My experience in fiberglass comes from years of repairing white water kayaks. Lots of strength and flexibility, beauty, not so much.
The Europa is unique in that all the panels are thin and flexible. Very different compared to a boat or corvette that layup thick rigid panels. I think the repair process should be different because of this.
I’m still working on major cracks (some parking lot abuse and some Lotus design flaws) and trying to get bonnets and doors to line up.
Years ago I did some repair using polyester that developed cracks around the repair. I’m sanding those out and replacing with epoxy. Current epoxy products claim to stick better to polyester, stay flexible and are stronger. I’m finding interior / unpainted panels are fuzzy with exposed fiberglass fibers. Many of the visible paint cracks are only in the paint. That is when you sand to the fiberglass body (and often only to the primer layer) the crack is gone. So here I my process using epoxy resin (Tap Plastics) and woven cloth for the interior and mat for the exterior (the weave of the woven cloth will show through the paint but it is stronger and easier to squeegee out excess resin). The attached picture shows cracks in paint that disappear at the primer layer.
I’m trying to repair any actual cracks from both the front and back side. The usual drill of sanding to a clean solid surface and a few layers of cloth in a tapered stack. Squeegee the repair to remove excess resin to prevent making the repair too stiff.
Reinforce the weak areas in the original build including the rood, roof pillars, wheel arches, rear bonnet hinge area, rear bonnet rear panel and a few others that will show up when sanding off the paint.
I mixed up an epoxy filler (less than 1/16 thick, for the bad areas) using micro-ballons and epoxy resin. It sticks very well, is light weight, stays flexible and becomes inert once cured, but is a serious pain to sand. A few areas needed a layer of thin matt (veil) to bring panels into alignment.
I’m nearly done with major repairs and rework and need helps on the next steps.
Questions:
What are people using as a final thin filler before primer? It seems that most fillers dry hard and brittle. A likely cause of new cracks. I would like to stay with epoxy which stays flexible (at least the one I’m using does).
I’m thinking a high build epoxy primer. The only one that is easily found is Eastwood. Are Eastwood products worth it? I’m sure it’s someone else, rebranded but I don’t know who.
What has worked for primer, paint coat, clear coat (should I have a clear coat?). It seems most paints assume a stiff panel and are not flexible. Are there a more flexible products available?
Thanx
Ron