Warryn (Mr 502) - was good to chat with another forum member last night.
Thanks for the offer on the filler panel, more than fair price too, as we spoke about last night I discussed with fibreglass guy today about repairing my panel and he quoted me $130 to fix the existing panel. I may as well do that and keep the original panel. Thanks again.
Heres an action shot of the Mother and son team.
You can see in this pic the while rear seam repair. The antenna and luggage rack holes. The hole cut (they fixed it up more later on before laying mat) for the left door mirror, theres heaps more rear end work but you cannot see it in this pic.
From what I gather the family has been in the trade for pretty much forever, the son I'm guessing is around 40yo and he'd grown up in the trade. He now runs the business. I asked if he's done Vettes before and he said probably only about a dozen.
For anyone the interested in the method/tools he's been using a diamond grinder to cut and grind the holes for the patch, a strip sander (kinda like a belt sander on a wand) for other tight spots and just plain old fashioned paper for the real tight spots. Cleans back the spot with acetone and then applies the repair. Using both a paint brush or a roller (you can see her holding it in the pic) they layer in the mat and then I noticed after they have packed it in (or whatever you call it) they brush a heap of the resin mixture over the top. They're using vinylester and not polyester.
Patching where possible from both inside and outside with matting. for other repairs that don't require mat he also has a mixture which he makes himself out of their scrap fibreglass and some other stuff that he reckons they use because there's nothing better on the market so they make their own.
Will take more pics later on when more work is done.
Repairs like this one he's doing in stages. I asked him to strengthen the bumper mounts, so he's layered in a heap of mat to the inside to give it support. You can see here that he's done the inside but not working on the outside so much yet. He said he's waiting for all this to cure so he can grind it back this afternoon to do the outside repair.
I also asked him about time until it's cured enough to spray sealer onto. I mentioned to him that a vette expert (chromie) suggests three months. His reply was that the stuff is touch dry in an hour. Partially cured in 24 hours. Should be safe to seal after a couple weeks according to manufacturer specs but then he also said the longer you wait the better and it's all a matter of personal choice and everyone has a different opinion... He's going to call up the manufacturer for me and get a "correct" answer but I have a feeling I'll be waiting the months just to play it safe.
