I was on the phone with one of my buds who was just sponsored on his car. We were discussing dashboards and door panels. He said he uses Fiberglass. He says it's easy to mold and you spray it with the resin (SP?) and it hardens when it dries. What is the disadvantages/advantages to using fiberglass sheets?

That question is HUGE. Like asking "how do you build a car?". Do some reading in these links to get up to speed on fiberglass technology.

http://www.fibreglast.com/contentpa...ochures-23.html - Lots of different and informative topics.

http://fiberlay.com/ - go to the "How To's" section.

It's messy and can be hard to work with but it's very forgiving when designing parts and a lot can done very quickly as compared to metal working.... It all depends on what you're comfortable with. Look at these sites for some input also...
http://johnrsweet.com
http://www.shopmaninc.com/
This is some interesting stuff so have fun...
Mark

you guys rock...i will make sure to post pictures and steps....

Are you asking about a chop gun? It sprays the glass and resin at the same time. It is not as strong as using structural mat but is as strong as chop mat. Boats are made from both and last many years but a mat boat is stronger but takes much longer to build.

ahhh....good ole glas!!!!
I worked in a fiberglas shop that did hand made lay-ups and injection molding...or is that moulding???? And, chop gun items. I worked as a shop floor guy rolling the bubbles out of the fiberglas to spraying the gel-coat and then to running the chop gun. The chop gun is one of the coolest things I have ever operated. If I had owned the place everything would be covered in fiberglas. I would just go nuts spraying everything. We did the buckets for lift trucks,(like the phone co.),to man lifts hoods...JLG, truck caps, sinks and (SCT)-Simulated convertible top underlyments. Gel-coat was the first thing I ever sprayed from a gun. The stuff is sooo thick it's nearly impossible to run and it flows similar to primer. I got a great feel for the gun with very little goof ups! We also did V-boat hull hand lays. Quite a job that everyone loathed. Alot of work. Big expanses of matt and resin to roll. Since then I have made car parts to theatre props to household A/C covers to artwork with fiberglas. I recently had to fix my green bike after a (low speed get off) as well.
Please use all available safety equipment!
Now I'm getting into Carbon Fiber....hee hee hee!!!!

I have used it several time when I was building speaker boxes and I wanted them airtight and I wanted to use the factory floor as part of the enclosure... It works well, but is very messy... But like was said earlier is very forgiving!!

Navyjoe,
Take a look at this thread:
http://hotrodders.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26989
Some of the folks are now using PVC sheets for door panels.
Dutch