rebuild

I am trying to repair broken off edges at the headlight openings and fenders around the wheel wells. Anyone know what products would work best in these area? I've tried fiberglass mat but it doesn't lay right it's to bulky for small areas like these. Help

78Vette-SA

How much broken off? If it's just chips on the edges, you could use something like VEtteBond which is a filler made for fiberglass. It works great and easy to work into what you need.

Got a pic of the damage?

NHvette

Small voids can be filled without the matte or weave.

The suggested filler is the panel bonding adhesive, which has the same
coefficient of thermal expansion (supposedly) as the panels.

In order to give more strength and thicken the filler, you can cut up short
(1/16-1/8") strands of 'glass to mix in with the adhesive. This thickened
filler will not sag out as much.

Duct tape has been used successfully to keep things in place while it sets.

I've done very little 'glass work, but I'm reading up to do a bit myself.

Good luck - and Welcome to the forum. :seeya

rebuild

The whole edge is broken off probably about 3". Sorry no pic yet working on it. But it would basically be the whole lip around the headlight openings.

rebuild

I have a filler with fiberglass strands in it already Kitty Hair, but don't know if it will be strong enough and appear the same as the original glass.

CF6873

I would not use kitty hair for a repair like this. You can get resin gel and add some chopped fiberglass matte. You may have to support the repair area with tape and cardboard until it sets up but this will make a very strong edge. Good Luck and Welcome to the forum. Craig

paintdaddy

putting chopped up strands into resin is the same thing as Kitty Hair.It works good as long as it isnt too big of an area that is missing.I dont think I would use it on anything bigger than a 1/4 inch. :yesnod:

Big Fish

I was sucessful around my wheel opening by making a wooden form, covered it with aluminum foil tape, then laid glass mat and cloth to form the edge. Then I shaped it back down to original appearance, the glass didn't stick to the foil tape. I don't know why the same procedure wouldn't work around the headlights as well. Be sure to get a really good dust mask, the disposables aren't good enough in my opinion when you start sanding and grinding.

Eddie 70

This is a scary area to me that I am gonna have to go down soon. This months Cars and Parts Corvette magazine starts an article where they are fixing an area around the rear quarter that is in pretty bad shape. Check it out if you can.