Z48LT1 said:
Cool deal. Not enough car-related projects on FOG for me. What sanders are you using? Any lessons learned or advice? No detail is too small for my interest.
Oh, right, great work!
Cheers - Gary
Sanders: A little CTS150, a bit of RO-90, a lot of arm-n-hand sander. There isn't a straight line of a flat panel ANYWHERE.
This made lining up the switches, speakers, turn signals very very difficult. I tried everything. Painter's tape, a level, calipers, a combo square to get me in the neighborhood of where a hole will be drilled.
Working with fiberglass is pretty easy. Just paint on some resin, lay on a sheet of glass cloth, and repeat 3 times. At least 3 layers worked for me. That fixed up the cracks, reinforced vulnerable areas, and provided a base for filling holes. When it dries the edges of the cloth will do a number on your skin.
I used Bondo resin and glass mat. Bondo "Glass" filler. (wow this is good) and Bondo putty. Then I primed with Eastwood "Contour" primer. It has polyester in the paint and fills small imperfections nicely. Next I learned about Top Coat (the color) paint. There is a Single Stage and a Two Stage top coat. Basically a single stage dries with a gloss. Two stage is separate. Most everything needs a catalyst mixed in the paint. What I found really cool is flash point of the paint. Say it’s 90 minutes. After that you can apply another coat without sanding. This includes any clear coat. If you wait 18 hours you have to scuff sand everything. Anyway 3 coats in a day! Since auto paint is quite pricey I went with Summit Racing Single Stage It was a lot less than most everything else I looked at. Even though I used a single stage I purchased a clear coat. KBS-Coatings Diamond Clear. No catalyst, water clear, goes on after the flash point of the top coat and it dries very hard.
