DIY Fiberglass Fender Sectioning and Replacement (How To) On 63 Corvette Split Window

[@irishkelly2062]

Thank you! Used your tips in my plan to splice the top end of a Crown Victoria P71 bumper to the lower end of a 04 Marauder bumper. I've always wanted a Marauder, but covid destroyed the market. I can't wait to be one of if not the only P71 driver with a cobra terminator style bumper this spring! You've helped bring an Irishman's love for American V8 boats to the real world :)

[@Fulloctanegarage]

Glad it helped

[@Proteusbound]

If you screw the reinforcement strip to the front, it levels the panels, and allows you to fiberglass the back without the unsightly strip. Once set, you can remove the strip from the front, and lay down the epoxy filler on the front. Clean.

[@Fulloctanegarage]

Thanks, good idea. I was thinking of the old premise of bonding strips :)

[@kevinfay5172]

My only question is the bonding strip depending on quality of car stock ,custom ,or race car how much trouble would it be to put stock bonding strip on car didnt see if inner braces were there if they were not there it might be just as easy to put in stock strip as area would be all open ?

[@WARESPOWER]

You don’t taper sand the panel edge? And how well does the 105 resin do after the car is painted. Does the peanut butter mixed with the micro glass power keep the panel from stress cracking?

[@Fulloctanegarage]

I do taper the edges in most cases. It has been a year and no cracking at all. I suspect creating a bonding strip on the back side helps a lot.

[@KittyBertandErnie]

Warespower, I thought the same thing, not putting it down but this whole job is high school shop at best!... OK, i did put down a little

[@bbb462cid]

I would have thought a 90* cut like that introduces a huge stress riser.

[@Fulloctanegarage]

Almost 1 year and it is still holding up well. There may be a better way but me being an armature it worked for me :)

[@bbb462cid]

@@Fulloctanegarage if it works, it works

[@KittyBertandErnie]

@@bbb462cid He failed to say its held up a year but the car still sits where it sat

[@JOEGGGJOE]

Was the quarter panel & bonding strip made of polyester resin? If so, how do you feel about polyester & epoxy bonding to each other? That has always been a concern of mine. The bonding strip? Wouldn’t it better to make some temporary mounting tabs on the outside & fiberglass a few layers of oversized fiberglass chop strand on the back side? Also, your section cuts were left with a straight cut/edge. I’d think you would bevel them at least. Wouldn’t that seem crack eventually with that straight edge filled in?

[@Fulloctanegarage]

The bonding strip I made we created from the parts of the body I cut out. The West Systems Epoxy resin is designed to bond to many different surfaces and it is a very strong bond. There are several ways to do this but since GM from the factory deployed bonding strips I figured I would use the method they did when new. You are correct, I could have temporary mounted tabs on the outside then glass the inside, there is really no wrong answer. As for the section cuts being flat, that is a good point and after the parts were bonded from behind I did take a small 80 grit 3 inch sanding disk and created a bevel in the seem so I could drop in some epoxy with the 404 shreds in it and that seems to have worked out great. It may have been easier to bevel it before I bonded the new part in but the glass is fairly thin and it is easy to take too much off and not have a straight line. Thanks for the comments and ideas!

[@thomascherico6889]

Fronts are fenders, rears are quarter panels

[@kevinramey4226]

wouldn't it be best to make edge onto also and fill in fiberglass? bondoe always find ways work lose

[@Fulloctanegarage]

There are a number of ways to do this, this is just the one I used. I also used resin mixed with shredded glass rather than bondo for all of the filler work so it should be fairly stable. It has been pained for over a year and is still looking great.

[@kevinramey4226]

@@Fulloctanegarage sounds great

[@jaivette]

Most of your videos are about products😡

[@Fulloctanegarage]

Products are often a significant part of a how to videos. I do this because I get lots of questions about what I used many times and it is just easier to put it in the video. We always try to provide how to value in our videos. Example, most people would not have any idea they could tackle the project I did in this video until they watch it. Thanks for watching!