Moostafa29

Can't wait to see how it turn out!

KYLiquid

cant wait to see it.

NVMYGT

what he said.

Moostafa29

How did it turn out?

jenkins-crew

Yeah, I gotta see the installed pics!

rkostolni

I installed it last night. Fitment is great, the pod looks awesome. Only problem is when I was comparing color chips to the dash piece, stupidly I did it at night by flashlight because I'm an impatient fool. At the time I thought the dash was a very dark grey. No though, its black. That was immediatly obvious once I looked at it during the day. So the pod is off a couple of shades of color which isn't a big deal. I just need to buy the correct color paint and respray it. I have some pics of it installed that I will post up when I get home tonight.

jenkins-crew

Sweet, can't wait to see!

army_rx8

great job...now make a diy hehehehe i kid...something tells me that the average person could do this (with out and experiance) correct?

rkostolni

Its not as easy as you may think. First you have to know what materials to use. Many epoxies don't stick to plastics, many paints don't stick to other paints if you don't use the right kind of primer it will crack or won't adhere well....

Then you have to know how to make the things which requires some creative thinking.

Then its a skill that requires practice to actually applying the materials correctly. If you use to much hardner in the resin the glass will get very hot and warp/melt the peice you are glassing onto, if you don't use enough it won't get completely hard. If you apply the fillers too thick it will crack when the piece flexes. Then you have to know what grit sandpaper to use on what. If you sand it with too course, then the filler tends to pit and you'll have sanding lines. If you sand it with too fine paper, then the paint won't adhere properly.

Also the materials that I use are all industrial grade so they are expensive and must be bought in a large quantities. For example the adhesive I use is 3M Duramix. The smallest tube you can buy of this is $40 and $12 for the applicator tips. I spent $60 in paint to paint this thing, primer, texture color, clear.

If I told you exactly what to buy and how to do it, its very unlikely that someone who has never done this before could make this on the first try. It's similar to painting a car, if I told you exactly how to do it and what to use, you still couldn't just go out and paint a car, it requires practice.

rkostolni

Here's the pic of the pod installed. Note: the color is off as mentioned above, I will repaint it and I'm also going to work on the texture some more this weekend, I haven't had much time during this past week.

Moostafa29

What happened to the vents?

rkostolni

Oh they just aren't in, you can't see it in the photo, but the dash board is still competely apart. The vents just snap in. I didn't put it all back together because the finish isn't right yet, so it needed to come back out.

This is all taking a very long time because I was very busy this week and just haven't had any time to work on it.

The point of the photo was just to show the fitment of the pod and give a general idea of what it might look like.

Moostafa29

I can see how it is apart now. I'm sure it will come out great in the end, no rush. Oh, if you find that bag with a mil in it, could you please return it to me, I seem to be short (=0P

rkostolni

By the way, if anyone is wondering how to get that dash piece out, here's a pic of everything that must come out before it will pop out.

jenkins-crew

Very nice man, very good work. We await the final outcome.

LiL BenNy

im gonna revive this from the dead.....

rkostolni few questions..

what did you make the pods out of? did you buy universal pods then mold them to the dash or did oyu make your own pods from scratch?


im looking into buying universal pods then do some FG work and mold them... what adhesive would oyu recomend me using?

rkostolni

This one was made from scratch. I later made another version from universal pods to save time. The pictures of v2 are also posted here: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-interior-audio-electronics-24/fiberglassed-gauge-pod-74958/

As far as adhesives, it depends on what you're adhering and what level of strength is needed. I use crazy glue, 3M spray adhesive, generic 2 part epoxy, and for the really strong stuff Duramix 40/40.

Resin will disolve many single stage glues though. So if you're thinking you'll spray-glue fabric then resin it, better use plenty of staples as well.