2x layers of fglass, one is regular chop strand mat the other is a mix between CSM and woven biaxial which is about 3x stronger but half the weight. I didn't go over the edges to make my job easier when the bolt on parts go on.



This part is the closing panel at the back of the guard, I've had these ever since I did the guards for my orange mk1 mex zetec , I'll make these tomorrow

And this is the mold all bolted up and the return panels are glassed in place

Wait a couple of days until it's nearly cured then I'll remove it and fit the closing piece on and mount on the car. I've made the guard in a way that's strong but still flexible to tweak with on the car.

Enter the driver front guard that is the original for this car, it's not too bad of condition except it had so many paint layers and the front was loaded with filler, this is as started.

The Coral Reef style grind wheel was just about down to the core once done

Guard is all bare metal and being panel beated while being pinned on the car to hold shape.
I have cut the front closing panel where the headlight tucks into to gain access to the dent surrounding the leading edge, once happy I'll weld the parts back together , the red is reflection from the grit blast box

Doing a bit of heat shrinking with the bbq gasmate bottle with the blowlamp attached. I found the best way to get it red hot is do circles of about a 80c piece and slowly spiral into the centre, once it's red it can be beated back and the shrink will help tighten the panel. All long as the panel is pretty good for making a mold from that's all that counts.

The file scratches are to see where the lows and highs are at

Moving to the arch, I have this standard arch template from an earlier arch install, I clamp it on and trace around it which will be cut away and discarded.

Once the cut is cleaned up and safe from spikers, I grab the twink flare and trace around the edge. Next is to tin snip to about 3mm from the line in gaps of about 30 to 40mm to where the guard will be folded to accept the arch

This is the tabs bent out to match as close as possible to the underside of the arch


I got the arch to sit on the pretty snug so I used panel screws to secure it in position


Mixed up the resin and talc combo to a thick paste and applied it to the guard, this will become the super strong glue bonding both panels together , I didn't get a pic of this as time and messy hands etc, here's the guard all screwed on but not going to tight as the arch will concave at the screws



Now it's let it dry for a couple of days before the screws are removed

Great work as always Marty, Deano is right dont be too modest, not many people can lay down glass like that in their shed and have such a great result!

Wow... just wow...

Here's the grit blaster cabinet converted to a wet blaster, a few Marty mods are using a mk2 Escort spotlight switch for turning the pump on

A few metres of clear pipe from the pedal actuator to the nozzle. The other pipe is the fluid pipe from the 4200lph pump to the nozzle and the slurry can drain back into the bucket in a full circulating system.

The power source is a chinee transformer 12v 10amp and 120w which is well up to the job , only thing is destroying a new extention cable to run power to it , the 12v outlets(2x) and it's lightly adjustable from 11v to 13v

And this is proof it works, I did have a little water leaking thru the door jamb, that'll be sorted soon

Here is the guard with the arch glued on well solid, so now it's clean off the excess glue and rough up the panel with a DA sander + 60 grit paper. The arch was a bit feathered at the edges so they were blended back with the flapper wheel, that's what the blue dust is from.

Ha, this rust hole was previously bogged with a piece of ice-cream container and a zip tie, I did weld a patch there but not very well, it was just to stop the filler falling in !

The closing panel got welded back in as close to how it was from factory and while I was there I welded in a reo-mesh piece to stop the panel warping out going out of shape when it's being fglass molded.
This is after an rvo of bondo sanding and refilling till I was happy, first part I did was the top, as you do, it's got rattle can primer but the sides are still being worked on .

And finally the other fibreglass guard is resting on the car, it'll need a bit of fetling to fit correctly as with any fglass part


Sort of been bouncing between the Rally Pack and my car, some work done on the RP was weld on the floor repair piece and refit the seat box rib, then it was repair the wheel well at the middle seam. Next on the list is repair the rear arch corner. Then the final rust repair is to make a boot floor panel to replace the sketchy one that's there now. Have bead roller, will fix, tho I had to sacrifice a set of dies to match the curved ribs, we see how this one pans out soon....

Working fast on the guard today to attempt to get it in primer putty, I even used that black dust to highlight the lows .


This is the inner edge rail that spot welds to the car, a bunch of dry welds to a length of strap over the top and lightly blended in and is easy reversible if required

This is the side that'll have the mold taken as it's only gotta be there for the shape and I make it slightly wider so the fglass sticks better.

And at about 5pm today it was ready for a few big coats of primer , once it's prepped and painted in the same yellow 2pk I'll let it settle for at least a week or two

Pulling the door out of the spare room I didn't realise how dented it was and since I paid to get them blasted and coated last year I'm going to do what I can to get it straight

And here is sunken along the middle of the door skin, narsty !