The moral of the fiberglassing story? When mixing the resin and hardener,
make liberal use of the hardener.
Anyhoo, I cut out the worst spots of rust in my floorboard...even began to
think about having it all cut out and replaced with a new floorpan. But
since I had already bought the fiberglassing stuff, decided to go ahead as
planned.
First, I cleaned the floor up really good using one of those derusters
attached to a drill. Cleaned up the mess, then put down a coat of
fiberglass resin without enough hardener. Applied fiberglass cloth (the
thin, nylon-like, non-itching stuff). Then, recoated that in same resin. 1
week later, it was still slightly tacky, but hard enough (it was only
supposed to take a couple of hours to dry)
So this morning, I went out for the final touch. Mixed up some more resin
with liberally applied hardener, and it seemed to start wanting to clump
immediately. Applied a coat to the cloth layer, laid down a piece of mat
(the fibrous, thick, extremely itchy stuff) and then soaked it in more
resin. An hour later it was solid. Then I sprayed some 3M rubberized
undercoating on the bottom (covering the hole from underneath), sprayed down
some carpet glue, and applied a little piece of carpet (after cutting it
from a roll of Pep Boys generic carpeting). So as soon as it quits being a
sauna in the garage, I'll go back out and do some more carpeting. Who
knows? Maybe this week I'll even get the passenger seat installed!
When examing the floor with the carpet piece installed, you cannot tell
where the hole was, even when tapping with a screwdriver. It seems very
strong. I guess time will tell. I covered the entire floor pan, from the
cross member forward and up the wheel arch a little, so that should offer
adequate strength.
Moral number 2: Use a long sleeve shirt and gloves that go up to your
elbows. I used gloves, but still had to take a long shower to get all the
fibers off. It's amazing how all that stuff spreads all over the car, and
the garage.
adrian
-------------------------------------------
J. Adrian Barnes
adrian@workgroup.net
http://www.choosebig.com
http://www.midgetweb.com
-------------------------------------------
|