Another Nova from across the pond saying Hi!

[ratrog64]

I did think about using fibrelgass filler to achieve a similar effect as mixing beads and glass fibres
Actually until I saw a similar comment on the Euro Nova site I didn't know what the difference was, but you explained it well. I have been using General Purpose Polyester Resin (no idea if it has wax, will talk to the supplier when I go to buy more) and have had no issues so far with separation. I did just google to read about the differences and read in one place that if you are doing several layers the heat generated allows the resin to cure regardless of the wax content. So maybe that's how I have been getting away with it so far

GP Resin does have wax in it. You should be safe. It will cure and not be tacky but may require a light sanding between applications mostly to knock down any raised fibers thus making the next layer difficult to lay flat. GP resin is designed for building parts. Any wax left behind on the surface will get reabsorbed in the next layer of glass and resin. Its what every boat builder uses.

I would not recommend filler as it may kick too fast. I always use some gelcoat and cabosil mixed together to make a thick paste. I brush this into the sharp corners before I start laying my glass. Then I push my glass and resin into the paste when I roll it out. This helps to reduce the chances of air pockets.

 

[islandman]

Thanks for the inputs, all advice gratefully received.

If I'm honest I'm kind of fed up with doing this dash, if I count the man hours that I have spent on it so far it's a huge number.

Anyway the mold has been trimmed, filled with wax in some voids, and aluminium tape over others (getting lazy and justifying to myself the part will be trimmed anyway) where I was not too fussed about the line being seen, or if it was too hard to get to and fill. I put a couple of thick coats of PVA down and will possibly start with the gel coat tomorrow, although I need to go and get more supplies first.

I hope to god this bloody dash fits (binnacle height wise, I Know the width will), it will be so disheartening to have spent all this time and money for it not to work. I console myself by telling myself I have improved my fibreglass skills and learnt how to make molds*insane*

 

[ratrog64]

Thanks for the inputs, all advice gratefully received.

If I'm honest I'm kind of fed up with doing this dash, if I count the man hours that I have spent on it so far it's a huge number.

Anyway the mold has been trimmed, filled with wax in some voids, and aluminium tape over others (getting lazy and justifying to myself the part will be trimmed anyway) where I was not too fussed about the line being seen, or if it was too hard to get to and fill. I put a couple of thick coats of PVA down and will possibly start with the gel coat tomorrow, although I need to go and get more supplies first.

I hope to god this bloody dash fits (binnacle height wise, I Know the width will), it will be so disheartening to have spent all this time and money for it not to work. I console myself by telling myself I have improved my fibreglass skills and learnt how to make molds*insane*

The difficulty with the experience gives you more respect for the professionals that do it every day for a living. I think I mentioned from the start that you would have hundreds of hours in it before you have your first finished part. The experience, regardless of the end result, has taught you a lot. Even if the lesson is not to do it again, its still a lesson none the less.

When you pull your part, you will have work to do to dial it in. Will you be covering the dash with fabric? Leather? Flock? or is it to be painted and used as a fiberglass dash?

 

[islandman]

Having owned a Nova (and actually driven it on an off in various weather and finish conditions) for over 28 years I am very clear in my mind on a few things related to the interior. Number one on my list is to eliminate is the dashboard reflecting on the windscreen as it's just downright distracting and dangerous.

To that end the dash will be finished in a darkish Colour Alcantara cloth to minimise the reflections given the rake of the windscreen. Number two on my list is to look OEM with a luxury car feel, and to that end I was planning on a nice constrasting double stitch along key lines of the dash, albeit this dash design doesn't fully lend itself to a natural contiguous look with that approach. I did consider a darker dash TOP and lighetr lower half to match the rest of the interior, but as said the lines of this dash don't lend themselves well to looking natural with that approach (Brett's Gen 3 dash does with its natural join line).

Lastly I wanted it to have an organic shape, with rounded return edges along the bottom rather than the straight flat panel that it so often seen and looks so "kit car" (sorry not intending to offend anyone):worried:

Another big consideration in the design was to have it deep enough on the passenger side to hide HVAC etc..

 

[islandman]

Well I got the Gel Coat and first couple of layers tissue cloth down on the dash front plus one layer of 1 ½ ox matt over everything. Only have a photo at the gel coat stage as it was getting dark by the time I finished.



I totally underestimated how long it was going to take for two reasons. Firstly I got so use to just doing one or two sections of the mold at a time and how long that took, secondly I took my time and didn’t try to do too much in one go on the front section with the tissue cloth. I’m happy that I did the best I could on most of the front section, although the sides that protrude forward didn’t go well as I rushed these as I was hungry and wanted to grab some lunch.

All in it tool me 7 hours today, I still have to lay a couple more layers of matt but now the Gel Coat is skinned I can do this in stages and don’t need to try to tackle it all at once (sorry no photos).

 

[islandman]

First layer, needs some sanding and trimming before the next one

 

[islandman]

sanded the dash between layers of matt, it made a big difference in the finish and smoothness. I can't believe that I have done this all these years and never sanded between layers...dah!*oh my*

 

[Brett Proctor]

You've come a long way in a short time.*thumbs up*

 

[islandman]

Ok the fibreglass lay up is finished, the mold is trimmed and the last layer is lightly sanded. I didn't lay it it very thick as : 1) its not a structural part, 2) I want to keep the weight down as I plan to try and take it as checked baggage when I do eventually go to the UK.

 

[Brett Proctor]

I plan to try and take it as checked baggage when I do eventually go to the UK.

Hopefully they wont damage it.

 

[islandman]

Hopefully they wont damage it.

My plan is to put it in a light plywood box with some batons to brace it at key points to stop any crushing. This is all theory at the moment as I'm not sure the airline will take a package as big as this, but then people take Golf clubs and 50" TV's in boxes so I don't see why not

 

[islandman]

Well I popped the dash out of the mold, the sides, back and top came off really easily and the front sections only needed limited persuasion so trimming the part fully whilst in the mold seems to have helped.

Only on closer inspection did I realize a chunk of gel / resin on one of the small narrow cross section near the switch panel had broken off in the process. It broke cleanly so it can be stuck back on. I think that this was an area the gel and resin ran down into and pooled in and set before I actually got tissue cloth there. I was wondering what best to stick it back with, thin smear of resin? Superglue ? Contact adhesive? Thoughts anyone?

Anyway here it is straight out of the mold with the flashing etc..




And here it is post sanding off the flash lines and some minor trimming.







Overall I'm pretty happy how it turned out, I can't wait to cut all the blanking panels out and see it with the inserts and vents etc... I did start to cut out the gauges area for the OEM insert for vents and dials but my Dremel packed up then it started to rain heavily so it put pay to any further work on it for today.

 

[islandman]

It wasn't intentional but looking at the photos the colour seems to be a pretty close match to the car colour, not that it matters as it will be trimmed eventually but at least whilst its not it matches the car

 

[Nic]

That is gorgeous! Congratulations!

 

[ratrog64]

Congrats Dave! Looks great. I can't wait to see it trimmed up and the factory inserts in. *thumbs up*

 

[islandman]

Thanks for all the kind comments guys, yes its been a long journey.

Rain and hospital visits stopped play today, hopefully tomorrow I can make more progress.

 

[islandman]

Well I was about to upload and show you guys the finished dash with the OEM inserts etc.. but photobucket seems to have an issue, can't see my old photos and can't upload new ones!

so you will have to wait until normal service is resumed

 

[islandman]

Well before I do the big reveal on the final look of the dash (almost final as I haven’t finished the passenger air vent or gauges mounting yet) I thought I would recap for my own benefit on the journey to get where it is now. Having reminded myself of the stages and work involved doing this I don’t really want to do this again in a hurry!

Anyway, here is the process I went through :

Step 1 : Take a mark 4 dash as the starting point to build the first mold so you ensure the back section of the new dash should fit and where the front of the steering column should be. Make the flanges and then lay the gel coat and fibreglass for each part of the mold (in this case a 5 part mold )







Step 2: Separate the mold from the buck and assess your work, figure out what you need to do differently next time.



Step 3: Lay the gel coat and fibreglass in your new mold



Step 4: Pull the part from the mold



Step 7: Acquire a donor dash to give you starting point for the new design, preferably one narrow enough that needs minimal cutting and reshaping.



Step 8: Cut the donor dash and blend with the rear section of a dash you know that fits the car (in my case the mark 4). This is achieved with expandable foam, filler and fibreglass. The process involved and awful lot of shaping and sanding which I hate.





Step 9: Dash surgery, hack the dash as necessary to move parts to the optimum position for a Nova. In my case moving the centre section to the left and reshaping the leg area to enable me to push the clutch pedal and have space for my knees (all this is in theory as I don’t have my car here to check the fit! So fingers and toes crossed on this one when I finally do a trial fit)





Step 10: Have the dash painted by a professional (i.e. not me) to get the best finish possible for the mold. I learnt from the first stage that the mold doesn’t miraculously look better than the part its taken from, so there are no short cuts here.





Step 11: Start making the final mold, again a multi part mold which in this case was 6 separate parts to ensure I could release the part from the mold.




Step 12: Release the mold from the buck and fill any areas where the gel coat broke through. Several places needed filling in my case due to my poor fibreglass skills. These were filled with candle wax as the easiest fix as it was a onetime mold. In my case the buck didn’t survive so well when the mold was pulled, not enough PVA.


Step 13: Prepare the new mold (bolt together, candle wax on the join lines, Release Wax and PVA) and start laying the Gel Coat and fibreglass layers



Step 14: Pop the final dash from the mold and cross your fingers it releases and is in reasonable shape.



Step 15: Sand off the mold flash lines from the part and cut out the blanking panels being careful to retain the sections required for the OEM inserts to plug into.

Hey Presto after many months of work and hundreds of man hours the new dash is ready for transportation to the UK and if it fits then covering in Alcantara cloth. The gauge cluster still needs work as I have to trim the binnacle insert to change the angle so its more upright and the gauge housing wont hit the steering column. I also need to make the rear housing for the passenger side vent as it’s only taped in for the photos.

 

[frodoz737]

Very nice.*thumbs up*

 

[islandman]

When I brought the mark 4 dash from the UK to Singapore I had another learning experience! I discovered the hard way you pay one price to send, then when you receive it you have to deal with shipping forwarding companies and customs etc.. and then pay more than you did to send it in the first place.

So I am trying to avoid a repeat of that, hence the plan for checked luggage, even if I have to pay a bit for excess weight. My current plan to protect the dash and (which could change) to keep the weight down at the same time is to use expanding foam. I will place the dash in a plastic back and suck the air out. Then use 2 part expanding foam to engulf the dash on the top and bottom. I plan to do this as two pours separated by plastic, so theatrically I can just lift them off. I will trim the foam to keep the dimensions to a minimum and then wrap it in cardboard to keep the weight down. The foam once set is pretty tough stuff and should shield it from being crushed and any impacts.

I’m open to other ideas if anyone has any that may work?