Alright, time for a quick update.................
As I told you all last week, now that the trailer is finished, I have to get back into finishing The Cat in a big way, with much urgency!
So, the next step for the car along the evolutionary path is to finish the bodykit so it could go off to be painted. So, this was the job for this weekend. I had a chat to my mate Will who lives over the road about attaching fibreglass bits to steel bodywork (Will works in a fibregalss panel shop and builds cabs for Mack trucks, he knows his stuff), and he recommended using Sikaflex instead of bonding with epoxy and microballoons as I was going to do, the Sikaflex will bond with about the same strength, but go off slower and allow some movement for aligning etc.
So, first job was to test fit the fibreglass Zeemax kit and see where it had to be trimmed, corrected etc. (BTW - if anyone wants an honest opinion of Zeemax, their products and customer service, just PM me!!
). The side skirts fitted with only a minimum amount of trimming, and the front flares were quite good. The rear bumper was in need of some corrective action however and the rear flares were absolutely woeful - so woeful in fact that I had an extra set of front ones made up because they actually fit the rear better than the original rears do!!).
I started with the side skirts, and used some self drilling, self tapping hex drive screws to attach it to the body. Once its all attached, the screws will be removed and the holes filled. Here is the test fit:
Screwed from the top through the sill flange:
Screwed from underneath through the floor:
Once screwed, it was really rock solid, so this should give a good indication of how it should be when fully bonded to the car.
The next test fit was the rear bumper. Long screws were needed for this, as the bumper itself sits up a lot higher than the sill flange it will be screwed to. I put some 6mm washers under the heads to stop any chance of pull-through in case I inadvertantly overtightened one. Notice the gaps:
Time to stand back and have a look at the curves and lines as a whole. Hard to get the overall picture without the rear flares, but from the rear wheel well forward it looks ok:
OK - time to bond. I decided to start with the side skirts and work my way up. Before I put the side skirts on for the last time, I ground back where the flares would meet the side skirts by at least one millimetre in depth. This will allow me to lay a couple of layers of chopped strand mat (CSM) or woven cloth over the junction so all the fibreglass panels are joined together. Likewise, where the Sikaflex is located, I scuffed up the fibreglass part and the body with 40 grit paper to allow for a good bond. All bog and filler were taken back from these areas so that the Sikaflex will be bonding onto bare metal.
The side skirts will dictate (along with the front spoiler and rear bumper) exactly where the flares will sit in relation to the car. Time to Sikaflex (how come everytime I do something it involves a product that is a)sticky and b)black!!). Use heaps, its better to be looking at it than looking for it and you want as much adhesive area as possible!
Along the sill flange:
And on the side skirt where it attaches underneath the car:
This is the front of the side skirt ground back with the wire wheel so the layers of CSM or cloth (or both) will be able to a) bond the the fibrglass part itself and not the undercoat or gelcoat, and b) so the joining strips wont bulge out higher than the surrounding parts.
The side skirt was fitted up, and then the screws put back in to hold it all in place. Like I said earlier, they will be removed and the holes filled once it has all cured. This is the topside, notice the Sikaflex is bulging out, a good sign:
And the underside (once again, it is being squeezed out - that's what you want):
Ok,now for the front flare. With the positioning just right, I ground back the end of the flare just like the ends of the side skirt (only the side skirt end, as the front flare will not be bonded to the front spoiler, nor wiill the front spoiler be permanently be bonded to the car. It has to be removable to be able to get to the FMIC, indicators, fog lights and FMIC water spray jets and lines).
Here is the end ground back:
And Sikaflex applied to the car:
The flare was offered up and firstly clamped against the side skirt and the front spoiler, then clamped to the car. This will allow the lines to flow all together:
Once again, use more than you think you need. You can trim it off later. Notice the masking tape at the front spoiler/flare junction. This is just a precaution and will allow easy seperation just in case some overspill gets in there. Also notice that I have cut out an aperture in the flare for the lower door hinge before it was fitted, and taht all the bog has been ground away from the bonding area:
Okay, time to turn our attention to the rear bumper. Once again the bonding area was scuffed up with 40 grit on both surfaces, and then the area was blown clean with the compressed air. The ends where the fibreglass bodykit joined each other were ground back once again to allow for fibreglass overlay to seal the joint. The Sikaflex was applied to the mating surface:
The sucker was then offered up to the body, and screwed down. Once again, the screws will be removed once its all cured, and the holes filled:
Ends ground back to allow for the joining glass:
To show you how far out the original Zeemax rear flare was, here it is dummy-fit up to the car. Notice the two-plus inches of guard protruding out the bottom, and the shitty fit:
Now here is a front flare dummy fit into the same position - a lot better alternative with a bit of a filler piece:
That's all for now - but tomorrow night we will be doing the other side, and then Wednesday we might just have enough time to apply the joining cloth. Wont get a chance to touch it over Easter, so need to get things happening this week!
Cheer,
Tricky
why will it take that long 
