I keep having various people tell me that fiberglass repairs won't last more than a couple years before it falls off or cracks due to metal expansion/contraction rates (Maine winters are cold) being greater than glass, or starts rusting again due to moisture absorbed being held directly against the metal. Is this all just opinions of body guys who want money/ people who aren't meticulous enough to pull off a successful/semi-permanant fiberglass repair?

 

I'd give it more of the 5-7 year range but yes it will eventually fail and need to be "fixed" again.

If you do shitty prep work and don't get good surface adhesion then you're probably looking at 1-2 years.

I did this on a truck my dad still owns back in the early 2000's (work truck) I cleaned the bare metal thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol, then shot a couple coats of primer, after it dried I lightly sanded the surface with a scotch-brite red pad and used spray on Rust-Oleum truck bed liner spray and then used fiberglass directly to that surface and another spray of bed liner on that.

The top layer bed liner is chipped because of rocks and it's near a wheel well but the rust hasn't spread at all and nothing well apart due.to weather contraction. We see -10 winter's and 110 Summers and it's lasted almost 20 years so with the right prep you'll be fine.

 

Other times it didn't last as long though so that one truck was a best case scenario.

 

Pulled off the duct tape last night after all this time to glass the repair. Unfortunately the prep work I had done previously was not enough - converter was chipping off and I could easily find areas in between layers of metal that were still crumbly under the coat of rust converter. This time I used pliers and pulled hard on any little metal tabs I could find to expose every weakness in between the layers, and removed good but non-loadbearing metal for the sole purpose of easier access to the inside of the hole, revealing a new cavity full of surface rust which I freed up with a long screwdriver before spraying everything down with alcohol and vacuuming.




rust I now have access to after removing some metal, next to area I had applied rust converter that was not adhering well.



Looking to the panel again for later comparison

Eastwood Internal Frame coating is great stuff, although it should be for $30 a can. it comes with a 2-3 mm dia. snake hose that attaches to the spray can, you stick it deep into any holes you can find and it fills that cavity with green liquid which runs down every surface like water, pooling in the cracks, leaving a thick coating over everything. I used one can for both sides but could have gone with more as I didn't do the front of the rails or anywhere else on my chassis which I would have liked to do as PM.










Of course now that I'm committed and down there, I went and cleaned up every speck of undercarriage/undercoating damage looking for more rust, covered all those spots with rust converter, and finally a new layer of rubber undercoating. Then I wirebrushed every speck of the pinch weld and covered that in rust converter as well. If I'm going to do it I might as well do it.... uhh.... properly?

I think that's all I'm going to do for prep as I've spent enough time on this and this looks like it'll stop the rust for a long time. Every couple of years maybe I'll empty another can of the Eastwood into the rails just to keep everything sealed. I threw some more duct tape on, and am once again waiting for the opportunity to finish the repair with glass..

 

Good work. Hope it lasts.

 

On another note, does anyone know where to get the clips for attaching side skirts for a normal price? I can find them on Z1 for like $3 each and there's no way I'm spending $40 on a bunch of plastic clips.... I'd rather duct tape my side skirts on.

 

Old thread but i thought i'd post some pics of the rust repair on mine so far. $20 in metal and a lot of time invested. This type of repair is very expensive if you can even find a shop that will do it for you. Rust damage is always 100% worse than you think!