Fiberglass bodies.....

[donsrods]

Like LordMaximo said, your work can be trashed very quickly if things don't go right when fiberglassing. Here is my little example of that.

When I started to lay up the tunnel in my T some guys on another forum suggested using foam to shape the tunnel and then lay up the glass over that. It was a terrific idea. I bought foam and shaped it with an electric carving knife to exactly the right shape, then laid up wet fiberglass mat over it.

What they FORGOT to tell me was that you have to put some BARRIER over the foam or the resin will eat it up! About 15 minutes into the job the tunnel started to disolve, so I had to make a quick decision to yank out all the wet mat and throw it in the trash can.

Here are three pictures taken during that little fiasco. Picture one is before resin. Picture two is as the tunnel was starting to shrivel up, and three is my trash can.

Don

 

[flatheadgary]

cardboard

i like to use heavy cardboard to make forms for tunnels and such. 'glass over it on both sides and it stays very ridged when hardened. do one side at a time until it hardens. be careful not to get the 'glass to heavy because it will soak the cardboard and make it sag though. i usually just put one layer of cloth and wait till it hardens. i like to work with 'glass myself. i have a few molds of things, fenders, shells and a t body mold from cal automotive. remember them? i build alot of drag cars so 'glass is the only way to go fast as far as i am concerned, without building an expensive high hp motor that is.

 

[Turbo26T]

Here's how I did my tunnel..Made a temp. floor /firewall out of plywood...I hotglued florists foam around the trans/bell hsg/tunnel about 1" thick..shaped it with 80grit..coated it all with sheetrock compound..after it dried,sanded it smooth....shot 6 coats of primer &wetsanded it slick..shot it with a coat of mold release ,rolled on a layer of gel-coat,then coated it with 4 layers of 2oz mat/laminating resin...after it set up...I popped it loose and glassed it into the floor of my body

Stan