Hi,
I removed my header bar that was bonded up before. I had a few questions about reinstalling it.

What is the best way to remove the old adhesive that is still up there?

What would be the best glue to mount it back? (metal to SMC)

I'm going to try to put it back in the exact same place as before but are there any other gotchas that I should be aware of? The headlight assemblies are completely out.

thanks

 

When I installed a new header bar in my '76 I had my headlight assemblies tore apart, so I used my empty frames to align the bar. Someone else here on the forum gave me that little hint, it worked out well.

I've read stories about the bar coming back loose, the metal not sticking to the bonding agent very well. I drilled holes in the header bar about 6" apart. When I stuck the bar back into position, a little bonding agent squeezed through the holes. When the SEM set up a little, I pushed the agent flat, kinda like riveting or mushrooming the epoxy that had oozed through.

I used a homemade chisel to seperate the old, rusted out header bar loose, and just used a 4" hand grinder to clean the old epoxy off the underside of the fiberglass.

I've always used SEM for any of my bonding, metal to 'glass or 'glass to 'glass. They make different formulations for different jobs. There's usually some on e-bay, or a local body shop.

Hope some of this helps. There's some good threads too if you do a search.

John

Oh, forgot to add have some C clamps ready to hold the bar in place once epoxyed.

 

Send a PM to Road-Race Vette, he'll have some good advice for you for sure.