grp body repairs

[bub2006]

After an altercation with a bollard my sill needs repairing on the reliant. Not happy. I can do basic vehicle repairs ie filling and Samsung an knocking a dent out but never owned a grp vehicle so never had to learn! Can anyone give me an idea of cost or anyone local to me be able to give me a hand? Would be great if I cam get a price. Got a crack in the sill about 2 inches followed by a chunk taken out of the sill. Thanks

[Rocket88]

I'd buy a cheap B&Q fibreglass kit, read the instructions, and have a go...even if you cock it up, and you need to get it done again, no harm done........it's not too difficult, but wear gloves! [and a mask]

[jonny69]

If you want to give it a go yourself, it's quite simple as long as you follow a few basic rules. I've got a fibreglass front on my Anglia which was really tatty when I got it and I managed to make it good.

 

The stuff:

 

You can get fibreglass matting and the 2-part polyester resin on eBay. Either used woven matt or chopped-strand matt. Woven is in a grid shape like a cheap carpet, it's more expensive but a bit easier to work with, and it's stronger. The car is probably made from chopped strand though (which is just ~40mm strands all randomly chucked together and pressed into a sheet), so it's your choice. Woven matt also comes on a roll in 25 and 50 mm wide, which is another option for making your life easier.

 

You'll need a 2" paintbrush, something to mix the resin in, mixing sticks, gloves etc. Don't worry about a mask because the resin smells fantastic, so it's probably really really bad for you.

 

The repair:

 

What you need to know about fibreglass is once it's got a crack or a split in it, it will continue to crack through the surface if you just fill and paint over the top of it, so you need to take a few steps to stop it. What you ideally need to do is identify the crack, find the ends of it and drill a decent size hole at each end to stop it spreading. Cut along the length of the crack with a jigsaw so that the glass can freely move back into shape. Then get a small chisel, bradawl or screwdriver, find all the hairline cracks and dig them out so they are deep scores right into glass. Drill any that look like they need it. Now they won't spread.

 

Ideally you'll make your repair on the back of the panel. Get to the back of the repair and roughly grind the surface back until you reach the glass. Go a lot wider than the damage because you want to get plenty of surface area on the repair patch. Cut some repair patches and layer them up with resin as needed.

 

On the nice side you can now fill and paint. Really rough sand it and file or sand the cracks into wide V shapes so the filler has something to bond to. Then finish sand and paint.

 

You're probably looking at £35-£50 in consumables and leave a day to do it. Glass repairs are really fast when get stuck in

[Wilko220]

I assume it was an auto-correct on your phone - but I was quite amused by the idea of you repairing the bodywork on your Reliant with filler and a Samsung!

[Joey spud]

It's a bit like doing paper mache really, grind the flakey edges off the crack/tear (make a V shape).

Use the fibre glass matting to fix it from behind (hold the damaged skirt in place with flat bit of tin and gaffa tape while it cures),if you have any resin left over fill the cracks from the out side too,sand it back a bit of filler if req and black stone chip the whole skirt.

 

 

 

Heres one i made earlier (well my dad did circa 1999)...

 

P.S black electrical tape is the perfect width for doing a 'pukka' pin stripe job on the recess along the sides.

[bub2006]

Thanks Jonny for the walkthrough greatly appreciated. Yes wilko was a typo sorry!!

[bub2006]

Cracking pickup by the way joey!

[cort16]

back by cort16, on Flickr

 

The arches on my SD1 are built for MR2's so I chopped them up into three bits and put them together again using a kit I got from Halfords for £12 that has the resin, brush and matt. I just built it up slowly from the inside then once it was built up enough I put a skim of filler over it. I'd never done anything with fibreglass before and found it straight forward as long as I didn't try to put too much matting on at once.

[Bobthebeard]

I assume it was an auto-correct on your phone - but I was quite amused by the idea of you repairing the bodywork on your Reliant with filler and a Samsung!

 

I wondered about that as well. Heard about using chicken wire and cardboard etc.

[bub2006]

Beautiful SD1 there. Thanks for all your ideas guys. I may have to have a go now!

[AeroNautiCal]

I'd buy a cheap B&Q fibreglass kit, read the instructions, and have a go...even if you cock it up, and you need to get it done again, no harm done........it's not too difficult, but wear gloves! [and a mask]

 

 

For GRP repairs on a Reliant, it's important to wear the right mask!

 

 

[bub2006]

Wouldn't be long for a trotted joke to pop up. Admittedly thought it would be sooner! I drive a bloody robin hatchback not a regal supervan!!!

[Des]

Or you could bodge it with a steel patch.

Do be careful with getting fibreglass on yourself, use gloves and a mask when you sand or cut it as it's easy to become allergic to the stuff, I was nobbled from excessive contact, nasty itchy rashes, and it was more than a decade before I could go near the stuff again. I wonder if you were to smooth some tin foil onto a good bit of sill, then sploodge some fibreglass onto it, once hardened you have a mould for the damaged bit.