USE YOUR HANDS: March/April 2001

When Rob Hephner dropped the Focus off, I must have sat and looked at the back end of the car for about a day. Of course, Rob had a list of do not’s. He did not want me to lose the trunk room and spare, which I agreed with, but he still wanted to pack it with as much as possible. So I pondered where to put two 12’s and two very large amps plus one Image Dynamics IDONE processor. To help in the design, I used a very old trick — cardboard layouts. This gave me a feel of the size and look that I was going to achieve, which was handy because, as an added challenge, I had no products to build off of — no subs, no amps, no processor, no wiring, no radio, no nothing. To make matters worse, I was not going to get any of the products until after I built the car.

One of the most essential tasks was not to scratch the car, so, to begin, I started off taping the whole back end of the car, including the tail lights. Next, all the carpet in the trunk was removed.

After taping the car down, I needed to move the factory wiring that was in the way of me getting a flat wall. You can see that the wires in photo 1 are attached to the steel by plastic holders. You can remove these simply by pulling on them. With my trusty duct tape in hand, I taped the now loose wires above the panel and out of the way (photo 2).

Next, I used masking tape to cover the steel area that was soon to be fiberglassed. As a “Rule of Matt,” I always cover 30 percent more than needed. This ensures that no resin will get on the car and gives you a surface to work on (photo 3). You will notice in photo 1 that I do not use right angles in the tape. Try to use curved angles in the corners, as this will help to give a “draft.” Drafting a part will help the ease of pulling the part off the car, along with waxing the part and using PVA. Also known as parting film, PVA puts a barrier between the wax and the resin. Since resin is a chemical reaction, air will slow the drying of the part, giving you a sticky layer to sand through. Applying PVA will end this unnecessary step. (Photos 4 and 5 show how to apply the mold release and PVA.) PVA can also be brushed on.

Fiberglassing a box, amp rack , or even a radio mount without plans is not a good idea. You start working, and the next thing you know, it’s ugly. Always remember the three P’s of fiberglassing: Prep, Prep, and more Prep. I have always lived under the 90/10 rule; 90 percent of the time devoted to a project should be prep work, and the remaining 10 percent should be the actual work. This will ensure that the project will get done with little waste.

Now we start the lay up. In photo 6, you can see that we used brushes and rollers for this job. Rollers are good for removing the air between layers of glass, which will help to sturdy the part up. You will also notice that the part will not be 12.55 mm thick, but a mere 4 mm. This can be achieved due to bracing, which will be covered in future articles. I find that cutting my fiberglass up into small workable parts help a lot. Photo 7 shows how I will use all sort of sizes to achieve the task of laying fiberglass smoothly.

Photos 8 and 9 illustrate applying the resin to the glass. I find that applying resin to both the tape and the fiberglass helps in two ways; one is that the resin is in the part, and, two, they stick together better when applied to the wall. This really helps when glassing upside down.

After about 30 minutes of work and two brushes later (photo 10), the glassing of the side wall is done. As another Rule of Matt, letting the part dry for a day before going on is a good idea, since fiberglass shrinks.

In the next article, we will cover design, plus the wall being pulled. Remember, you can talk to me on the 12-Volt Forums under “Matt Borgardt on Fabrication.”