Fiberglass build up on body? Best way to do it?

[fostia]

I have Gen 1 doors and the tops are very misaligned. My outside belt line and gaps are generally fine and my driver's side door is generally where I want it (still have just a little more tweaking on the passenger door). However, when that's all dialed in my driver side door top and inside beltline is terrible (see pics)

Someone said that if the gap is > than 1/8", then I should lay up fiberglass mat instead of just using bondo. I've never done this before so maybe someone can help? See pictures for current supplies... I have Bondo hair, bondo glass, West System 105 Epoxy and 206 Hardener. I have colloidal silicia, small strands of fiberglass, 1 oz chopped mat (i think this is too thin for what I want to do), fiberglass cloth, HSRF (not much left since I've used a lot for the mold lines and hardtop) and Rage Gold.

Can anyone give me any tips on how should I do this? Should I get heavier mat? Use the mat I got? Use the cloth? Just use the bondo hair? Use the mat then bondo hair or bondo glass? How do I lay down the mat? Just sand the gel coat good and then lay the mat down with some overhang? I've heard that vinyl ester resin is preferable to epoxy due to compatibility of other resins. But as long as I just use my HSRF and Rage Gold over it and stick to epoxy, I shouldn't have a problem? I couldn't find any information of using Rage over epoxy resin. Is that okay? I bought the west system epoxy as a recommendation of Tim Whittaker to bond in his curved trunk bars which I purchased. Still haven't done that.

Lot of words here but I underlined my main questions.... Many thanks!

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[GoDadGo]

Fostia,

I used Evercoat's Fibertech product to build up some spots on my MK-4 doors
https://youtu.be/JwAErvc2tN4

I also did some fiberglass work on the driver's door to correct some fitment issues.
https://youtu.be/6UK6K2jcwTU

Then we used Rage Gold over the top to smooth things out and it came out just fine.
https://youtu.be/9WEe6-wdNtA

Steve

[sread]

Hey man -that cloth you have there is pretty light and will take many layers to get much build up. What you really need is fiberglass mat but I believe you must use polyester or vinyl resin (no epoxy) with the chopped strand mat. Epoxy is ok with the cloth but you will need more than that small package there. I would lay down several plies of the mat on to the cleaned/sanded door skin, and if it was close to what you need go ahead and lay on the rage gold. If not use the bondo hair or hsrf to build up any low spots before hitting it with the rage.
One thing to know though is depending on how hot it is there, don't mix up more than a few ounces of resin at a time. Here in south Texas, you have about 3 minutes to use the resin ,or at least get it spread out before it goes exothermic once you mix it.
here is a youtube video that shows a great technique for doing fiberglass lay ups. He is working on a boat but the techniques are the same .
https://youtu.be/gnD2-urn1EQ

[GoDadGo]

Here is a fiberglass technique thread started by Mechie3 that you will likely find helpful:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?35544-Fiberglass-Tips-Tricks-Methods-and-Materials&highlight

Good Luck From The Dark Dart Side!

[fostia]

Thanks for your comments. I'm returning the epoxy resin to west marine and ordered a gallon of vinyl ester resin and 2 oz thick chopped mat. While my research indicates the epoxy would probably work, vinyl ester seems like the right stuff. Sounds like just make sure the top of the door is sanded well and follow the general instructions for laying up fiberglass. We will see how it goes.

[GoDadGo]

Thanks for your comments. vinyl ester seems like the right stuff.

Just remember that Vinylester Resin has a very short shelf life.

[sread]

One more thing to keep in mind - once you build the top of the door to a certain thickness, it will affect the way you will need to finish the cutout for the window when you get to that point...i.e. the FFR supplied trim pieces won't fit anymore. You can remedy that by going in from the inside and grinding back down but that is neither fun nor easy. Seems like most guys end up coming up with some alternative way to finish the window cut out anyway because the appearance of the FFR pieces leaves alot to be desired.

[fostia]

Thanks for the tip. I was wondering about in that. I might not even do the power windows. I've heard some people wish they hadn't done them and I may not have clearance with the exterior door handles I installed. That may be a phase II project. Right now trying to get most of my major stuff done, throw a coat of SPI epoxy on everything and drive it around for a while until I decide to finish everything perfect and do final paint.

[JimLev]

Yes, the tops of the door are thick, the window seals from FF really don’t work well.
I’m trimming the cutout for the windows in the top of the door with some aluminum L pieces, similar to how AJT did it.
The inner and outer window seals that attach to the aluminum L pieces are what tcollins used.
I’ll post more on my build with some pics in a few days after I get everything mounted.

[fostia]

Just remember that Vinylester Resin has a very short shelf life.

I've read it's about 3 months. I'm pretty much ready to do everything I need to with it so I think I should be good if that's true. Thank you for all the pointers and links.