So teach me about fiberglassing..., oil cooler shroud inspired by eastcoaste Options

[Aaron Cox]

i have a 13" x 4" setrab cooler in the front of my car... its been up and running with no ducting so far. id like to make a fiberglass shroud to duct the air out the bottom......

so - reading east coaster's fg cooler shroud thread i think this is a great idea....
BUT
i know nearly nothing about fiberglassing....

i have no problem shaping a nice foam "plug" (what kind of foam should i use?) et.....

so if someone could give me a run down on procedure such as...

Plug / release agent/ fg cloth/ resin / cloth / resin

they have a fiberglassing kit at FLAPS, 32 oz resin, 8 sqft fg cloth, hardener and maybe some matt was in there also - dont remember...

so any help you could give me would be much appreciated

AA

[lapuwali]

If you use styrofoam (which is styrene) to make the plug, you can't use commonly available polyester resin, as the resin will attack the foam, since the solvent in polyester resin is also styrene solvent. You'll need to use epoxy resin, which is more expensive and trickier to use, but stronger. You can, after the resin is cured, dissolve the styrofoam by pouring in styrene solvent.

Another way is to use polyurethane foam (surfboard foam), which will hold up to polyester resin. However, you'll need to cover it in mold release, or you won't be able to remove the foam afterwards, unless you chip it away. There's basically no solvent for polyurethane, so you can't dissolve it.

For what you want to do, one layer of woven cloth should be plenty. Anymore and it will be heavier than necessary.