Interior and Upholstery A New Fiberglass Project For For 69-70 Fast Back /sport Roof Mustangs

horse sence

15 Year Member
Nov 29, 1999
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You guys with 69 -70 sport roofs have probably had to replace the inner quarter sail panels ,maybe more than once . They are card board and warp and curl and the vinyl peels off .I am going to make fiberglass sail panels ,they will have the correct shape and the correct grain and will look like the original but no more warping and no more peeling .
I started with 18 gauge sheet metal and traced an original sail panel on the sheet metal and cut it out .I need it to be solid when finished so i can make a mold from it when it is finished .
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It will have the correct moon skin vinyl glued to it when it is done . I took the piece to my English wheel to shape it to fit my 69 CJ. It will already have the correct shape so it will just screw in place .The first side took me a couple of hours to shape ,trying to figure out the correct contours .
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I went ahead and cut the hole for the light so it would already be in the mold but i think i will fill it in and make two sets of molds ,one with lights and one with out .
 
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After shaping my metal panel on the English wheel i fit the panel to the car with all the interior fiberglass to make sure it fits .
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Everything fits very well and is just setting in place with no screws .I finished making the other side ,it only took a few minutes after i figured out the driver side .
I had to order a head liner to get the correct grained material .It should be hear by the end of the week .All i have to do is glue the material to my two metal panels and make the mold .And still having trouble loading images
 
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The headliner came in today .I filled in the light holes in the metal panels and added a 3/8 lip at the top of them so it would go under the window gasket just a bit more . I cut up the headliner and glued the vinyl to my panels .I had to use some wind lace to hold the vinyl down at the small lip because it kept trying to lift .I will let the glue dry for a couple of days before i attempt to make the molds .
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No ,i have to spray a mold release and it is like a very thin plastic between the material and the gelcoat .It is just enough to keep it from attacking the vinyl ...I hope . I used a heat gun on them to smooth them out just a while ago and they didnt lift so i think i will try to make the molds tomorrow .
 
I've always had good luck with brush on contact cement (Brand = Weldwood?) Are you wrapping it over the edges? maybe trim it even with the edge instead? If these are only to form your mold can you use thin double sided tape like carpet tape?
 
I made a test panel the other day when i re glued the panels .I tried the test panel yesterday and it worked .I got brave and tried it on one panel today and i think it worked this time ,Bet it doesn't work on the other one though . I will know if it worked for sure tomorrow around 12 .I wasnt able to use tooling gelcoat though ,that was part of the problem .Tooling gel coat takes longer to harden than normal gelcoat and i think that is why it kept melting the glue down .The gel coat only took about 10 minutes to harden and i slapped the first layer of mat on it a fast as i could and no bubbles showed up this time . I will have to make a heavy duty set of panels and then make a new set of molds from them using tooling gelcoat so my molds will last a long time .If these panels turn out like my test panel they will be beautiful because the grain came out perfect .
 
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It worked ! this time it actually worked like it was supposed to . The grain is perfect ,even though being it is the mold ,the grain is reversed .To day i will attempt the other side .In a few days i will make the first set and send them off to my official test fitter . They will appear to be vinyl ,but they will be fiber glass so nor more curling up and no more peeling vinyl and they will still look like the original vinyl covered card board quarter sail panels .I will get some pics when everything is trimmed out and prepared for use .
Oh... the metal panels didn't get ruined ,so i can do it again if i ever need to .
 
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The molds are done and the first set of panels are made . The passenger side came out perfect ,the driver has a very light flaw that turns out to be in the vinyl and it transferred to the mold .It is so slight you have to look to find it ,it doesnt show in a pic and i dont think you will see it in the car .
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I had a short piece of fastback back window gasket and the panel slips under it about 1/4 inch .The windlace works just like it is supposed to in the front .The fiberglass seat panels fit with out any screws holding them in place .No more curled card board and no more peeling vinyl
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I finally got black gel coat ,there is a big price difference from black to white gel coat ,i guess that is why white is more commonly used here . I made a set of sail panels in black ,they look like vinyl ,this set will go in my 69 soon as i get it off the lift .
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While i was at it I made the molds for the 65-66 R model quarter vent block offs and a set of panels .These panels are used if you do not want to use the factory quarter vents , and have the outer vent block off plates .This set will go in my 66 fast back conversion .
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