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Old 10-31-2011, 05:30 PM   #21 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by Daox View Post
I just got done putting fiberglass over the front. I only used 1-1.5 layers. I'm not sure thats enough, but this thing really doesn't need to be stiff either, it just needs to have that front surface hardened up so I can put some body filler over the top. However, this is only the 2nd time I've ever used fiberglass, so I really don't know what I'm doing!
I see you are in a snowy climate like I am. I made a v1.0 lower grill block out of painted coroplast. It looked great till I drove in the winter. By spring it had holes punched right through and showing white coroplast. I ended up gluing some thin black foam rubber over it to protect from impacts. Ya might consider putting another layer of glass on while it is still easy to do...

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Old 11-01-2011, 08:24 AM   #22 (permalink)
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I've never really had a problem with puncturing grill blocks (even lower grill blocks) and I've had them made of weaker material than coroplast. That plus the subsequent layers of body filler (bondo) will strengthen it more.

And body filler was the treatment I put on last night. First, I trimmed off the excess fiberglass and sanded down the edge back to where I wanted it to be. I used a dremel tool cutoff wheel and flap sander to speed things up.





Then, the first coat of bondo went on. My wife even took a shot at applying it (since we just got an old truck to restore and she wants to help) and did a pretty good job. I did the other half myself.





Then of course comes the fun part, sanding!!! woohoo... not really. I used a random orbit sander and sanding block (actually a drywall sanding block) to knock it down. The first coat turned out pretty good. That fiberglass mat was VERY uneven and the bodo filled in the lows pretty well. Hopefully one more coat should do it.





At this point, I'm going to say the foam backing is really beat up. Trying to hold thing thing without smashing the foam has been a pretty big pain in the butt. Its hard to apply pressure when you can't hold the back of the thing you're wanting to push on. I'm not sure how this'll effect the end product, but just thought I'd mention it.
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Old 11-01-2011, 09:14 AM   #23 (permalink)
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Looking good.

Just a reminder to people following this project: make sure you clean or rough up the fiberglass before applying anything over top. Some 2-part resin/hareners produce a slightly waxy film (blush) on the surface when they cure, which you need to remove for best adhesion of more layers or other material.
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Old 11-01-2011, 11:59 AM   #24 (permalink)
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Yep, that was done. Even with the fiberglass being so uneven I just roughed it all up a bit.
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Old 11-01-2011, 05:59 PM   #25 (permalink)
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Better check a small section of the foam for compatibility with the fiberglass resin before you get too far. Some of those materials are not compatible.
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Old 11-02-2011, 08:34 AM   #26 (permalink)
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Thanks for the warning Jim. It seems to be doing just fine.

However, the foam really is getting mashed up just from handling it. I'm thinking I might just remove it once I'm close to done.

I did some more work on the grill block last night. It got another coat of bondo and its looking pretty good. After knocking off all the edges and obvious high spots with a random orbit sander I applied a guide coat. All a guide coat really is is spraying the bondo lightly with some spray paint. Then, you take a board sander (long flat sanding block) or in my case my drywall sanding block and go over the grill block. You'll sand off all the high spots leaving the spray paint on the low spots. You need to keep sanding until all of the spray paint is gone, or you decide to put another coat of bondo over it.







Here is what it looks like after we've done a lot more sanding. The left side still needs more sanding, but the right side is looking very good. They both need some filler around the edges though.







The darker patches you see here are fiberglass, not the guide coat.

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Old 11-02-2011, 08:53 AM   #27 (permalink)
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Old 11-02-2011, 02:36 PM   #28 (permalink)
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Thanks Darin. I think its coming along pretty well. Its only my 2nd time doing anything with fiberglass and bondo (and I never finished the first project). However, I've been spending gobs of time on youtube the past week or so researching how bodywork is done for working on the truck restoration. I didn't even know about guide coats until last week.
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Old 11-03-2011, 09:52 AM   #29 (permalink)
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Hey Daox,

This is going great, man, really awesome to watch you going at it. This was the exact idea I had a while back when I was thinking about doing this. Of course, then I figured out that hypermiling when most of the driving I do is in a fair bit of traffic is pointless. I think I MIGHT still do a mod like this, though, and maybe a few others.

Might I suggest perhaps covering the entire thing in fiberglass? That would really stiffen up the backside of it, keeping it rigid for work, but very lightweight.

The fiberglass, by the way, is definitely the missing component insofar as I'm concerned... I had experience trying to do molding with this stuff - no way for anything large and flexible!
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Old 11-03-2011, 10:51 AM   #30 (permalink)
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