Well Im about to tackle a project head on...Im about to try to make a one piece front end for a 95 teg...Never worked with fiberglass or carbon sheet fabric before . Im planning on starting with the factory front and modifying it as best as i know how. if anyone has ever done anything of this caliber please tell me how and tips on what to do what to avoid...mainly im just scared of how to make huge fender flares.....so chim in if you have any info. thanks-pdang

 

http://www.selectproducts.com has a ton of stuff you will need but they are kinda expensive, they make a fiberglass hood and fenders for your car? if so that would be a smart move, you could join them together, then mold some flares on the fenders, then just make a mold of your factory bumper and join them as one.

things you need to get the job done right

1.good fiberglass(not the bondo brand pepboys weave)

look for weaves liek this , where you want it strong
and a chop mat like this for building up


2. a roller, bubbles are your worst enemy


3. good resin, best thing to do is find a boat store in your area, that sells it by the 5 gallon barrel, or bodyshop supply stores have it too, but dont plan on storing too long

4. they have videos that are very good if you never worked with it before


5. a mold release agent aka paste wax, so you can lay glass on your oem bumper and when it dries , it will release very easy

this is not much , but post up what you know about it , and ill try and explain better

 

Feel free to give me a call anytime, I have a background in moulding. 414-248-4899

My name is Darren

 

nice website , ill have to look more into that later

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fygtbug &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Feel free to give me a call anytime, I have a background in moulding. 414-248-4899

My name is Darren</TD></TR></TABLE>

thanks for the help guys.....I will deffintly give you call....quick question what do you do to make a fender flare or mre so a buble so to speak to cover the huge slicks?thanks-pdang

 

The way to do it would be to make the flares seperatly and then glass them onto the fenders. If the peice you are working on it already fiberglass or carbon just cut it up, position the parts where you want them and fill in where you need to.

 

Fender flares can be made from styrofoam and taped or glues onto the body panels

 

yep, you can make teh flares outta foam, then pull a mold of them with the glass, thne join them to the fenders

 

this is quite a big undertaking especially if you are going to make the final piece out of carbon. There are alot of corners you can cut but most will come back to haunt you. Get a good PVA mold release instead of the wax stuff like MR#2 from Cass Polymers. It will release much better then the wax paste. Ideally you would buff the wax on there first and then the PVA sprayed on but if you are looking to cut corners the PVA will work. For your buck using cheap polyester resin is ok but I highly recommend against using it for your part. Use a high quality high temp epoxy resin. If you use the same cheap polyester resin for your part and your buck then you will more then likely have problems then your painter goes and sticks your new front end in the oven to cure the paint. The part will bubble and blister like crazy.

 

Another good resource is http://www.fibreglast.com/ they even have a forum.

If you have a West Marine near by there west systems epoxies are good but pricey expect t pay about 100 for a can of resin and hardener. They work off of a pump so you don't have to worry about weighing or using other methods of measuring your hardener to resin ratios. West Marine also has how to videos but I don't know if they are any good.

 

Thanks for the info guys...i wasnt planning on making it out of carbon just yet. I wanted to get good at glass before moving on to a more exotic material. Once again thanks for the help the fibreglast.com site Ive been apart for acouple months now.....kerry from kenskustom told me about. thanks. I kindda had the idea about the styrofoam to make the fenders but where can i source large enough blocks all i find are these little 6x6" pieces.-pdang

 

When I think of foam and shaping, surfboards come to mind but surfboard blanks are already have some shape to them.
Im sure you can find big blocks of foam.

Maybe you could get some of the home insulation foam from Home Depot and spray it in a pile in the shape that you will need then shave it down. Did that make any sense?

 

Just use the foam for the fender flare. THen use the stock fender to attach the foam to. Then make the flared fender mold from that. REmember this will not be your fender, just the mold from which you make the fender.

 

You guys are making this way too hard. You dont need to make molds, therefore you wont have to mess with any PVA, mold release, Tooling gelcoat or even standard gelcoat for that matter. Trust me we have done this hundreds of times.

 

yes but if you make a mold then duplicating is much easier. What if you break the first one?

 

ok, i had a total brain freeze, i saw the integra front end on his avatar and thought was was modifying that one for larger tires when he said flares. Ok you will need to make a mold otherwise it will look like ****. If you laminate it it will be wavy and it will in the long run cause you more work. Good luck your moving into experienced fiberglass work. Also when you do the mold design it so that it will come off.

I would seriously consider buying a front end from someone, this is not a sales pitch, we dont have a front end for an Integra. You are going to spend more in materials to make it then what you could have bought one for.

 

Just a few simple tips...... Buy you a good mask or be prepared to lose half of your brain cells. Oh yeah and you will probably have no fingerprints by the time you are done with your project.

 

P-dang you are CrAzY!!!