Fiberglassing Body Parts - Pain In The Glass

OK, now back to our wheel flares. We're going to show the right front being installed, but the steps are pretty much the same for each of the four flares. First Danny roughs up the bonding surface on the flare, trims the flare's mold line to keep it away from the fender's character line, and lastly, and this was due to our previously fit ground effects, he trimmed off a few inches of the rear portion of the flare so it would fit better.

The front fender, being a bolt-on part, was not painted with epoxy primer when our fastback's metal work was completed, but the EDP coating on the fender is still removed to bare metal for the best adhesion possible for the epoxy to bond the materials together.

After Danny mixes up another batch of epoxy (our project used approximately five epoxy kits), he clamps the flare into place with large-body locking pliers. These are essential tools for any bodywork, metal, fiberglass, or otherwise, so be ready to invest in various sizes and lengths if you are going to tackle your own paint and body project.

After the epoxy has cured (about an hour) Danny goes over the flare with his DA and removes the excess epoxy and scuffs the fiberglass flare's top surface at the same time. This leaves just the epoxy in the bonding seam and prepares the fiberglass for an application of resin and mat. Danny also quickly runs a section of masking paper around the surrounding area to minimize the chance of getting resin on these panels.

Small, strategically placed pieces of fiberglass mat are applied around the flare's perimeter first. These pieces are cut to blend the flare into the surrounding metal and match the cuts made in the fiberglass' mold line.

Finally, larger sections of mat are applied over the small pieces while the resin is still partially wet. If you applied these larger sections too soon, the weight of the 'glass and resin would cause them to sag/drop, so Danny allows the first layer some cure time.

The fiberglass mat and resin takes approximately 24 hours to properly cure, though times can vary depending upon working temperature and how you mixed the resin. At this point the flare is ready to be knocked down with the DA and checked for any low spots that traditional filler will not fix. If you look carefully you'll see the flare does not match up to the CDC Flashback fascia. This is because the flares are designed to be used with the standard Eleanor-type fascia, so we'll have to actually build up this area with fiberglass. In our next bodywork story we'll wrap up our front fascia fiberglass work and get started on our custom upper vents, installing our '05 Mustang door handles, and more. Keep reading!