How to Fabricate Automotive Fiberglass & Carbon Fiber Parts

CHAPTER 1

FIBERGLASS OVERVIEW

Anyone who has been to an auto race or car show has seen cars with bodies or parts made from fiberglass, composite materials, or a combination of both. Today more than ever, this a very popular and fairly easy way to construct exactly what you want. This is especially true when it comes to design, strength, and weight. Sometimes you don’t get all three without a compromise. Weight is usually the issue, and this is where composites come into play.

What is Fiberglass?

So what exactly is this magical material that we refer to as fiber-glass, and how does it work? Well, technically it’s glass-reinforced plastic, or GRP. Although it looks and acts like cloth, it is actually a very flexible plastic reinforced by fine fibers or strands of actual glass. Fiber-glass cloth or yarn comes in a number of forms, from woven material to long strands that are chopped and mixed with other materials to give it additional reinforcement.

Enthusiasts have built far more fiberglass kit copies of the original 1965 Shelby Cobra than were ever built by the factory. The design is timeless and lends itself well to a fiberglass kit. The originals were made of aluminum.

The material most commonly refered to as fiberglass is actually a combination of fiberglass cloth saturated with a resin and a small percentage of hardener which, when wet, yields a product that you can shape or mold. Once it sets up or hardens, it retains its shape, which is what you want. Fiberglass with resin added is also called fiberglass-reinforced plastic, with the resin being the plastic part of the equation.

This is the basic material: a woven cloth of plastic and glass fibers. The hardened resin gives this material shape, while the cloth provides support for toughness.

Before becoming familiar with fiberglass and molds, most peoples’ experiences involve wood or steel, so an item was glued, nailed, or welded, says fiberglass expert Len Ewell. The idea of taking wimpy cloth, painting it with resin the consistency of maple syrup, waiting for it to harden into something useful; well, that may seem strange.

Although fiberglass is a great product that is fun to work with, it does have some downsides. Without proper care it deteriorates. Another downside is the strong smell, requiring work to be done outside or in a well-ventilated garage or shop. So where did fiberglass come from? Fiberglass as we know it was developed by the British during World War II. When the Yanks were finally deposited back on U.S. soil, as the story goes, they brought this new invention. Of course, the idea caught on quickly, and soon became popular with boat builders in the early 1950s.

The most widely produced fiberglass car of all time is the Chevrolet Corvette. For almost 60 years, Chevrolet has been turning out tens of thousands of these cars every year.

Production automobile companies also took notice of the new material. Custom car builder Joe Mitchell produced one of the first fiberglass automobile bodies for a major manufacturer when his company created the 1954 Packard concept car. He later received the contract to build the first Chevrolet Corvette bodies in 1953. This was the first vehicle to be mass produced using fiberglass body panels.

Although fiberglass has been around since the mid 1940s, the basic process of using it to create parts and complete cars has changed very little in the past 60 years. The procedures on a mass-production level are much more refined than when Chevrolet introduced the Corvette but, so far as the average garage mechanic is concerned, the basics are largely the same. Of course, the quality of the glass and the resins are constantly improving. And because resins are a petroleum-based product, the cost of oil affects the price of fiberglass, resin, and catalyst.

What is a Composite?

Technically, a composite is two or more things bonded together, usually for additional strength or to combine the properties of more than one material to achieve a specific effect.

A perfect example of a composite realizing the benefits of different materials is the transverse-mounted leaf spring used on Chevrolet Corvettes since 1980. From 1963 to 1982, the Corvette (which has also featured a fiberglass body since its inception in 1953) used a traditional steel transverse leaf spring to suspend the rear end of the car. Chevrolet offered the monoleaf rear spring in 1980 to save weight and improve the car’s ride and handling. The composite spring is made of glass and polyethylene fibers set in an epoxy-based resin and weighs about half the steel version. Starting in 1984, Chevrolet adopted the design for the front suspension of the Corvette as well.

This hot rod shows how complex compound curves and structurally strong shapes can be achieved in fiberglass. You don’t need expensive specialty tools to make these parts.

The concept was original enough to be patented, and GM’s patent describes the spring as: A hybrid composite automotive leaf spring comprises parallel glass and polyethylene terephthalate fibers distributed in a pattern replicated throughout a resin matrix. A method of producing the hybrid composite leaf spring comprises winding various proportions of glass and polyethylene terephthalate or nylon fibers together into a homogeneous mass in an epoxy matrix in a mold to form a blank, which is then compressed and cured into a leaf spring having a predetermined homogeneous mixture of parallel fibers distributed throughout the cross-section of the spring. The unitary spring has a spring rate that is a composite of the resin-bonded glass and other fibers. Different spring rates are obtained by varying the percentage content of the glass and other fibers, while maintaining the homogeneity of the resultant leaf spring.

One big advantage of fiberglass is that it doesn’t rust.

Composites can also be used as simple filler for a large part.

Wood is often used as filler or is bonded with fiberglass for additional strength. Early on, fiberglass (and resin) was used to cover and seal wooden boats and hatch covers from water and the elements. It’s still being used to seal wood when a wooden piece is used as the center of a fiberglass composite, such as the floor of a hot rod.

Choosing Your First Fiberglass Project

Every fiberglass enthusiast starts with a basic project of some kind. For many, the enthusiasm and that first project die together. Dan’s dose of reality came about when he purchased a Shelby Cobra kit that had been started and abandoned by someone. It looked great and he was sure it wouldn’t take long at all before he had this car on the highway. He couldn’t wait.

He essentially had to dismantle everything on that car and start over. Len Ewell, owner of Boffin Motorsports, had extensive fiberglass experience, and he worked with Dan on the car for about a year. When they started, the fiberglass body was warped, and fitting the doors, trunk, and hood onto the body was a challenge. But by the time they were done, the body was straight, the car was presentable, and Dan had acquired new skills and a new level of confidence when it came to working with fiberglass.

Dan discovered that performing quality fiberglass work is possible for anyone with the desire to learn this new skill. The procedures for successful application of the materials are critical. By following a few simple rules, this can be a fun way to build and create new custom cars and parts. And with a little practice, and using this book as a guide, you will surely be pleased with the results.

One thing that helps ensure success is to choose a better first project than Dan did. Many of you already have your first project sitting in your garage, but if you haven’t yet made a purchase, you can consider the tips below. If you have already made a purchase, read over the tips and evaluate your project. You might be better off cutting your losses and starting over. Or you might find that you’re sitting pretty!

Fiberglass is vulnerable to stress and UV light like any material, but it withstands water very well. Fiberglass is easy to repair. With a few basic tools, you can get good results in your home garage or workshop.

When the time comes to buy a project, select the best example you can afford. You always come out ahead by spending the money up front on a project car with more going right than wrong. Some of the qualities that make a good fiberglass project candidate include:

•   The car is complete. All the doors, hood, trunk lid, and major components are present.

•   The underlying chassis and mechanical components are sound. There’s no point in putting good fiberglass on a worthless chassis!

•   The fiberglass has not been in a fire. Fire destroys fiberglass as completely as it destroys wood.

•   The structural fiberglass is sound. If the resin has never set up and hardened properly, or if critical structural areas have delaminated, you may not be able to fix the problem.

This book uses several examples from a particular project to illustrate various repair and fabrication techniques. The example project is a 1969 Kellison Model T roadster pickup that we found sitting in a field. We chose this project in violation of some of the above rules, specifically because of the great amount of repair and augmentation the body needed.

Resurrecting the Marcos Kit Car

The Marcos was a 1960s kit car designed to use an old Mini Cooper chassis and running gear. It’s a funky looking beast at the best of times, and this particular example will need heroic measures to restore the fiberglass.

When you’re considering the purchase of a kit car or an older custom car for a project, you absolutely must look at the details to understand what is required to bring it to the condition you envision. It’s too easy to look at an old heap and see it as a jewel in your mind’s eye without considering how much work it takes to realize your vision.

This Marcos kit car is a perfect example. We photographed it at the beginning of the restoration process, before any work had been done, but after the current owner purchased it without a careful inspection. The car is built on an old Mini Cooper chassis, and as you can see, it requires extensive repairs to fix the cracks in the bodywork, the broken mounting points, and the crude modifications performed by a previous owner.

The good news is that, with a fiberglass body, you can just grab the reciprocating saw and cut out the offending parts. This includes layups with so much trapped air that they never properly laminated. You also have to grind and sand away the thick layers of body filler covering the cracks in the body structure.

With all the work that lies ahead, the new owner is sure to have far more invested in the project than the car will ever be worth. Sadly, this is quite common with barn find projects of this sort. The lesson here is twofold: First, carefully consider how much repair is really needed before you buy a project; and second, set your expectations of financial reward appropriately low.

You can see huge air gaps and encapsulated body filler in this old layup. The cutaway portion encapsulated some metal for a shock absorber mount that really didn’t work. This whole area will have to be cut away and recreated.

The whole body is a maze of cracks through the body filler and down into the fiberglass. By the time they take the car down to the underlying layup and fix it, then build it back up, it will cost far more than this car is ever likely to be worth.

On the positive side, the Kellison is rare because it wasn’t very popular in its day, and only a few remain. Honestly, it’s a design only an aficionado could love. The Kellison was designed to compete with the Meyers Manx, and like the Manx, this body was designed to be installed on a shortened VW unibody chassis pan. This particular project will utilize a stock VW pan, so the body will be stretched as part of our work. We also recreated the sidewalls and created usable doors for the car using fiberglass and composite materials.

Kellison built a variety of fiberglass sports car and hot rod designs as kits for enthusiasts.

When assembled, these individual pieces of fiberglass form the front end of a Corvette from the late 1950s.

If you have a local club for kit cars or replicas, such as Porsche speedsters or Shelby Cobras, engage its members to help you evaluate and pick out a candidate for your project. Finding a club or a group of compatible people in your area helps you keep projects on track and fun. The Internet and books like this are nice tools for learning and discussion, but folks on the other side of the country can’t help you with your projects. A local club is also a good way to access tools you need. Treat your club right, and you’ll always have help when you need it.

Don’t Overextend Yourself

One key to a successful custom fiberglass project is making sure you keep the project to a reasonable cost. There’s a trap out there that can grab you and cause no end of pain. The trap springs when you’re financially over-extended on your car and then run into trouble. The world is full of cars for sale where the owner has $25,000 into it, and is looking for $10,000 or best offer by next weekend because he has to pay the mortgage. Don’t be that unhappy person. Selling a half-completed project stinks, because if you can sell it at all, it’s probably worth less than when you started.

The truth about building custom cars is that you’re extremely unlikely to make a profit building and then selling your car. You’re unlikely to even get your cash expenditures back out of it, so don’t view the project as an investment. For your own protection, you should view this process as building a unique car, customized for your own tastes and no one else’s.

Restoring Classic Fiberglass Cars

There is a lot of interest right now in restoring older fiberglass cars, especially competition and high-speed record setters. The Chevrolet Corvette has been a fiberglass-bodied car since the first one rolled off the assembly line in 1953, and vintage Corvettes are among the most frequently collected cars on the market. If you find an old Corvette that hasn’t already been restored, chances are good you’ll have some fiberglass repair work to do. Other notable fiberglass production cars include the Saab Sonett and the Studebaker Avanti. Less common vintage fiberglass bodies, such as the Atlas or the La Dawri, virtually always require repairs, and you won’t find those parts in a catalog.

A major market for the fiberglass industry is stock replacement parts for restoration. For example, The Corvette Image specializes in replacement fiberglass parts for 1953–1982 models. The parts are press molded as they were from the factory, and in the correct colors. They are fit and finish comparable to original parts.

A large percentage of our business is supplying parts for resto mods, says Jerry Geiszler, owner of The Corvette Image. These are older cars with newer body parts, so they look very classic, without having the maintenance issues of the older vehicles. And there are several other Corvette companies that are doing just the reverse—they are taking old-style body panels and putting them on new Corvettes. While this may seem counterintuitive, or unlike the resto mod trend when compared to other high-performance American cars, classic Corvette body parts are indeed fitted to newer Corvettes so they have all new running gear, but look like an older car.

On the import side, Lotus has been the most prominent automaker exploring the use of fiberglass bodies, and even monocoque (unibody) chassis made entirely of reinforced fiberglass. Sports cars such as the Lotus Elite and Europa are well worth restoring, and their fiberglass bodies (and chassis, in the case of the Elite) may take a lot of work to bring back to excellent condition. The factory often produced fiberglass work that you can improve upon in your home workshop.

The good news is that anyone taking on a restoration project soon finds that restoring a glass car is much easier than restoring a steel one. One big advantage is that although fiber-glass deteriorates over time, you are usually not dealing with big rusty holes in the floorpan or the trunk. If you are thinking about restoring an older fiberglass car, please keep in mind that it is not uncommon for earlier cars to have some steel or wood bonded in place for additional support, or as frame rail attachments (so the body stays on the frame at speed). If this is the case, and if the car has been exposed to the elements, then some metalwork or woodwork is probably required in addition to fiberglass repairs.

If you have an interest in doing metal repairs and fabrication yourself and want some additional information, consider the book Automotive Welding: A Practical Guide. The techniques described in that book were used when we put together the old 1969 Kellison T roadster pickup.

In general, the rules for restoring vintage fiberglass vehicles are the same as for any other fiberglass project. You just want to make sure that you have a good sense of the original bodylines to follow. With restoration, you’re simply fixing what’s there or returning the car to its original condition. The best-case scenario is having access to an unmolested example of the original bodywork. You can often take a mold of the undamaged unit, or at least carefully measure and photograph the original piece for duplication. As with any project, take your time and be sure of what you’re doing for best results.

Dune Buggies and Custom Fiberglass Cars

Fiberglass is easier to use than steel because fiberglass can be bent, shaped, or formed with a mold. The flexibility and customization potential of fiberglass was instantly recognized when the material hit the market, so it wasn’t long before car customizers, hot rod builders, and drag racers started using it to build lightweight custom car bodies that were almost as strong as their steel counterparts at half the weight.

For example, the original lakester land speed record cars were made using leftover belly fuel tanks from World War II aircraft. It wasn’t long before the metal skins were replaced with fiberglass molded on the original tanks. This reduced weight and allowed the builders to easily lengthen or shorten the design.

One of the most prolific fiberglass car builders over the past 50 years is Bruce Meyers, regarded as the father of the dune buggy as we know it today. He started working with the material in the early 1960s by molding bodies and mounting them on shortened VW chassis. The Meyers Manx dune buggy was a big hit with the American public, and he is still producing the cars almost half a century later.

I didn’t invent fiberglass or dune buggies, Meyers said. I just put them together by designing and building a small open-air fiberglass body that would fit on a shortened VW chassis.

Meyers went on to say that the fiberglass and resin used today is much more refined than what was available when he started. Resin setup times changed with each batch, so the quality of each car, or group of cars, varied. Also, he learned that in the Southern California weather it was important to allow time for the fiberglass to cure; otherwise, it warped and changed shape.

The Meyers Manx is the most popular (and most often copied) of the dune buggy designs.

For some race cars, such as this drag racing funny car, fiberglass is used to make a facsimile that incorporates design elements of the model production car, but is adapted for the racing chassis underneath.

Fiberglass can be adapted for any body shape you need, including motorcycles, sidecars, trucks, boats, and aircraft. This is another Ed Big Daddy Roth creation.

This historical overview wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Ed Big Daddy Roth, a pinstriper and sign painter. Roth was one of the first hot rod builders to use fiberglass to create weird, off-the-wall show cars. Some of his cars even featured hand-formed acrylic bubble tops that were hydraulically operated.

Since the early days of hot rodding, fiberglass has become the go-to material for all kinds of custom-bodied cars, especially wide-body kits favored by racers and performance enthusiasts. All kinds of racers, from land speed record runners to drag racers, road course racers, and circle track racers make use of fiberglass whenever possible to save weight and make easy aerodynamic improvements.

Consider the drag racing vehicle: fiberglass is perfectly suited to cover the massive rear tires and custom driver compartments used at every level of the sport. Visit a Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) race weekend and you see silhouette replicas of production cars executed in fiberglass alongside state-of-the-art aerodynamic racers designed for minimum drag and maximum downforce. At local circle tracks, amateur racers use fiberglass for its ease of repair and light weight. Of course, land speed record racers love fiberglass for the ability to fine-tune aerodynamics for the slipperiest designs on earth.

Replicas and Kit Cars

In addition to custom work, recreating classic car bodies and parts from fiberglass has become popular, partially because we’ve pretty much run out of the original steel-bodied cars that were made 70 or 80 years ago. Many of the old favorites are being recreated in fiberglass and are called reproductions, kits, or handcrafted automobiles. The bottom line is that they all came from the same source: molded fiberglass. Even some real steel street rods are using reproduction fiberglass fenders and running boards because of the low replacement cost and durability of fiberglass.

Many modern hot rods are created entirely from fiberglass. There are now more 1932 Ford hot rods in existence than were ever created by the Ford factory!

Thanks to the availability of fiberglass there are more ’32 Fords on the road today than were ever produced by Ford Motor Company, said Roger Brinkley. His company, Brinkley Manufacturing, specializes in creating custom ’32 Ford Roadsters. The ease of creating parts and car bodies has really promoted the kit car and hot rod industry, and the demand is greater than ever.

Shelby Cobras are probably the most widely replicated automobiles, just ahead of the ’32 Fords. The original Cobras were aluminum-bodied cars built in the mid 1960s. Due to their popularity and demand, Shelby American now builds a full line of fiberglass-bodied roadsters some 50 years after the original aluminum-bodied cars debuted.

If you want a head start on the car building process, there are countless kits currently available, from race cars to street rods, and some fabulous fakes. These kit bodies are copies of expensive cars. They fit on existing frames or on custom-made chassis in a process known as a rebody. Some automakers, such as Ferrari, have filed legal actions against fiberglass manufacturers producing look-alike bodies in the past, but most don’t care as long as the car isn’t a current model.

Since World War II, there have also been a multitude of original