How hard is fiberglass to work with?

[homeworkhome53]

I purchased the materials tonight and now need to learn how to use them. I'm loooking for some good links in laying up fiberglass. Rear fender skirts were fairly easy (built from 1/8" Garlon semi ridged gasket material that is very tough,) but i'm wondering if front ones would be of value. They have to stick out so far to take in the turnout of the wheels. I was thinking of a lower grill block that incorporated an air dam from fiberglass. The rear wheel skirts and a ducktape grill block got me over the 50 mpg wall.
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[rjacob]

Fiberglass is easy to work with. I used to do it back in junior high school shop class (30 years ago). The hard part is coming up with a mold.

[mwpiper]

Go look at homebuilt airplane sites. The do all kinds of fiberglass and graphite fiber layups. Many techniques work without having to make female molds.

A quick and easy way is to layup fiberglass on a styrofoam (polystyrene) or urethane foam core. I used the urethane foam core to make an engine cover for a boat once. 1" urethane, 1 layer of glass, and you could stand on it.

[crexcrex]

Hang in there rather than go the fiberglass route and the time and expense i will be posting photo's and instruction how to beautify coroplast into a work of art and retain the lightweight.Ask any bodyman what he thinks of fiberglass. we avoid it at all costs!

[homeworkhome53]

I watch someone building a fiberglass canoe once. he had the basic wooden shape he overlaid with with glass. I was think of building a plywood airdam form and positioning it on the car, covering the front of the car and wood with releasing agent/ tinfoil then glassing in from the licence plate bracket down the front of the car over the lower grill hole (covered with duc tape and down the front of the brake form. Then trim it. grind it, fill it, sand it and paint it to match. For mounting I would use the tow mounts.

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[fredd7924]

I've repaired a few things with fiberglass and it can be tricky. Watch your hardener to resin ratios so it doesn't set-up too fast or slow. If you made a mold it turns out alot cleaner then trying to cover up a crack or something. Its definitely worth playing with if you got some time though.

[whokilledthejams]

A while back, my brother and I talked about making stuff out of fiberglass, when our dad chimed in and elaborated on what a nightmare it was for him to fix their pool slide. It's apparently a huge, horrible, chemical-burning, lung-ruining mess if you're not experienced with it.

[jonr]

I think it is easy to work with. I prefer epoxy resin over "fiberglass resin".

[homeworkhome53]

I asked a guy at work if he'd ever worked with fiberglass and he had. Tonight after work he stuck a 50# roll of 18" wide matting, woven on one side and matted on the back in my car. I told him I could build a car with that, He said if you need more I got it. Project number 1 begins this weekend. I paid $5 for a package about the size of a poptart.

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[MazdaMatt]

damn... i want some!