Jerry Feather

I pulled this cover out of my stash of cores to use for this how-to on the way I restore and cover a 928 pod. I'm going to leave it in this thread because this seems to be where there are so many of you interested in at least one way to do the pod. I can't say that my way is the best and since I have only done three others I may find out that my way is an utter failure; but there seems to be no one else on here willing to share their experience with the do it yourself guys.

This one picture shows the pod after I have first coated each of two major cracks all the way across and a couple if smaller ones, then sanded the filler out. In doing that I doscovered that the central top of this pod is pretty uneven, so I have put another coat of the filler over the whole area and will sand it out to smooth the surface when it is fully cured.

Included in the picture is the filler I am using. It is by EVERCOAT and is called POLY-FLEX. It is a Flexible Polyester Glazing Putty. It is two part and works up like bondo, smells like bondo and cures out about like bondo. However I do not cheese-grate it after it sets but before it is very hard. I just sand it out with my orbital sander with 100 grit paper. You can probably find this stuff at your auto Paint store.

I'll show a picture of this pod after I have sanded it again.

Jerry Feather

yardpro

any polyester filler is the same as bondo. they are all basically fiberglass resins

Jerry Feather

Thanks Steven for that bit of info. I think the key difference to the one I am using is the word "flexible."

Jerry Feather

bradartigue

Poly-flex has a "flex agent" already in it; the ones that don't tend to crack when they are filling things like dashboards and rubber 928 bumpers. The Bondo brand is about 20 different products and some are poly and some do flex and some are both and some require an agent, and so on, and so on. An alternative is to add a flex agent to Bondo if you already have some. 3M also makes a flexible polyester product:

http://catalogue.3m.eu/en_eu/eu-aad/...aterial~nocode

yardpro

i hope i did not come off as a smart aleck... wasn't trying to..
I have grown up working with various fiberglass and resins (plastics).. so i assume that many here are unfamiliar with them and do not know that bondo is really only thickened polyester resin. you can make similar concoctions by adding micro balloons, fairing additives etc... it is much cheaper, and you can actually get a better suited product.

was not trying to give you a hard time....

FYI there are a ton of new epoxy resins that are much better suited to automobile repair than the polyesters. the adhesion of the west system etc.. are phenomenal... the can be a little difficult to sand, but with some cabosil, microballoons, faring filler, etc. they are awesome products.

you can even get low friction additives like graphite, strengthening fabrics like kevlar, and aluminum for barrier coating... or conductivity....

there are a ton of products out there for the marine industry that will work great in our automotive applications.

just wanted to throw that out there..

M. Requin

Got an idea- I'll send mine (the tube, not the patterns!) back so you can re-use it. Would that be useful? It's not about the $, just the convenience.

M. Requin

Morehead City, West Systems, so what do you sail?

yardpro

yes,
we have a 1966 Sagitta 30.
a limited run (only 40 made) dutch sailboat
http://www.sckruger.dk/Sagitta30igennemtiderne.htm
we are however the rare breed that enjoy the motor boat as well..

Jerry Feather

No hard time seen in your post, Steven. For all my work in plastics, at least in the recent few years, I have not gotten very involved in resins and such. I buy epoxy on eBay by the gallon for form making and I have used bondo in body work for years, but I haven't realy tried to learn much about it. Your information was appreciated by me and I am sure useful to the others.

Jerry Feather

Martin, about the tube, I am sure to find a few more, so don't send yours back. JF

Jerry Feather

I found a bunch more of mailing tubes at the FedEx store and can now send out the rest of the patterns and instructions that have been requested. I have to go back to the office and copy some more instructions, but I think I can get these in the mail this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

Jerry Feather

Jerry Feather

I got the last bunch of patterns and instructions sent this afternoon. Now we have a pretty nice little pod recover class of nearly 30 students.

I sanded out the filler I showed before and here is what it looks like. There are two or three very tiny defects, but I doubt that I will fill them and sand again because I don't think they will telegraph through the leather or if they do they will simply blend with the leather texture.

Next I will be cutting out the leather; and when I do I'll explain about the small adjustment we are going to make in the patterns that I have sent everyone in the class. I suggest that before any of you start cutting your material that you wait for the adjustment explanation.

Bilal928S4

Jerry,
Thank you very much. I just received my patterns today. Is there any way to do a vinyl covering with this pod also to mimick the original.
Bilal

yardpro

jerry....
you rock

Jerry Feather

The first class assignment for the class is for each of you to study the patterns so that you understand everything that I have written on them. Do this in conjunction with reading the instructions thru carefully. Then read them again so that you are sure that you understand at least what I am saying even if you are not sure how some or any of it applies to your pod.

The instructions point out that this pattern and these instructions can be used to cover the pod in vinyl. As to "mimicking" the original, I think that is a whole different animal

I think there might be a process to completely cover one of our 928 pods with one continuous piece of vinyl, and it will be much like the process I have read a little about which is done by an outfit in Van Nuys, CA called Just Dashes, I think.

I have actually looked into developing such a process myself, but have gone this leather direction instead. I found a source for some vinyl that when heated it will stretch to about two and a half its original size, and it will stretch in both directions. You would need to have a particular kind of vacuum table made up that will do the vacuum pull in two stages. One stage would pull the heated vinyl down into the tunned and into the switch recesses all from the front, then the second stage would pull the vinyl all around the outside surfaces.

I don't know how the texture of the vinyl will be affected in this process and I haven't bought any of the vinyl to try anything with. Too, the heat stretchable vinyl was only available in limited colors, so there will be some necessity of vinyl painting to match anything but black.

Jerry Feather

Fogey1

Got it just now. Thanks, Jerry. Very informative, and generous.

Nice tube, too. Good design.