First fiberglass project F-350 A-pillars

[rambronco]

Hey all,

Somewhat new to the forums but have been into car audio for 25+ years now. I keep thinking that I've grown out of the whole car audio thing, and everytime I purchase a new vehicle I think "i'm just going to leave it stock" well within 6 months i'm checking out what's new in the industry and planning a new build, so I've come to the conclusion i'm in this for the long haul.

I am currently taking on my first fiberglassing project, I will be putting a set of CDT CL-42 in the A-pillars as well as a set of CDT up-stage tweeters high up in the pillars.

I got a set of A-pillars out of a different year truck that utilized "oh shit handles" on both the passenger and driver side, whereas my truck just has them on the passenger side. The first step was to fill the holes for the "oh shit handle" on the driver side.

I got a drywall repair kit from home depot which has some self adhesive square grid pattern attached to a steel plate. I removed the self adhesive from the steel plate and cut it to the dimensions desired. I then applied that to the back side of the A-pillar to make sure the fiberglass mat did not sag upon the initial layer. I then cut the fiberglass mat to the desired dimensions for the opening. I then added hardener to the resin, and laid my first layer of fiberglass to the back side of the A-pillar. I laid the resin on light so as to not soak all the way through the fiberglass mat, leaving a good adhesion layer for the front side of the hole I was going to fill later.

After letting that cure, I sanded the areas that were going to have the second layer of glass to bring the height up on the front side, I then I cut lengths of fiberglass cloth to the desired dimensions as to cover the holes from the front side. I mixed more resin and used the fiberglass mat to start building up the height on the front side where the hole was.

After it had set I sanded the entire area with 80 grit sandpaper. It was going to need 1 more layer to bring it up to the correct height. The sanding was to give the next layer a good area to adhere to. Again I cut pieces of fiberglass to the correct dimensions of the hole I was filling, and glassed them in.

I believe after my second layer of glass I should be ok, only sanding will let me know for sure. If all is good I will start to make the faceplate that the speakers will be mounted to.

From just the few steps that I have done, I can see that patience will be my biggest ally in this project, that and a lot of sanding .

This is my first fiberglass project. I am good with constructive criticism so for the veterans out there please feel free to give it as necessary. It will only help me in future projects.

This build will be slow, as I only want to do this once.

Thanks

RB

[98GCLimited]

Those pics are tiny I cant really see it, they dont enlarge when I click them.

[rambronco]

I followed the instructions on the "how to post pics on SMD forums" to the tee and when I go to post it says that they cant use that file designation. I apologize for the small pics, but it was the only way I could get my post to be accepted.

RB

[knowledge]

my eyes hurt trying to look

[rambronco]

Edited for better picture

[Carbon]

Edited for better picture

I see no changes.

Do you have a photobucket account?

[rambronco]

I have photo bucket. The pictures are much larger than they were before the edit. Pictures were tiny, and I mean tiny. When I look at the post now you can at least see whats going on in the pictures.