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Goggomobile
3rd Oct 2015, 10:49 PM
Hi all
I thought I might start a new thread ont FG car body restoration. These cars have a FG shell and a steel chassis.

I don't know much about this. Here are some picks. Beneath the exterior the FG is fairly rough and ready. I'm told reglassing is a challenge and too look out for soft spots and punky bits from water damage.

Randal ( PS the red Dart and the sedan )

Master Splinter
3rd Oct 2015, 11:43 PM
Have you checked out the West Epoxy (http://www.westsystem.com/ss/) website? Lots of info there about restoring fibreglass boats which will be just as relevant to a car body. (Epoxy will also do a better fix than just polyester resin).

KBs PensNmore
4th Oct 2015, 12:21 AM
Hi Randal,
The green sedan in the background, which end is front, as its a bit hard to tell if it's coming or going.:D Not trying to be funny, just curious.
Keep the picks coming please. Learning a lot on this forum. :2tsup:
Kryn

ubeaut
4th Oct 2015, 11:12 AM
Left side with steering wheel and headlights would have to be the front. The green end would be the back.

Gotta love a clown car push me pull me Goggomobil especially the rarer ones like I think the one in the pic above is, with the rear quarter vent window. Not sure there are many of that model surviving as that particular style seems to be few and far between on the net.

http://www.ubeaut.biz/auto.gif

KBs PensNmore
4th Oct 2015, 03:47 PM
Thanks, put a magnifier on the pix and can see the steering wheel, door and headlight rim, gotta get new glasses,:duh:.
Kryn

Goggomobile
4th Oct 2015, 04:54 PM
Guys

I Know what got you ... Engine and transmission in the boot. Suicide doors .. And almost symmetrical shape.

- air cooled 300 cc two stroke twin vertical pistons.
- I think about 15 horses .. Have to check on that.
- 4 speed + reverse
- max speed 50'mph
- wheels 10 inch 4 ply split rims
- weight about 300- 380 kg ..

ps : sorry no bonnet that's were your spare wheel and feet go

The best thing is it has a dyno ? Never heard of such a thing except on my old push bike.

Randal

Goggomobile
4th Oct 2015, 05:01 PM
This is the rear ...

Master Splinter
4th Oct 2015, 05:32 PM
I like the 'engine crane' you are using to move such a heavy block!

Goggomobile
5th Oct 2015, 06:56 AM
That's my three low loaders. .... It's amazing what you can move with the old state boards. I highly recommend it for moving stuff around the shed....

YBAF
5th Oct 2015, 09:07 AM
I prefer the engine upgrade modification...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f2V7B7-gdRA

KBs PensNmore
5th Oct 2015, 12:23 PM
Which upgrade did you prefer, the rotary, or the motor bike conversion?
Kryn

Goggomobile
5th Oct 2015, 08:13 PM
The rotary was great ... Loved the noise !! At one stage I thought they were going to bolt the prop on the back and see if she could fly ... ����

KBs PensNmore
5th Oct 2015, 11:05 PM
Yes that one certainly went well, mind you, it'd be a bit hard to stop at 220 mph.
I liked the motor bike conversion, it was unassuming, made the car look bog standard.
Kryn

Goggomobile
11th Oct 2015, 07:18 AM
I got some West System 105 and 207 two pack. I had a Goggo door hinge break off and hit me in the foot... Those suicide doors don't like being over stretched....

I repaired the FG and beefed up the back plate. Hey I'm an expert ... 👽 .. Arr not really

I found it better to work with than Polyester FG resin for this repair as it set slower and I could still manage to get the FG matt all over myself 😃

slower setting allowed me time to adjust all of the hinges and doors ...

Note .. I had to make sure the existing surfaces were clean and dry and roughened up .... Plenty of Goggo spiders and critters hanging around in the cavity

Once cured I tarted up with my trusted Ozitdremel and sand paper ... happy days I now have a working Goggo door.

Goggomobile
11th Oct 2015, 07:22 AM
358975

Note the new fancy bolts ... Forgot to mention it took a bit of kicking and fighting to get old bolts out .....

bollie7
14th Oct 2015, 08:49 PM
If you don't know much about F/G repair then this book is a good place to start.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Restore-Fibreglass-Bodywork-Osprey-Restoration/dp/0850455561
Fibreglass supply shops quite often have some very good "How to" sheets as well.
Like a lot of things, the end result depends a lot on all the prepwork.
I've had and restored/rebuilt a Bolwell Mk7 (also had a Nagari for a while) I did a 2 year night course at TAFE on fibreglassing to allow me to rebuild the car. http://www.bolwellcarclubnsw.com/page18.htm
Unfortunately with F/G repair if its not done correctly, whilst it might look ok for a while, with time the poor repair will start to show.
Though with what I've seen of the few Goggos I've looked closely at, you wouldn't have to do a very good job to make it better than the original. A lot like the early Bolwells actually. lol
My uncle had a Goggo sedan when I was a kid, though in those days I didn't take much notice of it.
I used to know the bloke out at Dubbo who owned the Shannons Dart before Shannons bought it.
Good to see someone trying to save some of these old odd cars.

peter

Goggomobile
16th Oct 2015, 08:14 PM
Peter
thanks for the info and references. I esp likely your log on the restoration of your Bolwell

I met Bill Buckle the designer of The Dart Goggo and FG version of the Sedan and Coupe Goggo a few ago at the Cooly Rocks On at Cooangatta in July .. He was into car racing in the 60 s and late 50 s and told me he put together a car which looks a little like the Bolwell .. This is Bill in the Buckle Coupe.

359039

bollie7
17th Oct 2015, 06:41 PM
One of the Bolwell club members in Sydney is also doing up a Buckle. Actually I think he has two of them and I think hes going to restore one to original but the other I think he is going to modernise the chassis, suspension, engine etc.

peter

bob ward
18th Oct 2015, 04:19 AM
Something to be aware of re the compatibility of epoxy and polyester resins.

Epoxy will bond well to polyester resin (the Goggo shell is odds on to be polyester) but polyester over epoxy will delaminate very quickly and easily, and in fact may not even set.

Goggomobile
18th Oct 2015, 08:38 AM
Bob thanks for the tip ... It would be like me to forget what I've done .. And hey presto delamination 🎃

Ok ... I've talked to a lot of people about thinks you find when scrubbing back ..

1) FG has gone soft and punky
2) FG is water logged like a boat
3) FG has been repaired with bog
4) others ?

im guessing in most cases you cut and dig out and repair properly.

But how do you know or see or test ?

Randal

Goggomobile
18th Oct 2015, 08:50 AM
The Buckle
now I'm jealous ... That would be my dream to restore a Buckle .. I bet they are rarer than Hens Teeths Filings ! ��������������
you would never see one forsale

Randal

Master Splinter
18th Oct 2015, 10:51 AM
But how do you know or see or test ?

Randal

Check out this (and other manuals at the West site)

It covers repairing minor cracks, repairing solid and cored laminate, installing hardware, and a lot more.

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/assets/HowTo-Publications/Fiberglass-Boat-Repair-and-Maintenance.pdf

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/assets/project-images/Project-PDFs-2/Practical.pdf

bob ward
18th Oct 2015, 03:05 PM
Unfortunately, you can end up chasing your tail with these types of badly weathered/abused projects and end up with something worse than what you started off with, especially if you have no fibreglassing experience. The tricky bit is to do the repairs without it looking like it has been repaired.

There are any number of competent (and a few incompetent) small fibreglass boat repair businesses on the Gold Coast who have the skill set to repair your Goggo shell.

Somewhere in Australia someone will have made a mould off a Goggo shell, which is one avenue to pursue if your shell is beyond it.



1) FG has gone soft and punky
2) FG is water logged like a boat
3) FG has been repaired with bog
4) others ?

Randal

bollie7
18th Oct 2015, 07:02 PM
Generally if there's water in the laminate you will get bubbles under the gel coat.
You should be able to feel any soft bits
Go around the car and rap on it with your knuckles. you can hear the difference in thickness. Its a bit hard to explain but once you do it you will know what I mean. When you find bits that sound thicker it could be that the panel is thicker, or that there is a stiffener of some sort in the laminate or a flange behind it etc. Or its been repaired with filler or what ever.
Seriously though, the only real way to do a good resto is to get all the paint off it. Don't go using ordinary paint stripper though or you will end up with no body.
There are strippers available that are suitable for polyester resin but they might be a bit hard to get here in Australia.
Grit blasting is probably the best way to do it. If you can't do that your self then you would need to find someone with a bit of experience in blasting fibreglass as if they don't know what they are doing they can totally stuff the car body very quickly. When I did mine I had a grit blaster and I used crushed limestone as the medium. It was quite cheap at the time. With the setup I had, I was literally able to remove the paint layer by layer.
I have heard that soda blasting works well on F/G too. Something else to look at would be dry ice blasting. The only residue from that would be the old paint. The type of blasting medium used has a big effect on the result. You really can't use garnet or ilmenite etc. They are too sharp for the glass. With the right medium and operator you should be able to get the paint off but leave the gelcoat intact.
Even if the gelcoat comes off in places it doesn't really matter as the car is going to be painted at the finish of it all.
Once you have the paint off you will see what you have to work with.
If you have to do any serious repairs be warned there is a lot of grinding involved. The dust gets everywhere so if you have to go down that path try and isolate part of your work space with plastic sheeting to contain the dust as much as possible. You will also have to get the right safety gear. Paper overalls, head cover and respirator with the right cartridge at the very least.
Glass repairs are not particularly difficult if you get your self set up properly. But it is messy and time consuming.
If you are keen to do this, (and in reality unless you have very deep pockets, doing it yourself is the cheapest way) it would be a costly exercise to pay some one if there are a lot of repairs required. You might be lucky though and find that there's not much repair work needed.
Personally I wouldn't use epoxy on the Gee Ohh Gee Ohh. I think you would be setting yourself up for more problems later on. At least by using polyester, if its done correctly you know it will bond to the old laminate.
If you go this way look at getting yourself an old, but working fridge for the shed to store your resins in. By keeping them in the fridge the shelf life can be extended indefinitely. Particularly if you buy summer resin. (However, once you store resin in the fridge it will not be useful for anything else as the smell from the resin permeates everything. Dont ask me how I know this. lol.)
Having said that, It would really help your self if you research how the polyester resin works. By that I mean what happens when you catalyze the resin. Understanding what happens (otherwords - knowing what you are doing and why) will make it a lot easier and more enjoyable.
I'm happy to help out with my experiences if it means you not reinventing the wheel etc. I don't claim to be an expert. I haven't worked in the industry. All I have done is the Bolwell Mk7. I also did some repair work to a ships lifeboat at work (TAFE) once, and I have also built a few things from F/G for work. So not an expert by any means.
more later

peter