pros and cons fiberglass V medal tubs ????

broncojames · Dec 31, 2009

I am looking for the pros and cons of the fiberglass tubs V medal bronco tubs my driving would not be all that hard core off roading mud bogs trails or rock crawling is not in my game back country and mountain roads and mostly high ways any opinion is more then welcome

Viperwolf1 · Dec 31, 2009

Fiberglass doesn't rust (pro) but it doesn't conduct electricity either (con).

jamie · Dec 31, 2009

glass is great. metal is rusty

marty · Dec 31, 2009

if there is wood in the construcion of the fiberglass like a boat has it can rot too. unless you seal every hole you drill into it with silicone or caulk. the wood absorbs the water between the glass plys and rots and then u have mush. not knocking it but just some info that's all.

Broncitis · Dec 31, 2009

If you are not worried about fit and finish, glass can be a decent option. If you want one to look and fit like a factory body, expect to spend LOTS of time! Another downside of glass is that it can print though and get wavy after painted.

I'm working on a customers project now that has a new Kentrol tub. He bought it as an unfinished project, did a little work and got over his head so he brought it to me to get it running. I told him I would get it running, but did not really have any interest in doing the fit and finish work to make it look factory. It would take more time and money than he would likely want to have me spend on it.

Can anyone tell my why most all of these Kentrols have the bodies shimmed progressivly higher from back to front? This rig has only body mounts in the rear, then mounts and ~1" spacer behind the seats, mounts and 2" spacers on the front floor mounts and mounts and 3"+ spacers at the core support?

I have seen several set up this way?

I'm just glad he does not plan to run doors (or inserts) on this. A friend has an older Kentrol tub with Kenrol doors and a mutual friend who did the body work said it took days and days of triming, adding, grinding and fitting to make the doors fit half decent. The rig looks very nice now, but it has LOTS of time in it by a couple of very skilled people.

broncojames · Dec 31, 2009

Thanks guys sounds to me the fast way is not always cheaper think I'll stay with my original tub and just get the few new medal to restore my 66 if i go to uncut rear panels with a 31/2" lift what is the bigest and widest tire i can run ? right now iv got 33 12.50 15

Ohio Bill · Jan 1, 2010

X2 what Drew said. we had a club member do two fiberglass jobs both were a night mare.

ryoungbronco · Jan 1, 2010

I'm very satisfied with my fiberglass body. There is a lot of work to get it going, cutting, fitting, tapping. You will need to keep the old body around to take measurements from. I've enjoyed the challenge it is like a lego project. The biggest reason I went with fiberglass was time. If I were to replace all the rust on my original tub I'd still be working on it. No matter what you do there will be pros and cons. The fiberglass tub was expensive but for what I'm doing it was worth every dollar.

broncojames · Jan 1, 2010

well a lot of the rust (floors) was done by previous owners. just door jams and posts is all i see now but only the rust gods know what will come out after blasting. but i am going for fit and finish and over all value. and paying a body shop for the work but will be doing all i can as well to help stretch my budget out as far as i can

VT_Don · Jan 1, 2010

Drew, I have a couple questions regarding your post. I'm familiar with wave or straightness flaws in molded fiberglass. But don't understand how a body can get wavy after painting. Meaning, if I rough sand, fill, block and color sand a body dead straight, waves form after painting?

I plan to trial mount a new body. Cut all opens, mount accessories align and shim such that when attached to the frame absolutely no stress is imparted. Body will then be disassembled and painted separately. After paint cures, will reinstall being careful body mount shims are exactly correct. Will be using OEM rubber, or very pliable urethane mounts to best absorb vibrations. Typical, urethane mounts are way too stiff.

The other point is the spacers you mentioned. Does Kentrol's instructions address this? Are their mounting points that far out of position? If so, that alone my steer me away from their product. Has Kentrol ever justified their wooden core material? Contemporary, composite manufacturers of boats abandoned this years ago.

marty · Jan 1, 2010

the reasom they get wavey is because of shrinkage from the sun and heat. my friend in the body shop would install fiberglass hoods all the time first thing he would do was put the hood on the car and put it in the spray booth and let it bake for a few hours.then he would leave it out in the sun and get some uv rays. then he would fit and finish for paint. even after all this my hood on my mustang still showed some flaws from shrinkage. i am in the marine business and see these things all the time. fiberglass is nice but it takes a lot to make it look awesome. you will always see where all the supports are especially when the paint gets some dew on it. and there is a big difference between hand laid fiberglass and chopper gun lay up. hand laid is way better.

Broncitis · Jan 1, 2010

Marty pretty much summed up my statement on the printing through. Resin will "move" with heat cycles fom sun, engine heat, etc.

The customer did not get any Kentrol instructions for the tub when he bought the project. I planned on calling a local 4WD shop that had been a Kentrol dealer for 20-30 years on Monday.

I pulled out all the goofy mounts today and set it down on a set of new poly mounts. So far I think it will work this way (did not see anything hitting on the drivetrain), not sure why they odd increasingly taller mounts were there?

I need to reinstall the hood to see if it clears the engine still.

More work on that project tomorrow...

ken75ranger · Jan 2, 2010

Drew,
if you can't find the Kentrol instructions let me know. I should have a hard copy I can scan and email to you.
The Kentrol bodies should have normal body mounts plus the usual shim here and there for better alignment when tightening to maintain door openings.
EDIT
I found the pdf for installation instructions.
http://www.kentrolinc.com/prodimg/howto/Bronco_Int_Inst.pdf

Broncitis · Jan 2, 2010

Thanks Ken!

rekoj71 · Jan 2, 2010

My mounts were normal. X2 on the fact that fiberglass does take a fair amount of work. I'm in the middle of my project and just like good metal work it takes time. I am looking forward to no rust to wory about though, but if I only had a few things to patch up then I would stay metal, but I had problems with most every panel. Everytime I slammed the door, pieces would fall out from under the truck.

clarrance · Jan 2, 2010

I have heard alot of horror stories about the Kentrol tubs. I have seen a couple that did not fit well. We used a Terra Comp tub on my father-in-laws Bronco and it fit very very well. All the doors, fenders, hood fit just like it was meant to be. If I was building another Bronco with alot of rust I would do a Terra Comp tub in a second. I was very impressed with the outcome.

ryoungbronco · Jan 2, 2010

clarrance said:
I have heard alot of horror stories about the Kentrol tubs. I have seen a couple that did not fit well. We used a Terra Comp tub on my father-in-laws Bronco and it fit very very well. All the doors, fenders, hood fit just like it was meant to be. If I was building another Bronco with alot of rust I would do a Terra Comp tub in a second. I was very impressed with the outcome.

That is why I went with Terracomp, although I heard many of the horror stories about Kentrol were there older bodies. The only issue so far was the center support is thick and I had to cut my body lift by 1in. to have the body sit level. It wasn't a big deal but something someone pointed out to me so I was ready. The other thing I was disappointed about was the lack of instructions that came with the body.

22213evl · Jan 2, 2010

rekoj71 said:
but I had problems with most every panel. Everytime I slammed the door, pieces would fall out from under the truck.

I thought that was normal.

treihesse · Jan 3, 2010

Im not sure if this is fact or not. I was reading some info on the glass bodies and they seemed to weigh more than the steel tubs?? I hate working on glass. Another note is if you wheel your truck hard glass does not like to "flex" a whole lot and when you wack it alot of stress cracks form and its alot of fun to fix. Make sure you use a bonding and flex agent in your paints it will save you alot of headaches later.

allenfahey · Jan 3, 2010

There's alot of good fiberglass prep info on Facory Five Racing forum http://www.ffcobra.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=33

I have an old Kentrol tub and it is VERY wavy. I doubt I'll do all the work to get it any straighter since it's a trail rig. I paint cars for a living so I hate working on my own vehicles since it doesn't pay much

The only reason mine has paint on it is I wanted it in one color so I put sealer on it. Said to myself might as well goto work and get paint and clear at this point so I did.

Make sure to check the manufacturers TDS before adding any flex agent. Most paint manufacturers already has flex agent in the clear already for plastic bumpers. I know Spies, Sherwin, Standox, ect. do.

pros and cons fiberglass V medal tubs ????

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