Easy Way to find Fiberglass cracks in a Classic Corvette and Repairing them

[@kenrobertson4140]

Best FG repair video that I've seen to date. Thank you

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Thanks, Glad you liked it, more videos to come soon

[@douglaslambert579]

My dad built fiberglass boats and he had rollers to get air bubbles out. Reminds me of the times I watched him working on the boats.

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Glad the video brought back good memories for you

[@ajcates9136]

I work in a body shop for 35 years I have had fiberglass removed from my eyes 5 time and metal only twice wear good eye protection !

[@jonfink7618]

Excellent video, you've got a huge amount of knowledge! The comments are equally as informative as the video! Thanks!

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Thanks Glad you liked it

[@EViLLennY]

Very awesome my friend.....

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Thank you very much!

[@fj9460-lr]

Excellent! Thanks 🙏🏼

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Thanks for watching, Glad you liked the video, more videos to come

[@dgiorgi1725]

This was great. The matting you used seemed perfect... I’ll make a note of that. I noticed on C2 Vettes they have stress cracks on the top and bottom of the windshield post and around the head light openings. I am wondering if there is a way to repair these so once painted they will not reappear over time. I am thinking if the areas had a bonding stip as used on the other panels was used to reinforce the glass from underneath where the head lights are concerned if this would be a suitable fix... the windshield post I have no clue. So what are your thoughts? Thanks in advance, Dave.

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Hi Dave, C2's pretty much always have stress cracks around the headlights in the corners, not so much around windshield but it does happen, best way to fix is grid the area down the size of a quarter to half dollar in size and also making a small cup going down into the crack, then lay your resin and glass in building up a little higher then the surface so you can sand down even so not to use much plastic filler to level off, Hope this Helps Thanks for watching, Check out my other videos for more fiberglass repairs, Thanks John

[@MMFH_LIFE]

Awesome info and walk through! Thank you

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Thanks Glad you liked it

[@bondpit8750]

Great demonstration. Appreciate it! Looking forward to more.

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Thanks Glad you liked it

[@foggymtnbreakdown]

An excellent video. Thanks. What do you use as the degreaser?

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

@@foggymtnbreakdown Thank you, I use a fast evaporating wax and grease remover, any brand should do

[@BernardBouchard-qq9kq]

You can put a little inert filler powder or bondo in your resin to thicken lamp black to make bonding glue

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Thanks for the tip, i some time add polyester thickener to the resin and make a paste and use that to fill I’m small pin holes or low spots, Thanks for watching

[@ricksteelcustoms3196]

Can Nason acrylic primer reduced with lacquer thinner be used under acrylic enamel single stage on corvettes? Or will it seep into the fiberglass substrate and bubble the topcoat paint later on? I use it all the time on steel cars and Never have an issue. I have only painted 2 Corvettes, and on 1 I did get a couple bubbles/blisters, just not sure if it was because of the Lacquer thinner in the primer. And on that one I non chemically stripped it down. I currently own 3 Corvette convertibles a 1975, 1987 and a 2002 that all need paint. On my 02 I have some of the fiberglass around the edge of the doors starting to show. Thanks in advance for your reply.

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Hi, I haven’t used lacquer primer in quite a while, even if a customer wants there car painted in lacquer paint I still use polyester primer first then urethane primer on top of that then lacquer paint, lacquer primer will not hold down the fibers in the fiberglass and will eventually shrink and show up in your paint work, and as far as top coats go I use urethane paints they last much longer then lacquer or enamel paints, Hope this helps, Thanks for watching my videos

[@ricksteelcustoms3196]

@@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER Ive never shot "lacker paint." Only polyurethane acrylic enamel and base coat clear coat.

[@ricksteelcustoms3196]

@@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER Thanks for your response. So how would you treat exposed from desert heat worn off paint fiberglass before respray? Would you just use polyester primer first then urethane primer and then shoot it with polyurethane acrylic enamel single stage? Thanks again.

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

@ricksteelcustoms3196 it depends, are there hairs from the glass showing? That would need more work, if its just worn out and faded then sand with 180 grit and use polyester primer to seal the fiberglass then use your urethane primer

[@Christopherbever]

Your videos are awesome! I’m trying to fix a 1996 fiberglass Utility body/toolbox on a service truck… it looks like typical strand mat from the inside. I have a 90 degree corner that’s become delaminated… probably going to cut it out and make a new panel… could I use pre formed 90 degree channel and glass it in?

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

@@Christopherbever Hi, Thanks for watching, sure you can make a new piece and glass it in, just make sure that polyester resin will stick to it, try a small area first, let it harden good and try sanding it, if it doesn’t sand correctly or peels off its most likely SMC resin you will need to do the repairs in, Hope this helps, Thanks John

[@Christopherbever]

@@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER that’s a great suggestion thank you! I will try that! It’s a brand that’s no longer in business and being pre Internet forum era there’s not a lot of info on them. I’ve been researching honeycomb panel from the boat builders to patch in as it’s the very top piece of each tool box that’s delaminating. I plan on fabricating an aluminum diamond plate top sheet for it in the long run since it’s sagging and not built for structural load anyway, plus will look cool 😎

[@dave0028]

Very educational.

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Thank you Glad you Enjoyed it

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Thanks Glad you liked it

[@bobdavis3389]

A really informative video , Thank You

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Thanks Glad you liked it, More videos to come

[@lightweightiseverything5068]

Eyeball John, I really like your videos! I am 62-years old. I have never done fiberglass repair, but I just bought a poor-condition 1967 Lotus Elan. It has a fiberglass body. I plan to use your techniques to repair its body this Summer. I’m planning to build a rotisserie for the body to save my back. I noticed you back up the trim and drain holes with masking tape and glass over them. Do you purposely fill the holes to redrill them later? Also, if you are leaving bare fiberglass underneath a restored Corvette, what grit sandpaper do you stop sanding with? In other words, how smooth do you leave the ‘glass? How smooth was the fiberglass underneath from the factory? I ask because the Lotus fiberglass finish underneath the car seems really rough and I’m not sure how to duplicate that and I don’t want to smooth it out, if it was rough from the factory. Please keep the videos coming. We dig your work in So. Cal. Hey, I met “Big Daddy” Ed Roth once at a car show. He was so nice and humble! Did he name you because you had, “a good eye?”

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Hi, Thanks for watching my videos, Glad you liked them, let me try and answer all your questions, I use 2 inch masking tape in areas that have a hole or the glass is missing so the Mat has something to holed to, if I fill in any holes that need to be there I will drill them out later, early Corvettes were bare glass for the most part on the backsides and under floor boards, it was smooth but still had a slight texture, wheel wells were painted black with some undercoating on them,. You don’t have to coat the back side of the glass but sometimes it’s a good idea, fiberglass is like a sponge and will soak up any oils or dirt that it comes in contact with, after the fiberglass cures I usually start sanding with either 36 or 40 grit paper and then 80 grit, normally stop at 80 grit and polyester prime over that. Most likely your car being a kit car was hand layer fiberglass so it’s normal to have a rougher finish on the back, you can duplicate that finish very easily when applying your glass work. I met Ed Roth back in 96 at a local car show, a friend of mine introduced me to him , as we talked he found out I did sculpting also and asked if I would be interested in doing a sculpture with him of a large Flying Eyeball, so who says no to Big Daddy, so the next day I was back at the show with 5 pounds of clay and Ed and I spent the day together sculpting , he gave me the sculpt said finish it up and make a mold of it, I did and started making them for him along with a smaller version as a shifter knob, after that he gave me the name Eyeballjohn, Hope I was able to answer your questions, I have many videos I’m presently working on and Hope to have up soon, Thanks again for watching, John

[@hoytswinderman6295]

I have a 1978 silver anniv. I will attempt to send a picture of it. I did drill a very small hole at the end of the crack to stop it from getting larger..

[@saekabura]

Good shit, keep up these types of videos. Very informative. Btw you need to upload regularly to gain tractions for your videos

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Thanks, Glad you liked it, I have another video I’m working on covering all the basics of fiberglass, should be out in a couple of weeks, Hopefully after that I’ll have more time to do a video a month covering different aspects of fiberglass, Mould making, sculpting and much more

[@saekabura]

@@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER I have subbed, looking forward to your next stuff!

[@buchmannray]

Thanks you for this video, subscribed

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Glad you liked it, More videos to come

[@rogerworkman5879]

Ive a 72 blazer with a lot of stress cracks. Could you tell which fiberglass mat and resin to get. I have small area around headlight on 76 corvette to repair as well. Im not sure if you say you use 3/4oz or 3/4". Thank you Roger

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Hi, your 76 vette will need SMC resin to make your repairs. 3/4 once mat works very well, it absorbs the resin quickly, you can also use the smc resin on your Bronco stress cracks

[@vaderconstantine]

great video. i am new at diy. i wanted to do a fix on my bmw '93 e36 door card, i believe it's made of cardboard. will fibreglass sticks to cardboard? what material does or doesn't it sticks to. thanks much!

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Glad you liked the video, absolutely fiberglass will stick to cardboard in fact when I make parts i use cardboard and tape to make an original part then cover it with fiberglass, just coat it with resin and lay your matt or cloth fiberglass over it

[@vaderconstantine]

@@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER thanks! looking forward to your next upload.

[@hoytswinderman6295]

Thanks for the video on repair. I have a small crack on the right front fender, leading up from the wheel opening, almost dead center. Will the process you showed work for repairing the crack from the inside of the fender? Thanks.Looking forward to your upcoming videos.

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Absolutely will work from either side, what year Vette do you have? From where you say the crack is could be on the bonding seam, so there also should be a bonding strip on the back side. You really don't want to grid the strip away. Might be better to fix from front, let me know and Thanks for watching

[@OakLawnSpeedShop]

Hi John I own a 71’ with original paint. how would you remove the original paint the easiest and least invasive to the glass?

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Hi Brian, Good question, stripping paint off a Vette is tedious and time consuming, having original paint will make the job a lot easier since it should only be the lacquer paint and factory primer, but there are several ways you can go. On cars with multiple paint jobs I like to start with a razor blade this usually will take the paint down to primer, but you have to be careful not to dig into the glass, but this won’t work in your case cause of the thin paint, I guess it comes down to what you have available to you and are you attempting to do this yourself? Original lacquer paint and primer can be taken off using lacquer thinner and a scotch brite pad, lacquer paint will,dissolve back into its liquid state when hit with lacquer thinner no matter how old it is, this is a messy job and you have to ware proper safety equipment, this would be the same if you used chemical stripper and you still would have to wipe down the area your workin on with lacquer thinner to neutralize the chemical so it won’t hurt the fiberglass. Using an orbital sander (DA) with 80 grit paper I think would be the best way to strip the paint in your case, again being careful not to damage the fiberglass or if the car is disassemble you could sofa blast the paint off. Sorry this answer is so long but there really isn’t a Best way to strip paint especially on a Vette, on a metal car it’s much easier To do this, so again it comes down to what equipment you have and your ability to do this, Hope this Helps you, and Thanks for watching, John

[@OakLawnSpeedShop]

@@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER Hi John. Thanks for taking time out of your Sunday to talk to respond to me. It is original Lacquer. Looks like GM put a ton of coats the crazing and chips that have come off through the years go quite deep before you see gray. I thought the gray I see was the gel coat. Have airplane stripped with lacquer wash on a steel car before. That mess gets hot even with gloves on and a respirator. I like the 80 grit and lacquer thinner approach I think. Thanks again John! Great vids also no B. S. Super informative.

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

@@OakLawnSpeedShop Just so you know in case there’s a test on it later, Lol, Corvette’s never came from the factory with a gel coat, the panels were press Molded using only the glass mat and resin which were different colors depending on years, your would be the darker gray color, also your safe to use regular polyester resin to do any repairs on your car 73 is when they switched to SMC fiberglass, this might also be on the test, Lol, Good Luck with your project

[@buchmannray]

I have a 74 Corvette, I've been told there is no gel coat, but it's been sanded all the way down to white fiberglass and they broke the edges on the fender lines to a round edge instead of sharp corners which I need to bring back. If I have to gel coat the car, should I fix the sharp edges before or after gel coating the car?

[@wlc1980]

I have a 1994 Corvette, does it use the same type of fiberglass repair material or something different? The 1994 seems like it’s made of different fiberglass.

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

94 would be SMC fiberglass so I would use smc resin to do any repairs the fiberglass mat is the same Hope this Helps

[@wlc1980]

Ok thanks, I have a 1980 Corvette and it definitely looks like different fiberglass. I subscribed.

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

@@wlc1980 80 is also smc, corvettes from 1973 and later are smc before that they are regular polyester resin

[@dannottingham3786]

will the wax and grease remover work just as well with a 68 Corvette with black tinted fiberglass? Thanks for the video

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Yes this method works on the darker glass also, a little harder to see but the cracks still show up

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Most common areas on a 68 for cracks are around headlight openings, around rear deck panel vents and around front and rear bumper mounts, anywhere there’s a corner or sharp edge, Hope this Helps

[@dannottingham3786]

@@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER There is extensive fiberglass damage. I believe the car must have been raced or something. Lots of quick repairs with just resin. It's an L71 car so it needs to be fixed and with the help of yours and other videos it will be done

[@GJJC13]

Great video. After sanding, do you just apply filler, sealer, primer, base, clearcoat... Am I missing something?

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

Thanks Glad you liked the video, I usually use enough fiberglass ( build up higher then needed) to sand smooth, I use very little bondo or filler, but yes after sanding the fiberglass use appropriate amount of filler to level out area, I use a polyester primer first over that to seal the work, sand that use urethane primer over that, sand and than what ever your going to top coat with, Hope this Helps, I'll be doing more indepth videos of the entire process soon, Thanks for watching

[@gustavette8487]

@@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER Great, .. you prefer urethane primer vs epoxy primer? Any recommended filler vs Bondo? Thanks and keep up with these great videos!

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

@@gustavette8487 Epoxy primer I only use over bare metal, you can use urethane primer over your fiberglass but even though it uses a hardner it still tends to shrink, so thats why I recommend using polyester first, as far as filler just use a good plastic filler (bondo) use as little as possible cause fiberglass and fillers tend to shrink at different rates after all the work is completed and painted and after all your hard work you don't want to see it shrinking up, Hope this Helps

[@gustavette8487]

@@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER Excellent... I have just subscribed.

[@smithjohn3080]

00:02:51 😊 otherwise use youngsters gonna sneak up on ya

[@MrCbell57]

What do you think about dynamic corvettes? With the so called Corvette expert? So where does the false information come about corvettes always coming with a gelcoat? Why would they not do that since a gel coat finishes out the fiberglass and there is no need for primers, fillers or even paint. So explain the molding process where gelcoat is used in order to even make the fiberglass molded pieces that pop out and are then put on the car. If no jelcoat, then what finish efforts are required to paint raw unfinished fiberglass from a mold? thanks.

[@EYEBALLJOHNsKUSTOMKORNER]

I have used Dynamic Corvette parts in building Restomods there parts are made with gel coat on top, like I had said before mostly all aftermarket fiberglass parts are made using a gel coat, they can be installed on any corvette the same way it dose not matter or it has a gel coat on or not,. When making a fiberglass part using a mold which will most likely be made out of fiberglass , the mold is prepared using special release wax’s, the a gel coat is sprayed into the mold, when that cures fiberglass mat and resin is layer into mold or sprayed in using a chopper gun, when the fiberglass cures the part can be pooped out. You can also gel coat a corvette after doing your repairs instead of using a polyester primer, I know of shops that do this, but I like the polyester primer better simply because it sands much easier, Thanks for your questions , Hope this helps