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Or body filler? I wanna do a small project, well smaller than making a subwoofer enclosure as my first custom project, well kinda custom. Last night I redid my radio harness in my dash to fit my subwoofer processor/eq.

What would you recommend for fill the gaps below and above?

Thanks.

 
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Personally, I might use abs plastic - I'd have to see it in person. But if you are set on fiberglass or bondo, I'd recommend the basic structure to be made out of bodoglass, a special blend of the two which adheres abnormally well to plastics. Then fine tune with regular body filler.

 
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for minimal labor and headache, move that processor up to the trim or down at the trim and fiberglass the openning. filling the top and bottom will increase the difficulty of precision, so i suggest on filling just one end (top or bottom).

if thats in mind, to get start w/ FG....

fleece the opening from the the other side of the trim and resin it. then lay a layer or two and finally bondo to finish it off.

 
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^^^ agreed, after you bondo the center section you should paint it to match the outside of the car rather than trying to match the rest of the dash.

 
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So if I was to FG it, wouldn't I take out the processor and just FB the whole opening and then make a new opening for just the processor? Or just bondo it?

 
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Make a cardboard template that the proc will fit into. Glue it inplace on the console. THen, spread bondo glass around and in the seems with a squigy spreader. THen go over with bondo. Then poly filler. THen prime then paint

 
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Well I went and bought a new dashkit, so I could play around with it, and not have to take out the whole stereo again, like I did last night.

I used my dremel to cut a better area so it fits all the way to the front, since it's the same width as my headunit, and the bottom console is a bit slimmer. I just did one round of fiber resin. I'll add another coat of it, and some bondo glass, sand it down a bit, add a bit of the bondo to the back of the face area, so that it supports it better. Then I'll figure out a good color, that matches with my dash a bit better, never liked the front of the dashkit prior because it was kinda textured, when the actual dash isn't.

Thanks for all the help guys, I'll post some pics when it's done and ready for paint, which with the time that I have, might be a few days, while in and out of work! Just waiting for this stuff to dry sucks, cuz you come to a stop point!

 
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Any more questions just fire away. I'm not sure if you've glassed before, but if not, this will help.

Body file - Looks like a cheese grater. Used to knock down high spots.

Sandpaper:

36 grit - knock down high spots and basic shaping.
80 grit - form and sculpt into a rough shape
180 grit - fine sand corners, contours & bends. Detail the shape and add final touches.
220 grit - just prior to priming and to knock down high spots.
320 grit - for taking imperfections out of primer or killing small little pin holes. Can be used after first couple coats of primer.

* Use a mask while sanding. Air born fiberglass is nasty stuff.

 
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Why didn't you just recess it a tad, buy a dash kit that gets rid of the pocket (blank panel) and cut a hole in it for the processor to poke through, that, or you could have just drilled out for the *****.

 
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Hmmm, never seen one with out the pocket in it. The place I go, they've only had ones with a pocket. I told them what I was going to do with it, so I'm thinking they, "should've" told me there was one with out a pocket. I'd be pissed if there was one. haha

 
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Thanks for the tips. I got the resin and fiber glass mat on right now. Here's a pic. Does it look right so far?



This is the second layer of the resin so far. How many would you recommend?

Thanks.

 
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what the hell is that? why isnt the mat trimmed?

 
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Well from what I know, when you first put the mat on, you trim it with a few inches on each side. the mat was 9 sq ft. the smallest I could find haha

 
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you want to trim and lay the glass to its surface. youll gonna have a hard time trimming and sanding that down later, since the hardened glass is sticking out.

 
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Hmmm, dremel it?? Would that work?

 
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I don't remember if it's Scosche or American International, but one of the two has a kit that loses the pocket, so I'm guessing you'll need to be pissed at your local shop.

 
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I believe it's the Scosche.

 
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youll know when you get there. dremel works but leaves uneven edges and its not fun to sand glass.

 
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you should try using a grinder to get rid of all that extra glass you can get pritty close and have smooth lines, then switch over to sand paper

 
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fiberglass is totally wrong for what you are doing. You need to do it out of abs.

 
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Explain.......I don't dissagre because I know nothing about ABS, my background is in fiberglass (making hot tubs, not car stuff) and I always thought ABS required thousands in tooling costs to produce custom parts

 
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Well, I originally stated within the first few posts that I personally would use ABS as well. However, it doesn't mean fiberglass is totally wrong. You could very well use fiberglass too if that's what you are comfortable with.

 
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Abs can be milled or formed, then glued together, sanded and painted. Fiberglass does not stick to plastic. Fiberglass is way to thick for dash panels and is very difficult for precision openings. Fiberglass is very pourous and finishing without fillers is impossible. Loading up with everglass and poly primer is just ghetto. Everything shrinks overtime. The thicker the filler and primer the more stuff seem to come back.

 
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I agreed with you about the abs plastic, but I'm afraid I disagree with you on your fiberglass impressions. In fact, the only thing you said about fiberglass that I think is true is that it's pourous and finishing without fillers is impossible. It's not hard to work with around precision panels and it certainly isn't too think. Especially when you use bondoglass, which btw, does in fact adhere quite well to plastics. Again, I agree, I'd use ABS for this project myself - I said that from the beginning of the thread, but using fiberglass would be possible too. And it would probably be easier for a first-timer. Fiberglass has some great fabrication qualities even for dash panels. There's a reason that it is far and away the most popular choice amongst fabricators.

 
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Thats a good tip with the ABS .....It would be cool if you have a link or any DIY pics of using ABS to do this kinda thing.

I have to disagree with the part about having to use filler......you can get a perfect finish using 1 oz cloth and finishing resin, if you have the patience....this is not the best solution, just saying it is indeed posible

 
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Here's mine:

 
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thats what I like ^^^

 
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youre totally wrong for what you just said....

JK, fiberglass are made for structural purposes and will adhere to basically anything it gets on (well not everything, you get the idea).

you can abs plastic and use plastic filler but thats more material and money, i think.

you may argue and say to use plastic weld but i dont think its widely abundant at local hardware store.

i think FG is the cheapest of those ideas.

 
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Damn, I like the color...Did you take out the whole dash area for the ac & climate controls and paint it your self? If so did you sand it down primer then what color black did you use? I'd like to get mine that black color!

 
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It's painted NBP.