Advice / help with fiberglass repair! (Page 1/2) 82-T/A [At Work] NOV 09, 07:57 PM Hey guys, my daughter and I are almost at the point where we're ready to re-install the decklid on her Fiero. One of the problems is that it appears as though the frame of the decklid broke on the underside. It doesn't appear as though it ever managed to damage the top of the decklid, but the frame structure is cracked (no idea how that happened, I bought it like that). There are metal plates that have been screwed on to the fiberglass frame to shore it up, and it looks like maybe they used some JB weld in a couple of places. I'd like to completely remove these weird brackets and properly fix the fiberglass structure underneath. I helped my uncle restore his 69 Corvette back in... I dunno... 1998 / 1999... I kind of remember how to do it, but nothing I can't figure out by looking at YouTube videos. I seem to recall that I'm supposed to drill out cracks, sand everything down to bare fiberglass, lay resin and the hardener, sand, and use filler. What I wanted to know is... is there anything that I'm supposed to do differently with our Fiero? Is the decklid made of straight fiberglass, or is it SMC / Sheet Molded Compound? And... with that being the case, does it mean that I need to do anything differently? Thank you!! sleek fiero NOV 09, 09:03 PM Hi Todd . the Fiero panels are not fiberglass. they are made with ABS plastic and require their own special repair techniques. I would talk to a certified GM bodyshop. My 88 Corvette was made of the same material. sleek 82-T/A [At Work] NOV 09, 09:43 PM quote Originally posted by sleek fiero: Hi Todd . the Fiero panels are not fiberglass. they are made with ABS plastic and require their own special repair techniques. I would talk to a certified GM bodyshop. My 88 Corvette was made of the same material. sleek Hi Sleek, from what I can tell though, not all the panels are the same. My 84 Corvette, which is also a C4 like yours... some of the panels are definitely fiberglass, while others are SMC. The hood, decklid, and quarter panel are made from a different material than the fenders, doors, and bumpers. Are you saying that they're all made of the same thing? Thanks! 82-T/A [At Work] NOV 09, 09:57 PM Ok, I found this on another thread... Looks like it's SMC... and not exactly fiberglass (but pretty close). I found this in another thread too: "You need to use SMC filler/bonding agent ("Vette Panel Adhesive") on all the SMC panels. Mix some fiberglass mat chopped with scissors on anything structional (filling holes, backing up cracks, etc.). On the other panels, I think the SEM product I mentioned in another of your threads will work on all of them. Check the label/instructions. As for prep, PPG epoxy primer will work better than anything for adhesion on all of the panels, with the *possible* exception of the TPO; on any hard plastics (such as the interior plastic) you should use a plastic primer - I'll get you a part number for that when I get time. ~ Paul" So... looks like I need to buy some panel adhesive... I found this on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/3M-0...esive/dp/B005IU1PW4/ ... and then bought some fiberglass cloth: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JRGOT8 I guess what I'll do is try to sand it down by hand first, and then drill some holes where the cracks are. I may even try to cut a hole so I can stuff fiberglass cloth inside there and inject the mold in it, and then try to repair it... I'll have to see how bad the damage is when I take those metal plates off... But I THINK I'll have everything I need.... ultimately I'll just need to remove some material and replace with the SMC filler and chopped up fiberglass mat, and then sand smooth, and then paint. fieroguru NOV 09, 09:57 PM The hood, roof, decklid, and rear panel are made of SMC - Sheet Molded Compound, similar to fiberglass, but not fiberglass. You need to use a specific resin that is compatible with SMC. Patrick NOV 09, 09:58 PM Todd, the decklid is made from SMC... Sheet Molded Compound, which is similar (but a bit different) than fiberglass. This video may help. 82-T/A [At Work] NOV 09, 10:24 PM Thanks guys... looks like I bought Fiberglass sheets and needed Fiberglass Matting, so I just bought "chopped fiberglass mat." Looks like I also need some plastic filler to finish it off after Ive got everything else done... Thanks! I think I have everything I need. Great video too Patrick... thanks! sleek fiero NOV 10, 09:39 PM I learned something new today. I knew it wasn't fiberglass as such. on my corvette I had a panel off of it and it had the part number and ABS imprinted on it. It looked like the same gray glossy material of the fiero hood and deck lid but I certainly was wrong. LOL sleek 82-T/A [At Work] NOV 11, 11:07 AM quote Originally posted by sleek fiero: I learned something new today. I knew it wasn't fiberglass as such. on my corvette I had a panel off of it and it had the part number and ABS imprinted on it. It looked like the same gray glossy material of the fiero hood and deck lid but I certainly was wrong. LOL sleek I'm going to have to learn this too. I picked up a C4 Vette a couple of weeks ago. The previous owner pulled the battery out by bending backwards the little fender panel that's in front of the door. Snapped it right across the body-line. Completely ridiculous. 82-T/A [At Work] NOV 11, 04:20 PM Figured I'd post a couple of pictures... my daughter did about 2/3rds of this, and I just went over it to make sure coverage was good. She used a sander to sand down the paint, expose the "glass" and drilled holes along the cracks. We then used the two-part SMC "Epoxy" stuff that was mentioned in that other post (which I quoted above), and built up a base of it (filling the holes and cracks) with a little bit of chopped glass mixed in. She then laid multiple strips of cut fiberglass "chopped glass" sheet pieces on the frame piece. She then went back over it again with a scraper, applied more sheets, more resin, and then more sheets. It's a little messy looking, but we'll sand all of that down later. I also ordered some plastic body filler (not "bondo"), which we'll smooth over after we've sanded it down so it looks totally smooth... and then we'll paint it with the stuff mentioned in this thread: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/148146.html Let me know what you guys think... I find it weird because I was expecting it to be just like fiberglass and using that resin stuff that you brush on with a paint brush, but this stuff was more like epoxy. It's taking forever to dry, but it says it takes 3 hours to set.