It begins....

[JWerner2]

It is great work!

Its not that hard either until it starts to progress but by that time you are having so much fun its well worth the time and effort it takes being patient.

I never did this with a car and never thought about it before but I have made aquarium backgrounds in much of the same exact way. Its just that after you get the hard design out with the foam you layer it up with some concrete mixed with some dye for coloration and let it set and dry. This is very close to the same type of thing.


I hope this guy comes back on and lets us see how things are going.

The roof spoiler idea I have will take a bit more planning than I thought but nothing that makes it any harder in anyway.

No matter what the car is over in Japan its a bit more of a luxury to have it if it is in US spec, even if it has a Japanese origin. Thats why I am thinking they have it,... and well its the proper side for a Ferrari.

 

[pektel]

Amazing... not a fan of what they did, but the workmanship looked very good! If I had a 2nd car to drive, I might actually try this...

 

[JWerner2]

The thing about it is that you tape everything off and don't mess anything up at all!

 

[lincoln00]

After the foam they glazed it with fiberglass and some resin or something.

Also I wonder if you could use some of the plastic honey comb behind the spot where the bumper lens/side marker goes, load it up with foam in the front and back, shave it down, fiberglass/resin it up and sand it, prep it for paint, and have it shot with some color rather than just paint over the things.

why not just fiberglass over the stock lens... sand it and paint it???

 

[JWerner2]

It wont work that way. You have a removable object and it could then just crack plus I am sure you will have issues with the layering and it will make uneven spots.

To be honest it really wouldn't be any different than filing in shaved door handles.

Plus, I just feel it would be more proper to go the distance to provide that more stock like feel.


Where is this guy with the update!!!

 

[cbepro]

i just now stumbled across this thread and realized how bad i f'd up at the start....cuz now my foam plug wont sit flush with the bottom of the stock bumper. It probably got warped when i took it off the car.

this guy fiberglassed a copy of the bottom of his bumper then used it as a brace for foam... damn i wish i would have seen this thread b4 i started but i got so hyped up tryin to be creative i just jumped right in without doing extra research....http://www.fiberglassforums.com/showthread.php?t=6162

time to start over again the right way

 

[SPSully]

I've been digging around on that forum too. What a resource that place is!!!! I have been on that forum for about 4 hours and I've read about 30 threads front to back and sorta taking notes. I can pretty much do everything I need to do for the body kit. I just need to get a better feel for the products they are using and the differences between them. I dont want to do extra work for nothing. I already know I'm going to screw something up a couple times. No need to screw up more because I was to dumb to read all the info first.

I was looking into making a lip kit for the LS. Now I think I'm going to do a front bumper, side skirts, rear bumper, spoiler, hood, possibly a roof spoiler and a set of front fenders. I am also going to shave the handles and remove that molding from the doors. The nice part of doing the custom work, I can finally get a body kit that matches my taste.


OH I decided to do full on bumpers for two reasons. First off, it cleans up the body lines a bit more than a lip does. Second and more importantly, if I decide I dont want the kit any more, I can put my stock stuff back on without even a scratch on it.

 

[97stscaddy]

That's not a half bad idea. Good way of shaping out what you want without needing a bunch of tools. Good luck with it.

 

[swdobbs]

This is a great thread, although I don't think I'll venture into a custom chin spoiler for my daily driver.

My OT project cars are stored at a friends personal shop who ran a local company building fiberglass 1932 - 1934 roadsters and coupes.

Its amazing he and his brother can build anything with a drum of resin, bags of fiberglass and a chopper gun. One of the terms they use all the time on a few pieces they are modifying for my 1933 truck is "grow".

We will just "grow" that panel extension, "grow" that cowl, "grow" that mounting flange....

But these guys have been doing this professionally for 15-20 years and they've made their mistakes.