Getting the shape

The whole purpose of doing this and not just whacking at the fenders and welding on a wide lip is to retain the factory body lines so we need a way to make our form look like the body lines. To me it seemed no better way then to acutally use the fender itself to mold it.

Start by cleaning off the fender very well. Remove any badges, parking lights, trim, etc. Tape over any resulting holes or seams (like for the filler door here) with clear packing tape (the resin wont stick to it)

Next using a good paste wax wax the fender. Wax it once or twice and buff it out but the final layer of wax, leave on unbuffed. We dont want the resin to stick to the fender.

Now take a piece of the fiberglass mat larger than the area you wish to duplicate and tape it to the fender thusly (thusly?)

Now using scissors, a razor knife or just by tearing carefully get the mat to the approximate shape of the fender, leaving some excess. Tearing is actually a good method here as the rough edges tend to lay out and stick better than a cut edge.

Now mix up your resin. Polyester resin cures through heat. Keep this in mind when mixing, cold days need a bit more activator, warm days less. If you mix in too much it will congeal before you wet out the whole thing, too little and it will take a long time to cure (Id rather wait for the cure than have it set up too early though) Also I learned that the shape of the container you mix in helps determine the working time. Flat open containers keep the mix cooler allowing a longer working time than a tall narrow container which traps the heat.

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