Restoration Questions

[John Simion]

Hi, I have been busy re-making the seat bases and the seat back to allow me (at 6′-4″) to fit comfortably behind the wheel.  I’ve finished that job and I’m ready for the upholsterer, but I now have a bunch of extra holes.  These are holes in the “step up” to the package shelf that the PO used to mount a 2×4 (and other wood) that he used to hold the seatback and thus move the seat forward (he must have been about 5′-2″).  I also have all the old holes where the old seatbases were attached, there are the holes where the heater hoses were supposed to go, and there are other holes for which I have no explanation.  Fortunately, none of them are structural, I just want them sealed to keep out the environment and keep wet from getting on the upholstery when it goes in.  My question – what do you use to fill all these holes?  Do I just buy Bondo and stuff it in, or do I make a fiberglass repair (gag!) or is there something else that would do the job.

For another question, I removed the various badges that the PO had attached to the grille.  Unfortunately this left MORE holes in the fiberglass behind the grille.  Now I will need to take this whole thing apart to fill the holes and repaint the black, but I can handle that the same way I end up handling the other holes.  But here is a real question:  Can the chrome grille slats be sandblasted to get rid of the chrome finish, then fill the hole with epoxy or something and then paint the whole thing?  Or would I need to buy the zinc-finished slats “new” from MG Magic and paint them?  I’m kind of scared of doing that for fear that they might not even fit.

For the record, my car is FiberFab and VW-based, although not exactly like other FiberFabs that I’ve seen — for example, there is no bump-out at the rear of the running board, the engine cover is hinged at the bottom and tilts backwards, and it’s completely open underneath the spare tire, which is mounted on a solid metal bracket.

[greg press]

Could you get some JW Weld in your holes . My experience dries very hard and plugs or repairs anything , you can sand it and paint it .

[edward ericson]

fiberglass repair isn’t so bad and yeah, small holes can be filled with 2-part epoxy.

I has Maaco paint over a chrome bumper years ago and the paint lasted 20+ years. Stand it with 100, then 180, then prime it with something that wants to go over chrome or maybe aluminum? Google paint-over-chrome.

No way you need new grill slats.

[John Simion]

As suggested, I can just fill the smaller holes with epoxy, but some of the holes are nearly 1/2″.  I had kind of an idea to fix them … you can buy small rectangles of galvanized sheet metal in Home Depot that are about 4″ x 6″ (in the roofing department).  Creative use of a tin snips would allow me to make pieces just slightly larger than the holes themselves.  I could glue on the galvanized pieces on one side with Liquid Nail, then epoxy in the hole on the other side.  The metal would hold in the epoxy, and the epoxy would hold the metal.  Eventually the upholstery will hide everything on the inside, and when all is said and done, I plan to put undercoating on everything under the car, anyway, and that will also hide the repairs from the outside.

Thanks for the information about painting the chrome.  That is a relief!

I keep telling myself that it’s all going to look beautiful in the end, but right now it requires a lot of imagination.  More than I’d like.  It looks more like I’ve messed everything up, and I have to keep telling myself that I’m just building the foundation and the paint guy and the upholstery guy are the ones who will make it beautiful after I’m done.

Next comes the dashboard.  Unhooking and labeling everything tomorrow and Thursday, then sawing, fitting, and re-hooking.  More scary stuff, but at least the mechanic said he could make everything electrical work (that’s good, because not everything works now anyway).

[sreynolds]

John, on the larger holes you can also get some fiberglas matt (might find some at Wal Mart or a boating store) and coat it with epoxy and place it on the underside of the hole and then after it dries mix up some epoxy and then cut up some very small pieces of the matt and mix it into the epoxy and then fill the hole. This will give it some extra strength. Then sand it smooth after it hardens. Another couple of tips when working with fiberglas…if you want to hold something it place or support something that will contact the epoxy/fiberglas place wax paper next to the fiberglas and after the epoxy sets up you can pull the wax paper off and it won’t stick to the fiberglas. Even if it does stick a little bit, it is fairly easy to get the wax paper off.

Sam

[John Simion]

Had another question pop up concerning the windshield — actually the question came up when I removed it to get the pattern for the new dash ….  Anyway, the windshield frame has a mysterious row of about 5 or 6 empty screw holes in the top of the frame.  Are those holes supposed to be there, or are they just the PO’s goof up?  If they are a goof up, I was thinking about just gluing down a strip of stainless or a slat from a venetian blind to cover them up — if that won’t also mess up the top.  And, the finish on the frame is scratched and dull.  I’d buy a new frame if I could, but that doesn’t seem to be an option.  What would you recommend to improve what I have?  Can the frame reasonably be polished, or would it be an improvement to just steel-wool it and then paint it with chrome paint and a clearcoat?

[billnparts]

It’s possible snaps were placed there in error for the top. There are aluminum epoxies out there, so possibly you could fill the holes and finish them off.  The frame is aluminum, so it should be able to be polished.

Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"

[edward ericson]

The holes might be where snaps went? Some TDr tops snap on. I would leave them alone until I got the top fitted; they might come in handy.

I would not try to paint aluminum. It polishes up brilliantly for those with the patience and elbow grease to put into it. The originals were chromed, so shinier is better if you want to look more TD-er.

–and I see Bill writes faster than I.

edsnova2015-02-08 07:34:00

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