I have a new header bar to put in my hood surround and have a ? Got to looking at it yesterday and was wondering. The new bar is painted and I wonder of I need to remove the paint on the bond surface so its bare metal or if just bonding it in as is?
Curious minds want to know.
I have the headlights almost completely assembled and ready to mount. Body is ready to drop on the frame, so things are moving.

 

I'm about to start the same job myself and will be interested to see the replies. I received the header bar (also painted) but the bonding strip is backordered.

Did you mark the location of the old BS/HB or are you relying on the side supports for alignment?

 

I grind 'em with a 40 grit disc. I don't trust someone elses primer. Fully coat it with the bonding agent and you won't have any rust issues.

 

I had mine sandblasted, zincpowdered and then powdercoated. It would have ruined the corrossionprotection of it to take the paint of to bond it. I bonded it with the paint and it has held untill now.

 

No, mine pretty much fell off during disassembly and the old bonding is still in place, so its pretty much a mold. My front clip is also off so that helps a lot. What I plan to do is fit and mount it with the clip upside down on sawhorses, get it all adjusted and close fit with the headlight buckets in place. Then remove the buckets to mount the clip back on the car. Once the clip is in place I'll reinstall the lights.



BIG G, thanks, thats the info I needed. I guess I will clean off the bond surface and scuff the whole thing and epoxy paint it since I have no idea what it is painted with.

 

I just did this to my car over the winter. Many folks use Fusor adhesive, that's what I used.

I had the same question about the bonding surface and called tech support. Their advice was to use a two-part epoxy primer on the header bar (after stripping the as shipped coating). When I raised the issue of the bonding adhesive now being limited by the strength of the primer to metal bond, they informed me that that bond is very strong and the benefits of corrosion protection outweighs the strength issue. I got the usual story of never having heard of the primer being ripped from the bar before.

One note of caution, be sure not to overclamp the header bar. You will end us squeezing out the majority of the bonding adhesive and will end up with a weak bond. That's what they did at the factory with mine. Mine happened to rust and delaminate from the fiberglass, but the thickness of the bonding strip left behind was almost see through.

When we put the new one in my car, I embedded several #8 stainless steel washers into the adhesive. The washers were a shade under 1/16 of an inch thick, and they gave us a hard stop when we clamped, ensuring we had a good thick layer of bonding adhesive.

Lots of clamps, lots of pre-fitting, and use adhesive with an extended working time.

Good Luck.

 

Good idea, I saw something on that technique useing some glass beads. Mine was rusted pretty badly. I plan on lots of prefitting and a bunch of clamps, should go on pretty easy with what I have.

Thanks guys

 

Forgot one last suggestion for ensuring a good bond on the ends. It's almost impossible to get clamps in there so I would suggest the follwing (worked well for me).

After you get the center aligned and clamped, install the two side brackets for the header bar (tuck them up close). Only install them into the fender side an leave the header bar bolt out. Once tightened to the fender, have a buddy pull up on the fiberglass (gently) at the headlight assembly hole. You should now be able to place some small shims (we used wooden paint stirring sticks) between the support and the header bar. When your buddy releases the fiberglass, the supports will push up on the ends of the header bar and keep it nicely clamped.

Slvrshrk

 

SLVR, having a hard time visualizing that, not sure it matters. My front clip is off the car and I'll be fitting up the header bar and headlights with the clip upside down on saw horses. Did I miss something?

 

I am doing the same thing this weekend. Had to drill out all of the dimples. Going to use the fusor using the headlight brackets as positioning guides. Going to use some screws to hold it in while bonding sets. Have to patch the nose anyways.

 

Found this pic in my archive. The red arrow points to the paint stick after it has been inserted between the end support and the header bar itself.

 

OK, I think I see what you have going on there. Like I said, mine will be be off the car and up side down.
Thanks for the explanation

 

Having a 68 I may have a differnt setup where you are using the end support. Good luck with your projects.

 

Yep, I don't think they added the brackets until 69 or 70. Should fit though as I have heard of people putting them in. If you're no too interested in originality, the brackets would add support.

 

I am and will be checking in to what the brackets are and where to buy. Thanks for the info!