Repair work almost done!

[MegaMang]

Well back on November 3rd I broke the upper connecting link lollipop and went around backwards into the wall.  Did a wee bit of damage to the left rear corner of the car.  This is how looked...

[MegaMang]

It doesn't look too tragic, and in fact wasn't too bad.  Bent the horns on the rear clip.  One need replacing, the other just a little straightening.  The fiberglass on the other hand was a bit more of a challenge.  The break was on the corner, and went through to the corner of the hatch opening.  There was a fair bit of fiberglass missing in the corner so was a bit of a guess to get into place while patching together.

To add to that challenge, there is a nice rounded moulding just under the hatch opening that had a chunk missing.  If it had been just nice flat surfaces, no problem.  This was a beast to piece back together.

I finally finished the fiberglass and bondo work on the rear left corner.  Of course I had to throw a coat of paint on it tonight to see how it turned out.  Naturally I didn't prep the surface very well.  Bought the tack clothes and didn't use them.  Too much of a hurry to see how it looked with paint on it.  Even got some runs in it...  OK, so tomorrow I'll be spending some time wet sanding the whole area to get all the dust and hairs and runs and whatever else is stuck into the paint cleaned off.  That's OK, because I'm thrilled with how the repair worked out.  Damn I do good work.  It's like nothing was ever damaged.  I love it when it comes together.

Once I've got the outside all pretty again, I'm going to remove some of the excess fiberglass patching from the inside of that corner.  It would appear that this wasn't the first time that corner took a hit.  The glass work must be three times thicker than original.  In one spot, there was at least 3/8 inch of bondo on top of 3/8 inch of fiberglass.  Nasty!  Going to bring it down to thiner than original, then add a new layer of matt cloth to clean it all up and make sure it's going to be strong.  May even lose 1 or 2 pounds of ugly patch work that way!  For those Inex inspectors out there, not to worry, I don't intend to shave it thiner than original, just clean off the old patch work!

Here's what it looks like today!

OK, stop snickering at the hairs and blemishes in the paint.  At least the fiberglass work is impeccable!

I know I've probably spent way too much time on this repair already, and that once the season is on, I'll have to get used to quick sloppy repairs.  So here's a questing for all you long time racers that are used to doing fiberglass fixes...  What kind of short cuts do you guys use to get a repair job like this patched up?

Mike

[LunaticMark]

That looks really good!!! That's the one thing I am dreading... fibergkass work. LOL.. I've done glas work on stereo installs and interiors for a long time, but I still hate it... haha. I know on a couple of the older cars I worked on (pro-4's, late models) we seemed to use a lot of thin sheet metal and pop rivets...lol

[MegaMang]

Mark,

I'm thinking someone at Inex will frown on me if I use sheet  metal and rivets.  Too bad since you can make a really fast repair that way.  If you've used fiberglass before, any hints on making fiberglass a fast and easy fix? 

I patched on the inside first, and that was really quick work.  I used a flap disk on a grinder to take away about one layer's worth of fiberglass from the inside, overlapping either side of the break by a good 2 inches.  Then painted the area with resin, then bonded on a well soaked layer of mat cloth.  I used a hardened small foam roller to press in the cloth, then used a short bristled paint brush to feather out the edges.  It was only about 1/2 an hour's work.   

The outside, or finished side was where all the time and effort was spent.  Lots of grinding, sanding, filling, sanding, filing again, sanding again.  I found that I got a better result with a rubber sanding block than with my random orbital air sander.  In fact it was quicker in the end too.  I had purchased about 12 different grades of sand paper, and just kept going over the same area with successive increments in paper grit.  Doing this doesn't take nearly as much time and effort as it does trying to get by with just a few grades of paper.  I had much less problem with feathering the edges of the repair into the surrounding area.  In the past I've often tried to take the shortcuts, but have spent much more time.

I was slowed down by having to grind out an area on the outside after I'd just about completed the finish work.  It turns out that the broken edges of the cracked area had de-laminated.  This was right at the corner, so as I was feathering around the corner it started to form a split.  Ended up having to completely redo that area and start the sanding process from the beginning again with 50 grit paper all the way up to 1500 grit paper.  This time it only took about 3 hours from grinding out the area to final painting of the area.

Mike

[elimn8u_43]

Turned out really good Mike! As far as quick repairs, I put a roof back onto a 34 coupe after a rollover using long strand filler. The repair held for the last half of the season then the body was removed and repaired properly from the inside.

Geoff

[qweedqwag]

Mega,

Normally I just follow the crack with a Dremel tool and a cutoff wheel to open the cracks and get the dmaged glass out of the way, I always try to drill a hole at the end to keep the crack from running any further (if you able to do so) I then lay blue painters tape on one side to keep the epxoy from pushng out, then I take glass cloth and back the other side (normally the  hidden side) I'll mix epoxy with either micro ballons ( I learned this from RC Boat racing) or Cabosil to the consistancy of tooth paste. I paint the area I plan on glassing, then put the cloth down, then I mix up 3o minute epoxy with no additives and paint the top of the glass ,once the epoxy dries, I remove painted tape and sand the little excess that sqeezed thru the cracks.  Microballoons  are small glass beads that add strength to exoxy and makes it sandable, Cab-O-sil makes epoxy hard a steel but not brittle it is less sandable but it will never let go, works good.

Mike.

[justfreaky]

The repair work looks good!
Don't know anything about 'glass work. So can't help you there.

I am thinking that rear bumper looks slightly askew       

Steve

[MegaMang]

Thanks Steve.  Managed to wet sand it today and prepped the area properly before repainting it.  Now it looks and feels good!

Mike,

The crack in this case went from the bottom right up through to the hatch opening.  The only thing holding the corner together was the fastener spring in the corner.  The width of the crack was actually the thickness of the rear horn that sheared through the corner.  Good point though.  I've used this with metal work as well as wood work.  Drilling a hole is very effective at preventing crack creep. 

So are you laying painters tape on the outside surface, and patching from the inside then?  Do you just allow the repair area to build up, or do you take away some of the material either side of the crack?

I like the idea of using micro balloons.  I've used that in radio controlled airplane repairs and gussets.

Thanks for the tips.
Mike

[RickyBobby]

Mike,

Was that from the practise day?  What happened?  Todd must have done a spinner in front of your :-). 

[MegaMang]

Ricky Bobby,

That happened when I went to Peterborough.  Broke a lollipop going into corner 3.  When I let off the gas the drive shaft locked on the cage and the wheels locked for a second.  Just long enough for the wheels to brake loose and come around.  Went into the wall pretty fast.  The tires hadn't much heat in them yet and it was a cool day, so there wasn't much stopping before I hit.

Got her all nice now though!   

[justfreaky]

 How about that rear bumper? 
Hope there was no frame damage.
Is everything square?

 Steve

[MegaMang]

Looks like just the rear horns took the brunt of it.  Replaced one, straightened the other.  I had to weld the tabs back on the bumper and and straighten it as well, but I also ordered some new ones.  I think I'll start the year off with new bumpers, nerf bars, running boards and paint.  Wonder how much of that will stay new looking...

Mike

[qweedqwag]

So are you laying painters tape on the outside surface, and patching from the inside then?  Do you just allow the repair area to build up, or do you take away some of the material either side of the crack?


Mega,

Ya the painters tape on the outside and repair the inside,  I use three inch tape, if the crack is not to large the painters tape will work on the outside, it just keeps the epoxy flush with the outside pretty much and keeps the sanding to a minum, I fill the crack with cab-o-sil ley it harden sand it flat on the inside repair, once the crack is filled I use the glass cloth to keep everything together.


Mike