[Healeys] 'glass' fenders, etc.

[Rick Swain]

I don't know if all fiberglass fenders would be the same but here's a note of
caution from my experience. My BN4 came with fiberglass front fenders, rocker
panels, rear fenders and trunk lid. All the parts look good (not the back
sides but the only piece that has both sides visible is the trunk lid and only
when it's open), and the fit is good as well. However, because of the
thickness of the fiberglass, the door shut faces had been cut down - the
rounded edges are gone - in order for the fenders to fit. This was probably
true for the hinge pillars as well but mine were so hacked about it's hard to
tell. The part of the fiberglass rocker panels that go under the fenders have
a greater step in them than the originals, again to compensate for the
thickness of the fiberglass fenders. The trunk lid fits well but it didn't
have any weatherstripping. I found out why when I installed some. The greater
thickness of the fiberglass lid meant that there just isn't enough room for
the weatherstripping unless you cut it down.

Unless a manufacturer can produce fenders as thin as steel I can't see being
able to use fiberglass without some modification to the underlying panels. I
could be wrong. With my rebuild (for the second time) I'm replacing as many of
the fiberglass panels as I can with steel, as well as the shut pillars and
hinge pillars.

Cheers

Rick
----------------------------------------
> Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2008 11:59:48 -0400
> From: cbaustin at verizon.net
> To: spridgets at autox.team.net; healeys at autox.team.net
> Subject: [Healeys] 'glass' fenders, etc.
>
>     Visited with the folks at Smoothline (  www.smoothline.com  ) regarding
> bits and pieces for a hardtop I'm rebuilding; they mentioned that they are
> considering making fiberglass panels for sports cars.
>
>     Here's your chance to weigh in on that - they are asking for input on
how
> much interest there might be out there for those items.
>
>     Contact them directly, NFI, etc, etc,
>
>                                                                         CB
> _______________________________________________
> Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
>
> Healeys at autox.team.net
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/healeys
>
> You are subscribed as rjswain at hotmail.com
>
> http://www.team.net/archive

_________________________________________________________________
Like solving puzzles? Then you'll love Flexicon! Play now!