Since Joline is in CA for a few days, I have taken the opportunity to make lots of noise and dust in the shop.
There are vent holes molded into the fiberglass body to relieve aerodynamic pressure but they needed to be cut out to make them functional.
I came up with a method to cut out the vents in the rear body and in the top of the front fenders. Here is how I am doing it:
First, I cut a template from a scrap of 1/16" aluminum that fit into the vent and then drilled 1/8” pilot holes near the ends and at regular spaces in between. These are used as pilot holes for a 1” hole saw. To prevent scarring the fiberglass, I covered the template with Blue painters’ tape. Since the holes are being drilled at an angle relative to the fiberglass, the holes must be enlarged from 1/8” to 1/4” is steps- otherwise the drill point will just skate around instead of following the pilot hole.
The 1/4” pilot drill that came with the hole saw was too short for using at this angle so I replaced it with a long one that I had. I also used the aluminum template for protection from the hole saw by taping it on the lower edge of the vent depression and then ran the hole saw through each pilot hole.
An el-cheapo Harbor Freight “air body saw” with a “coarse” 24TPI blade was used to make straight cuts between the holes. If you are careful, the cuts will be pretty good but they need to be finish-sanded to get the edges straighter. An on-sale HF “oscillating multi-tool” with a carbide abrasive blade gets into the edges of the vents and sands the fiberglass nicely. Painting the exposed cut edges will be a final touch.
The advantage of using a 1” hole saw for the end cuts is that it leaves a radiused hole instead of a square one which you would get by sawing all the way to the ends of the vents. This prevents cracking from long-term vibration.
Comments, questions, & criticism cheerfully accepted- as always.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ