Looking great. What kind of body filler do you use?
Looking great. What kind of body filler do you use?
I'm experimenting at the moment, but what you see here is Duraglass short strand reinforced filler to fill in the larger valleys and refine the shape and then Ever Coat Gold to smooth it out. On the LS Europa I finished it with a high build polyester primer to take out the final scratches.
Strengthening the "chin". Put some structure in it because of the new hinge location.
Funny, the little things that make you happy! I was able to use the stock Fiero hood prop to hold up the front clam shell. It makes me very happy!
The problem:
Previous damage to the top of the fender / headlight surround. How can I reshape it and get it to mirror the other side?
Idea: I have another Europa!
Am I a genius or an idiot? I'll find out tomorrow!
Definitely genius.
All you Europa people should throw a virtual fiberglass class or something.
I can't go all the way to claiming "genius", but the part turned out great, and there was no damage to the yellow paint. There was just a little more clean up than I had hoped, but it's as good or gooderer than when I started.
The new part clearly shows how far off the original repair was from the stock shape. (Even though you really couldn't easily see the difference.) I am now planning to also make a mold of the section in front of the headlight and insert the fender and headlight bucket as one piece.
I can hardly wait to start body work on TCST.....said with fear
In reply to TurboFource :
It's a love / hate relationship!
In reply to Sofa King :
That would have been by exact same process. Good to see it validated.
There is a new product out from Evercoat that I find intriguing. It does the job of a high fill and an epoxy while providing a very thick build up. I have not tried it but thought it might interest you moving on. See link for the technical data sheet.
IF it lives up to its own hype, it would do the job of an epoxy basecoat on bare metal, minor body-fill work and a fianal-before-sealer surface. Lotta time and $$$ saved.
In reply to NOHOME :
I love that stuff! I used it on th LS Europa and also on my LS Miata. Sands easily and is great for covering sanding scratches. In both cases, I did 2 coats of poly primer, sanded, 2 more coats sanded again, then used a primer sealer, then paint.
Oh Crap! What have I done?
Never mind.... It's all good!
Baby steps. Built the drivers side headlight bucket.
Finished glassing in the fender repair.
The use of the zip ties is perfect, a "RoadKill" nod?
In reply to jr02518 :
I hope Freiburger would approve! I found that zip ties are a great way to hold the panels in place while the fiberglass hardens. Then I can just grind them out and touch up the holes.
Pulled off the side panels to smooth out and reinforce the insides.
Finished up the stiffening and reshaping of the sides. Rare opportunity to put the sides back to back and be able to make them more symmetrical.
Sides are back on, and spent today refining the area of the hood that covers the gauge clusters,
I ran tape down the middle to help me see if everything lines up as it should.
everything looked good, but it pointed out that the rear vents were not evenly spaced from the center line. It's not obvious without the stripe, but since it will probably get a stripe once it's painted, I think the difference would really bug me. So I moved the drivers side vents on an inch. Not sure if you can see the difference. Here is the before and after.
How did you attach the new headlight panel? Layers of fiberglass on the inside??
In reply to jfryjfry :
One layer on the outside to hold it in place, then 2-3 on the inside for strength.
Got it. Thanks. love seeing this thing come together.
I always look forward to your updates!
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