Cutlass header panel

[custom442]

heres a pic of the first layer of resin:

it looks shitty cuz I had some resin that was a few years old and decided to use that. Its why you see the clumps on the flat parts, but no big deal here, it'll come off when I sand it in a day or two. I'm going to buy some high quality resin or maybe epoxy for the next two layers.

here's some fiberglass tips -
- some people like to put a layer of resin down and let it dry on the entire area to be fiberglassed before the cloth goes on, I've never done that but the idea would be for a better bonding surface for the first layers of resin.

- easiest way is to tack (or masking tape on the edges only) the cloth down, when the first layer starts to dry pull all your tacks/tape off

- first layer - just enough resin to wet the cloth, there should be dry cloth showing through in some spots, this is the biggest mistake for beginners is too much resin on the first layer. this layer is for giving you a structure to work with on the next layers (sand out any bumps)

- second layer - fill all the cloth you should see a little texture from the cloth still after it dries, some people prefer rollers here, it just depends on what type of surface youre working on (sand any large bumps after this layer)

- third layer - use a roller on this layer, this is where it should look like glass - no texture should show fromt the cloth, if it doesnt after this layer then you did something wrong. After this dries fill in any valleys with filler and sand down any bumps

... about the template, another mistake is people worry bout getting it perfect. Dont do this, is much easier to fill in with filler afterward than spend days on making your foam/wood/aluminum template perfect.

 

[custom442]

Progress:

I'm concentrating on the headlight areas for now, then I'll go back and finish the grill area later which will take a long time.

Tomorrow's job is to sand it down, fill the low spots, and then spread on a thin coat of filler on the whole thing. Block sand, and these two sections are ready for primer.

Should have the FE3X air dam in about two weeks!

Tips - You can see from the picture there are bubbles and areas where cloth was cut out, make sure to do this after sanding the second layer (or the first) using a razor blade. Sometimes these bubbles will become fragile over time and crack the surface underneath, then you have to sand it down and start over.

You might also notice I haven't added extra cloth where I cut the bubbles out. Ideally you would add cloth, but I decided it was strong enough without it. Cloth gives flex to the resin. Resin = super strong, but brittle and doesnt flex without cloth.

- use a heat lamp to dry tough areas faster.

 

[custom442]

First headlight side done:

It's not ready for primer yet, but it turned out nice, flat as a teenage girl. Need to finish the other side and fill any little potholes on both. Notice the bottom of the headlight coverup isn't straight. I'll get to that whenever I make this whole structure sound by glassing in the backside of the header panel.

tip - fill any deep holes that you can feel, the tiny stuff leave till your first coat of primer is on, then you can touch up fill the last stuff.

I use 'CUZ' for fiberglass or fiberglass - metal filler (get it at NAPA)

I use 'poly-flex' for rubber compounds, like the rubber bumper cover, I get that at the local paint store... TASCO I think.

I use bondo for metal, or a nicer filler to use (when I have the $) is evercoat's rage gold.

 

[svltrack]

It is very interesting work yes. I guess I missed though where the finished idea was explained. Maybe I did not read all the information far enough.

So I guess you are basically doing this to have your own one off front facia? Something similar to the vader cars?

 

[custom442]

It is very interesting work yes. I guess I missed though where the finished idea was explained. Maybe I did not read all the information far enough.

So I guess you are basically doing this to have your own one off front facia? Something similar to the vader cars?

I've been going through these front end ideas for over a year. I first tried a calais front header and it didn't work like I wanted (that's how they made the vader car). Then I tried making a new one out of chicken wire and fiberglass, that didn't turn out good.

The next plan was to mold a piece of plexi all across the front of the car (like the fe3x), but a few guys enlightened me that I wouldn't have enough airflow 😳 Also the owner of the fe3x car told me the plexi is prone to cracking and not a good idea.

So the plan was to plexi over the headlights and black them out, but I found the headlights were too dim and it looked kinda cheap. Now I'm entirely cutting out the headlights. I still want the grill (pics in previous posts) across the front - it's going to be black, to try and follow some version of the fe3x. The problem I ran across with the grill, was the area in front of the radiator/behind the bumper was ugly, so I needed to cover it up with a fiberglass mold.

It's going to be different for sure, we'll see how it goes. Who knows I might get done and hate it (I've done stuff like that before). If that happens, I'll just buy a junkyard header and go back to stock. But if it's all finished up like I envisioned it, it should be cool.


I have some new ideas for the grill to play with, was watching west coast customs and they bent a maybach grill in a wood template to emboss their exact pattern. I'm also toying with the idea of a recessed grill (so it'd sit a foot back from the front of the car in that little open area), but that's a stretch from the vader car, not likely gunna happen.

 

[custom442]

I saw a charger like this (it might be the same one, I dunno) at the houston auto show a few years ago. This is what gave me the idea of a recessed grill. I think something like this would look killer in all black on the cutlass

 

[turbo78]

interesting idea... i think you are doing a great job, never really thought about a recessed grill, but it sounds sweet 😀

 

[custom442]

^^ thanks turbo :!:

here's some more progress today, strengthened the back of the bumper cover, trimmed it on the upper edges, filling in the rubber bumper:

It's a long way from being done but maybe this shot will give a better idea


A big tip here - fill/strengthen something with fiberglass when working on rubber like this, it you just lay filler down, it's going to crack and break no doubt. Evercoat's poly-flex is one of the best out there for this type of filler. I actually kicked the rubber bumper hard as I could after I mounted it, to make sure it wouldn't crack. No cracks whatsoever.

 

[Blake442]

So what are you going to do about headlights?

 

[custom442]

^^ they'll be mounted behind the grille. I want as few lights as possible to make it simpler to hook up and I don't need all those fancy type lights. Problem is I can only find a few aftermarket bolt-on lights that are low beam. Most of them are stupid 'driving' fog lights that blind other ppl and attract cops.

I'm looking at these:
http://www.autotoys.com/x/product.php?productid=143
but I don't need the 2 tiny lights in the middle. I'll mount these right next to the headlamp cutouts, so the low beams will only be moved over about 6+ inches from where they were.

Still looking for something that has just low beams and high beams in a bolt on aftermarket type like that one. I don't really care how bright or fancy, just want lights to not blind other ppl and to see the road.

I'm also looking at these:
http://www.kmmce.com/catalog/item/5578740/5483303.htm
or some other harley style bullet signals, to bolt on the bottom corners of the grill, next to where the old headlamps were. If i get those exact ones, I'd have to slow down the blink rate.
here's another type:
http://montor-spart.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... ls-in.html
whichever way, they'll be painted black

I'm throwing out the old turn signals on the bumper. I don't want to mess with cutting up that expensive air dam, and I noticed the actual fe3x concept car cut out the lower blinkers. There's two openings on the air dam for brake air flow, I could fit another bullet turn signal down there if the one on the grill isn't noticeable enough. Or I could fit somethin like this in those lower holes: http://cat.hella.com/hella232/jsp/searc ... @010043801 -> these would be the only fancy ones I would have if I did get crazy with it, i just like that look of the daytime LED lights

So the lights will be mounted in toward the middle, maybe ppl will think I have a mini or something in their rearview