If I may have your Feedback: I now own two 1964 FORDS Both very solid and collision free unlike the Cyclone I sold. The cars are Falcon and Fairlane. Of MAJOR concern is if the aftermarket Fiberglass body panels such as Doors, Bumpers, Fenders, Hoods are "Streetable" and suitable for dailing driving? I know Crites offers these items however I wanted your input before I invest. Here in the Puget Sound it rains constantly and this trashes sheet metal. If you notice the FORD cars I mentioned have peaks and valleys within thier design and thus less prone to shake. Will the NEW Fiberglass items still require prepping or are they ready to paint? Is there a special paint composition required for Fiberglass or will the sheetmetal paint work? Crites offers a trim hole indentation for trim install and on 64 Falcon and Fairlane there is lots of it! Please Input.
Some aftermarket fiberglass body parts are better than others, theres a lot of Street Rod bodys, and body parts running daily. If you get good parts, every day use won't be a problem, think about it, Corvette's, and Avanti's are all fiberglass. I work every day on helicopter parts that are fiberglass. You definetly need to prep and use good primers, check your local body shops or paint supply places for recommended materialsand processes.
Only problem is that most of the glass guys make all this late model stuff for racing, not everyday street use. Where as the rod mfg. makes there products a lot heavier and better bracing and such.
I have a Crites hood and it is very nice for fiberglass but it did need work prior to painting. Not a lot of work but still need a little filler and block sanding.
We have the Crites parts on our Galaxie.....it's a race car, but we beat on it pretty hard......no problems for over 13 years. Always some prep on fiberglass parts, but the crites stuff is pretty durable. Get it and use it. Mark
In my 58 years, every aftermarket fiberglass piece I have ever seen was much lighter built than a factory piece. 50% were correctly built. 10% were warped a bit from over catalyzing after cure. All were usable because they were easy to correct and fix. Some need wood/metal frames glassed in. Some need more glass plys. All needed carefull prep before paint. 1. Make sure you get all of the mold release agent removed before prime. 2. Don't use cheap primer.(High solids and sand-coat-sand-coat) 3. The final paint is the same as any part. (I have used a flexable additive before and the jury is still out on it's effectiveness)
Thank you so much for your input. If I may ask: Crites offer 1964 Fairlane Fiberglass quarter panel patch panels. How difficult would it be to marry these panel to factory sheet metal WITHOUT having noticeable body distortion?
they're all very streetable..the Crites hood I have is well over 20 years old... My fathers Falcon is gonna be all Crites glass other than the quarters and roof..it all requires prep work, and the stuff my father and I weren't happy with was taken care of when he complained to the company...Make sure when you get the stuff it has not overly sunk...You don't want a lot of filler work...Anyways, its time consuming, my 2 cents...
Thats touch and go.... Glass and steel have different expansion rates that really plays havoc with the adhesion of one to the other over time. The modern structural glues like the FUSOR product line or some such would be the route I'd take...although you still might get a witness line on an exposed (but filled over) joint. I'm not familiar with those particular replacement panels at all. Hopefully they join under a chrome strip or something? That would save a load of concern AND work! Something this thread makes me uneasy about is the structural strength of the car itself. Just how strong is this car? It SEEMS like it has some rust issues going on if it needs all this panel replacement. I'd be sure the underbody was in real good shape before I wacked off the quarters and replaced them with glass! Even then it might be an iffy thing to use as an actual part of the unibody. I wouldn't be worrying about the bolt on parts like fenders at all though.
How much time you are willing to put into it directly affects the quality you gte out of it. Crites parts are as good as it gets, but you still need to block it out. Fiberglass is easy to work with, but time consuming. But even race car fiberglass can be made straight and live for a long time. I prefer to add fiberglass mat and resin to big problems rather than add filler. The rule of thumb for me is the same as it is with steel body parts, and that is if it takes more than about .090" of filler, then you need to either add fiberglass (to fiberglass parts) or fix the dents (on steel parts). I also like to use short-strand filler on fiberglass rather than polyester fillers for the first go around. I also prep 'glass with hot soapy water first, followed by water. Then let it dry out in the sun, then sand with 80 grit to scuff the gel-coat. I have never had any paint peel or crack on fiberglass using this method, even on my brother's open wheel race car with it's paper-thin 'glass . EDIT!!! I didn't see that was for quarter panels, Hackerbilt is right on in his advice, and that is that bonding 'glass and steel is dicey if show-quality is your goal.
I think I'd run a 6 point rollbar with 'glass doors just to be safer in side impact, but otherwise it should be fine.
Brilliant Points. The Car in question is a rare 1964 Fairlane "K" Code. Of course missing engine, 4 speed, and rusted. Thanks for the vital input. There is in fact an underneath molding row of holes that appear to be on a cutable non relief/recessed continous segment of quarter panel. Attached is an example pic of the quarter panel molding. Perhaps there at this place is were to place the rework join.....Please input. I have actually liquidated 64/65 Cyclones, 64 Falcon, 57 Bel Air in an effort to do a street 64 Thunderbolt. I never thought I would find a true titled K code 4 speed 64 Fairlane. As a result I want to give this car the utmost effort.
Well...I'd be looking to put steel quarters on it then. You can acceptably run fiberglass everything else due to the race heritage...but the same performance aspect requires as much body strength as possible and that won't come with bonded fiberglass. (Unless you plan a full cage and frame bracing etc...???) If your uncomfortable with doing heavy rust repair you should farm it out to a qualified builder. No shame in that...just get it right and strong the first time...you'll be a lot happier with the completed car.
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