More Fiberglassing Goodness from youre one and only.......

[Thomas91169]

So since the GT isnt going anywhere anytime soon, its time to care of some things. One of these are the shitty aftermarket side scoop kits i got. The fitment of this kit is decent, though it only has 4 attachment points along the top, and a little c-bracket for the bottom that goes right into the lip where the c-pillar window sill was. It holds it in, but at freeway speeds, it makes lots of noise, mainly because it is a two piece unit, and the scoop is open and basically a parachute. I figured they would have shredded apart by now with my freeway runs but theyve actually held up well.

But they just dont look right. The scoop is too long, and its a mix of not being curvy enough or angular enough. It either needs to have a more subtle roundness to it or a more pronounced edge, its kind of in the in-between land. So i plan on making two scoops, one edgier and one curvier, and seeing which one is better. Plus i will be making some sort of detachable cowl/louver piece for the inside of the scoops, im going to swing by ford and see if i can just get 2 of the plastic honeycomb inserts for the GT hood scoops, and use them, that way it looks stock.

Right now im in the process of taking the stock c-pillar panels and extending them, this way i get all of the stock attachment points. I will also be fabbing up some sort of better connection for the corner of the panel closest to the door.

Earlier today i finished up a mold of the Scoop part, its still setting up, in this strange 40* weather, even with shitloads more hardner than i usually use, its taking quite a while for the fiberglass to harden, I finished the scoop at around 6pm and as i write this its barely tacking up, whereas in summer with half the hardner, i have maybe 10 minutes to work before its rock-hard.

I still have yet to decide who will paint it, if i want the same shop that did the rest of the hackjob paint these little pieces, that way there is consistency in the paint job, or to send them off to a place called Red-Star Customs, who does alot of paintjobs for mustangs (Theyve been doing alot of custom 05+ Stangs and they look awesome, even for a 05+), and them come back looking perfect and the rest of the car crappy. then again, if they do do a great job, i might see if they can try to salvage this paint job.

btw yes, cameraphone. My real camera got killed when the wind pushed the tripod over and jammed the lens focusing unit, hoping santa claus brings me a new one for christmas.

[lowflyn]

Cool stuff man. I'm glad someone else isn't impressed with the aftermarket C pillars, they just never looked right to me.

[Thomas91169]

yeah i feel theyre a bit overpowering on my car. When i look at pics of actual GT500's the side scoops are more subtle. I didnt notice it until i became rather un-biased towards the GT(As in, when i had the cobra), thats when i started to see things about the GT that before i was blinded to.

[Brent]

Sweet deal man. I like your Fiberglass work. Great talent.

[Herbstang]

Wish I had the talent to do something like that

[SpectorV]

you will just have to suck it up and do it right, if that requires another full paint job on the car then it does

[Thomas91169]

Got more layering done on the panel, few more layers of chop followed by a full layer of tight weave sheet.

Did a inner mold of the scoop. I did this because i dont want to keep taking off the side scoops to make molds. i have the one outer mold from the scoop, so now i want to make a duplicate. because i made a mold of the outside of the scoop, its a bit larger than the actual scoop, so i made a inside mold of the outer mold, which the inside mold of the outer mold will be the same size as the actual scoop, so i can just use the inside mold to make duplicate outer molds while the actual scoops can stay on the car. plus i can make more molds down the line..........

theres a possibility i might get a compressor that can run a DA sander full time. 2k in my account right now after bills is tempting.

and yeah, roof scoop ftw!

[Zim]

i didnt read a damn word in your novel, but i just wanted to say that "you're" and "your" dont mean the same thing at all. Learn to decipher.

[Thomas91169]

dam so i am human afterall

[SpectorV]

that angle where the C pillar meets the part over the door just messes with me

[Thomas91169]

yeah i agree, but there really isnt much that can be done about it. cant curve it and blend it or you cant open/close the door with the windows rolled up.

[bluemustang]

nice stuff man

as for a compressor you dont need to go crazy i have a 4-5 hp one and it runs the DA on it good plus runs my other air toools as well.

cant wait to see the finished product

[Thomas91169]

nah i might get a Porter Cable RO (Random Orbital), that way i can also use it to detail as well afterwards. Theres entire forums dedicated to using a PC for automotive detailing, i always thought hand applying wax looked good, they can take cars with swirl marks that look like 100grit was used to wash, and return them to factory new finish in about 8 hours using various pads and products, amazing stuff.

[bluemustang]

yeah but u know whats better then a Porter, the Dewalt nothing beats nice steady RPMs

Ive been on those forums, thats where i learned alot of my detailing tricks from but i will never get rid of my Dewalt thats for sure, but for what you need it for its a win win situation for sure

[Thomas91169]

i took your advice. Actually nobody in town carries a Porter Cable RO, and if i wait to ship it, im gonna be bored all week (Winter Shutdown of our plant), so i want it now. Little 5" 12,000rpm DeWalt random orbital for 70$, couple packs of 60 and 120 grit papers were 20$.

Checked it out for a minute before going out to dinner, with the 60grit pad it took off some decent amount of material, still no DA sander with a 80grit pad, but at least i dont have 30 seconds of work time followed by 2 minutes to wait for the compressor to give me enough PSI in the tank to get to work again. I think what i will end up doing is using the DA for the spots where i need to take out alot of material (A really high spot) and the RO for everything else. Or run the DA and use the RO when the compressor is charging, just make sure i put them on seperate circuits, tried to run my compressor and belt sander at the same time from the same outlet, blew the circuit breaker, then again our new breaker is heavy duty (Due to the house additions).

[Thomas91169]

lol my buddy just called me up telling me Lowes is discontinuing the Porter Cable model that all the OC Detail (Obsessive Compulsive), so theyre giving them away at 50$.

all i really did today was trim the passenger side panel to fit properly, get my scoop how i like it (looks awesome now), and add the lip to go into the window area. Tomorrow i will prolly lay some fiberglass body filler around it to build a few low spots up, and then get to sanding on the panel.

[Thomas91169]

oh wow, the PC is equal to the Air powered DA Sander! i might try to clean up the DeWalt and see if i can return it to home depot. my buddy is ordering a bunch of poorboys SSR2.5, 2.0 and cutting pats, nattys blue and shit like that tonight, i guess he saw a guy on this forum with the same problems in the paint job i have and all was taken care of with some SSR2.5 and a certain cutting pad on the porter cable and a certain rpm setting. well see what happens.

[Thomas91169]

laid a final layer of tightweave cloth over the scoop for further strengthening. applied a piece over the front opening that will become the much needed lip.

then applied fiberglass body filler (its like fiberglass bondo with the hairs/strands already mixed in) at the lip of the scoop and the lip of the panel. this stuff is very strong when dry and makes for building up areas easy. on the scoop its like adding a cross-brace, i can no longer bend the scoop lengthwise or in any direction for that matter. the panel i havent been able to bend since the first few layers, and the fiberglass parts as of now are more rigid than the actual panel itself, though this will subside after i start to take away some layers in the sanding process. i built up the rear (inside) of the panel quite a bit.

I also sprayed a light coat of primer so i ca