Preparing that fiberglass body.....

[Ron Earp]

Fran called this AM and said the Lola body would be coming out this week and the car would be shipping down to NC in about two weeks! RCR is fast, that is for sure, and I'm looking forward to having something else in the garage to build that is GT40 related.

However, the other night my buddy needed me to grind the gelcoat off his racing helmet so we could attach the Issac head head restraint system. Even that little bit of grinding and generation of fiberglass dust made my skin break out pretty bad, basically wherever it landed. How do you folks deal with things like this?

Al is going to help me with the step by step procedures on what to do with the glass etc., and Jeff will help a lot with some build hours. Al suggests getting the bodywork out of the way first, get it painted, and get it on the car and I agree with that plan - keeps motivation high having a painted body lying around instead of a gelcoat body needing a lot of work.

[Alex Hirsbrunner]

Hi Ron,

If you are sensitive to fiberglass grindings, I think the best thing (short of having your buddy do the work for you) is to go to the local auto paint supply store and buy some disposable Tyvek painting suits and then only work outdoors. Also stop at AutoZone and buy a box of nytril (typically blue) mechanic's gloves.

Of course you will absolutely want to use the appropriate lung protection. Some people are extremely sensitive to the dust/fibers on their skin, and others to the chemicals used in the product themselves.

It may be that the helmet used vinylester resin where your Lola is probably made with polyester resin (at least that what I'm guessing based on how my RCR-40 smells). So it is possible that you wont be bothered as much when working on the Lola, and you really don't want to be grinding through that nice gelcoat unless absolutly necessary!

Even with the suits though, unless you use a new one each time, just taking it on and off is going to expose you. Also, it will be very unpleasant to work if you need to cover everything except your eyes.

I know that when I started working on Corvettes the itching at night drove me crazy, but over time it seemed to go away. But when I say over time, I mean over dozens of cars :-(.

Al

[dave harris]

Ron, one trick I learned is to coat all exposed skin with talcum (or baby powder if you don't mind the odor!) powder. It fills the poors, coats the skin and makes it harder for the fiberglass fibers to "dig in".

seems to work fairly well - -

[Bill Bayard]

Ron,

Baby powder, gloves, and Tyvek suits are a must. If you get glass dust on your skin, pat yourself down with some duct tape. The adhesive will pull the glass off, without rubbing it in. It'll pull a few hairs too, but it's worth the reduction in itch. Always wash your hands, arms, and face with ice cold water. That will close your pores, and let any glass rise off more easily. Showering with liquid dish soap helps too. With your skin sensitivity, rigging a dust vacuum, vented outside of your garage, might help.

Happy grinding!

We'd better get to see some photos, when you get your new baby home!


Bill

[Mike Dozier]

Ron

On my FFR Cobra I did all the mechanicals...got her running..then bodywork and paint. On my T-3 I did the opposite...bodywork/paint first, and I think I prefer the bodywork/paint last since a running chassis motivated me more.
However different strokes for different folks. I assume the fact that your car
is a spyder means a signifcant reduction in bodywork and paint time.
Best of luck...can't wait to see an RCR hit the track.

Mike

[Bud]

Thats good advice from you guys, another tip is to wear cotton and not polyster clothing as this will make you body feel like it is on fire when the fibreglass dust gets onto your skin.
Plenty of ventalation and try to keep out of the sun if you are working outside.

Hope that all these tips combined will help with the car build.
Bud

[Dave S]

I to suffer from fibreglass itch. When I did the body work on my
Cobra I covered myself from head to toe even wearing goggles to
keep it out of my eyes. I also blocked up an alarming amount of filters
on my dust mask.

I suppose painting first brings up that issue of painting fresh
fibreglass. Some say build up the chassis first and give the fibreglass
plenty of drying time. Me, I just want to paint my DRB as soon as it arrives.
I hate thinking about the body work, but look forward to that rewarding
feeling when you run the buff for the last time over the panels.

[Mark Worthington]

But if you paint it first where are you gonna set all your tools and stuff?

[Ron Earp]

Thanks for the input and help fellows. One of our main goals is to get this car out and about as quickly as possible for occasional street drives and track work. Getting back on this horse was a sort of tough decision, but, I think it needed to be done and getting the car done quickly will help morale. And, then a 40 next year.

One think that will work in our favor is that we're not looking for a show quality finish. For what we're planning it isn't a matter of if it'll get damaged, more of a question of when. If we can get a satisfactory cage in place and fuel cell/tank design then we'll put it in an enduro either in 2006 or 2007. But, not having a show quality job will greatly reduce some effort needed. We still want it to look nice and will do a good job, but it won't be wearing $15k worth of paint or anything like that.

Sounds like it'll be a good idea to get my rolling gurney back out that I had my GT40 on when I worked on it. We could put the body work there and roll it outside for body work. Those suggestions with powder, gloves, and duct tape sound pretty good and we'll use them, thanks. Realistically body and chassis work will probably go on near about the same time. Money will hold me up a little since I've got to get some parts here and there for the build. I've got the major stuff, but there are plenty of odds and ends that add up. So, if I get held up a bit body work can be done and generally doesn't cost anything, just time!

We'll definitely have a build thread going and I hope there will be lots of progress to report!