1970 SRL311 Resto-mod - SR20DET (Lucy)

[beebo]

So much time has passed and so much has happened since my last update. wow. I hope everybody is well and staying safe. The roadster project was put on hold for a bit for a combination of reasons. Now that I've found my stride again (and am "working from home" hehe) I've been able to make some good progress. My main focus was on the rear quarter panels. The basic shape was carved out of spray foam, then a heated up plasticine type clay was smeared over the foam. this allowed me to shape things easier. then a layer of bondo was added to smooth it out and get the fine details.

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After I was satisfied with the shape, I sprayed it down with mold release, and slapped on a couple layers of fiberglass. I decided that I would not make a mold, and just use the fiberglass that came off the car. After ripping the fiberglass from the mold, most of the clay pulled away, so this was going to be it. I don't have the motivation to start over. I ripped it all off and cut away the original bondo-filled sheet metal. seriously there was about 3/4" of filler on the rear quarters. It was really weird to be able to see through the car. No turning back now.

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The plan is to adhere the fiberglass fenders to the car, add a couple more layers of fiberglass for rigidty, seal up the wheel wheels, and smooth everything out with an epoxy fairing compound. As for the front fenders, The process is going to be the same, but I still am not 100% in love with the shape that I've worked out. still need to think about it.

Cheers,
Wade

[notoptoy]

Very ambitious work, very interesting to watch. Keep posting!

[Mattk]

Nice to see you and yours are doing good and are safe! I’m liking the progress and really like the the rear quarters. Keep it up.

Cheers
Matthew

[Gregs672000]

You're really going for it man, I admire the work and effort!

[beebo]

Thank you guys! Yes it is very ambitious, and at times it is very tempting to move on to less ambitious stuff. It's crazy how different I am, and how different my life is from when I started this project, but I am determined to finish this thing no matter how long it takes.

[Kimber520]

Wonderful build! Great write up as well. You have come a very long way

[beebo]

Big News! Since the start of 2017, I have had a second fun/project car. It was a 1997 240SX with a single turbo RB26. Very fun car, but time consuming, very expensive to operate, and it took up a lot of space and mental bandwidth. I finally got it sold last weekend! I will miss it, but the amount of space I have to work on the roadster has drastically increased. Plus I don't have a second project car occupying my focus and my car budget.
Just a couple photos of her:
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So where I left off, I had these really thin (like 2 layer) chopped mat fiberglass rear quarters, and a gaping hole in the roadster. To attach them, I used some aluminum rivets, and then thickened up the fenders with 6 more layers of 3oz woven fiberglass. I know the connection is still weak as the rivets could rip through the chopped mat. There is still a good bit of surface area in between the roadster sheet metal and the fiberglass that I plan on injecting some thickened epoxy adhesive to strengthen the bond between the rear quarters and the roadster's body. The fiberglass fenders are nice, thick, and sturdy, but it will get even more-so when I add the inner fender wells. I left half of the steel fender wells, and I plan on epoxying a second half to the rear quarters and riveting them back to the first half. Should work just fine.
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Cheers,
Wade

[beebo]

The overall shape is a bit off, and the surface has bumps and bubbles. I have been using Total Boat brand epoxy resin, and they have an epoxy fairing compound. It is basically an epoxy based version of bondo, with a longer set time. I officially love this stuff! I just went through my 2-pint sample, and have a gallon on order to start doing the rest of the body. I it was able to almost get one full coat on the rears.I trimmed the excess fiberglass with a coping saw, and will touch it up with a dremel and some rasps here soon. I'm really happy with how it is starting to look, and I now have confidence that I can eventually get this to start looking really good. I plan on using the fairing compound to blend the fiberglass into the body so they don't look like an addition that has been attached. The wheels are too close to the fiberglass, but they are sitting on some pretty large bolt-on wheel spacers, so I might have to go down on those about 10mm.
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Cheers,
Wade

[GoldHawg]

Wade, you are officially a nut. Therefore, I officially love it!

[RustyBucket]

Wade, That is a hell of a job your doing !!
Extremely impressive job...
I gave up looking for fiberglass front fenders that are "stock" in appearance.
Can't wait to see your next group of photos on this project..
Bet you don't leave spare tools rolling around in the truck when your done.. :-@
Cam

[v8_ranch]

245s? pieceOcake!

Can you tell me more about your flares?

[beebo]

Wade, you are officially a nut. Therefore, I officially love it!

Thanks GoldHawg! Sometimes I feel like I've gone bonkers. I'm glad to hear people approve

Wade, That is a hell of a job your doing !!
Extremely impressive job...
I gave up looking for fiberglass front fenders that are "stock" in appearance.
Can't wait to see your next group of photos on this project..
Bet you don't leave spare tools rolling around in the truck when your done.. :-@
Cam

I've got my next set of pictures queued up, just waiting 'til I reach a good posting point. I plan on closing out the rear tire well so my tools don't roll out haha. If you scroll up and find the picture of the OEM rear quarter sheet metal cut out, you'll notice that the inner half of the wheel well sheet metal is still there. Imagine that shape just extruded out to the inside surface of the fiberglass rear quarter, and then fiberglassed in. That's what I plan on creating out of fiberglass to close the gap and keep road debris out of my trunk.

I'm currently alternating between sanding down the fairing compound to get a level surface, and adding more layers of the stuff to get a smoother, even surface and the shape/profile that I want. It is starting to turn out how I want it, just slowly and lots of dust. I just need to blend it all in, and am adding material in areas like the lip of the wheel opening, and where it meets the OEM metal. I hope to have some good pictures within a week or so! Also, I think I am going to use this product all over the rest of the body in lieu of Bondo to fill and smooth out the body panels. I really like the stuff!

Cheers,
Wade

[beebo]

Hello All! I hope everyone is well. I just wanted to share some progress on the rear quarters. It has just been several rounds of laying on the epoxy fairing compound, leveling it down with a sanding block observing the curvature from all angles, adding more fairing compound in certain areas, block it down and repeat. I've started to build up a bit of a flair out at the wheel arch. I also used another Total Boat product called Thixo. It's a thickened epoxy that I injected into the gap between the little bit of OEM sheet metal that I left on, and the Fiberglass fairings. In addition to the rivets used to originally attach the fenders, this adds all the adhesion I need, as well as stiffens up the fiberglass around the perimeter.

I have decided to scrap the direction of the front fender flares for the time being. I just don't like them, and I'd rather make much more progress on the rest of the car than worry about the way the front flairs look. I started to strip off the paint on the rear half of the car and will continue to do the rest of the car. I'm going to remove the doors, hood, trunk, and start leveling those out as well.

As for the paint, I have ordered some from TCP Global. I got some white epoxy primer, and two shades of blue Acrylic Enamel as it's hard to tell actual colors on the computer. I just brushed some on the trunk just to see which color I like. The "Diamond Blue" was way too light, and the "Glacier Blue" was too dark. I think the 50/50 mix of the two looks exactly like what I had in mind. I still have some stripping, leveling and sanding to do, but the thought of getting this thing in primer and colored is really starting to get me motivated..

Here's some pics:

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Cheers,
Wade

[beebo]

Pics Continued:

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Cheers,
Wade

[RustyBucket]

You've done a fantastic job of making the fiber glass rear fenders !! How many hours do you figure that you've sunk in that aspect of the resto??

Have you seen the Youtube video "DougsBug" where the owner is building a "VW" dune bugging from scratch and making his own Fiber Glass VW body panels . You two guys are inspirational.
Please keep posting your progress >...
Thanks