Any updates on this?
Very nice thread. I do a bit of fiberglass work myself, a lot of the procedures you took to do this I also do myself so it was a little case of dejavu when watching the videos lol.
**Just some lil tips for anyone interested** Drop the fleece material aka FELT also what it's known as. Pickup some "PONTE" thin and it stretches great. Best part is that it soaks up way less resin then fleece does for it to be fully saturated. Just brush the resin on in one stroke/pass and its ready. With fleece I found you sometimes gotta really work it in there even with quality resin(really runny) So those that attempt to use shitty resin(really thick aka bondo/3m brand) you will have a hell of a time trying to saturate your stretched material.
I have yet to have any luck with spray can glues. It CAN be used in certain situations of a build but I find it inadequate compared to CA glue. Any local hobby store should have some or buy some from amazon/ebay etc. You can get the spray activator for it too so it instantly dries/bonds. With spray can glue it only holds up to a certain temp- so if someone not really knowing what their doing and mix in too much MEKP into the resin batch its going to get hot as hell and make the glue release.
Also with "ponte" fabric and use of CA glue its thin and seeps right through it. So again you use less material which is always good.
I agree with LS Customs it is 100% better to build a new base to work off for kick panels then to use original plastic ones. Fiberglass and plastic don't really play nice together since there is no chemical bond, you can really only try mechanical bond and that's something that doesn't sit well with me personally. I like to use materials that all work together and bond permanently. But it is possible to use original pieces.
I would grind up the plastic kicks panels with a air grinder if you have one with 24 grit or so. Hand sanding it with a low grit would suffice as well.
Get a dremel out if you have one. And cut in a groove where I placed the orange line I don't like to wrap all the way around the kick panel in these areas(just makes for more work IMO), after roughing it up clean/degrease the plastic.
Use CA glue to try and glue your stretched fabric into this groove. Or you can use small 1/8in staples for upholstery if you can find them. Even with staples I still use CA glue.
Soak the panels in resin then place back into the car like LS Customs showed you to try and prevent any warping.
Take them back out after fully curing and grind them up again. Apply some epoxy over the grinded up fabric and plastic then apply your fiberglass mat then grind again. Now (brand of your choice) use a 2 part epoxy that works well with plastic and fiberglass and spread the epoxy over the fiberglass and plastic again and feather it in. Do this all around the kick panels where plastic and fiberglass meet. If you decide to cut out the back side apply epoxy deep into the corners where the fabric meets the plastic and it should hold pretty good.
Very nice thread. I do a bit of fiberglass work myself, a lot of the procedures you took to do this I also do myself so it was a little case of dejavu when watching the videos lol.
**Just some lil tips for anyone interested** Drop the fleece material aka FELT also what it's known as. Pickup some "PONTE" thin and it stretches great. Best part is that it soaks up way less resin then fleece does for it to be fully saturated. Just brush the resin on in one stroke/pass and its ready. With fleece I found you sometimes gotta really work it in there even with quality resin(really runny) So those that attempt to use shitty resin(really thick aka bondo/3m brand) you will have a hell of a time trying to saturate your stretched material.
I have yet to have any luck with spray can glues. It CAN be used in certain situations of a build but I find it inadequate compared to CA glue. Any local hobby store should have some or buy some from amazon/ebay etc. You can get the spray activator for it too so it instantly dries/bonds. With spray can glue it only holds up to a certain temp- so if someone not really knowing what their doing and mix in too much MEKP into the resin batch its going to get hot as hell and make the glue release.
Also with "ponte" fabric and use of CA glue its thin and seeps right through it. So again you use less material which is always good.
I agree with LS Customs it is 100% better to build a new base to work off for kick panels then to use original plastic ones. Fiberglass and plastic don't really play nice together since there is no chemical bond, you can really only try mechanical bond and that's something that doesn't sit well with me personally. I like to use materials that all work together and bond permanently. But it is possible to use original pieces.
I would grind up the plastic kicks panels with a air grinder if you have one with 24 grit or so. Hand sanding it with a low grit would suffice as well.
Get a dremel out if you have one. And cut in a groove where I placed the orange line I don't like to wrap all the way around the kick panel in these areas(just makes for more work IMO), after roughing it up clean/degrease the plastic.
Use CA glue to try and glue your stretched fabric into this groove. Or you can use small 1/8in staples for upholstery if you can find them. Even with staples I still use CA glue.
Soak the panels in resin then place back into the car like LS Customs showed you to try and prevent any warping.
Take them back out after fully curing and grind them up again. Apply some epoxy over the grinded up fabric and plastic then apply your fiberglass mat then grind again. Now (brand of your choice) use a 2 part epoxy that works well with plastic and fiberglass and spread the epoxy over the fiberglass and plastic again and feather it in. Do this all around the kick panels where plastic and fiberglass meet. If you decide to cut out the back side apply epoxy deep into the corners where the fabric meets the plastic and it should hold pretty good.
