6.0ss Posted November 12, 2004 Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 Material List: Home Depot/Hardware store Fiberglass Resin Fiberglass Cloth/Mat Box of 50 Rubber Gloves Extra Fiberglass Resin Hardener 1 gallon Tub of Bondo. Bondo mixing and applying plastic spreaders Light weight finishing filler, (5 oz tube) 40 grit sand paper 120 grit sand paper 320 grit sand paper primer paint Small amt of 1/2 inch MDF Wood 4ft sq should be enough Large Roll of Aluminum Foil Package of Mixing Cups or SOLO cups, Tools needed POWER SANDER IS A BIG HELP Scisors or razor blades Jig Saw Imagination FIRST STEP: Making the Mold to build from. Remove A Pillar Trim Covers. Cover A Pillar Trim Piece in Aluminum foil, 2 layers should be good, press the foil so there is no creases and it wraps the trim piece tight Lay out dry fiberglass mat on Pillar, cut to fit shape, 2 layers should be fine to start... (you are covering the outside shell, not wrapping it around the back.) Put on Gloves, Mix 5-10 Oz of Fiber glass resin in Cup according to the packages requirements,,,MIX WELL. Use your hands and work resin into the Mat, Continue to make sure that the mat holds the shape that you are recreating. DO this on both pillars and wait till they dry, 2-6 hours depending on temperature. Once dry, remove hard shell from original pillar trim piece and pick the aluminum off of the mold you have made. STEP TWO. Creating the shape. This part takes some creativity on your part, Now that you have seen how Fiber glass works, You need to learn and play with how you want your pillar to look, are you adding speakers, Gages, Mounts Displays, SAFCII Screen, MBC's etc. Use the Wood to cut guides for your self. Our example will be tweeter POD. Cut the wood to reflect a ring the size of which the tweeter will fit in snug. Use Small amt of bondo, (mix according to instructions on can) to secure the wood to your New Mold. Mix the bondo HOT, or add a little more cream hardener than your would for normal. (this is just expierence, play with the stuff a little bit before you start your project) You can see in this picture the small plastic mounting ring that was used, see how it is atached with the bondo to the mold!! Let dry, the HOT mix bondo will harden in about 3-5 min. You will have to hold the wood in that spot until it drys. Now Mix normal proportions of cream hardener and bondo and fill in area behind the wood trim piece, use Gloves and use a bondo spreader. (this will cause less sanding later) Let this harden and continue to sand down and apply bondo until you have the shape that is desired. as you can see here, the plastic trim ring is now back filled and the middle cleared out. Use Dremel tool or drill to remove excess bondo from inside the wood trim ring, you can also put the tweeter into a plastic bag before bondo and put it in the trim ring you made,then bondo around it, same idea as the aluminum over the pillar trim ring, it does not stick but allowes it to be molded around the part. Part 3: Finishing the pillar. At this point you should have a basic looking pillar with lots of funny colors on it. Use your light weight bondo filler tube to fill in small irregularities on the surface of your new Trim Pieces, Use the 320 grit to make is as smooth and flowing as possible, you might want to lay another layer of fiberglass mat over the project at this point to have a uniform surface and to add strength. Bondo sands easier than resin and having the surface uniform with one product will make it easier to sand and make just perfect. next is to spray with primer and let dry, this will show off the wavy or uneven parts. let dry and finish sanding it down and filling imperfections and re spray with primer until you have it as smooth as you want it to be. Next hit the piece with SEM Texture coat spray, follow the instructions on the can very carefully, dont rush this part. This will give the New Trim Piece a texture that looks like leather or the factory plastic dash texture. Follow the finishing instructions on the can exactly so it turns out just right, remember at this point, you can always sand it down and try again until it is just right Last part is to paint it what ever color you want! and you are done TWO VERY GOOD QUESTIONS HAVE COME UP.... First Question is, did I mold onto the plastic? In the Pictures I did mold to the plastic, But something that I would not recomend because it can crack, plastic is soft and flexable, bondo and fiberglass are not, so they don't last long with out cracking. The instructions I drafted up describe recreating a new pillar, not building off of the factory one, yet the pictures are my first go at it, the finished product picture is my final job at it and does not have any original factory pillar in it, so read carfully, take pictures as a slight guide to the words. Second is how to attach the pillar once you make it? You can secure the A pillar in three ways, THe first is done buy molding or glueing the factory clip to your new A pillar, Liquid nails works well for this! The other that has worked very well for me has been clear silicone to secure it from the back side, to remove it use a heat gun. I have seen people use screws and have built into the A pillar a deep counter sunkin portion for the screw to hide in and secure the pillar, this is the hard way, but the best way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
styleandspeed Posted November 12, 2004 Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 Wow, that is pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEAR M UP Posted November 12, 2004 Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 That looks really good....... Did you work alittle kitty hair in that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6.0ss Posted November 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 I did not work any kitty hair into this set up! Naw just kidding, I know what Kitty hair is and I did not need any, I used a product called vett filler in those pictures to keep the bondo and plastic from cracking apart. Awesome stuff. But You really should just make a mold which the pictures don't show!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan06SS Posted November 12, 2004 Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 very nice... I think you've inspired me to try some fiberglass work myself... maybe a custom sub enclosure. THANKS FOR THE GREAT TUTORIAL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPEEDCRAVIN Posted November 12, 2004 Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 Thats the funniest looking SS dash I have ever seen Man you realy did a great job on that pillar set up. I like that a hole lot. JOSH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hankc350 Posted November 12, 2004 Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 Thats the funniest looking SS dash I have ever seen Man you realy did a great job on that pillar set up. I like that a hole lot. JOSH <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Make one with the bottom speaker and some boost gauges for the SS. I would Love to see that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IdriveGTP Posted November 12, 2004 Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 Joe, Is that your car? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6.0ss Posted November 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 Joe, Is that your car? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That was the Evo VIII that I had before I got my SS, Its home page is at... Evo Web Page!!! I will build a small tutorial about building a sub enclosure as well if you guys want me to, I had lots of fiberglass work in that evo, I am getting ready to build a fiberglass enclosure for the SS, So I will just make a tutorial from that!! Fiberglass is not hard to work with, It just takes some imagination and time!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSplaytoy Posted November 13, 2004 Report Share Posted November 13, 2004 Fiberglass is nice.......... But it's a pain in the ass. Nice setup though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcairns Posted November 15, 2004 Report Share Posted November 15, 2004 Fiberglass is nice.......... But it's a pain in the ass. Nice setup though. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> As a wise man once said, "if it is a pain in the butt, you are not doing it right!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6.0ss Posted November 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2004 Fiberglass is nice.......... But it's a pain in the ass. Nice setup though. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> As a wise man once said, "if it is a pain in the butt, you are not doing it right!" <{POST_SNAPBACK}> When I first worked with it I thought the same thing, but It is no harder than dealing with wood enclosures really! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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