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Fiberglass near engine bay... thoughts..


GarageStudios

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All,

been a while since I have been on... the Silverstreak project is well underway, working on the body with repairs etc..

I have a pondering question... I have been working on the frame for a while, and now moving onto body repairs..

 

I have these fender skirts, metal, have seen better days, they fit behind the front fenders I guess to protect the components from the engine heat..

 

Can I "repair" them with fiberglass or create new ones as fiberglass? would I need high heat resin?

 

again as always, I truly appreciate all feedback..

 

Trevor

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Generally speaking, generic fiberglass is a thermoset, so once catalized, it won't melt and deform. It will, if presented to enough heat, char and degrade. Is it impossible to repair the steel panels?

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Go ahead and use fibreglass. But paint the steel parts with POR15 first. Fibreglass over bare metal likes to rust.

 

I have used fibreglass to repair rusty VW heater boxes which get VERY hot. They would smell a bit until they cured but didn't burn. Except right next to the exhaust pipe, like touching the exhaust pipe and up to 1/4 to 3/8" away. In that area I would put muffler cement.

 

So don't worry about using fibreglass in the engine compartment. You could make valve covers out of it if you wanted to.

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There are plenty of replica AC Cobra with fibreglass body, often used in racing. Studebaker made the Avanti body out of it too. My neighbour had a fibreglass replica MG TD; he threw away everything except the body and installed a 302 cu.in. (or so) V8 in it. Things were pretty close together with no trouble. It also went like stink, weighing less than a tonne.

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