5 replies to this topic

[koolkidd]

Hi all

ive finally saved some money and found a project car to fill some hours tinkering with.

Im currently in the planning phase and have decided to modify the dash, centre console and door trims

i need some tips for the following

1. when cutting and remoulding certain plastic parts, how would i go best about this? would drilling holes and fibreglassing either side for a beginning anchor point work best?
2. making the dash/plastic pieces smooth, would this be best done simply sanding down the texture, smoothing, priming and painting etc or could i use some sort of flexible bog/body filler that would bond to plastic? if so what brand/type?

any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers
Dan

[peaandham]

1) Or you can use ca glue sets hard in seconds so you don't need to wait for the glass to dry to use it as an anchor point. Drilling holes is a really good way to help ensure the fiberglass and resin can bond to said material.

2) Yes you will need to sand down the texture as molded plastic is difficult to get anything to bond to it. You will need a plastic specific filler for this.

[koolkidd]

Thanks for the info

pretty keen to get started this week, now i know what im looking for and where to start

Thanks again

[peaandham]

Be sure to have a look here aswell, very resourceful site.

http://fiberglassforums.com/

[koolkidd]

thanks again, looks like i have some reading to do tomorrow night, even found some dedicated fibreglass retailers to have a chat to tomorrow.

very keen.

[jukebox]

vinylestor resin sticks like crap to a blanket.... you need to scuff up the plastic and drill a couple holes if ypou like.... try some bumper bar/ plastic bogs.. ive had better results using them on some projects then standard body fillers etc..

smoothing the dash plastics etc, you really need to sand it back as flat as possible.... it also needs a liberal wipe over, removing years of grime, smoke, amour-all, and other crap built up over the life of the car... prepsol, multi purpose thinners, etc, changing rags a few times.. ie: wipe it over, change rags, wipe pover again, change rags until your basically wiping it and your rag is staying c;lean-ish... anything left behind will effrect adheasion... prepsol etc also softens the plastic prior to paint and helps adheasion too...

do the prep work yourself, but honestly, get it to a certain point then let the experts assess it and take over.. its a costly learning curve if it cracks, or flakes off, then its 3 times the work to remove and re-prep it for paint again..