Oceanbiz

Hi All

The black plastic trim around the edge of the rear compartment has a crack in it. I tried Super Glue and it will not hold. Is there a glue or a chemical that will seal teh crack? I know that some plastics do not take the common glues on the market, but maybe there is one that I am not aware of. In my shop school many many years ago, we learned about solvents that would melt/glue plexiglass. But this molded plastic in teh car is a different kind of plastic.

Thanks for any replies.

Dan

hcbph

Dan

Have you checked out: http://www.plastex.net/Product_Info.php

I've used that both to repair cracks and even making some missing plastic parts on my 86 before with success. I even used it to remake some missing tabs on the dash and they worked out.

Good luck

Paul

Joe C

I've found that if you back up the crack with thin aluminum and JB weld, the repairs usually hold up quite well.



scuff and clean, and coat surfaces with JB weld, and pop-rivet together. the end result will be as good as new.

Oceanbiz

Paul
Thanks for that info. The first 2 photos you sent have no aluminum backing and yet appear to be strong . My crack is in the corner where the plastic makes a bend. The crack is along the bend. So, whet I may try is to fill the inside corner, if this Plastex can be made into a bead and run a bead of it along the inside of the corner. If you recall, the piece of plastic that is cracker here has a long "flange along the length of the trim so that it folds or bends over the edge of the compartment opening. It is the plastic trim on the passenger side in the back compartment from the window piston to the rear wide trim. So, if I put a long bead of the plastex along that inside bend, and if it bonds well then not only have I repaired it but also reinforced it.

Maybe I need to scrape a groove into the crack edges for the plastex to form into, not just on the flat surface.

I assume that the first photo of the corner repair is strong???
Let me know your opinion.
Thanks

Dan

mtwoolford

I did a series of repairs to various plastic console pieces and I can vouch for reinforcing the back of the various pieces with metal tabs, I used steel sheet metal for the most part, but I also found that reinforcing various curved pieces with pieces of small steel rod bent to the appropriate shape also worked well

hcbph

Dan

That stuff is as strong as the original IMO. The 2 tabs were broken off, one completely gone and the other about 2/3 gone. I taped the bezel down on a piece of Formica cutout I have and built up a little dam around where I wanted to make the missing parts. The stuff is a 2 part material: a plastic powder and the solvent. I put some of the powder in the area to be remade then put solvent on it soaking it down and left it for a day. The material reduces in volume once wetted down, so I did it in 2 passes. On the other one, there was a big crack, I used a V-cutter in a dermal tool and cut a V groove down the crack. I taped off the front, put some powder in the groove and wetted it down with the solvent. Worked well. Big thing is don't get the solvent on the front or the whitening you see on the corner patch will happen on the front.

I saved a couple of parts I'd otherwise expected to replace and having done it about 2 years ago, they're still going strong. Doesn't matter which way you do it, whether this or JB weld and braces, if it works that's what counts.

Hope that helps

Paul

hcbph

One more idea to think on, have you considered one of those UV glues that are advertised on TV? I had a chance to use some a few months ago on a plastic part on a sewing machine that did not work with epoxy etc. It has held too and was a bit of a pickle if it didn't work.

This works as long as you have the stuff to put back together. I've seen it before at places that sell "As seen on TV" stuff.

94corvetteC4

I have always had success using fiberglass to repair plastic. Fiberglass also called FRP is fiberglass reinforced plastic after all.

hammerdown1953

Rhino glue is holding the rear window in my C5 vert