Fiberglassing Gauge Pod in Bezel *pics*

I started fiberglassing a gauge bezel in place of my left-middle AC vent in my dash bezel.

-I drilled small holes all over the bezel.

-Now do I need to fiberglass the back of the bezel as well, for it to stick, or just let the resin go through the holes and maybe put some more resin on the back, for it to stick?

-Also, will I have to fiberglass the whole bezel with matte?
...Or can I just use matte on the gauge area and fiberglass over the fabric around the gauge and a little further out, and then just put resin over the rest of the bezel, since the only part that needs major stability is the gauge hole?

-What's the best method to fiberglass this bezel piece?

But now should I pour resin over the whole rest of the dash to fill in all the small holes?

Here are the pictures. You can see the holes all over the whole bezel. This is what I have fiberglassed so far with about 2 layers of fiberglass.

-Also, how should I get rid of that lip where the fiberglass ends? theres about a 1/5 inch high lip of glass/fabric above the origional plastic. How should I ease this lip back to the origional plastic? I'm just not quite sure what the next step would be.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m73/jmilin5931/3.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m73/jmilin5931/2.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m73/jmilin5931/1.jpg

my question is why do you evne have all that fabrick in there and what's up with the holes all over the dash?
you gonna fiber glass everywhere?
and shouldn't you be asking all the questions before you started this?
I usualy have 4-6 layers of finder glass depending where i need it ... in terms of structural reasons... if it's a sub box i go 6 layers if it's something that's not gonna be hit too much 4 is where i stop...

I'm curious to know as well. Why did you drill holes all over the dash?

Is this your first attempt with fiberglass?

I was told to drill holes in the dash so the fiberglass resin could adhere to itslef on the other side. I was told fiberglass dosent stick to plastic well so this would help. This is my 2nd fiberglass project. The glass is solid right now, I think it will be good enough, it just has to hold a switch panel, it dosent have to withstand bass or hold anything heavy. It's more solid than the origional dash, so I think more layers of glass would be overkill and lead to more work sanding.

The fabric... The fabric was to get the shape of the gauge pod I wanted. I used a piece of PVC pipe for the circle and cut dowel rods to raise it off the surface of the dash. I hot glued these in place. Then I stretched the fabric over the area to get the shape of the gauge pod, which is why I'm fiberglassing to begin with. This is standard with fiberglassing isnt it...?

I'm just wondering how I shold get rid of that lip between the fiberglass and the rest of the dash.

-Should I sand it down first, then add more fiberglass stretching over a little more of the dash, then just use resin to fill in the holes?

What do you think?

Usually they aren't referring to the entire piece, they are referring to just the area where you are glassing.

Sanding with a very rough grit sand paper (40ish grit) will achieve the same effect.

The fabric is standard on many types of projects.

Personally, I think that using bondo for such a project would have been a better option.

In this case, you have what you have already fabricated.

Lets see if we can come up with a way to save this project.

Is there any way you can pop all of that off?

I'm guessing you're wanting something similar to this?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jmilin5931

I was told to drill holes in the dash so the fiberglass resin could adhere to itslef on the other side. I was told fiberglass dosent stick to plastic well so this would help. This is my 2nd fiberglass project. The glass is solid right now, I think it will be good enough, it just has to hold a switch panel, it dosent have to withstand bass or hold anything heavy. It's more solid than the origional dash, so I think more layers of glass would be overkill and lead to more work sanding.

The fabric... The fabric was to get the shape of the gauge pod I wanted. I used a piece of PVC pipe for the circle and cut dowel rods to raise it off the surface of the dash. I hot glued these in place. Then I stretched the fabric over the area to get the shape of the gauge pod, which is why I'm fiberglassing to begin with. This is standard with fiberglassing isnt it...?

I'm just wondering how I shold get rid of that lip between the fiberglass and the rest of the dash.

-Should I sand it down first, then add more fiberglass stretching over a little more of the dash, then just use resin to fill in the holes?

What do you think?

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yeah it is standard but you should have pulled that fabrick not over your existing dash but into that went hole so that you don't have problems with it ... i mean now sanding it is a pain in the *** and will not look as clean anyway... if you were to pull the fabrick inside into the hole and then fiber glassed you would haved had a pretty much finished product that needed sanding to make it smooth not to make it look right...
as for holing on to the plastic i personaly never had any trouble doung it... i mean you think that 1/16 of a resent that poars into that hole would really make a diference at holding up? i dought... if i were to drill holes... which i prabobly wouldn't have but say if it didn't gue together then i would go with larger holes like say 1/5 in like 2-3 spots and couple of layers on the back or something to tie everything together...
besides that i am woundering why you have holes everywhere? you got a project planned for those areas? or are you gonna end up filling them in? or what's the word?

lol......................................

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Red GTi VR6

Usually they aren't referring to the entire piece, they are referring to just the area where you are glassing.

Sanding with a very rough grit sand paper (40ish grit) will achieve the same effect.

The fabric is standard on many types of projects.

Personally, I think that using bondo for such a project would have been a better option.

In this case, you have what you have already fabricated.

Lets see if we can come up with a way to save this project.

Is there any way you can pop all of that off?

I'm guessing you're wanting something similar to this?

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Yeah, I just wanted to put a switch panel in place of the one vent. I guess I got some bad advise, someone told me to drill holes all over then pour resin all over the dash.

-So you want me to try and pop the fiberglassed part off? Yeah I can try to get it off right now. Maybe I'll search online for a new dash piece too tonight since I dont need all those damn holes all over the dash and i just made more work for myself.

This is what I'm going to put in there:
http://www.dynotune.org/store/ProdIm...nter-large.JPG

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aychamo

lol......................................

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Productive post...................................

i salute you for even trying a project like that considering you didnt know enough not to ruin ur dash :) lol. My suggestion would definitely be to find another bezel n start all over. Your dash wont be the same even when you fix the holes. I guess you could always go on ebay and add a carbon fiber kit. What kind of car is it. I might be able to get you discount on a replacement part.