Building a body kit

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cbegnaud

Member - Posts: 1

Joined: August 08, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: March 07, 2006 at 2:57 PM / IP Logged

I have used the " White foam " from Home Depot and after shaping i coat it with sheet rock spakle (sp) then i sand and primmer and use this to make a mold or glass right off of it.

Are you sure these are extra bolts????

torquehead

Copper - Posts: 144

Joined: January 15, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: March 07, 2006 at 8:59 PM / IP Logged

I ditto everything Crazyoldcougar said. I second his motion for beginnners to use foam from hardware stores, lets you get the feel of its uses. Ive been using a 2 stage heater sprayer foam machine, it works great! There are alot of foam types and ratios for ANYTHING you would ever want! But, I dont recommend buying even on like mine for $3500+ just to make 1 body kit to save yourself 70% of the cost. Heres an Idea a friend of mine did back in the day: Build a smooth edged box without a top, use Pam cooking spray and coat the insides of the box (i bet even aluminum foil would do). Go buy several cans of expandable foam and fill the box. Let this expand to all its mite! Slide it out and there you have it. I cant remember how many cubic inches a can of Exp/Foam will fill, but shouldnt be hard to figure out. As for the costs of fiberglass, Crazyoldcougar has it right about the prices...I buy FG/resins/foams/fillers/paint/ect by the bulk crates so I have no Idea, but those prices dont sound bad. A question was asked....how much would a body kit cost to build yourself? I would say even with normal prices of materials, you could do it for...$350 to $500 depending on your waste/design-detail/finish/thickness/mounting/integrity just to name a few. My locals have been paying between $1200 to $4200 for my handmade on-off body/wide body kits in thier finished form and are usually seamless to the body. Another though for the beginners, buy a body kit as cheap as you can, study it, modify it to your liking....? (your most likely to, because they mostly never a perfect fit anyways)

HottAccord

Silver - Posts: 247

Joined: August 12, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: March 07, 2006 at 9:14 PM / IP Logged

If you dont want to buy/make a box to let the foam expand in, I read back in another post about someone emptying a can right into a garbage bag. I bought a can of foam from Home Depot just in case, and Im so anxious to use it to build something already! haha

Im a fiberglass whore!!

torquehead

Copper - Posts: 144

Joined: January 15, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: March 07, 2006 at 11:15 PM / IP Logged

Yah, it'll work. Hey wait, it gets hot....wonder if it will melt the bag?LOL I know the 2 stage foam I use reaches un-friggin-touchable temps during its reaction time and up to the quarter end of curing, anyone know about the can type's curing temps? I do know that it will heat up enough to warp 2 layers of FG! Also, check out the directions, water misted onto that kind of foam causes a fast cure.

Hey, here you go.... Get some kind of cardboard box (only for a block form, disired size), place the bag inside it, fill the bag while its inside the carboard box, that way you can have a block of foam.

crazyoldcougar

Copper - Posts: 185

Joined: March 03, 2006

Location: Canada

Posted: March 08, 2006 at 3:53 PM / IP Logged

cbegnaud wrote:

I have used the " White foam " from Home Depot and after shaping i coat it with sheet rock spakle (sp) then i sand and primmer and use this to make a mold or glass right off of it.

By sheet rock spakle do you mean, drywall mud? i know "Sheet Rock" as a brand name has product called 90...that is used to fill larger voids in drywall and it hardens up nice...if so...wow good idea....you cant beat going that route....cheap quick and easy to sand...just hope there is no little wee holes in it...lol...resin is like thermite to styrofoam...lol

Fiberglass Guru.

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torquehead

Copper - Posts: 144

Joined: January 15, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: March 08, 2006 at 6:26 PM / IP Logged

Yeah, also along with that, I read in a past post or maybe a website that someone used paper mache to cover the foam. Seems drywall putty would be better, shapable, ect.....Kool!

Also, you can make a plug to reproduce parts as well this way eh? Think about it, use the foam to make a form. Plaster this form shaped foam with this plaster, use solvent to disolve the foam, clean the plaster part good, spray some anti-stick, spray in some gelcoat, lay down some glass, when its cure pop out the new component.....hmm....just learned we have been doing this for years already...LOL

blufab

Copper - Posts: 62

Joined: July 25, 2005

Location: United States

Posted: March 09, 2006 at 10:52 AM / IP Logged

Anyone know where the cans of expanding foam can be purchased in bulk at? Also crazyoldcougar & torquehead you both said you have done this before can you post some pictures of your work everyone to see.

firstcavi

Member - Posts: 20

Joined: January 13, 2006

Location: New York, United States

Posted: March 09, 2006 at 2:15 PM / IP Logged

Yes, please post some pics. I would like to try this someday soon.

Thanks for all the tips and tricks!!

blufab

Copper - Posts: 62

Joined: July 25, 2005

Location: United States

Posted: March 09, 2006 at 3:12 PM / IP Logged

i was surfing around ebay for some bulk expanding foam and came across this link: http://www.jgreer.com/ They sell resins, stuff for mold making, and expanding foam, best os all its all in bulk.

crazyoldcougar

Copper - Posts: 185

Joined: March 03, 2006

Location: Canada

Posted: March 11, 2006 at 11:08 AM / IP Logged

i will see if can find some pics to scan...i did a lot of this before i owned a digital camera...

http://newcougar.org/forums/showthread.php?t=86444 well since the allowed pic size is tiny here i posted a link to the car forum i frequent..the link should lead directly to a little bit of fender work i did recently..you can see inthe first page there was some significant damage..the third page has pics of it fixed..

Fiberglass Guru.

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