This is another view of the wrap, trying to catch the shadows to show the shape. The fiberglass can top on the right is being used to leave an impression in the cover. I need this to clear the power brake reseviour(sp?). The top happened to be almost the exact size and shape of the brake cover. Once the resin hardened, I removed the cover and coated that blank spot with resin.


And here it is covered in resin:



A couple of layers of 1.5 oz matt and I've also cut out the amp holes:


And here I'm test fitting one of the amps.


That's it for the racki pictures. I'm expecting some fans by Friday, so hopefully I can get them mounted and on to the finishing.

[This message has been edited by RCR (edited 05-09-2006).]

And more, as I open the chapter on the door panels. I was going to wait until I was further along, but since I mentioned it...

Here is the door panel we all know and love. I felt it was no longer compatible with the dash I put in, so it needed some radical re-styling. In the spirit of Roy(MrFixit) and Jon's(Jscott) Firebird interior swaps, I thought I'd go the same route with the door panels. Unfortuneately, they don't match up to well to the dash, so I decided to reuse as much as I could and build my own.


Stripped:


This pic shows the door panel with the components mocked up. The center portion will be cut out and probably upolstered in grey suede. The Fiero panel is a bit too "textured" so I had to cut it apart and flatten it out. I also had to fill the openings where the stock door latch comes thru and I cut out where the new latch will go. This is actually pretty similar to how Roy did his.



Here I'm ling up all the pieces:

I was planning on reusing the bottom of the panel, the door pull, and the speaker box/storage tray.

Here the center is gone, and the panel is mounted to a piece of plywood to keep it flat.



My first thought was to wrap it in hi-density foam, but that looked aweful:


So I decided to try poly foam. I shaped the foam and covered it with Kilz latex primer and drywall compound. I also droped the idea of using the bottom of the original Firebird panel, figuring it would be just as easy to form my own.
Here is a shot with the first pieces of foam:


And here it is with all the foam and drywall stripped off so I could do it again:

My intent was to use the drywall and foam to make a mold. But with all the glassing I've done recently, I've decided mold making is not for me. These will be one-off pieces, so I didn't want a bunch of drywall compund in my doors, so it had to go. I picked up some "yellow" foam at Home Depot, so this was a good opurtunity to give it a try.


Here is the new mock-up with the urethane foam. Nice stuff to work with, but I hadn't realized that it was fiberglass reinforced. Just something else to stick to my fingers as I sand...


I've done more sanding and shaping, but the camera needed a recharge so those pics will be later...

Thanx for tuning in, now back to your regularly scheduled program...

Bob

PS, Cudos to Cliff. The PIP worked perfect today.

thanx...

Ok...As I left it, I had a rough shape on my "work" table. After taking the panel on and off the car about a hundred times, I mounted it to the door with all of the fasteners. Before doing that, though, I covered the door in plastic so I wouldn't slop resin all over the place. And sometime in there, I almost burned the car to the ground, but that's in another thread. Anyway, I shaped the panel so first, I could close the door, then matched it to the trim pieces. Then I shaped the panel to flow with the dash and lastly, how I wanted it. Here are some progress pics:

This pic shows the panel mounted:


And this is with the door closed I tried to follow the flow of the dash into the panels:


Here is a closer shot of how the end is sculpted out to match the dash. The foam is soft enough that 180 grit sandpaper cuts it smoothly, but it doesn't take forever. I pretty much used a utility knife, a small Xacto saw blade, and various pieces of sandpaper to do all of the sculping.


Here is a closer shot of the detail I put dividing the rise into the dash from the top sill. It should flow pretty well into the door pull.


After getting the sculpting how I wanted it, I started laying up 1.5oz matt. I started at the top and worked my way down. To help aid the fiberglass in keeping it's shape, especially on the bottom edges, I wrapped the foam and glass with aluminum foil. I tried spraying the foil with cooking spray to help release it. The foil was still a bit@#^ to get off. I had to scrap a lot off with a knife, but it did the trick. It kept the glass from coming off the foam, so the shape was intact.


Here is a shot of the bottom half, using my "dryers". 1000 Watts of halogen power. It'd work better without the aluminum reflecting the heat back, but you do what you have to do...


Lastly, here is a shot with the door closed that shows the curve of the panel from the top.



Next step is to pull the panel off and finish the glassing and add some of the detail work.

till later...

Bob

Edit: A couple invaluable tools when working with fiberglass: a good shop vac to clean up the dust. And a respirator, to keep that crap out of the lungs.

[This message has been edited by RCR (edited 05-15-2006).]

... And as the saga goes, I had run into problems. I mounted the rack and cover, only to find I missmeasured, so the cover hit the brake resevoir. It was close, I only had to shave of this much:


The repair process was similar to the build. Cut out the interference:


Glue material to the back side and place the spacer in the proper location:


Then the typical resin, two layers of glass, filler, lots of sanding, primer then this:

That's Playdough on the resevoir, and it still hit. Hmmm...Back to the drawing board.

So, back to cut, add foam this time, cover in layers of glass, fill, primer, and sand til arm numb between each step:




I tried to make a pocket that kind of followed the same lines as the rest of the rack. I'm not too sure I like the way it looks, but I'm happy with the way it came out for all the work that went into it. I should also mention I did it twice. I cracked it along the seam of the joined areas, about 8" long, when doing another trial fit. Here's what it will look like mounted, minus the color coat:


I've got a lot more detail work to do, but at least this one is winding down. Then back to the door.

Thanx for viewing, and as always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

Bob

[This message has been edited by RCR (edited 06-10-2006).]

It's been a very productive day. I've finish sanded the rack cover, painted it, and installed it. The pics speak for themmselves:




I have detail work to do, such as finding some kind of latch mechanism, but that can wait. I also installed two more fans, in a push/pull configuration. These will be wired to the amp turn-on wire like the other three. These fans also came from Jameco, and I believe they are rated at 18 CFM.


<note that this one cost me a coolant bottle>

And speaking of bottles, the washer fluid bottle hit the rack, like everything else, so I moved it down about 1.5". I also decided to spruce it up a bit by painting it black. There is a spot on the side I masked off so I can see the fluid level.



I also finished the subwoofer/console. I purchased a speaker spring-clip for the bottom, so I could mount the speaker wires. I wired up the speaker, stuffed it full of polyester batting, and screwed it closed. It's all ready to mount in the car.



So, with that, the car is almost done. Now all I have to do is build/finish the door panels, the column surround, two speaker pods, the head liner/AV system, and the trunk. Piece of cake

Bob