Fiberglass work is a dusty,...
Fiberglass work is a dusty, messy job. Make sure you have plenty of ventilation, wear long sleeves, a respirator, gloves, and eye protection. Shown here is our fastback midway through our fiberglass work. Our entire fiberglass came from Mustangs Plus except for our CDC Flashback front fascia.
When it comes to personalizing one's classic Ford or Mustang, more often than not we see people playing it safe and copying age-old designs like a '66 Shelby G.T. 350 (Lexan quarter-windows, Shelby front valance, and so forth). While we understand these are tried and true designs that are ageless and still look good to this day, it's sometimes a little dejecting to pull into a car show or cruise night and having to park next to your twin. Expressing your individuality in making your Mustang something different by using body parts of your own design, customizing an existing part, or at the least, mixing up styles that complement each other, goes a long way in making your car stand out and getting noticed. Is it easy? No. Is it cheap? No. But, exploring different styling efforts never is.
We're going to start with...
We're going to start with our Shelby-style trunk lid and endcaps first. The trunk lid and endcaps simply bolt on in place of the factory parts. Our fit was actually quite good with just the driver side of the lid curing a bit too high to get a good fit. This is where the men and the boys are separated, as we had to actually cut into the decklid (called "breaking" the 'glass) to reposition the left side and then apply chopped fiberglass mat to build it back up.
One way to make your Mustang or Ford stand out from others is with fiberglass body parts. Starting with something as simple as a bolt-on hood can make a nice change, but moving forward from there with valances, bumpers, 'scoops, and more really makes a difference in how a car looks. Of course there's little in the way of boundaries with fiberglass and while it's easy to open a catalog and order up a sidescoop, with a little practice and the proper materials you can make your own parts to take your project above and beyond. But fiberglass parts all fit like socks on a rooster you say. Fiberglass parts are harder to work with you say. Fiberglass parts don't have the same quality level of steel parts you say. Well, you're right-for the most part.
We're not going to lie to you and say a fiberglass 'scoop is going to simply bolt up to your quarter-panel like it was made by Ford and be ready for paint. No, fiberglass parts do take some tweaking and finesse to get them to fit right. They also aren't made like a steel part either. Steel parts are pressed and have firm, crisp lines. Fiberglass parts are made by hand in molds and this human interaction is what plays large parts in how the parts fit, feel, and look. Variations in resin and fiberglass application, curing time, time in the mold, how they're stored, and more all play a role in how the end product will actually fit-even the mold itself and the original part, if any, that was used to make a mold. A 40-year-old part is only going to make so good of a mold example. This is why some people get great fitting fiberglass and others get some that need work, yet they were ordered from the same manufacturer.
Even Shelby had issues with the original fiberglass used in the creation of the '67 Shelby Mustang's profile. They were sanding and fitting those parts 40 years ago too. So don't be disappointed the fiberglass valance you just bought doesn't fit exactly like the steel valance you just removed. With a little work you'll have it fitting in no time. Of course fiberglass can be used for so much more than just a molded part. Besides creating your own custom-molded parts (like a console or a smoothed and painted dash) you can create custom body touches like molded quarter-panel endcaps, creating brake cooling ducts in an existing fiberglass valance, and much more. Your imagination is the only boundary (that and your budget).
After the initial fit was...
After the initial fit was verified, the quarter-panel endcaps are removed and the primer is removed from the sheetmetal where the fiberglass endcap will be glued on. Yes, we're actually going to bond these parts on and then fiberglass over them for that smooth-body look. If we were going to leave a parting line, we'd simply fiberglass over the seam and then re-cut the parting line later to make the endcap removable, yet have a nice even parting line like a metal part.
There are numerous ways to...
There are numerous ways to bond dissimilar materials, but Danny Gaydos of Classic Creations prefers to use an epoxy product by the name of Epoxo88 (www.fascoepoxies.com). Here, Danny has mixed up a batch of the fast-setting epoxy and glued the fiberglass endcap to the quarter-panel (the endcap's embedded stud fasteners were utilized as well). Danny also mixed up a little epoxy with chopped fiberglass strands to fill in some of the larger gaps.
After the epoxy has cured,...
After the epoxy has cured, the endcap and the quarter-panel are hit with a dual-action (DA) sander to prep the metal and fiberglass for the layer of fiberglass mat that is about to be applied. A 24-grit disc is what Danny used to give the parts some "tooth" for the resin and mat to adhere to.
To fiberglass over the seam,...
To fiberglass over the seam, Danny mixes up a batch of resin and brushes it onto the work area. Any brush will work, but notice he's cut the bristles down to stiffen the brush.
Once the area is covered with...
Once the area is covered with resin Danny lays down a section of fiberglass mat he measured and cut prior to mixing the resin and then applies more resin over the mat, brushing it on and completely saturating the mat with resin.
The final result, after applying...
The final result, after applying a generous coating of resin and working out all of the air bubbles, simply needs curing time to continue. Just like other forms of bodywork there is more than one way to accomplish the job and some people might comment the mat should have been saturated before applying it to the quarter-panel, but Danny finds this method works better for vertical surfaces.