Cracks

[Guest Nik]

Hi gents, my front wings have a few cracks and scuffs on them. Can they be filled with normal filler before I paint them?

[Bob Tucker]

Assuming they are fibreglass ones.

If the crack goes all the way through, drill a hole at each end of the crack to stop it cracking further.

sand out the crack to a shallow groove, & fill with fibreglass filler.

then reinforce the back of the crack with chopped strand mat after cleaning & abrading

the area. Lay probably 2 layers of CSM about 2 inches (5cm for the kids!) wide

the whole length of the crack & extend it about 1inch (2.5cm) beyond the crack.

Make sure you rub down & clean the outer surface of the FG before you try to paint it.

Good luck!

[Guest Nik]

Cheers Bob, none of the cracks go right through. I have started trying to teach myself to spray. Started on the wishbones and not so visible bits! The paintwork on the wings and bonnet is pretty poor so thought I've not got a lot to loose having a go at these but have never done any prep work on fibre glass before. So any more advice will be gratefully recieved.

[Bob Tucker]

make sure you thoroughly degrease the FG before any attempt at spraying.

make sure to spray only when its warm & dry.

rub down using wet & dry paper, start at 320, then get finer, anything up to 1000 if you're a perfectionist

otherwise 600 or 800 are ok.

using spray cans, shake cans for at least 3 minutes & if possible warm them too, on a radiator eg

spray from about 12 inches away using short bursts...a few thin coats, as thick coats will run

[Guest Nik]

Thanks again Bob, after painting do I use a normal clear coat or does it need to be something else?

[Bob Tucker]

You can polish the paint itself, but its probably better to apply

2 or 3 coats of clear lacquer.....make sure its compatible with the colour spray,

or it'll end up looking like Nora Batty's stockings.

[Guest Ian & Carole]

rub down using wet & dry paper, start at 320, then get finer, anything up to 1000 if you're a perfectionist

 

That is serious perfection, rubbing down for 6 1/2 hours there'll be nowt left.

[Guest alfaGTA]

I've used this stuff recently; easy to use and not much waste as you can make up what you need!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/U-pol-FIBRAL-Sandable-Glass-Fibre-Repair-Filler-1L-UPOL-/130506252625?pt=UK_Body_Shop_Supplies_Paint&hash=item1e62c76151

 

You can reinforce the inner with this then paste the fibral over the top

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/U-POL-Isopon-Aluminium-Mesh-Car-Body-Repair-Reinforcing-Filler-/321464071683?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ad8c07603

 

It does go off quite quickly once made up though!!

As Bob said make the crack bigger by sanding out a groove and fill it level (cutting disc would work well in a grinder-mind the dust though!!), i smoothed mine with an old credit card....... I actually used the area being repaired as the mixing palate and scraped off the excess leaving the cracks filled with minimal sanding

[Shaft]

Put some masking tape either side of the void to be filled, at least 2" (5.08cm) wide. Then you can flat it back with some 180grit without scratching the surrounding gel coat. One done you'll be down to the thickness of the tape.

Remove the tape and flat flush using 600 / 800 grit.

[Guest Tim Norman]

To get a better join burn the resin off so all you have left is glass fibres. Takes some balls to do it but the join is much stronger for it. I have some cracks on the Kitten that will be some of this treatment.

With a fire extinguisher at the ready!

[Guest Nik]

Cheers guys, It looks like just the gel coat that's cracked. I'll play around with it. I have ordered the filler suggested from ebay. If I mess it up that badly I'll have to get new front wings!

[Guest alfaGTA]

The mix ratio I was told to use with that stuff was golf ball size of the filler and pea size of the hardener, mix quickly and it goes quite runny then starts to harden.... You'll want plenty of ventilation btw it honks!!

[Guest tom-zero]

That's a brilliant idea to save time shaft can't believe I'm only learning this now lol