Luke Algar Posted February 16, 2004 Posted February 16, 2004 Does anyone know, something to use on fibreglass, which as become Starred in places, and generally just making the whole body work look a lot better. Any suggestions would be great! Luke Quote
7SE Posted February 16, 2004 Posted February 16, 2004 The short answer is a re-spray The long answer is to grind off the starred gel coat deep enough to get into the f/glass mat beneath it and wide enough to outside the starring, feathering the edges of the hole. You have to go deep 'cos the cracks are all through the moulding. You then lay in some f/glass tissue with resin and then filler on top, sand this back, re-fill the air holes, sand again, and again with finer wet'n'dry, and again, again. Then re-spray. Repeat for each 'star' Yes it is tedious Plus, if you want to stop it happening again you need to protect the underside of the f/glass in some way. Do a search for 'rubber' Quote
studbuckle Posted February 16, 2004 Posted February 16, 2004 I'd reccommend covering it in fakle carbon fibre.... Just the job. Actually, is the starring from inside impact, round bolts or from outside impact? Quote
Luke Algar Posted February 16, 2004 Author Posted February 16, 2004 From the outside! Its only really one star, but its pretty massive, not sure how it got there, but it seems that there have been some pretty careless and thoughtless owners before, who have managed to have bashed and batter the poor car. Quote
stu999 Posted February 16, 2004 Posted February 16, 2004 How much repair work is there to consider? If there is more than a few star-cracks, I would leave then TBH, and put it down the 'character'! Basically, you will need to carefully grind out each individual crack into a vee, drill a small hole at the end of each line (to prevent the crack spreading), and fill with gel coat (presuming the car is in original gelcoat finish, and if a match can be found). It will be a good idea to reinforce the GRP around the crack from the underside to prevent reoccurance, and as a future preventative measure, a coat of rubberized paint. Patience testing and time consuming work..... Quote
Luke Algar Posted February 16, 2004 Author Posted February 16, 2004 Just so long as it doesn't cost me a fortune, as being a student, don't have time for work, so have little money, i can cope with the patience and the time consuming:) Quote
Rob Navin Posted February 16, 2004 Posted February 16, 2004 Two ideas Luke. Get your dad to remake all the bits in plastic Or swap it for a westy without cracks Are you doing any rounds in it this year mate ? Rob Quote
stu999 Posted February 16, 2004 Posted February 16, 2004 Get your dad to remake all the bits in plastic ROTFLMAO! Perhaps he could do a 'see through' body, a bit like that Lotus 340R..... Quote
Luke Algar Posted February 17, 2004 Author Posted February 17, 2004 Not so sure that he'll do that, even for me, his darling son! In reply to your question Rob, yeah i definately want to do some rounds if i can, epecially once i've finished my exams! Hope to see you guys soon though, looking forward to three Sisters Quote
knipex Posted February 20, 2004 Posted February 20, 2004 I just finished rebuilding a 91 SEiW that had alot of starring. All advice above is good but in really bad areas it might be better to cut out a complete section and rebuild it using matting and fillers. Use matting to reinforce the area under the starring and get a good body fillers that has some flexability when hard. (Plastic Padding Ultima is good but expencive). After that a complete respray is called for Im afraid. Quote
Luke Algar Posted February 21, 2004 Author Posted February 21, 2004 Yeah Cheers for that, I need to re-spray the whole car any how, as its faded a bit, other the past 25 years or so!! Quote
scott beeland Posted February 21, 2004 Posted February 21, 2004 From the outside! bashed and batter the poor car. I'm sure it's not the only battering it's gonna get though eh minialgarman. Watch them cones!! Quote
cast iron Posted February 22, 2004 Posted February 22, 2004 Hold the old man to ransom to repair the body- Threaten to tell everyone that he has got his car down to 387KG - oh b*****k:D Quote
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