1979 Baja damaged in the front nose piece

[littlejay]

https://www.flickr.com/gp/97303458@N00/1597gf

So damaged my Baja today. Hit the front of it with my trailer. Super bummed. It's the thick headlights in the nose piece front. Wonder if I can get just one of those. Which I haven't seen sold by itself. Of do some fiberglass work to it to try to fix it up. Although color won't match afterwards. Maybe I'll pint it black and my hood after fixing some chips and the edges of my hood. Any ideas?

[MIBaja]

You can buy just the nose piece. http://markvfiberglass.com/k101-n-1949-1977-vw-bee...r-beetles/

Is that the only piece that needs to be fixed? Fiberglass is pretty simple and it should be able to be fixed. Fix from the rear where it cant be seen. Depending on how well the crack lines up you may need some body filler to clean it up.

Good Luck

[littlejay]

Thanks. It is cracked in a couple of spots and snapped where it mounts at teh body. Its going to be hard to not have to be repainted. Been looking into fixing it myself. Thinking about fixing some of the edges of my hood too and maybe plactic diping the nose piece and hood black. Paint is 20 years old single stage. I can't imagine it can be matched.

[dustymojave]

You can get fiberglass repair kits with resin and cloth at auto parts stores and Walmart or smaller Ace or True Value hardware stores. They come with the clear resin and a little bottle of catalyst.

- Take out the headlights.
- Remove the fiberglass piece from the body.
- Sand the paint off in the repair area and several inches out. Sand the inside in the repair area. A jitterbug with 80 grit aluminum oxide will work well. Sandpaper for wood is not good for this. A rotary sander can work, but is likely to make flat spots and such. A dual-action sander will work well though.
- Fit the broken area together as well as you can. It may be necessary to make ugly temporary repairs using strips of tin can and self-drilling Tek screws to bridge the gap and hold things in place.
- Cut pieces of glass cloth to fit over the area. Figure on at least 4 layers of cloth to apply to the inside and 2 for the outside.
- Mix resin in a cup like a washed-out butter tub. Add just a few drops of catalyst. Mix well.
- Paint a layer on the surface with a disposable brush. Apply a piece of cloth and use the brush to push the cloth into the resin. Brush on another layer of resin. Apply another layer of glass and press it in with the brush.
- Throw the brush into a plastic trash bag and let the remaining resin set up with the resin on the body part.
- When the resin has set up in 20 minutes or so, turn the part over. See if the gap has junk in it. If it's clean, apply fiber-reinforced Bondo with a plastic spatula to fill flush.
- After that sets, grind it smooth and flush.
- Apply resin and cloth over the bondo.
- When that has set up, Apply a thin layer of bondo (regular or fiber-reinforced) over the glass on the outside of the part after sanding it with the 80 grit again.
- When the Bondo has set to rubbery, use a "cheese grater" (Stanley "SurForm" tool) to cut the bondo down to level.
- When the bondo has hardened, sand the Bondo smooth.
- Spray a quick shot of primer. When that sets thoroughly, sand the paint to see if it's smooth. The sand paper will remove paint from the high spots and leave primer in the low spots.
- Bondo more as needed. Keep it thin.
- Grate and sand again.
- Re-primer.
- Sand again. If there are small low spots and dips, they can be filled with "Spot Putty". Does not need catalyst unless you get the expensive kind. Wipe it on. Let it set.
- Re-prime. Let set. Sand again.
- Spray with rattle can.
- Re-assemble.

-FINITO
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[dustymojave]

Oh, BTW.

Your headline for this thread says "1979 Baja". If it were a US delivery Bug and it was a '79, it would be a Super Beetle convertible. I presume that was a Typo for "1969".
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.