repairing a fibreglass bumper or skirts

As many people will know when you have an accident or someone hits you in a car park and drives off like they did with mine it is a very saddening situation and you think that its going to cost a fortune to have repaired. If you have the money by all means have it done profesionaly but if you have low funds like me it is best to give it a go yourself so here is a basic guide for repairing damage into a bumper but this guide can be used to do repairs to any thing else fibreglass with a little modification. Things you will need to do these repairs Fibreglass resin depending on the size of the repair to what amount you will need for the job im doing 5 kg should do the job with some left over. Fibreglass mat. Fibreglass tissue. Topcoat this is a gelcoat with a wax and pigment in for painting over the top if your bumpers have a gelcoat. Again 5kg should do the job. Fibreglass filler this you can make yourself by mixing chop strand with resin or you can buy ready mixed tins of it i prefer to use the ready mixed stuff. A mixing kettle for the resin. brushes prefrebly resin brushes. Fibreglass plane, sandpaper, wet and dry paper. Optional tools. Electric sander. roller for the fibreglass this is for rolling out air bubbles. Roller for the gelcoat you can use this instead of a paint brush. paint if you dont have a gelcoat on your bumpers. Guide With damage like i had the best thing to do is to remove the bumper. As carful as possible push the section that has been pushed in back out and try to get it as straight and back in place as possible dont worry that it dont look very good the filler will be the main work. Now it is back in shape roughly now you need to hold it in that position by running some fibreglass over the back of it covering all the cracks with 2 or 3 layers of fibreglass. Once this is dry fit the bumper back onto the car, now u can start the filler work. All areas of the bumper you are going to be putting filler sand to form a key using a course sand paper. Fill in the hole roughly smoothing it off to fill the hole fully you will probably need more than one application. i have done 2 applications so far and once its sanded i will need to do some again to fill in any gaps. The hardest job is now to come sand the filler down so it forms the same shape as the bumper was. this is my bumper after my first application of the filler it does look an real mess but now its sanded it looks cleaner. As i said you will need to build up with a few layers do get it to the correct depth then sand it back. Now there is two options you can do: option one once its all sanded back you can either spray it or run the gelcoat over it. option two run a very thin layer of fibreglass tissue over the top. The cons for doing the first is there is a chance the filler will crack out leaving you with a big mess to repair. The cons for doing the second is it is more work to do and more sanding but it will make sure your filler dont crack out and will cover any cracks in your gelcoat. I have chosen option two. Next, sand down all the areas you are going to put the fibreglass tissue. Put a coat of resin thinly in a small area and lay the tissue over it it is best to do this in small areas to reduce any mess. Once the tissue is on stipple (dab) some resin over the tissue making sure it goes transparant then get your roller and roll over the tissue making sure there is no air in it and making it spread out in a nice thin layer. Once you have covered all the areas sand it down roughly to make sure there is a nice key (smooth if spraying) and it is an even surface. Now you can either spray it or do your gelcoat. This can either be brushed on or rollered but make sure you get a nice even layer on. Once this is done it will need to be sanded smooth to get brush strocks etc out. At this stage you can then use the gelcoat to fill in any un even areas making sure you sand a key into it before hand. To get an gloss like finish to it you will need to get a cutting compound and pollish it to a smooth shiney finish. Your bumper or skirts should now be finished as close as possible to original bumper.

Making a fibreglass sub box

Things you will need to make this Resin Fibreglass mat Resin proof masking tape this should have a wax or release agent on Some MDF large enough to make the speaker ring the right size for your sub mine was 10" so i needed enough to do about 12" inches twice so your sub sits down into it flush so two bits 15"square will be fine. some dowl or bits of wood to use as surports for the speaker ring to hold it out from the base. some fabric, this has to be 100% polyester i used 100% polyester fleece but you can use anything. Sandpaper consolidation roller Guide To start this off you need to use the making tape and mask off the area you are going to fit the box in. Cover all areas around this with sheets to make sure you dont get any splashes on anything. Now coat the masking tape in resin and put a layer of tissue over it, about 3 layers should do. Once dry you can take it out of the boot and trim it to the shape you want. This is my base just before i trimmed it Next if you want to you can add some more layers of fibreglass to the base but to be honest you shouldnt need to. The dowls can now be added these can be either screwed on or glued. You need to put them on then fix the speaker rings to it making sure its in the possition you want it in.    The fabric can now be stretched over the whole lot and then glued around the edges. Once the glue has dried you can put the resin over the fabric painting it on nice and thick making sure it soaks through the fabric fully if you have to after it drys do another coat. i covered my box in a couple of layers of fibreglass mat to just to make sure it is air tight but it is not really needed. once this is all done you are ready to choose what finish you want on your box fabric covered or painted. If you are painting you will need to sand down the box to get a smooth even finish or do as i have done to fill in any dips in the box, and cover with filler. below is after the first 2 coats of filler i had started to sand it down. once you have done your filler you can sand it down smooth at this stage you can fill in any blemishes and sand them down again. After it is all smooth it is time to spray it the best thing to do is spray a few layers of a high build primer. Once dry sand it back and then do your colour coat its up to you how many coats you use. A coat or two of laquer can now be sprayed on giving it that gloss smooth finish and also protects it. As you can see from my last picture i have now finished by spraying i choose black with a red glitter effect it is now laquered and fitted in the boot with the sub i will put some pictures of the finished product when i get some.