Cowl fiberglass resto

[Masonk3859]

Does anyone know how I could fix this flaking at the bottom of my cowl? The old staples ripped some of the glass strands out… I plan on painting the cowling so I do not want to just cover up the impurities with the new seal..want to do it right

 

[kcassells]

Your going to have to remove all loose glass. Sorta like "scoop" it out.
Put a pc of laminate, plastic, wood strip on the back inside to follow contour.
Start to do glass work and build up to size. Sand, paint etcccc.
You should put a pc. of plastic like a trash bag on the face of the template described above. This will prohibit the glass from sticking to your template.

 

[Chris1956]

Fairly easy fix. Mostly cometic.

Originally the cowling was made in a Mold. You need to use something on the outside to mimic the Mold. Likely a piece of lath would work. Build up the cowling fron the inside, with a bit of fiberglass. Cloth or mat would work fine. Saturate with resin and let set. Pull the mold off when not quite cured. Fill any imperfections with polyester puttty and sand smooth.

 

[kcassells]

Nah...inside so cowl fits right back in and an easier face to sand/prep. imho.

 

[Chris1956]

Gee, don't you want the outside to look the best? That is where the form needs to be IMO. The inside can be sanded to fit. It is not a precision fit.

The Mechanical Engineers metalworking creed is "Hammer to shape, file to fit, paint to hide"! Fiberglass Engineers do it a bit differently, they skip the hammering part.

 

[silverbul]

Don't know how tight that cowl fits but you could go with something like this. jmo

 

[kcassells]

Either way works. Go for it.

 

[Chris1956]

Gee, the worst that can happen is that you learn something about fiberglass. It is a simple repair. All labor...Repair, fill, sand repeat.