Trans-Pan: Fiberglass Cover Montage

rambos_ride

Well I didn't get this done yesterday but got the layout done and the materials gathered then spanked it out this afternoon while it was raining.

I started with 5/8 sheet of high density foam and cut and glued the 2 halves together - laid that across the top of the transmission and dropped and bolted the cover down over the foam.

The foam made a nice gentle curve fitting the opening and I took my air grinder to the foam to shape it a little.

Then I used some tape to make a cover over the foam and a dam for the resin.

The material I used was a felt type and 100% polyester which reacts with the polyester resin and picked up at the local fabric store (always a fun time when a 5'10" muscley guy with a beard and long hair, sunglasses and a hat walking through a fabric store!)

I used the first layer felt to add some re-inforcment around the edge and some horizontal strips to add some additional support then laid 2 larger pieces in succession.

I used about only 1/2 the materials I bought so could have done this for around 50 bucks - but it's better to have too much in this case.

I'll let this sit for a couple of days - suit up and trim the thing down. Then someday I can use this cover as a template to make a metal one...

Unknown

rambos_ride wrote:

The material I used was a felt type and 100% polyester which reacts with the polyester resin and picked up at the local fabric store (always a fun time when a 5'10" muscley guy with a beard and long hair, sunglasses and a hat walking through a fabric store!)

you have got to be a sight....

rambos_ride

hudsonkid wrote:

you have got to be a sight....

The women eye you nervously wondering what the heck you are doing in there other than to case or rob the place

Unknown

you know i just thought of something, another fiberglass option you could do that would be much stronger. im not sure if you live close to the beach but if you do you could go to a surf shop and pick up some fiberglass cloth that they use in glassing surfboards and lay that in with some of the fiberglass resin. the cloth will make it stronger and give it a little memory so in case it gets hit or twisted it wont shatter. just an idea. -john

rambos_ride

THEGREENHORNET wrote:

you know i just thought of something, another fiberglass option you could do that would be much stronger. im not sure if you live close to the beach but if you do you could go to a surf shop and pick up some fiberglass cloth that they use in glassing surfboards and lay that in with some of the fiberglass resin. the cloth will make it stronger and give it a little memory so in case it gets hit or twisted it wont shatter. just an idea. -john

I have a buddy who does snowboards and the material and resins are different because they use a foam core and the board is pressed in a heated press - not sure about surfboards but I'd believe the newer hi-tech ones probably have a carbon-fibre or foam core too.

But back to the fiberglass cloth (which looks like a "carbon fibre weave" as opposed to the stranded chopped glass cloth) - yes it is probably much stronger but wayyyy more expensive than the polyester felt cloth I used - a 2x2 ft piece was $5.99 at my local jobber.

I trimmed the piece a bit today and the polyester fiber took the resin really well - the piece is solid and would probably chip an edge if dropped - but this stuff is easy to repair if needed.

I think I'll actually try using velcro to secure the piece for now and see how it holds rather than metal fastners.

Again - this should ultimately be a temporary piece to use as a template for making a metal one down the road when I have procured the correct tools to make it!

BTW - there was a HUGE added benefit to not using fiberglass...no itchy when sanding