FIberglass? (1 Viewer)

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C

CodeRed

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Nov 23, 2005
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I brought this up in a recent topic but thought it might be worth it's own thread.

I've done some searching (not exhaustive) of this board and the internet in general and didn't find anything.

Does anyone know of a source for fiberglass fenders/panels for our 60-62 models?

If not, do you think a market exists for such an item?

These things rust out so easily and the weight has to be a major factor in fuel consumption.

What do you think?
 
I have not seen any ever, but the actual weight of a 60 fender is not that heavy. Its the combination of the inner fender well and inner fender that make up the weight. It would be nice to have rust resistant outer parts though.
 
Waggoner5 said:
I have not seen any ever, but the actual weight of a 60 fender is not that heavy. Its the combination of the inner fender well and inner fender that make up the weight. It would be nice to have rust resistant outer parts though.
Click to expand...

I was looking at the fender and the availability of aftermarket and OEM parts. What you say seems pretty well on spot. The fenders are cheaply made (Japaneese) and the aftermarket are well, just that...aftermarket.

I'd think there's a way glass up all three and reduce weight significantly:)

Again as you mention, to cut down on the rust prone body parts and in my case, to increase fuel MPG.

I have several friends who are in the fibreglass business. If I could get hold of a pair of fenders (complete outer, inner/lining) I could see about making some molds.

Not that expensive, just takes time *(which is why I'm not yanking mine off for the molds!):lol:

Anyone want to donate to the cause?
 
I think when you are done, the 3 peices that it takes to make up a fender assembly, the weight will be not too far off of a stock assembly. The reinforecement areas for bolting everything together will take lots of layers of mat which ads weight in a hurry. I am all for being proven wrong though.
 
A Corvette would weigh a lot less if the body were made of carbon fiber. Fiberglass (polyester resin & fiberglass fibers/mat/cloth) weighs as much as steel as far as body stampings go. At least when made strong enough to resist cracking for a few years. The fiberglass Vette was a novelty in 1953. It also helped the production cost because of the limited numbers made.

You'll notice that there are few 'glass production cars besides the Vette. Even if you could get carbon fiber fenders & hood for your 60/62 your gas mileage wouldn't increase noticeably (even 1 mpg). Weight lowers mpg on acceleration & up hills. The differnce in friction in wheel bearings from increased weight is negligible.

The only way to get appreciably better fuel mileage is to go diesel.
 
http://www.fibreglast.com/?GCID=S18...glass repair&gclid=CNKa_va_3IoCFU9FGAodB0Oy3Q

Just an idea. If you look through all the little ricer forums you will find a lot of instruction on how to make fiberglass parts from scratch, or carbon fiber. My friend Jason made a carbon fiber hood from scratch with a kit he made. Going on memory it was a simple process for the most part. He laid a piece of woven cloth over his hood after a generous coating of lube (pam?? lol) then had a 2 part resin he mixed up. He laid about 4-5 thin coats of it over the cloth while it rested on the truck, making sure to soak the cloth real well. He let it harden on the hood to keep the shape of the hood. Then here's where it gets blurry. Somehow he used a type of foam which he shaped to make support ribs for it. I don't know how he attached it the foam, but he attached the hood with pins like the nascar machines use. Check the ricer sites. If there is that high of a demand for em, I may consider it making them, he said it was pretty easy, just a little time consuming, and took attention to detail.

I forgot to add, that it was infact much much lighter than the factory hood. Fenders probably wouldn't weigh a whole lot less though, because of the fact that there is nothing to them. I also saw some video on the internet where he ordered his kit of these guys backing up over a hood they made from carbon fiber over and over and it just popped right back into shape every time.

Found another link http://carb.com/ Carbon fiber stuff
 
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I think there are certain parts, such as, hood/tailgates/roof...etc that could benefit from being glass or fiber.

the hood would be nice and quiet I think.

tailgates are already available in fiberglass.
 
I'd have to disagree with the weight vs. fuel consumption.

Although not fiberglass, many cars now and in the past have used a plastic materiel for body panels vs. steel. The weight reduction along with dent resistance and the lack of rust have made them preferable to steel components.

Anything that lightens the vehicle is going to result in less mass to move upon accelleration as you said. Since I and I'm sure many here that use thier 60-62's for DD's probably spend an appreciable amount of time in traffic, accelleration is definately going to be a factor.

Anyway, again, if there's enough interest in hood/fenders and we can get some parts for molds, I'm sure one of us (myself or beatdown) can work on the molds.
 
This was what I was thinking of also.

If a very good set of fenders both inner and outer fenders were foudn thay could be used as molds. I have so many holes in my fenders there is almost no point in patchign them up. It would be best just to spot drill them out and put in something like heavy fiberglass fenders. If somone is going to attempt this make sure the fenders have tube steel welded in a criss cross direction onto the inside of the the fenders dont warp or bend when removed.

The next idea is how to secure the fenders to the bodys sheet metal. I thought of rivets but what kind? also is there a adheasive that sticks fiberglass to metal?

Othersise it would be a semi perm fix to a long problem. BTW discovered another hold in the body to the left body mount near the left rear access panel. I need to get this truck into a shop and get these holes fixed.
 
I've got a glassfibre cab roof - custom made, cost around US$200, with a nice new liner thrown in. Weighs pretty much the same as the OEM metal roof. Guy used my old roof as a mold. I used big stainless washers to hold the glass edge to the metal cab sides/screen. Makes a good seal with some weather stripping. Nice never to worry about cancer there again...
 
rat said:
I've got a glassfibre cab roof - custom made, cost around US$200, with a nice new liner thrown in. Weighs pretty much the same as the OEM metal roof. Guy used my old roof as a mold. I used big stainless washers to hold the glass edge to the metal cab sides/screen. Makes a good seal with some weather stripping. Nice never to worry about cancer there again...
Click to expand...

post some pics of this, please :)
 
rat said:
I've got a glassfibre cab roof - custom made, cost around US$200, with a nice new liner thrown in. Weighs pretty much the same as the OEM metal roof. Guy used my old roof as a mold. I used big stainless washers to hold the glass edge to the metal cab sides/screen. Makes a good seal with some weather stripping. Nice never to worry about cancer there again...
Click to expand...

That sounds cool. Do you have any pics of the installation or the overall finished job?
 
That's kind of funny though bridges - we're here waxing poetic about how much weight it would save, and the gozzard guys are bragging about how the fglass weighs as much as the stock piece.
 
I installed my Gozzard fibreglass upper tailgate over the year-end holidays just recently and they are very stout pieces (I have both the upper and lower tailgate pieces), VERY well crafted, lighter than stock which made my gas struts seem brand new, my upper gate flys up upon opening now, very nice.

I would highly recommend these products.

Say goodbye to rust forever.

Front fenders would be very nice.
 
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