I'll go with the Hemi but I have to add that there are several really great looking engines out there, say a blown 570 chevy with nitrious is truely something to see and feel. How about Bank'es twin-turbo sbc, 1100 hp!! Thats beauty to me! Viper engines are very cool to see, hard to say just a couple IMHO.

Very clever idea, and it will be nice and strong that way. I have always thought that a metal frame would probably have to be glassed in for strength. Looking good though Don, should be very strong.

Yeah Brickman, I guess there are a lot of engines that look good dressed out. Those 2 were just a couple of my favs.


Don

Well for todays update I am going to have to stretch it out over a few posts. My computer has been freezing up, and if I do one post that is too long it freezes and I have to reboot it. I guess I just wore this thing out.

As I mentioned yesterday, I went to Home Depot and bought a piece of 3/4 inch thick outdoor grade plywood to do the inside of the firewall. I also went to a marine discount store and bought 10 yards of fiberglass mat and a gallon or polyester resin and hardner. There are two kinds of resin, polyester and epoxy. Of the two, epoxy is stronger and more expensive, but for what I am doing here polyester is fine. To put it into perspective, the majority of boats being built are made with polyester.

I like to use mat rather than cloth because it conforms to the shape of the car better and goes around curves better. It is the random pattern fiberglass you see, as opposed to cloth that is in a uniform woven pattern.

Here are some pictures of the mat and resin I bought.

Don

Geez, I actually beat the computer before it froze up.

When you do fiberglass work, buy yourself some of the plastic graduated cups and mixing containers that you can get at paint stores and places like Home Depot. Also get a bunch of throwaway brushes, as you will only get one use out of them. Also get some disposable plastic gloves (chemical resistant) and wear along sleeve shirt or even better, get those paper suits that have a hood over your head. This stuff will make you itch, especially when you are doing the grinding.

I laid the plywood up against the front of the firewall and traced the outline of it onto the wood. Then I made a smaller tracing about 1/4 inch inside that line, because the inside of the firewall is smaller than the outside. I tilted the blade on the jigsaw to give me a 45 degree angle cut, because that is the shape of the inside of the T body. You want the plywood to have a gap all the way around, not fit tight against the existing body. If it is too tight, the new glass will suck in the body and also give you a shadow. I left a gap and plan to fill it with some thickened resin now that it is dry.

Here are some pictures of the plywood before and after cutting.

Don

The next step is the worst, this is where the itching comes in. All fiberglass has wax on the outside of it. It dries by inhibiting the air. In other words, if you don't keep the air out, it will stay sticky forever. So what you have to do is get rid of the wax on the inside of the body, or the new fiberglass won't stick. I started by washing the entire firewall down with laquer thinner and changing rags often. Then I took a 24 grit sanding disc and ground the entire surface of the firewall and the sides back about 3 inches. The reason you do the laquer thinner first is so there is less wax to grind into the fiberglass. After grinding I washed it once more with laquer thinner, and then took the body outside and washed it thoroughly with water and dish detergent.

After it dried in the sun for awhile I was ready to lay up some fiberglass.

The picture below shows the dust from grinding. It goes everywhere, and will make you itch for about a day if it gets in your pores. Also wear a mask and goggles, as I am sure it isn't the best to breath either.

Don

Here is how you bond the plywood to the body. You cut a couple of layers of mat in the shape of the firewall, but make it about and inch bigger all the way around. This way, when you wet it down with resin, you will have some of the mat going over the edges of the wood and making a stronger bond.

The resin has no strength per se. The strength comes from the mat or glass. Fiberglass is actually called FRP or fiberglass reinforced plastic. When you wet the fiberglass with the resin it encapsulates each strand and when hardened it becomes very strong. What you do is mix up a batch of resin, put the proper amount of hardner into it, stir very well, and then start painting the resin mix onto your body. When you have a good coat on it, you lay the first piece of mat on top of it and use the brush to dab it into the resin, using more resin on the brush to wet the topside of the mat at the same time. You actually just keep dipping the brush into the resin and then dab it onto the dry mat. When you have the proper amount of resin on the mat, the mat will change from white to clear. You don't want to soak the mat, because then you get a resin rich mix, nor do you want too little, because then it is too dry. The proper amount is when the mat just soaks up the resin without running all over the place.

When you are done with the first layer, you can lay up another and another until you are done. You don't have to wait for each layer to dry. In fact, you want to do it while it is wet.

Here is a picture of a wetted out coat, and also a dry layer of mat before wetting it out.


Don

This shot shows the gap I left all around the plywood.

Now you can put the plywood down on the mat, but first paint the side that will touch the mat with some resin. The plywood will suck up some resin, so you don't want your mat to lose any of the resin on it.

When you put the wood against the body, you need to clamp it tightly to the wet fiberglass so that you get a good bond. You can use clamps, or put boards pressing it into place, or do it as I have here, with concrete blocks and weight to hold it down and level and straight. If you don't press it tightly against the body you will get voids and weak spots.

I put two concrete blocks and a heavy piece of steel on top of the wood for several hours until the resin kicked. By the way, you only have about 15 to 20 minutes "pot life" before the resin kicks and starts to get hard. Hot weather shortens this time a lot, and you can buy some more time by mixing up small batches and putting the resin in a shallow pan rather than a deep cup. Heat builds up in a deep cup and makes it kick faster. You can also put the cup into a bigger cup of ice cubes to slow the hardening.

Here is how I weighted it down until it hardened.

Here is a tip when working with mat or cloth. Have all your pieces cut and laying there ready to go. Once your hands are all sticky with resin (and they will be sticky) you won't want to be handling scissors and cutting more fiberglass.

Also, save all the little scraps of fiberglass because you can use these to wet out and lay on top of other pieces, like in corners and small spots where you want to build up fiberglass.

Laquer thinner will clean up your hands and stuff pretty well.


Once the resin had kicked I removed the blocks, and this is what I had. I will lay another piece of mat over the outside of the plywood to seal it in, but that will come later on.

Forget that, I don't have that picture.

But, here is a picture of the body back on the frame, with the firewall roll bar laid up in place. I decided I didn't want the roll bar laying right against the firewall, as I want room under it to put carpeting. So I punched out 4 small pieces of 3/8 steel plate with a hole saw and welded them to the back side of the roll bar. I tapped 5/6 inch threads into the bungs so that I can run bolts through the firewall and into the roll bar. I want the roll bar to be a part of the inner framework.

That roll bar will have a flat steel plate welded on the drivers side to hold the lower bearing support for the steering column. Off of the top of the roll bar I am going to put some legs to a bar that runs under the entire dash to give me a solid place to mount the upper column support.

Finally, while I was waiting for the resin to dry, I started to play around with the windshield for the car. I have a Total Performance windshield that I am saving for the other bucket, but don't want that look for this car. Instead, I have an old Dodge or whatever windshield that I bought on Ebay a while back for $ 25.00. The guy had no idea what it was, and neither did I, but it looked cool and was in good shape.

I plan to only use the upper 1/2 turned upside down. I am going to build some posts out of mild steel, and rake the windshield way back, and leaned out at the bottom. I will fiberglass some pieces of flat steel inside the body to run the bolts through, because these things really take a lot of strain from wind when you are going down the road.

Here is a shot of the entire windshield, and the part that I am going to use from it.


I guess that about does it for now. What do you know, the computer didn't freeze up on me.



Thanks for looking,


Don



PS: My steering parts should be here Tuesday, so I can start making up the steering column and lower support plate.

"Looking Good" keep it coming. I for one an loving it.

Thanks squire. I keep wondering if I am boring people, but I feel that some people who are thinking about doing something similar may pull some ideas from it. I'm not trying to come across as some great expert or anything, just a backyard rodder building a basic rod. I hope it is seen that way by the other members. I know I love to see it when others post their in-progress pictures. I wish more would do it.


Don

Don,
ive learned alot for this thread keep it up. keeps me from bothering you guys with all my questions.
thanks,
Harmon

Thanks to you too, Harmon. That makes me feel better about doing it.


Don