attempting my own satoshi

So i have absolutely zero experience with fiberglass or body work, everything seems to be working well. does anyone have advice on how to do this fiberglass. I'm pretty new here, but everyone and everything that i have read so far seems like everyone is really willing to help.

this is what I've done so far

the sanding job


the part where you put the fiberglass



I am googling and will be following the directions as it reads, but I know that sometimes things aren't as easy as it reads or there are some tricks that can make it easier.

thanks for the help here is what i will be using.

 

I don't know anything about it, but I'm rooting for you. I did my own Grillcraft, and it wasn't so bad. You're already passed the point where it annoyed me, though. A number of knowledgeable people will chime in. Look forward to seeing it done!

 

search around youtube for glassing tips. it's not that hard.

or you could just epoxy some pieces in like one guy on the site did.

OR.. I plastic welded mine in

either way, take your time and sand sand sand

 

Sand the living shit out of the area that you will be glassing.

I did and it still peeled off like a banana peel when I flexed the plastic.
I ended up cutting filler panels from the center bars, backing those up with Plastruct sheets, and cementing the whole thing together with ABS plumbing cement.

Everything I read online indicated that you can not glass onto ABS... you must plastic-weld or ABS-cement it.

But a ton of people have been successful using glass, so it is possible.

The majority of your time and work is going to be in the bondo. I spent almost a week of evenings (hour or two) getting mine smooth enough to shoot.

 

The middle part of the satoshi that you cut out has enough material to make patches for the 4 cuts you made. Epoxy them and brace them from the inside with some plastic recycled from the middle part of the grill. Use a little bit of bondo and sand to smooth.

 

beat me to it

 

Buuuut.... be careful. Those clips snap into the headlight and if you go too thick there will be interference.

I ended up right on the edge of being too thick.

 

don't use the fiberglass dude its a waste of time

 

If I were in your shoes, I would trace the gaps in picture #2 onto some cardboard, cut the cardboard pieces out, retrace them on the center plastic parts of the grill that your going to discard, cut them out, and glue them into place of the gaps, then sand and fill with bondo if needed.... Doing it this way, i bet you could use something as simple as superglue to glue the pieces into place. Fiberblass just seems messy and time consuming....

 

Sounds like I see a trip back to o'riely's in my future.

Thanks a lot dudes I will definitely use your advice and return this fiberglass. I'll update my progress.

 

any tips on cutting through this thick plastic, i asked jeeves and he suggests using my soldering iron with a flat tip.

 

lots of solid advice here.

 

^^^ This is it, Epoxy or do over in no time.use tin snips to cut out the filler plastic Im on # 24 so almost know what Im doing now... PM me if you get lost... Jim

 

Not superglue... it does not work well on plastic, is horrible on butt-joints (it works okay where there's a large surface area with no gaps), and does not hold up well to vibration and impact.
When I worked at Douglas we'd use superglue to temporarily assemble tooling... get it into position, superglue it, drill and tap, test fit the fasteners, then remove the fasteners and a quick rap with a hammer would release the glue.

You need a solvent-based cement designed specifically for ABS.
ABS has different properties from PCV and Polystyrene... cements for PVC and Poly won't work properly on ABS.

Regular old black plumbing ABS cement worked like a champ on mine.



Now... The center section cut to make filler material works great if you are using one of Homer's mesh inserts, but there's not enough material left to fill in the curve at the "top" edge if you are using a Grillcraft or making your own flat mesh.
I went with Homer's M1 material and love it.

 

Dremel. Hacksaw for the vertical "supports" then sand flush.

 

You aren't filling in the little notch at the top center?
I did and since I went with a colormatched inside, I'm glad I did.

 

went to the local flea market and got a set of tin snips for $1


left side


right side


going to find some abs cement or something for abs. thanks guys

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/76107-satoshi-grillcraft-how-w-pics.html

This is how I did mine. However, I ended up epoxying some stainless steel 10/32 screws to the back of the grill and used stainless hardware to mount my mesh to grill. Also, epoxied some sticky backs for zap straps.

 

Well put, it's easy and cleaner

 

here is the grill kit i am putting in. I am pretty sure i am going to get it sprayed black. I don't know who it is made buy. I got it from a guy i bought my rims from for free. he got rid of his taco and wanted someone to enjoy it.