Bodywork Question

quick basic bodywork question, that I want some opinions on. On my 47 sedan, I am grafting the rear fenders and body into 1 piece. I've made and welded in small strips of steel with a nice radius from the body to the fender where the seam was. My question is should I now do a light coat of fine fiberglass, knock it down for a nice uniform surface. Then I plan to skim with evercote and block. I have done metal repairs before but never custom work like this. I have a lot of time so I am trying new things on my car.. I am also replacing the drip rail with 1/4 round stock. the driprail was half detached from rot anyways. and I am welding in the side trim holes. any tips are appreciated. pics will be coming soon

If it is welded solid, just use some plastic. I've never seen fiberglass that has stuck to metal for very long.

Thanks, it is welded solid and the fender was bolted on solid to begin with. i guess it wan't be flexing where it is. and I'm working with bare(stripped) metal.

The expansion rate for fiberglass is about the same as aluminum, so it will expand and contract more than steel. That makes it kind of a daily push-pull situation.

Let me know how it goes. I want to do te same on my 46 coupe.

I get the fit and radius as good as I can before welding, spend a bit of extra time smoothing the welds in the radius, add some welds on the inside where possible, then start the filler process with Evercoat filler with the short strand fiberglass... As Jay mentioned, fiberglass and steel move different with the heat and it's just a matter of time till the fiberglass to metal seam shows up... Good fitment and thin coats of filler is a much better way to do it!

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Originally Posted by Dave Severson

then start the filler process with Evercoat filler with the short strand fiberglass... !

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so you are saying to use the giberglass( not the dhemical part) with the evercote. do they make a plastic filler with glass in the resiN? I've used fibewrclass as a cloth and resin and as a filler type of product ie: short hair, long hair etc. just wanna make sure my defs are the same for the differant products

Evercoat has a filler that has short strands of fiberglass in it....No resin, resin is the part that cracks when you try to mold 'glass and steel together. BTW, the filler with 'glass in it is much stronger then regular filler, plus it's waterproof....

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Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Evercoat has a filler that has short strands of fiberglass in it....No resin, resin is the part that cracks when you try to mold 'glass and steel together. BTW, the filler with 'glass in it is much stronger then regular filler, plus it's waterproof....

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got it. I just considered them both forms of fiberglass. I never planned to use fiberglass clothe and resin, I meant the filler(w/fiberglass). definatly think my terminology was wrong. thanks again.