Waiting on more resin. Hopefully it will arrive by the weekend so that I can finish reinforcing the back. Was about 40% done when i ran out. The portion that has been covered with 2 layers of mat is like a rock. I can only imagine how heavy this thing will be when it's fully reinforced...

 

Hopefully the final product will be much lighter, yet, just as strong.

 

Crap. You know what? I should have weighed the old one before saturating it with resin. Then we could have compared. Maybe someone who still has the factory one can weigh theirs if/when it's out of the car...

I think the new thin and solid fiberglass ones I make will actually be just as heavy as the old thick and semi-solid one. One of the reasons that the factory headliners are so fragile is that they are made from fiberglass that has JUST enough resin mixed in to allow it to hold its shape. But this light-ness also means it's very fragile. My replacements will be much thinner, but since the fiberglass fabric will be fully wet out you won't see much weight savings I think.

For the strength, though, this one will be 10 times more durable and should last the life of the car.

 

Mine is out of my car on the shelf, can weight it tomorrow.

 

weight wasnt the problem, the problem was getting it in without damaging it and chipping the corners. to save weight we can get rid of other pointless things..... like door handles o

 

I don't expect it to be as light as the original. Just strong, and somewhat lighter than the mold

 

Cool, that would be great. I really appreciate it.

Ah, sorry, I misunderstood. Yes it will be quite a bit lighter than the one I've saturated with resin and the mold that will come from this.

I do want to mention that once I finish reinforcing this board, the board itself will not be used as the mold. It's not that I couldn't. But adding the fabric reinforcement to the back of the board has created a rough surface that would take too much time to smooth. Instead, I will be flipping the reinforced board over, brushing several coats of catalyzed resin on the front side (side facing the occupants) to form a hard but smooth surface (no added layers of fiberglass on this front side) and then I'll paint this side with Duratec surfacing primer. I will sand/polish the Duratec, apply a release agent, and THEN create a mold of the front side of the board by laying 7 layers of mat against this front side.

More resin is on the way, so I'll hopefully finish reinforcing the back side of the board within the week.

 

Sounds good.

 

Resin arrived a couple weeks back and I finished fiberglassing the backside of the board to give it enough strength for molding. It's been curing now for a week.

This weekend I'll trim the excess fiberglass from perimeter of the board, and then flip the board over and peel off the original headliner material and glue residue from the front side. I'm hoping it won't take 50 hours to get all of the glue residue off, since I'd like to get the front side saturated with resin this weekend.

After the front side is saturated and cured for about one week, I'll coat it with fast-cure Duratec to provide a surface that can be polished for molding.

 

Sounds good to me. I'm already planning to to modify mine, which should be easy enough to do with a strong fiberglass base as a starting point.

 

accidently read a page back, ignor this post dont know how to delete it

 

Got sidetracked for a couple weeks and wasn't able to make progress. Then it rained for almost two weeks. I had finished creating the shell on the back of the headliner a couple weeks back.

The weather today was great. I spent most of the day today working on the front, trimming the extra fiberglass overlapping the edges of the back, peeling off all of the glue residue, and saturating the front with resin.





The above pics are just before the resin was applied. There are a couple areas along the edges that will need to be filled and sanded, but it shouldn't be a problem.

 

I know about the rain all too well. We get much the same weather patterns here in Mississippi. We just get it 12-24 hours before you do. Strong storms will be rolling through here tonight in the wee hours as part of the cold front coming through. It was 78 degrees today, so I fully expect tornadoes for some folks. I imagine the storms will reach you mid day tomorrow.

 

Really appreciate your work and patience on this man! I am looking forward to getting one of your creations into the car (Da BOSS will be very happy as well).

Marty.......................

 

Is it too early to send one in for a refurb?

 

My paypal is aswell, i can't wait to have my interior back together

 

Sorry, not refurbing any more after this one. There won't be any need, since a mold will be created from this one that will be used to create boards that will no longer disentigrate into powder and chunks over time.

Will be working on this more tonight, sanding the resin coated front side to prepare it for 10 coats of laquer primer and paint to create a hard shell that can withstand some filling that will be needed to even up the surface. After the filler has been applied and leveled, it will get some final coats of laquer and/or a surfacing primer.

 

will they be available to ship to the UK - any idea of total cost?? What a great idea and well done that man.

 

They are already available in the UK..... It's the US guys that have the supply issue

 

BUMP!

Spyhunter2k, You got a progress report for us?