[JustinGray]

Hey guys. I just recently wresled my Insight from my Dad. He was gonna sell it, so I threatened to disown him.

Im ready to do some of seemingly common mods. But when I went to buy the arm rest, i got the amazing shock of seeing it cost over 80.00 dollars. Did everyone pay that much for it or am i missing something.

Im a GA TECH student, with a love of the do-it-yourself project. I have contemplated making my own fiberglass console and then upholstering it myself. Some nice streched tight lycra or neoprene would look really cool in there, and it would not get hot in the summer at all either.

I havent done any fiberglass work before, but i suspect it isnt too difficult. My plan was to carve the shape i wanted out of stiff foam fisrt, then lay the fiberglass on there after that.

Any opoinions/suggestions? Any one know where to get an armrest cheaper than 80 bucks?

 

[Rick Reece]

I tested the armrest before they started selling to the public so I got a nice discount. I rarely use the cup holders but I do use the armrest a lot. The Insight armrest is pretty narrow compared to other vehicles but you could probably build one. If you want to take some measurements of the husco armrest I am in Greenville, SC. Have fun, RIck

 

[Guest]

Hi JustinGray:

___I knew quite a bit about the Insight before I purchased mine but I didn’t have any seat time. Since I picked it up in Sioux Fall’s SD., I had a nice 550 mile drive home to get to know her. After about 300 miles, I definitely found out what was missing … Following this forums lead and seeing the Husco on 2 Insight’s (Rick’s was one of them), I pulled the trigger. It isn’t worth $80.00 in terms of parts but it’s worth its weight in gold if you drive some distance imho. In other words, if you could find it cheaper somewhere else, buy it. Unfortunately, it is not available from anywhere else that I know of so buck up and have your dad purchase it for a coming home present or something

___If you do any long distance miles, it is the one mod I wouldn’t be without myself. The Gray matches the Insight’s interior quite well also.

___Here are the two Insight mod pages (including Rick’s) w/ Husco arm rests installed if you haven’t run into them already …

• Rick Reece’s Insight Mod’s[/*:m:ev2dtcso]
• Portev’s Insight Mod’s[/*:m:ev2dtcso]

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:ev2dtcso][email protected][/email:ev2dtcso]

 

[b1shmu63]

Fiberglass is a real mess to work with. I don't recoment that you do. If you do.....try to get marine grade resin as it is much stronger than the stuff they sell for fixing car bodies. (Polyester as opposed to Styrene I believe). There are specialty UV curing pre-impregnated materials for building aeroplanes but they are really expensive.

 

[JustinGray]

Fiberglass is a little bit of a mess.... but its not to bad if you just lay some plastic down first. I have done some cool things with fiberglass in the past.

Actually my dad is a doctor, and he has all kinds of fiberglass glassting materials. So when i started we would go into his office on weekends and make things out of that. Its really cool, cures with water. Doesnt have a very nice finish though. I made a console for a wrangler with that.

Never used marine grade fiberglass though, cool idea. i always just got what i wanted off ebay... really cheap that way.

 

[Tim Maddux]

Something that mixes with water and cures sounds more like a cement than a resin or an epoxy.

Polyester resins come in a number of flavors. Many of them contain styrene monomer. If you go this route, you will probably want to use sanding resin. Laminating resin dries tacky/wet and is designed to take another coat of resin without being sanded first (laminating resin is badly weakened by sanding). UV-curing resin is good because it avoids the use of MEKP (catalyst, nasty stuff), you don't have to worry about your resin going off (hardening) before you are ready, and it emits less VOCs.

You didn't say what type of foam you planned to use. Polyurethane foam is compatible with polyester resin. Polystyrene foam (aka styrofoam) is not, and will dissolve if you put polyester resin on it. So, if you plan to use polystyrene foam, you will need to use epoxy resin rather than polyester resin.

When working with any of these resins, you should wear an air-purifying respirator with an organic vapor cartridge. I'm talking about a rubber mask that seals around your face that you screw metal canisters into, not a dust/mist respirator and definitely not one of those worthless hospital masks that people mistakenly thought would protect them from SARS.

http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/