Hi folks,

My 8/79 Red Corvette sorely needs some new fiberglassing due to an accident. The paint is hiding the full extent of the cracking but the most obvious is a hole about 6"x6" nearest to the left popup lights.

In addition the paint is peeling and crackling.

I've never painted a car before nor have I worked with fiberglass. Can anyone provide me with any info on at least starting the prep work to save myself some money?

I'm not sure its a good idea do just shoot over the car with a new coat of paint. But should one just scuff the paint thats there and then shoot over or strip completely down to the fiberglass? If so what does one use to strip? Is there some powerful industrial strength chemical that will strip the paint but not damage further the fiberglass?

I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a total noob at car care. I picked up this little hottie for a $1000.00!!!! It runs and drives fine. Just needs a few coolant/heater hoses cuz its leaking antifreeze, a tune up and voila a car that runs great. It's already my daily driver. BUT she needs your expertise.

Thanks in advance for the help.

PS: My druthers would be for someone to do the fiberglassing and me do the paint in candy apple red myself.

PPS: There was this one show Car Crazy that had this one tan metallic-like pearl color on an extremely customized spaceship version of a vette. the top of the car was altered to make the windows smaller. I can't describe it but to say that it looked like a 70's version of what a futuristic spaceship vette would look like. I wish I remembered that guy. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? It was a car show in Vegas that showcased this awesome custom car. That would be the ultimate paint job. If anyone cany find me a pic of that car I'll do a free mortgage for you. I'm licensed in most states and would be happy if someone can find me a pic of that car and the owners name/contact info.

 

First of all, welcome to CF!
I'm not up on fiberglass or paint, but there are some real sharp people here that can point ya in the right direction.
Blueshark does this stuff for a living, and really has it "goin on"!

 

The last time I did fiberglass work was some emergency surgery on Camaro back when my son was using it as a daily driver.

First, if the damage is near something "structural" like the headlight nacelle, etc. you have to think both strength and beauty.

fiberglass work is easy but very messy, and potentially dangerous: the chemicals in the fixer can blind you, etc. The dust from sanding does nasty things to lungs.

Fixing the damage. Consider buying a full replacement fender or body piece. This may be more work than you want, but consider it . . .

Fiberglass kits: always buy the kits with the woven fabric. The other type of fabric (lots of randomly pointing pressed together small splinters of fiber) tends to come apart and pieces of it get all over sticky fingers -- a big big mess (truly, if you have not done fiberglass work before, you have no idea how much a a horrendous mess it ca be).

Pay attentio to the instructions. In particular, if it says temperature my be above 65 degrees, don't do it when its 60 degrees.
.
Prepare and think through every step ahead. Have plenty of cleaning rags, solvent, old or cheap paint brushes (natural bristles, synthetic often melt into the fiberglass compound - test a brush before hand), etc. Cover well anything you don't want to ruin or drip on. Wear eye protection. Use disposable rubber glovers -- have lots of them standing by - at least when I do this I need to change them for clean fingers every so often.

Remeber, amatuers always use far too much of the goo, but you must use enough, too.

Fiberglass patch the underside first. I always start by fixing the "other side" of the fender/door panel/whatever. Usually you can get at it, although sometimes only enough that you have to sand it manually (a big pain - but do it well). Scrub with rough sandpaper (40 grit) down through the paint and primer and into the existing fiberglass all around where you will patch. Go at least two inches around the crack, more if you can, on either side of the crack

Now, use duct tape or something similar on the outside to position and hold the broken body piece together just as you want it to be shaped. Then, cut several pieces of the fabric for the patch, and check them for size, trimming as necessary: plan to varythe direction of the fabric weave by small amounts (30 degrees) rotations over several layers.

Then mix up the fiberglass solution and paint abunch of the gooey fluid all over the inside areas you want to cover with the patch.Position for first fabric piece and just press it into the fluid and smooth it out, working hard to press all bubbles out from under the fabric (push them from the center out to the edges). . Paint more goo over the patch and maybe paint more goo directly ontopiece two and then press it on top of layer one and press/smooth, squeeze bubbles out. Repeat through several layers (three is often enough). Remebmer, you are not trying to be pretty or elegant here -- this is for strength.

I often change/throw away gloves in this process several times as I get gobs of the fluid and fabric sticking to my gloves and need clean fingers for the next steps, etc.

Now clean up and let the patch harden overnight.

Next morning sand the patch lightly, check it for strengthand put everything together on the inside. Remove the tape on the outside and it ought to be okay structurally -- at least enough to work on. Now, sand through paint and primer into the fiberglass on the outside. Here, I always go down into the fiberglass a bit (about a mm or two) and think hard about how the patch will have to blend into the smooth fender line (don't want a bulge outward). And advantage of having done the inside is that you don't have to worry about strength now, but can concentrate on doing th eoutside so the patch fits the body lines well.

Repeat the whole process of doing the fiberglass patch, now on the outside. If you managed to do good work inside with adding three layers and strength, two good fabric layers are enough here, but do three if you can fit the thickness into a blended line of the bodywell.

Let that harden a day or so.

Here, its normal body work from then on. Sand the fiberglass on the outside with gradaully decreasing grit, use filler and smooth, re-sand. Prime it will, sand down until using 600 grit, and then shoot the paint. If you have not done this I'd suggest finding a How To Book on it -- too much to go into here. Too much to go into here.

 

The best thing is hire a reputable professional. Had that issue. It was his problem. Not mine.

 

hey lee. can you use and automotive primer or do you need to use something specific for fiberglass?

 

Get a good automotive primer. they are made for steel. aluminum, and fiberglass. Most work on prepared carbon fiber, too.