I know this is the Ford Truck Enthusiasts web site, but I thought I would start here since I have got so much great info in the past.

I am in the process of restoring an old Harley Davidson golf cart. The tub of the cart is made of fiberglass and on the rear of the tub there is a vertical crack about 12" long that goes from the bottom of the tub straight up. The P.O. said he backed into something in the garage and it hit the very bottom of the tub.

So my question is, how do I go about fixing this correctly. The crack is very clean, and when held together you can hardly see it. But I want to do it right so I wont have problems down the road.

So do I need to V out the groove and then lay glass on the back side and then fill the crack full of resin? Or leave the crack and just glass the back side and finish off the outside with body filler?

Also, since the fiber glass is 39 years old, before I do any finish work (paint etc.) what can I do to make sure the tub lasts another 40 years?

Any fiberglass help would be appreciated. I've done a little in the past, but it's been almost 20 years ago.

Thanks,

 

Will the back of the panel be visible at all once it's fixed? If not you might want to try what I did to fix a fiberglass piece on my brother's 97 camaro. He backed into my dad's truck ball hitch, so the panel above the license plate was trashed. I took off the panel and ground down all the rough edges with a dremel tool. Then used 2 part epoxy and mesh tape (drywall patch tape) and used that to patch the cracks while everything was held down tight with bungee cords. After that dried, I patched up the front with a little bondo and it was good. The epoxy and mesh tape did a really good job, but the repair did look like a big pile of crap on the back side, which wasn't visible once it was done. Just an idea......

 

Triton,
Thanks for the idea. That's kind of what I was thinkiing. Just wasn't sure how it would hold up after time. And no it wont be visible.

 

You should V oct the crack on both sides ,,, resin & cloth & mat ,, light layers at a time ,, make sure the air is out of it ,, finish with filler & surfacer ,,,

 

I agree with action. Although it might hold if you put enough layers on the backside, I feel safest glassing both sides. You should grind or sand down to bare fiberglass and layup your glass a few inches out beyond the crack area. Mix your resin and hardener in the recommended ratio. I like to brush on some resin over the piece first, then apply the mat and brush on the resin and saturate it into the mat, watching for airbubble and working them out with the brush. I cut pieces to fit into the v grove area first and when filled layup a layer or two over the v grove and beyond the grove area. Sometimes I like to pre saturate the mat first of the pieces I lay inside the v grove area and then finish working into the grooved area with a paint brush. I normally use around 1 1/2 oz mat. Thin enough to saturate and work in fairly easy, but still have some thickness to it.
If the back isn't seen, I'll lay more up on the backside and only a layer or two on the front, so not a ton of grinding and blending in of the repair area with plastic filler.