fiberglass molding, how hard?

[eur0]

my question is how hard can this be? I am annoyed at the lack of lips for my car so I came up with a simple design, I have a rough outline of the dimensions, I was just wondering if I could just make a mold out of styrafoam and wrap it in fiberglass and use body filler to finish it...heres my idea:

[RX-7_TWINTURBO]

you would probably have to make the mold out of wood
i really dont know how styrofoam would hold up with epoxy
you have to remember about the mounting points and the actual fit of the lip

other than that it is a fairly big job and will be time consuming for sure
but it will be cheaper in the long run and you will have an ...(Cant think of the word for some reason ) Lip that no one else has

Wait i remember the word now ..ORIGINAL !!.....Now theres a word i haven heard in a while

[[GaGe]]

That pic's pretty nice. add sideskirts and bigger wheels and it'll be a beast.

[lsvetc]

humm I wonder how that would turn out.. You have to remember that styrofoam is like really cheap stuff and the slightes bump would kill it! It be kinda bad for everyday driving use but

[buh_buh]

Originally posted by lsvetc
You have to remember that styrofoam is like really cheap stuff and the slightes bump would kill it! It be kinda bad for everyday driving use but

uh.... he's not making the actual kit out of styrofoam.

I think styrofoam may work, but how are you going to build a mould out of it? But a better idea may be to make it in styrofoam first, then get some mesh and go over it to make it a little more structural. But fibreglassing is a pretty messy process. Just ask LUDELVR!

I've done a little bit of work with fibreglass, but that's just adding bits and pieces to my kit to make it fit, but let me know if you want some help.

[CRXguy]

Just go all out and get the J's racing lip!!!

I remember reading someone off Honda-Tech or ClubSi adding a 99-00 SiR front lip. Just needed a bit of work to get it to fit, but nothing crazy though.

[dj_honda]

i have done liek the minor fibreglass stuff as well, i wanna make a sub enclosure out of it for my next car

anyways, styrofoam again may not be a good idea, cuz unless you get really good styrofoam it will be hard to conform to the shape you want.

it all has to do with the mold tho, if u can geta good mold, all you have to do is mix fibreglass and pour it in, touch ups should be no problem. so look for some surefire way of making a good mold

oh yea, and i would put that mesh stuff in the fibreglass if u do make it, so that it holds up better, and gives more support

[eur0]

I was thinking of getting like a 24"x5"x5" piece of styrafoam and shaving it to make a mold, wrapping it and lay the fiberglass over the wrap and pull the foam away and use body filler to smoothen out any rough textures then maybe put some reinforcements? I guess I will see..

[sillysilvia]

Pretty cool !! I'ld like to see it when you finish!

[theken]

styromfoam would melt if you mix the hardnerer in with with fiberglass, and there is tiny holes in the styrofoam where the fiberglass would go, you have to make a mold out of wood and it is a hard thing to do. if it were easy everyone would do it.

[lsvetc]

whoops, I read it wrong buh buh. But any hoot, I agree with the people that say wood. It just seems there would be less chance of things going wrong. Styrofoam may melt and would mold your fiberglass into a funky shape if it does melt. I would go with the safer bet.

[jdmakkord]

wrap the styrofoam in tin foil

[dj_honda]

Originally posted by theken
and there is tiny holes in the styrofoam where the fiberglass would go, you have to make a mold out of wood and it is a hard thing to do. if it were easy everyone would do it.

he said he was gonna wrap it, as in with plastic. but you'r right about it getting hot, i dunno if there would be enough heat to melt it, but it will get hot

here is a site where a guy did a sub box by himself, check it out:
http://www.diysubwoofers.org/projects/carsub.htm

of course, he jus had to use the spare tire well for the mold though.

[davidI]

They have special foam that you can carve out..it'll be a lot smoother once you're done as well. I'd line the mold with tinfoil as the resin doesn't stick to it too much. I've done a lot of work with fiberglass and it can get really messy but it can definatley be done. Once all the bondo is on it might be sort of heavy though, depends how smoothly the fiberglass ends up lying. I'd also get an aircompressor and an pneumatic sander otherwise it will take ages to smooth out the kit once it's done.

I think it would be cool to try though! Pick up the fiberglass materials cheaply at a boating supply store. Good luck.

[szw]

Don't they have automotive plaster you can use for this purpose? instead of styrofoam?

Anyways I don't know much about this, but TBK, let me know how you are doing. If you need help experimenting I would like to help, since I would be interested in making a simple lip for my car as well.

[CLiVE]

There is some special foam...or high grade styrofoam out there. I believe they use it in boat moldings, etc. Have no idea where you can get it though. Let me know if you find some, I was thinking of building a lip for my other car (celica) a while ago.

[redline_13000]

if u use something like foam for ur mold, theres this stuff called plug wax, u add a couple coats to the mold to make the finished piece slide right off, i would cover the styrofoam with something like tinfoil as someone said, just incase the resin melts it

[eur0]

yea i got a big block of styrafoam I tried a practise piece last night but almost passed out from the resin (hardener, whatever it is) lol so im gonna give a go next weekend with some better circulation

[ExtremeSi]

Let us know how it turns out. I may be interested in trying this for my car. Where did you get the styrofoam?

[eur0]

homedepot, just under insulation, its a bitch to keep clean though haha, make sure ur in a easily cleanable area, it flys everywhere