So I picked up a t-bucket body for $150, But it needs the bracing/re-inforcement stuff- Somebody told me to use wood, But it seems like there will be too many curves for that. Uhhh.... so anybody want to school me?
i used 3/16th 3/4 angle and cut little reliefs to make the bends. and then welded em shut ,mada a skeleton inside turned out fabulous , but i do not have any pics as my puter ate all of em,
a lot of the guys over here in the uk use tube,go to the local hire shop and get a tube bender for a few days,5/8 tube is the norm here.It takes a bit of practice to get it right but when it's done it will look real good and profesional,not only that it can be bent in real tight unlike angle.............Marq
Around the upper back, I've used a garden hose full of epoxy then glassed into place, but that was in 1962........OLDBEET (its still there)
check out boat places for different types of epoxies and/or glass fillers, use glass matting to adhere the tubing to the body(if you are going to use tubing) a lot of glass cars are reenforced with oak which is supposed to expand&contract the same as fiberglass. as far as bracing, get a shitload of cardboard, a good razor knife and trim away, duplicate to wood and you're home
i used square 1 inch box to brace my body it's easy to join together as it doesn't require the tubes to be filed to fit like round tube it sits flat against the body giving more support to the glassfibre at can be easly bent by making pie cuts and welding up on small tight bends or around a former like an old wheel rim for bigger bends take a look at my pics to see how i did it UKAde
First a question...how much to you know about fiberglass? Assuming that you know how to mix the resin and apply the mat the following procedure will give you the strongest bond and the most support, pound for pound... Get some foam like they use for building surf boards, make sure that it's not polyester foam because the resin is also polyester and will melt that type of foam (ever put lacquer thinner in a foam coffee cup... ) Shape the foam to fit the inside of the body in the areas that you would like to support. 1x3 inch shaped supports work well. Once you have your bracing shaped cover the inside of the body (just where the supports are being placed) with blue masking tape, the kind that is made to be removed easily. Put the foam supports in place and layup your fiberglass mat and resin over the supports leaving about a 1 inch flange on each side of the support. This flange will give you a better bond for the final installation "bonding" step. Once the supports have been glassed and cured, remove them from the body and remove the tape. Buy some structural adhesive, this will be a 2-part epoxy made for bonding fiber reinforced plastic (FRP). This adhesive can be bought at most auto body supply houses or online. Remove the blue tape, clean the mating surfaces, and apply the adhesive and structural supports. This technique will give you a professional appearance, the strongest body, and the bond will be stronger than any bond you could achieve by laying new resin over previously cured fiberglass (a mechanical bond in fiberglass is a problem waiting to happen, avoid whenever possible!).
Is this for temporary reinforcement, like to keep the body square while you're aligning things? Or is it for permanent reinforcement, which is why you mention the many curves?
Its very simple & cheap to do,i did it on mine & it held up great. Get some furring strips(2"x3/4") get some bondo with the fibers in it,some of those big orange roach clips from Odd lot.Then try & get a total performance assembly manual. They give you all the lengths to cut the furring strips, then you just get the bondo( mix up only what you'll use quickly) Then put he bondo on the wood like your putting peanut butter on bread,Then use the roach clips to hold it in place till it sets up.Really hold great & tightens the body right up.It also gives you something to tack the upolstory to. If you can't get a otal manual i'll seeif i hae mine & i'll take a picture of te page with the lay out on it. Trust me its a great cheap way to do it & it doesthe job. JimV
I use to make molds for them fake convertible tops. The fastest and easiest thing I found was conduit tubing. It's strong, bends easy, available in different diameters and the tools to bend it are inexpensive too. Bend it up, clamp it on and glass it up. I had guys that worked next to me use wood and I could make 4 molds to their 1. Mine were just as strong and didn't take up as much room either. Can't say that it helped, but some times I would drill little holes in the tubing for extra grip. Hope this helps, Zilla!
http://www.jamestowndistributors.co....do?pid=3842&familyName=WEST+System+Epoxy+Kit Great video!! Pete
I've heard of guys using rope - mix up some fg resin and stick the rope where you want to brace. You might have to clamp it. When the resin has set, cover the rope with FG cloth and resin as usual. The box section of the cloth over the rope gives good torsional strength.
Use resin and fiberglass cloth to reinforce your body. I used cardboard and masking tape to form a boarder channel 3/4" down from the top lip of my 27 T body. Then you can lay up the glass and resin in that channel. You have to lay the body upside down so with gravity, the resin doesn't run out, until it sets up. keep on going around the body adding more layers as it sets up. I didn't put any doors in my body, so with the 3/4" reinforced lip, it is so stable, that I didn't add any other body reinforcing.
The reinforcement in my friends 23 Track T, built in 1969, is a piece of 1/2" rebar bent to fit under the top rail, then embedded in a bed of bondo and covered completely. The rebar was derusted and painted before installation, it runs the length of the cab rail and drops down slightly about 3" from the dash. He also carved a bar of oak to fit up in the cowl top at the dash. It too is bedded in bondo but not covered up. Several brass wood screws through the face of the dash rail hold it in place. The steel steering column drop bolts through this reinforcement rail. The inside of the firewall is covered with a sheet of 3/4" plywood. The 3/4" plywood floor is bonded to the sidewalls of the body with fibreglass kitty hair compound and a few brass wood screws. Try to remember to add a few drain holes in the back edge of the floor to allow the rain to get out before bad stuff happens. If your car will have a rake this not so necessary but be sure IF your seat riser board runs wall to wall to have a drain hole or hole behind it so water can escape.
Let me throw an old boat hull trick into the mix. Get some 3/4" PVC pipe, cut it in half, use a torch to just soften it enough to bend to your contours, then glass in place. The reality is the glass is where the strength really is, but the pipe provides the form.
I realize this is a very old thread, but since it seems to be alive again, here is how I do a fiberglass body: I do whatever it takes to hold the wood in place until the resin sets up.
I've tried a lot of different things. Wood is fine, but if moisture gets in there it will dry rot. Foam is light and very shapeable. For ribs to keep fender edges from flexing or for floorboards, I got fiberglass sheet from McMaster-Carr and glassed it in. They offer it in many sizes and thicknesses.
The secret to using wood is to seal the edges with resin and encapsulate every bit of it with fiberglass, that way moisture can't get in. The wooding in my 27 is over 25 years old and is as solid today as the day I did it, and that car has been in the rain lots of times over those 25 years. I used to even park it at work all day and it rains almost every day here in Florida. You figure, most boats use wood for stringers and reinforcement. If done properly those last for years (except for cheap boats where they take shortcuts). Don
Glossing sounds like a great option! I will use that for my interior structure. For my door jambs, hinge areas and my dash I'm using metal for grounds and strength. Just makes sense I think?
This is after completing the dash mounts and column mounts, bracing. With components installed temporarily.
Great thread. I've got a FG front end for my 55' and its got a really bad "swoop" in it. I've been thinking about how im going to take it out and this has given me some ideas Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Best way to get called out is to participate...in anything. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I did the back of my Vicky just today. Ready for interior trim, once the rest of the car is done. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
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