Body experts..Cracks in grill area of my turbo tail... fiberglass repair or epoxy?

[x2nervisx]

I have a 2 cracks in the grill area of my tea tray turbo spoiler. One is a smaller hairline crack and the other you can actually see some separation. What is a better repair for this? Should I widen the cracks out and fill in with epoxy and sand it down smooth or should I grind it down and fill it in with fiberglass repair?

I posted this in the 911 tech forums and they told me to post here for a better response.. from what some people have said is to lay some fiberglass underneath the crack on the underside of the spoiler and to widen the crack a bit and fill it in with epoxy or duraglas on top. Does this seem right?

[David McLaughlin]

I would scratch up the back side with course sand paper and apply resin and some 'glass mat. Once set, flip over and fill the widened cracks with resin. Sand smooth and fill remaining voids with filler. Prep and sand grill. The back side can be ground smooth too if it's visible.

[toddc]

agree with David, it needs some support on the back side or the crack will reappear.


todd

[962porsche]

that looks like a aftermarket part ?
even though you will see this on the OE tails you do see it more on the aftermarket ones .
the reason is your missing all the ducting that should be bolted to the under side of the vent .
the ducting is put there for many reasons one is for support of the hole panel it's self the other is to really make the venting work the way it should .
the fix for what you have now is you have to repair both sides of the tail . the will require to 1st grind the top and bottom sides down to bare fiberglass . grind it thin as to avoid build up from adding more glass on top of what is there .
do your lay ups of glass until it's level with the old fiberglass . then do your plastic filler work and primer then paint .
for that I would go with a 2.5 glass cloth two to three layers top and under side .
if you don't want it to keep cracking you should go get the lowers and all the other parts you need to 1st duct the air and 2nd to support the hole thing the way it should be.

[x2nervisx]

Thanks guys!! I'll be doing this fix in the next few weeks and I'll post my hopefully successful repair when I'm done.

[Kemo]

Good advice here as usual. I just finished a fiberglass repair class at the local community college here in austin. The only thing i would add is to make sure you strip backe the gel coat on both sides a few inches out further than your fiberglass mat. Give yourself some good over lap like 1.5" on each side of the crack. Be sure and taper the area leading into the crack. If you are using dry mat and mixing up the resin, use a dixie cup and a disposable stirring device like a plastic knife. Then use a cheap 1" paint brush to dabb the resin in there. Make sure you get all the bubbles out. I was instructed to use metal tape on the outside of the repair to hold things in place and to prevent the resin from running thru. Once the bacside repair has been done, remove the tape and begin building up the front. Other tips include trimming back the bristles on the paint brush,using baby powder all over to prevent itchy, gloves,goggles,long sleeves and a respirator! I was shocked at how stout fiberglass can be...we were banging it with ball peen hammers and what not trying to creat an area to practice on. Looking forward to some updates!

[Kemo]

Oh..and make sure you blow off the area real well after prep to help avoid adheision problems