How to install Aluminum tinwork in a Fiberglass body

Any of you that have followed my build thread on my dragster Know I decided to make it a comp coupe type car, But still being able to run it as a dragster by just removeing the fiat body,the body I used was a 37 fiat that I was going to use on a altered project, First off when you get a new glass race body there's nothing but a glass shell, So you have to make something to mount your tinwork to, so here's how I do it it might not be the way everyone else does it but it works for me and alot of funny cars and altereds, I'll add alittle each day as this is something I did last summer and will be pic heavy,, After fitting it so to speak to the chassis draw some lines on the inside of the body where the tin will sit on the frame rails, after that you have to brace the body because they are pretty flimsy when you get them,, I do this by screwing the body to a frame made from 2x4'S,,,,, The pics I have are from fitting it on a funny car chassis ,, Hopefully I can write this so it makes sense to you,,,, Tim Jones

 

Since it's blowin and snowing out here I'll add some more to this, Me being cheap and inventive I use galvinzed roof trim to form my glass shelf for the tinwork to sit on, ( I know it's alum but I've always called it tinwork ) the fiber glass is easy to separate from the glavinzed metal, and is easy to work with, I screw the roof tin along the lines makeing a shelf to lay the fiberglass to, I make cuts every inch or so on the corner pieces to follow the conture of the body. Next I seal all the cuts and seams on my form with shipping tape or duct tape. the areas your going to add fiberglas to need to be grinded so the new glass adhears to it, after that we'll be ready to start glassing, Tim Jones

 

A few more pics , the body flipped over and ready to glass, ,,,, If anyone wants to add coments or some pics of your way of doing thing feel free to add them , Like I said my way isn't the only way and we all can learn from each other, Tim Jones

 

This is the only part I hate doing.

 

Yeah but when it comes out as nice as that, it's easy to forget what a pain in the ass it is to do, Thanks for posting a pic,, BTW being your not a man who isn't shy about giveing your opinon , I'll take it for a backyard job it's no too far off So far Tim Jones

 

always great to see how others are doing things---good work and good pics ---thank you

 

Carry on !!

 

Came in from outside so as long as I'm here I'll post alittle more , I start by cutting a bunch of different lenght strips of glass cloth or matting what ever type you want to use , about 4 to 5 inchs wide,, Then I mix the resin, the rule of thumb is 11 cc's of hardner to a gallon of resin, I mix mine alittle hotter than that, but I work faster than most, this comes from a few years of working on a AA/Funny car called the Philadelipa Flyer ran by Frank Krambeger , To put it nicely Frank was a F**king animal when he drove , fires and hitting guardrails was just part of the deal, Lots of patching fiberglass with no time to spare,,,,,, I like to paint on some resin on the area I'm going to work before laying the matting down, After that I work the resin into the glass with a small paint brush , pushing out the air bubbles at the same time, I always overlap each piece with the next piece, for this project I did 4 layers of glass, make sure you push out all the air bubbles and make sure the glass cloth or matting is saturated with resin, Also this is my do as I say not as I do coment,, wear gloves and use a resperater!!! this shit is hard on your system, make sure you mix the resin and hardner throughly , if you don't you'll have a sticky mess that might not cure, Well I think that covers that part,,, Tim Jones

 

I wear gloves only because 99% of the time while in the middle of 'glassing I have to go take a piss!

 

a few more pics of the glass work

 

most of the time i wear them because I'm always short 3 or 4 pieces of matting and have to cut more

 

Well if your mix was right you should have a nice ledge or shelf to attach your tinwork to,unscrew the metal form from the body and Just find a spot where you can slide a screwdriver between the metal and the fiberglass and give it a twist to separate the two, ,, well more later I better get my ass to work,,,,my weekends over back to the zoo,,,,, Tim Jones

 

Thanks for posting all this. Good info. Mine is done a little different but I've never looked up under a funny car body to see how pros do it.

 

You didn't happen to buy that body from Dave at So-Cal Phoenix, did you?

 

Thanks,, I've been meaning to do a thread on this just because it's not something everyone see's all the time, i figur someone can use this info for doing more than just race car bodys,, Tim Jones

 

Thanks,, feel free to post some pics of how yours is,, Tim Jones

 

Nope I bought it from a guy in Nebr, that ran a mud drag car, this was his spare body , he had it laying in his barn for about 8 years, not sure where he bought it from,,,, Hey is this what you guys call a BARN FIND? Sorry I couldn't resist, Tim Jones

 

Next up is the firewall mount, I set back the form a slight amount for the Alum set into, after two layers I remove the form and flip the car on it's nose and glass in a couple more layers from the inside, I rough cut the engine opening and fine tuned it later, Tim Jones

 

Here's another quick post ,I added a brace by the rear wheelwell opening , I just used a stack of cardboard and glassed it all in, The pro's use a type of foam for braceing but I can't think of what it's called at the moment, Maybe one of the chassis or Funny car guys will chime in with the name of it,,,, Tim Jones

 

Something that is very usefull when working with fiberglass is a
laminating roller (avail in many sizes & shapes). We just have one
the flat ones with fine fins in it. Makes rolling the air bubbles out
much easier than trying to use a brush, easy to clean with acetone.
Also they make some heavy 2" or 3" wide aluminum tape, which
also helpfull to fill small gaps or hold pieces on the opposite side while
you layup the back side, peel it off,grind the surface,clean w/ acetone
and you are ready to go. Try this websire http://www.esmfg.com/fiberglass_laminating_rollers.html

John

 

It looks like an AI (Anderson Industries) body from Maryland, i might have the name wrong but the Hambr that built Pinnochio - Rich Venza? maybe - i believe that is where he worked back in the 80's and might be able to verify it. They'd come with the hood and when they get cut off it looks just like the body you are working with - very popular with the mud boggers.

 

tim...you're the bomb........never forget.......scribner !!!!!

 

I make all kinds of fiberglass products and always have to piss when glassing too, Then one day I ran out off gloves so I pulled a condom from my wallet and put it on. Been using them ever since .

 

Thanks John , when I'm doing bigger projects at work I use the rollers , only way to go when doing larger pieces Thanks and for the extra info,,, Tim Jones

 

Thanks for the info , I was trying to find some companys that make the fiat bodys for a couple guys but only found a few on the net, And yes Rich Venza buildt the pinnochio car, I believe it's his own car,, Tim Jones

 

Hmm?? it is me or do all us glass guys have a F**ked up sense of humor,, must be the fumes, Tim Jones

 

Funny you say never forget,, back in the 90's I had a bad head injury ,my memory needs a good kick in the ass once in awhile,, I'm sure I know you but you'll have to jarr my memory, Tim Jones

 

Here's some pics of my tinwork, I used some old alum we had laying around at work, I figured it would polish up OK, if I were to do this over now that my Alum tig welding skills have improved, I would do it quite a bit different where it meets the chassis, but for a backyard deal I guess it's OK, Heck who do I think I'm kidding it looks like Shit, But I can only improve right????, But anyway I used cardboard to make my patterns and bolted it together with hex bolts, If you want to see what a pro job looks like take a look back at Bruce's work on the pic he posted, Tim Jones

 

Here's a couple more pics, the fiat body on the funny car chassis, and now being fitted on my dragster to run as a Comp Coupe car, to see that click on the link to my dragster build, Tim Jones

 

Looks great!