custom gauge pod

[Rootie524]

well after talking to you guys, people at autozone, friends and family..everyone said fiberglass. so..i sucked it up and i did it. got a fiberglass kit at autozone for $15. cut the cloths down to size put it over slapped on the resin and hardener and now its alittle more than half way dried and i have to say im happy i did that instead of half assing it and regretting it later.

now lets see if you guy agree for my next steps. after its dry rough sand the fiberglass pretty good then smooth sand it with like 1000 grit. then put a layer of bondo on it (the red stuff..body filler) to fill in the holes, cracks, empty space, etc. then sand down the bondo smoothly..then spray a layer or two with filler primer..then paint.

its a multi step process but hopefully worth it in the end. does it seem like that will work.

and holy crap i gotta get some of that plio grip. that could be very useful for many things.

[neo71665]

1000 grit is too fine, you want something with more tooth so the bondo can grab on to it.

[Rootie524]

good point..bondo needs something rough to stick to..so ill change that aspect of it..but does everything else sound good? will it last? i dont want it to crack and whatnot.

[Schmieder]

Just knock down the tits on the fiberglass. If you must sand, use 80 grit and clean it off very well before adding bondo.

When you sand th ebondo, use 120 grit softly, or rub two pieces of 120 together to soften the paper up. Again dust of well before primer.

When priming, if you are using a spray can, DO NOT over paint. All your hard work will look like shit real quick. The first coat of primer should be sparse and incomplete. Otherwise, you WILL get runs and they are a PITA to sand out. Pay special attention to areas of overlap. You must avoid overlapping the primer much.

Better to apply little, let dry, apply some more later. Runs and sags are the worst and look absolutley terrible.

After the first two coats, lightly sand the primer. Now you are ready for finish paint.

Do not use flat, semi-gloss or gloss. You will want an eggshell sheen. The paint store will know what that is. It has a very mild shine. So it is not like flat getting dirty quick and it is not like semi-gloss making your item mismatched to the rest of the interior.

If you need any painting advise, I'm the guy you are looking for.

Good luck

EDIT: btw, if fibergalss resin fumes are anything like epoxy, as I think they are similar in nature, drink a tall glass of milk after breathing the fumes. It will help your body clear out all kinds of junk in your blood from the fumes. After any epoxy job, that was what we all did. It really does help clean your blood. Something about the calcium, I forget, but there is a science behind it.

[Rootie524]

thank you for those tips. im glad you did that because i probably would have f-ed up at the primer stage already haha. i have a paint in my garage that i used to paint some other interior pieces. what i did was when i had the universal gauge pod it was black but i have a tan interior..so im like i either paid my border/pillars black or the pod tan..i was bored with the look so painted the pillars and border and whatnot black. it actually looks pretty good because my malibu already incorporates black trim..so it looks OEM. but my point is i have a paint that i used that i think may have some gloss to it..so ill find that can and run it by you and you can tell me if its good or not.

[Rootie524]

ok well i just went to check on the fiberglass status and after about 5-6 hours its still sticky/tacky to the touch. how long does it take to dry? i woulda swore i saw 2 hours somewhere so im kinda worried. i added more than enough hardener. it said in the kit do it proportionally. if you use half the resin use half the bottle of hardener..which i did..so im confused. it's cold in the garage..idk if that has anything to do with this.

[Schmieder]

ok well i just went to check on the fiberglass status and after about 5-6 hours its still sticky/tacky to the touch. how long does it take to dry? i woulda swore i saw 2 hours somewhere so im kinda worried. i added more than enough hardener. it said in the kit do it proportionally. if you use half the resin use half the bottle of hardener..which i did..so im confused. it's cold in the garage..idk if that has anything to do with this.

It can take longer the colder it is. Heat is a byproduct of the curing process and IIRC the less heat, the longer the cure. Don't worry about it, just let it sit overnight in a warmer room. It does vent bad fumes though so keep it away from little children. If anything, you mis-mixed the mek with resin, it will just take longer to cure as I am sure you didn't mis-mix way to far off. Like wise, if it dries too quick, it can crack. You should be fine.

As far as the sheen is with paint, test a piece of material similar to the pillar. That should be a good enough test to let you know if you like or not.