Dune Buggy Building Fail

sockles (50)in #cars • 7 years ago

Sigh, on today's episode of Tyler sucks at everything... I just got finished with mounting the dashboard I had cut a couple months ago on my CNC machine and it was the very last piece of the puzzle before taking this buggy out on the street. Oh and the tube bumper which I hadn't taken any photos of yet.

The hood needed to be secured to the rest of the body so I attempted that today. It only takes four bolts, two towards the back and two up near the front. Well upon securing the VERY last screw, the fiberglass dashboard (not the wood dashboard I made) ripped itself from the rest of the hood. I guess the hood and dash were formed as two pieces when it was made and joined together.
I had reinforced the two a couple years ago and I thought that was enough. Apparently not.

So here I am trying not to be super pissed. I'm not even sure how to fix it. I've worked with epoxy and fiberglas before but I'm not that great at it and I don't want to ruin the brand new black paint job of the rest of the hood.

Anyone out there that has any background in car autobody repair?

I'm thinking about beveling the two pieces out at the crack and using a strip of fiberglas and filler to join the two. But the problem is, the windshield mounts to where the crack has occured. So I don't know what to do.