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Kirkham Motorsports

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  #221 (permalink)  
Old 12-01-2015, 03:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by guye View Post
My feeling is the gelcoat is certainly softer then normal car paint Dave, yes. One of the paint experts could verify that I'm sure. And being much thicker you can buff gelcoat much more.

Dunno about clear coat - good thought. Sime? Anyone?

Guy, in order to prep the car to receive clearcoat, it needs to be sanded with 400-500 grit dry. This process will remove gelcoat and as you had indicated the gelcoat is thin in some areas, you'd be prone to breaking through. Clearcoat will not fix that.

As the gelcoat is a direct colour, any buffing is going to remove a percentage of that gelcoat. Repeated polishing could break through.

It'd be a false economy to just clear. If you're going to the trouble of clearcoating the gelcoat, you may as well spring for a full paintjob and then you can have the colour of your choosing - solid or metallic, with cleared-over stripes or even ghosted stripes as we have done in the past.

I'd say the Pace gelcoat is UV stabilised so it'd be ok to drive the car as it is without needing to clear it.

Cheers,
Sime
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  #222 (permalink)  
Old 12-04-2015, 03:59 AM
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Originally Posted by albanycobra View Post
To me the gelcoat option is great but it's never going to replace a professional paint job. I like the idea you can order the car in the colour you like, run it for a few years to offset the build cost then paint it down the road when finance allows and your real colour choice is set in. Plus having a nice shinny car in build is very motivating.
My thoughts exactly Dave.
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  #223 (permalink)  
Old 12-04-2015, 04:03 AM
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Originally Posted by Paintwerks View Post
...
I'd say the Pace gelcoat is UV stabilised so it'd be ok to drive the car as it is without needing to clear it.
Cheers bro for all the info.

See you in a year or so then for the proper paint job
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  #224 (permalink)  
Old 12-16-2015, 04:38 AM
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So, while the car is at the trimmers, I took your idea Gav and installed some of that 1/4" thermal stuff in my tiny shed. Works a treat!



Six degrees cooler inside, no other cooling. That's awesome!

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  #225 (permalink)  
Old 12-16-2015, 06:38 AM
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well done it all helps
its been bloody hot here in Adelaide and even with insulation and leaving the door open from the house to the carport so the air con can blow thru it's too hot to work on the cobra during daylight hours .
the last few nights ive been going out about 8 pm and working on it till around 1.00 am have the radio down low and i disturb no one .. i seem to get more done as well with no interruptions..
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  #226 (permalink)  
Old 12-16-2015, 06:40 AM
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double post
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Last edited by deano59; 12-16-2015 at 06:44 AM..
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  #227 (permalink)  
Old 12-16-2015, 07:33 AM
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Just wanted to add a note about our gelcoat bodies.

Our original intention with the body quality and finish was the following:

* Provide a high quality gelcoat body finish that produced a higher quality end result when painted. Also providing better long term durability and a cheaper paint price due to the lower amount of work involved.

* Provide a high quality gloss appearance body to the customer so that while the body is not painted it looks attractive to the owner, friends and family. And the body could be left unpainted for the build, registration process and then painted at the end.

We never intended for our cars to be left unpainted as in general kit cars are painted because they have to be, the gelcoat body finish is unsightly.

80%+ of our PACE 427 kits are planned by the owners to be left in Gelcoat and are fully detailed or will be fully detailed.

We do provide a factory option to detail the body ourselves. But it takes a lot of work and a high skill set to produce good results. We also go further and specially spray the under panel returns etc. when doing our detail.

The gelcoat depth can only be a set thickness without causing issues and we are very careful to provide a consistent gelcoat thickness over the entire body.

Yes, we use special gelcoat on our bodies, not the same gelcoat that you see on a typical kit car. That is why our gelcoat does have the appearance of paint. It is also why is holds such a high gloss and why it is durable as a final finish on our kits. Since gelcoat is typically a solid colour without clear on it, it does not typically show depth. But we give the illusion of depth to the gelcoat by introducing translucency to the gelcoat.

If anyone is going to home detail our bodies, please contact us to get some important tips. The big rule number 1 is minimise gelcoat removal. We even tape the body up on either side of each seam, so that you only take material away from the seams and not from the surrounding areas as much.

I saw that Guy has noticed what he suspects might be thin areas. These might not be actually thin areas, but depending on the level of body you get from us will vary the amount of carbon fibre that is used in the body creation. The Carbon Fibre layers effectively block out the body and reduce or virtually stop light from transmitting through it. Guy's body may be just transmitting light through it making it look like the gelcoat is thin and transparent. Applying black paint/body deadener to the underside will reduce or completely eliminate the transparency.

On the subject of durability, Gelcoat is pretty unique. Although it may be softer than 2-Pack paint, it is actually more durable and a lot easier to repair than 2-Pack paint. So we recommend Gelcoat finish on cars that are used on the track.

Gelcoat will never look as trick as 2-Pack paint as it is just a sold colour, no clear, no mica/metallic/perl effects like you get in nearly all paints these days.

But at the Nationals the 3rd and 4th cars in the Show and Shine were both PACE 427's with a gelcoat finish. So Gelcoat finish is certainly acceptable.

Today at the workshop we are packing up a black detailed Gelcoat finish PACE 427 and the finish is amazing, very few people would guess it was gelcoat.

We also recommend using the likes of quality fine auto polish and carnauba wax to bring out the best look to the gelcoat. And the carnauba wax will also protect the gelcoat from UV and exposure, like it does for traditional 2-Pack paint.

Enjoy your beautiful Gelcoat finish Guy!!!
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  #228 (permalink)  
Old 12-16-2015, 02:43 PM
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I do agree your Gelcoat bodies are certainly of a very high standard. What is the reason behind not adding some metalflake to the Gelcoat.

I have owned skiboats over the years and they are of comparable quality to the Pace bodies imho, and you can basically have whatever design you like, well you could 20 years ago.
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  #229 (permalink)  
Old 12-16-2015, 04:46 PM
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Just out of interest for you guys that are retaining Gel Coat as your final finish, rather then using wax as your sealer look up a product called Dulon, it is a 2 coat wax system that will way outlast any wax on the market, easy to apply and reasonably priced. For the record it will last approx 1 year in 24/7 365 days of the year full sun exposure.
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  #230 (permalink)  
Old 12-16-2015, 05:09 PM
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Also make sure that any polish you use hasn't got any silicone in it. It would make it very hard to paint later. It is hard to sand out and you won't know it's there until you paint it and it show's up as fish eyes.
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  #231 (permalink)  
Old 12-16-2015, 05:56 PM
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Default Dulon

Is that the stuff they put on boats?
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  #232 (permalink)  
Old 12-17-2015, 05:48 AM
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dulon yes
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  #233 (permalink)  
Old 12-18-2015, 04:57 AM
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Thanks for the wax info damage and Jaydee.

Thanks for sharing that info Craig. The "thin" bits I was referring too weren't the body but just the gelcoat. IMO I recommended getting the factory finish cause your guys have the skills and tools!
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  #234 (permalink)  
Old 12-18-2015, 03:10 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by guye View Post
TThe "thin" bits I was referring too weren't the body but just the gelcoat.
Guy, I am talking about the same thing and obviously not explaining myself very well. Transparency in the body can make the gelcoat appear thinner than it is. All fibreglass bodies are actually transparent. The only areas on our bodies that are not transparent are where the carbon fibre/kevlar are. So in the areas where the gelcoat looks thin, what is behind on the underneath side of the panels. With our upgraded bodies we have that much carbon/kevlar on them that all inside body is completely covered in carbon and that stops the body being transparent/translucent as it is effectively all masked. But since yours is not the upgraded body, you will have some sections that are not backed by carbon/kevlar and these sections will be transparent to some degree. By painting/coating the inside of the body in these sections it can help the gelcoat look more solid (less thin). All the inner guard sections are essentially blacked out by our high density foam you apply, so they are not a problem when the car is finished.

So even if you gelcoat is a little translucent in sections, blacking off the underside of the body can help the appearance. Also even if the gelcoat looks thin, due to the tricky translucent gelcoat we use, you will still have plenty of thickness of gelcoat left, so no issues in that regard.

Anyway, the body finish looks amazing in the photos, so I would say you did a bloody good effort on the detailing.
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  #235 (permalink)  
Old 12-30-2015, 03:24 AM
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Default Christmas - New Year sprint

So my goal was to get the car finished by the end of this year. I'm not going to make it because of the exhaust. But that's all.

This week so far I've finished off the boot and rear area. This includes:
- Boot side panels
- Fuel filler and vapour pipes
- fuel cap
- Fitted boot
- rear roll bar mount
- roll bar installed (that's was a real pita)
- polished the roll bar myself. (I left it with a pro to do a month ago, and I called him on dec 23 and he hadn't done it. No apology. No call. Nothing. B@$tard!)
- fix rear of body to chassis (I left this undone until I'd fixed the roll bar - good move!)
- boot insulation (this will be one cold Cobra ass!)
- tail lights, number plate lights, handle, latch and catch
- heat protection for the impending exhaust (think I've got enough? Nothing's getting hot under there!)

There's a few other customisations too:
- luggage anchors
- boot lighting (LEDs)

Tomorrow I'm going to finish:
- demisters
- squirters
- windscreen
- headlights and front indicators

Then all I've got to do is fit the bonnet, bonnet handles, catches and latches. Plus some under bonnet heat protection.

(For the record, I actually do have the upgraded body with star carbon/kevlar composite - just in case anyone makes me an offer too good to refuse in the future and looks back at this thread!)











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  #236 (permalink)  
Old 12-30-2015, 03:29 AM
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In case you're wondering, the exhaust guys are back next week so the exhaust should be ready in a week or two.
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  #237 (permalink)  
Old 12-30-2015, 04:05 AM
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A-ha, a zip tie. A true sign of a self built car.

Well done for nearly hitting your goal, I would say that being a few weeks out is nothing to be concerned about at all.

Perfect time to be able to enjoy for many months before it gets cold (now that you have done all the insulating).

Congrats and its Been good to follow your build.
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  #238 (permalink)  
Old 12-30-2015, 04:36 AM
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Damn - hoped no one would notice the tie Leroy

Actually, it is only on loosely to keep the hose angle upright. I didn't want to use a stainless tie in case it damaged the hoses.
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  #239 (permalink)  
Old 12-30-2015, 02:01 PM
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Ok Leroy. Sleepless night worrying, so I upgraded the tie before breakfast this morning!

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Old 12-30-2015, 03:30 PM
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Guy, please do not have changed that based on my throwaway comment, it really is something that appears on many cobras and was just for humour, however fixed now.

Anyway, while you are at it, the hose clamp head slots are not aligned.




Seriously though, great work and I look forward to the exhaust being completed and you can then fire it up.

For the sake of it and its new years eve, how about a taking a whole lot of pics just so I can look at something whilst here at work.
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