Sorry Bob, but I can't resist. 
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Lane:
To resist is futile! Surrender to the obvious!
We are all going to die of something...I guarantee it!
Don't ever use a regular high speed steel drill bit for Fiberglas, it will rip the hell out of it. Don't ask how I know! I use a step drill which works great, or a forstner bit for wood which also work well.
James O said: Are you replacing the entire outer skin of your engine lid? I have done that and it's fairly easy. I used one of Carey's louvered skins and bonded it to my inner lid. I used a 18 tooth blade and cut thru the edge, around the perimeter of the lid.
In looking at the engine lid on my CMC it looks like the 2 lid halves (top and bottom) are bonded together with pink bondo. Seems a Dremel or oscillating cutting tool could zip thru that softer bondo and separate the 2 pieces without destroying the visible edge or the old non-louvered top piece. On my CMC the door skins are bonded the same way. I would have bonded with resin or "Gorilla hair" - which would be near impossible to easily cut through.
First image is rusty tubs louvers and 2nd is Beck SE version with taller more usable louvers.
WOLFGANG posted:In looking at the engine lid on my CMC it looks like the 2 lid halves (top and bottom) are bonded together with pink bondo. Seems a Dremel or oscillating cutting tool could zip thru that softer bondo and separate the 2 pieces without destroying the visible edge or the old non-louvered top piece. On my CMC the door skins are bonded the same way. I would have bonded with resin or "Gorilla hair" - which would be near impossible to easily cut through.
Wolfgang it was the same with mine. The pink bondo was very easy to saw thru without damaging the inner or outer lid. Actually a fine tooth hacksaw blade, wrapped in duct tape on one end, worked well to part the lid once I got started. I ground off all the pink Bondo and used Evercoat fiberglass reinforced filler to bond the new outer skin. The Evercoat products are great in my opinion.
Fpcopo VS posted:Don't ever use a regular high speed steel drill bit for Fiberglas, it will rip the hell out of it. Don't ask how I know! I use a step drill which works great, or a forstner bit for wood which also work well.
An old machinist trick for drilling hard materials or brass is to blunt the cutting edge of the drill bit. You just need to remove the positive rake by grinding about a 1/16th inch flat on the cutting edge. This produces a zero or slightly negative rake and prevents ripping into the fiberglass. I just finished installing all my fasteners for the top and had no casualties. 
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OK - photo is of underside of metal lid but same idea for fiberglass pieces. The red penciled in marks are near where the bondo is? Just trying to clarify for Carl --- I have not actually separated two so just from my visualization. Do you have any photos?
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WOLFGANG posted:OK - photo is of underside of metal lid but same idea for fiberglass pieces. The red penciled in marks are near where the bondo is? Just trying to clarify for Carl --- I have not actually separated two so just from my visualization. Do you have any photos?
I do not have any pictures of the process. You are correct about where the bondo is located. I cut from the outer edge, perpendicular to the line you drew. I tried to preserve as much of the inner lid as possible, even if I left remnants of the outer lid. Then I cleaned everything up with a 36 grit sanding disc on a 4" grinder.
In hindsight, I think I could have just ground the top surface (outer skin) down to the bondo and then peeled it off from the inner lid. It would have been a lot of dust, but would have resulted in the same outcome, without the sawing.
I hope this all makes sense.
James