Hurricane or FFR? Body questions

[MAchine]

Hi all,
I am in the same position I believe many of you are or were in- debating between Hurricane and another builder, in this case, FFR. I was pretty much dead set on a FFMarkIII until I saw the Hurricane, now I'm confused. Since I am going with a non-donor build, I came to the conclusion that the Hurricane is the hands-down, no-brainer choice, especially after speaking with Mike and a few of you owners out there who were so kind to take the time to talk. I was then pretty much set to call Mike back until FFR put out their summer sale worth $2400 in kickbacks. Now, it's a real toss-up. I think that just goes to reinforce what a great value the Hurricane is. After tons of research and phone calls, I really believe this is a product and company that is on the up, and I really want to give Mike and his company my business. That said, I have one final reservation, namely the body.
The body and paint will be something I have to farm out, and the person I want to do it has done lots of FFR's but not a Hurricane yet. I have been told that certain bodies can be up to $3000 more in body work to build up the panels(from several body shops), that it's not the seams that are difficult, it's that some kits are as wavy as the ocean and have to be straightened.

Could you please respond with your experiences with the body work, if you or your body shop had difficulty, if it cost more than anticipated, and if you've had any cracks or problems with the body itself? I'd really appreciate it. I know what I want to hear, because I really think Mike and his company are stand up people that I want to help support, but do want to hear what you have to say.

Thanks
Gene
(760)634-3222

[LMH]

Hey Gene,
I haven't been much into the body work on my Hurricane yet but I have recently finished the body work on my brothers FFR. Personally, I found the FFR needed a lot of work that I don't think my Hurricane will need.
I had a lot of trouble with the FFR's hood not fitting the shape of the body. It needed more bow than was cast into it. The trunk had a similar problem. It was a lot of work to get them right. My Hurricane fits really well w/o having done anything to it yet.
The body seams on the FFR weren't too bad to deal with but the Hurricane has much smaller seams and doesn't have the large ridge created when the pieces are bonded together. Also the seams don't run down the top of the fenders as they do on the FFR. I've seen a number of painted FFR's with cracks running the length of the body where the joints are.
Both will require priming/blocking, so that's really a wash.
Hurricane uses Coremat under the fenders to prevent rocks from "Staring" the paint from underneath. FFR doesn't, so it should have some kind of undercoating applied to the underside for protection of the top coat.
I know it sounds like I'm FFR bashing but I'm really not.

[MFE III]

Here's my experience. I too recognize that doing the body work is out of my abilities. So I checked with a few body shops and visited twice with a guy that specializes in FFR's (Jeff Miller in Temecula CA).
He's very comfortable with FFR's and hasn't yet seen a Hurricane. When I talked about the difference in mold separation lines (i.e., that Huricanes have much tighter, smaller and shorter ones), and the rolled cockpit edges. he said that's the easy stuff. In his mind, it's the wavyness of the panels that takes alot of time and becomes costly.

[66rdster]

Hi Gene,
I haven't personally done an FFR so I can't really compare the two, but, I recently met an FFR owner in my area and he came by to check out my car. He was impressed with the quality, fit and finish of the Hurricane body. He thought it was much better than his FFR body, especially the seams, thickness of the glass and panel fit.

I'm in the process of doing my body work now. I have found that my Hurricane body is nice and straight and has very little waviness. I've done the initial blocking right on the gel coat and there is very little in the way of waves. In fact, I'm about 2/3 finished with the initial blocking and so far no filler has been used to correct any waviness on the body itself. The seams are very small and little is required in the way of work or filler to smooth them. I have had to use some filler around the trunk and door edges in some areas to level them to the body, but again, very little is required and is probably less than is required on most fiberglass cars. Overall, I'm impressed with the quality of the body. It is solid and straight and IMO requires less prep than most  fiberglass cars.


Mike

[Ryan Cassidy]

My Body is in the process of being Primed right now.

[MAchine]

Hi all,
Thanks for the quick responses. I really appreciate the candid feedback. I actually talked to Jeff Miller also, and have called several body shops around the country. What I am hearing is that you can't expect any body to be paintable without some work, each has it's own quirks, it's just that most people have become comfortable with the issues that they have to deal with regarding the FFRs. Unfortunately, I want Jeff to do my body and he is going to do two Hurricanes, but not til the end of the month. I am eager to see what he ends up saying. Regardless of what I end up choosing, I really think you all have made a very wise choice and when I recommend kits to prospective buyers, Hurricane will be at the top of my list for non-donor builds, which I believe are becoming the build-modality of choice.
Thanks again for the info and I hope to be an owner on this thread some time soon.
Gene