hey guys...

i was just wondering....whats the best way to mold a body kit?.....if ur doing it by urself?

 

Rivets, rivets and more rivets. Then mold the seams with some quality Fiberglass Bondo(go to a industrial paint place to get it, not Kragen). At the end, a super thin layer of bondo to smooth it out.

 

Molding a bodykit is not a beginner thing, I would really suggest that you have it done, or if you have the time to do it your self pratice practice practice.

 

And NOT on the RX7. Practice on a tractor or someshit.. Seriously. It's not something you can just jump into..

 

I disagree. If your FD is not your DD or even if it is and you don't care how it looks, practice away.


You can't screw up fiberglass and bondo. If you add too much, sand it off. If you put too little, add more. There is not way you could harm you car. Strength might not be as strong as someone with lots of experience but nothing else will suffer. Even if you can't get it perfectly straight and smooth, it saves a bodyshop tons of time if they only have to do a quick sanding pass to make it look good.


Mold away.

 

lol thats what i was thinking. also im only planning to slightly mold the front fenders into the bumper and i didnt think it would be that hard a job

 

What about the rivets?

 

What about them? Line up kit, drill hole, rivet away.


Don't tell me only a professional should be riveting on a FD too.

 

thats what i was thinking....i mean...i dont have any spare cars to practice on so.....im gonna go ahead with fumanchu and try it...what the hell lol

 

I take it that you have some experience doing this. What could be done to the molded pieces to help keep it from cracking?

 

Strengthen, strengthen, and more strengthening


Rivet and screw as much as you can to the body panels. Bondo alone will crack in no time. Use a quality Liquid Fiberglass filler. The above is for side skirts and fender flares.


I don't recommend molding front bumpers on to the fenders. They crack EXTREMELY easy due having small mounting points on the fenders. Back bumpers can be done, but have a tendency to crack as well. I did the back bumpers on my last show car and they lasted as long as I had the car (around 1 year).

 

I would lay down some resin with little fiberglass pieces mixed in, sand it down pretty smooth, then lay some bondo to make it perfectly smooth looking. Resin w/ fiberglass is a lot stronger then bondo, therefore will be less prone to crack. Good luck with it and have fun, it takes a lot of practice and time to make it look good.