Body and Paint

[Wbulk]

When I decided to build my roadster I also decided to do everything myself. Most everything I have done several times over the years except body and paint work on a fiberglass body. I have done a fair amount of bodywork on metal cars and have done about 20 complete paint jobs. I do not consider myself an expert by any means and am always trying to learn.

I am getting close to starting the bodywork on my car and have read a few threads on the FFR forum on the subject. A few have said that it is necessary to grind out the seams and fill them with various fillers. I don't know if this is unique to the older FFR bodies that were known to be a little thin or if it is good advise for every car. Anyway, I am looking for any and all advise from those that have a reasonable amount of experience with doing the body work and paint, including the stripes, through the buffing, all of it.

So far I have turned my body over and have added fiberglass to some areas I thought were a little thin. It looks like my body has Cormat under the gel coat and then layers of glass. Maybe we should start with the glasswork, what is the minimum thickness?

Experiences and advice on any of it please.

Wayne

[rustyBob]

You could start by calling B&B and see how they do it, i know they do paint there own cars........

[ZOERA-SC7XX]

Get the (softcover) book by HP on fiberglass body and paint. Look on Amazon.com. It's worth the twenty or so bucks.

[DanEC]

I have read reports of F5 cars having gelcoat penetrating into the mold seams and that it has to be ground out. I honestly don't understand how that could happen. If there is a slight parting at the mold joints, some gelcoat will penetrate when sprayed on the mold and that creates the little mold flashing that protrudes out from the body. But how could a gelcoat ridge build up on the interior of the mold? That doesn't make sense to me. Once the gelcoat is sprayed in the mold the fiberglass mat and resin are applied uniformally and continuously (in overlapping layers) over the whole mold. The fiberglass doesn't know there is a mold joint under there. The body is going to be just as strong at the seam as anywhere else, given the same thickness of laid up fiberglass.

I'm doing the body work on my ERA and I just ground the mold seams enough to remove the flashing and roughen the gelcoat. Then I came back up with filler. ERAs are formed slightly low to leave some room for filler over the seam. I think if you grind the seam out you will only get into the fiberglass mat and end up creating a weak point there. My 2 cents.

Dan

[Wbulk]

Dan, I tend to agree. I am only going to take down just the necessary high spots.
What type of filler are you using.