People with fiberglass panel experience please comment...

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

bolt/clamp/screw nose in as close a shape as you can get onto your hoop, then let it sit out side in sun for a week.
or heat with a heat gun/hairdryer/ it will 'relax' into that shape. then when it cools down, loosen and then
retighten/shim/washers/etc to get it even closer to needed shape. repeat heat/cool cycle. retighten again....
see where im going with this?

you will be surprised how much better you can get the fit this way. just takes some time/work.

p.s. corvettes.... nuff said.

Well, I can certainly be convinced to sit around and wait for the nose to relax and conform to the support hoop. I've always said I'm not afraid of hard work. I can sit around all day and watch someone doing it!

I've got 15 more screws to put in, and then its out in the sun for a week. The nose, not me. I've got to maintain my pall bearer color...

[anotheridiot]

I don't know. This is the first time I've messed with fiberglass of any sort. Well, there was that time late 60s, a snowmobile, a tree, and a teenager (me). The hood came out of it slightly better than the teenager (me). And the teenager tried to fix the broken bodywork himself. It was a gooey mess, that never set up. And it cost twice as much as the original estimate to get it repaired correctly. But I'm much better now...

So 55 years on, and I still have nightmares about trying to work with fiberglass. I'm going to try to pull it back in shape, sloooowwwwwllllllyyyyy, with screws thru the flange and support hoop. And big fender washers! That's hopefully today's effort. We'll see...

My problem has always been sanding thru the gel coat and never getting it to paint correctly without showing where the gelcoat was sanded away. I was told alot on an automotive paint site that is full of know it alls, and they always would preach gelcoat.

[DanStokes]

My problem has always been sanding thru the gel coat and never getting it to paint correctly without showing where the gelcoat was sanded away. I was told alot on an automotive paint site that is full of know it alls, and they always would preach gelcoat.

It gets difficult when you sand thru the gelcoat. IIRC, you can get sprayable gelcoat (again, IIRC it's a 2-part product) that allows you to repair the gelcoat before moving on. But I'm hopping in the wayback machine here......

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

It gets difficult when you sand thru the gelcoat. IIRC, you can get sprayable gelcoat (again, IIRC it's a 2-part product) that allows you to repair the gelcoat before moving on. But I'm hopping in the wayback machine here......

Did you do that when you painted Jim M's Vette? I only remember the paint stage.

[DanStokes]

Did you do that when you painted Jim M's Vette? I only remember the paint stage.

Epoxy primer (PPG DP series - don't remember which color we used). Lots of it. Then regular primer to fill the scratches, etc followed by a thinned coat of epoxy primer as a seal coat. That was a decent paint job so that worked.

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Thanks everyone for the help. I have a few holes to drill, and then some screws to install. I'll be putting the nose assembly outside in the sun tomorrow, assuming that the sun shines thru tomorrow...

I'll post pictures when I see how it all works out.

[anotheridiot]

It gets difficult when you sand thru the gelcoat. IIRC, you can get sprayable gelcoat (again, IIRC it's a 2-part product) that allows you to repair the gelcoat before moving on. But I'm hopping in the wayback machine here......

But does building gelcoat make the fiberglass stiffer since this is half thickness to begin with?

[DanStokes]

But does building gelcoat make the fiberglass stiffer since this is half thickness to begin with?

My memory is that gelcoat is strong but brittle. Not sure about adding stiffness.