My first fiberglass bezel

[Bigrick31 10+ year member]

So on pre 03 model crown victorias the dash bezel and the air vents are set up in a way that do not allow for a double din head unit. having just bought a pioneer avic-z2 i had to figure out a way to get around this problem. one approach is to bet a bezel and air vents from an 03 or newer vic however to install the new air vents you have to take out the entire dash from the car which isnt the most fun thing in the world. so i decided to try my hand at a little fiberglassing. i have done speaker boxs before but nothing that requires some nice finish work.

here is a pic of the bezel opening. I also purchased a double din install kit from pioneer to help with the installation

my first step was to cut out the bezel big enough to fit the double din unit and mounting brackets. for this i used an air saw.

next i took the trim ring that came with the install kit and lined it up so it looked square and level then hot glued it in place.

I then took the cage provided in the kit and set it on the backside of my trim ring only i set it in reverse.

i then used hot glue to set the cage in place as well

Click to read more...

 

[Fusion_FREAK 10+ year member]

Is there a missing part? I see no fiberglass.

 

[Bigrick31 10+ year member]

I then went to Tap Plastics by my house and bough some fiberglass resin, chopped fiberglass in a jar, a bucket, hardener, brushes, filler putty, and color additives.

fiberglass on the front of the dash

fiberglass on the back now.

this is the next morning after the glass had dried. at first i let the glass dry for about 30 minutes and took a razor blade and trimmed off the excess glass.

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

Is there a missing part? I see no fiberglass.

i was gonna say this, then i was like "oh yeah, probably gonna finish it up in post #2"

 

[speedfreak28 10+ year member]

may turn out okay but proer preparation is key, you may have to end up sanding and painting that entire bezel now. it looks like theres fiberlgass everywhere. SEm paint can match the finish good luck sir.

 

[Bigrick31 10+ year member]

i then covered parts of the dash in masking tape so i wouldn't get filler all over the place.

this is actually the second coat of filler. the stuff i bought was gray for the second layer i mixed in a green additive.

did a little sanding

after my third coat with a yellow additive this time and again i sanded it down using 80grit sand paper i believe.

had to test fit the unit.

wanted to make sure everything fit in the car ok. had to sand off a little excess fiberglass on the back.

that is where my project sits right now. i have to go out and do a lot more sanding to get it ready for primer and paint. comments and suggestions are welcome as this is my first attempt anything that could make the process easier or any advice to prep for paint would be appreciated.

 

[Bigrick31 10+ year member]

may turn out okay but proer preparation is key, you may have to end up sanding and painting that entire bezel now. it looks like theres fiberlgass everywhere. SEm paint can match the finish good luck sir.

i plan on painting the entire thing. i have to smooth the rest of the bezel first.

 

[speedfreak28 10+ year member]

posted before you did that last set of pics. starting to look good now, but like i said SEM has paints that will match the oem platic color.

 

[GLN305 10+ year member]

Use some filler primer heavily over the glassed area and lightly over the rest of the bezel. San with some 400, then work your way up to finer grits. Spray with either SEM texture coat or get some spray bedliner from Wal Mart or Auto Zone. Either one will work as a texture. Seeing that the bezel is black, you could probably use Duplicolor flat black and it will look good.

 

[da box king 10+ year member]

looks nice man

 

[speedfreak28 10+ year member]

also, what color is the car? maybe it would look nice painted to match or you could wrap it in dark suede, that would look nice.

 

[Bigrick31 10+ year member]

also, what color is the car? maybe it would look nice painted to match or you could wrap it in dark suede, that would look nice.

the car is going to be black right now it still has a police paint schme of navy blue and white doors.

 

[speedfreak28 10+ year member]

nice do a black leather and charcoal suede interior, that would clean especially on a bagged vic.

 

[MikeyB 5,000+ posts]

Looks good man, theres some other products out there that work great as well. Look into duramix and fusor products.

Some duramix would have worked great for that little project //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

http://www.tcpglobal.com/autobodydepot/duramixadd.aspx

 

[TurdFergueson2 5,000+ posts]

will you be able to match the color of the bezel back or you don't care?