the "fix" although extra work, is fairly simple. Here is how we went about it. If it were steel it would be a B---
Supplies you will need:
1) Laminating resin
2) Fiberglass cloth
3) Fiberglass mat
4) Fiberglass Tape 1" wide don't have to have this, but it is neater
5) "kitty hair" filler
6) small paint roller (real small, 2-3")
1st, make a template of the side (end view) you are going to add fiberglass to. Use a piece of cardboard. Simply stand the deck lid on the end and draw it. Add about .5 to 1" excess on each side of the outline.
Using a good FLAT surface (use a board etc.) lay out the template (redraw it) and cover it with household wax paper. the wax paper will allow you to seperate the built up fiberglass from your pattern easily. An important note, be sure that the surface (against the wax paper) is the side of the piece you are going to make, is the side which will be bonded to the deck lid. this side will be very flat and mate fairly easy to the deck lid.
you will need to cut oversize the matt and cloth to your pattern
You will want to apply multiple layers alternating between cloth and matt over your pattern on the wax paper. I built up the following layers and I did not wait for the resin to cure. Put resin down first and between each layer
cloth
matt
cloth
matt
this should be very close to 1/4" in thickness, if you add more, fine, you can always grind some off to get your gaps right. the real trick here is to minimize air pockets (voids). You can do this by first being liberal with resin, run the roller over each layer thoroughly saturating the cloth and matt. after you have built this piece up, let it cure overnight.
Next day, pull up your part and trim with a grinder, sander etc. Be sure and leave it oversize, you'll size it later once it is attached to the deck lid
The approach i used to attach the new piece is as follows:
On the deck lid, you will have to grind the gelcoat off and get down to the actual figerglass. If you don't nothing will stick.
Wax paper down first, lay your piece on it with the flattest side up. Cut another piece of cloth slightly oversize lay it on your new piece and apply resin and be sure that the cloth is saturated with resin. I stood the deck lid on edge (straight up -as I was doing it by myself) and allowed the weight of the decklid to hold it in place while it cured. This "sandwiched" the new piece to the old piece. Best way would be to have some help and apply clamps, but as I said, I was working by my self. Just be sure if you used my method that the lid is perpenicular.
After this is curred overnight, breakout the grinder/sander and grind to shape.
your almost done.
To be sure the edge won't be prone to breaking off, I did the following:
Now, on the inside of the deck lid, grind down (carefully) to the actual fiberglass. The inside piece is very thin around the edge, try not to go thru the glass, but if you do, simply add some cloth. After grinding to the fiberglass, add resin , your grinding should go back to approximately where the trunk lid seal goes ~3/4" - 1" from the outside edge. this is where the fiberglass tape comes in. I used two layers of the fiberglass tape over this area, again working our any air bubbles. I left ~ 1/4" of the tape hanging over the edge to be later ground off. I followed the same approach on the top side, but used only 1 layer of tape.
Now sand this area with ~ 80 grit disk.
apply a THIN layer of the Kitty Hair (short strand versions work great) over your joint
sand and your done. Need to prep for primer surfacer
On the inside of the deck lid where the inner support has been glassed to the outer lid, it was really crappy along with the back edge where the two pieces meet. I simply lightly ground thru the gel coat and applied the fiberglass tape with resin. After curing, lightly sanded and lightly applied filler.
Hope this helps, may be more than you wanted. If your want any additional data, send an email.
