So last night, i finally attempted working with fiberglass.
When i initially had my system installed, the shop hacked up my rear doors pretty badly to get my type-r's to fit. The speakers wouldn't fit under the door panel, in the factory speaker location, so rather than simpy removing the detatchable grille, they decided to cut a huge hole right smack dab in the middle of it.
My upcoming DIY comp. setup wont have any speakers in the rear, so a big nasty hole in my rear doors wasn't an option, so i set out to make some covers, and bring the doors back to a factory-ish appearance.
Here's a pic. of what my doors looked like with the type-r's installed.
You can see outlined in red, the area i decided to cover with my fiberglass, and also the hackjob speaker install, that not only destroyed the grilles in front of the factory speaker location, but also the panels next to it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/furious.gif.fc81ca146dbff91fede3ed290dbc4f4c.gif
So i got myself a gallon of resin, a bunch of woven fiberglass cloth, and went to town.
I did a LOT of reading on these forums about how to fiberglass, but after doing the first panel, i got more used to the process, and adapted the process to something that worked better for me, and ultimately gave me better results. I cut the cloth into larger squares than the "strips" most people use, and after each layer of mat was layed down and resined, i used a paint roller to press everything down.
On my first panel, i layed down each layer in 15 minute intervals, but the second panel i got much better (smoother) results that resulted in less sanding by laying down the entire 9 square foot pack, layer after layer, right in a row with no breaks, and then dumping an additional 2 oz. of resin on top of the panel afterwards, and rolling it evenly across the entire panel with the paint roller. Both panels turned out equally strong, but the one i did all at once required a lot less sanding afterwards.
Overall, it was a lot easier than i expected. I think all the reading and prep i did was just psyching me out, and it didn't come together in my mind until i actually got started, and then the process just flowed.
Also, i didn't find it necessary to use a fleece skeleton. I just used 3 layers of masking tape as my structure, and although a layer of masking tape is pretty much permanently a fixture on the back of the panel, the results were excellent, overall.
Here's a pic of a finished panel. This is post-sanding/pre-paint.
The finish will be rubberized spray-on bedliner on the face, painted to match the tan color on the panel, and then the piece will be epoxied to the door to be watertight, and then the entire back of the panel will be sprayed with 3 or 4 coats of spray on rubber undercoat/sound deadener. (it was already quiet, it's more for water-proofing, sound-deadening's just a bonus)
Let me know what you think!
Later
When i initially had my system installed, the shop hacked up my rear doors pretty badly to get my type-r's to fit. The speakers wouldn't fit under the door panel, in the factory speaker location, so rather than simpy removing the detatchable grille, they decided to cut a huge hole right smack dab in the middle of it.
My upcoming DIY comp. setup wont have any speakers in the rear, so a big nasty hole in my rear doors wasn't an option, so i set out to make some covers, and bring the doors back to a factory-ish appearance.
Here's a pic. of what my doors looked like with the type-r's installed.
You can see outlined in red, the area i decided to cover with my fiberglass, and also the hackjob speaker install, that not only destroyed the grilles in front of the factory speaker location, but also the panels next to it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/furious.gif.fc81ca146dbff91fede3ed290dbc4f4c.gif
So i got myself a gallon of resin, a bunch of woven fiberglass cloth, and went to town.
I did a LOT of reading on these forums about how to fiberglass, but after doing the first panel, i got more used to the process, and adapted the process to something that worked better for me, and ultimately gave me better results. I cut the cloth into larger squares than the "strips" most people use, and after each layer of mat was layed down and resined, i used a paint roller to press everything down.
On my first panel, i layed down each layer in 15 minute intervals, but the second panel i got much better (smoother) results that resulted in less sanding by laying down the entire 9 square foot pack, layer after layer, right in a row with no breaks, and then dumping an additional 2 oz. of resin on top of the panel afterwards, and rolling it evenly across the entire panel with the paint roller. Both panels turned out equally strong, but the one i did all at once required a lot less sanding afterwards.
Overall, it was a lot easier than i expected. I think all the reading and prep i did was just psyching me out, and it didn't come together in my mind until i actually got started, and then the process just flowed.
Also, i didn't find it necessary to use a fleece skeleton. I just used 3 layers of masking tape as my structure, and although a layer of masking tape is pretty much permanently a fixture on the back of the panel, the results were excellent, overall.
Here's a pic of a finished panel. This is post-sanding/pre-paint.
The finish will be rubberized spray-on bedliner on the face, painted to match the tan color on the panel, and then the piece will be epoxied to the door to be watertight, and then the entire back of the panel will be sprayed with 3 or 4 coats of spray on rubber undercoat/sound deadener. (it was already quiet, it's more for water-proofing, sound-deadening's just a bonus)
Let me know what you think!
Later
