tailieunhanh - REPAIRING FIBREGLASS BODIES (Extract taken from Practical Classics & Car Restorer)

Every corner on a track has a maximum speed or limit at which it can be driven. Your ability to find the limits of your car and yourself will determine the speed at which you will be able to negotiate each turn. We will always be able to go fastest with our foot to the floor and the steering wheel pointed straight ahead. But, as we approach a turn and start turning the steering wheel, we slow down even if we have our foot to the floor! By turning, we have created a sideways load on. | REPAIRING FIBREGLASS BODIES Extract taken from Practical Classics Car Restorer In this the first of four articles about GRP we shall be looking at the basic equipment materials and the safety aspects. The following articles will cover causes of gel cracking and accident damage repairs and finally stripping and preparing GRP bodies for painting. So having acquired your GRP-bodied dream car all smothered in cracks and accident damage you have to understand what glassfibre is all about and how to go about repairing it. The most important thing to realise is that it takes an awful lot of time and you can t skimp on anything otherwise the final repairs will look like the surface of the moon. All repair techiques are the same whether you re working on a Reliant Robin or a GT4O and why some professionals charge an arm and a leg for repairing a high-class GRP car is beyond me because it takes the same amount of time to repair a crack on a Reliant Robin as it does on a 308 GTB Ferrari. Materials Starting right at the beginning for this series of articles I shall list only what you really need. MAT this is strands of silicon glass chopped and laid down in varying densities and chemically dressed for ease of handling. Unless you are using it for large sheet areas use only 300gm in the old 1oz yd as it bends around corners easily. TISSUE a very fine mat looking like a Kleenex tissue to cover gel cracks etc. It gives a very fine finished surface. There are only two mats used although there are glassfibre tapes and heavy mats known as woven rovings where hanks of glassfibre are woven together to give a heavy drape. RESIN this is the other half of the GRP glass reinforced plastic and is clear polyester resin. In fact resin is solid but it is dissolved in a solvent called styrene which gives it its characteristic smell. GEL COAT RESIN used in moulds it is a thixotropic polyester resin much thicker than the ordinary lay-up resin above and will not run on vertical surfaces. HARDENER