Widgett

What is the proper/best why to repair the stress cracks and the bond seams in fiberglass? I have stress cracks at each rear corner on the bonding strips and one on the hood from the hood latch. The original bond seams also are now visible from shrinkage.

vettfixr

take a look here http://mywebpages.comcast.net/vettfixr/page12.htm

Dalannex

You are going to have to sand off all of the paint so that you are down to bare fiberglass, with a taper sanded in the panel so that when you lay your new fiberglass in it is somewhere near level with the panel. Then mix up some resin, and cut some mat to fit, and lay the mat in the resin, (3 layers of mat) then work the bubbles out of the mat with a fiberglass roller. Once it sets up you can sand the glass down, then use a light coat of body filler to make it perfectly smooth and you'll be good as new. It is my opinion that you should never try to use a filler to repair something like this. Always use mat and resin for a good structural repair and filler for nothing but smoothing out minor imperfections.

-Justin

Widgett

Thanks for the information.

I also have another bodywork question.

What can be done to build up the edge of the fender to close the door gap at the top? I'm afraid to put filler on it because I think it might be susceptable to breaking off

72GACRZR

This month's "Cars and Parts Corvette" has a n article on repair that might help you, they show building up the bottm of a fender.

:seeya

CF6873

The only proper way to close a door to fender gap is with resin and mat. You will have to grind a taper on the fender and do the 3 layers of mat. You can back it up with some tape until it sets and then file the gap just like you want it. Craig

gary6696

vettfixr,
Is there anything special about bonding strips? The ones in the catalogs seem outrageously expensive. Can't one make their own?

Stoge

I've also noticed they are outrageously expensive. :mad

Solidlifters

"This month's "Cars and Parts Corvette" has a n article on repair that might help you, they show building up the bottm of a fender."

In almost 30 years of fooling with Corvettes, my opinion is that the article above is the ABSOLUTE WORST PIECE OF CORVETTE ADVICE I'VE EVER READ. There's nothing to re enforce the crack on the outside except some bondo type filler that pushed through the crack during the repair and the filler listed isn't even appropriate for fiberglass repair. It should've at least been panel strip adhesive, similar to the #880 Fiberglass Evercoat product. The application of sheetrock tape to the rear side of the repair acting as re enforcement for the plastic filler would be laughable if it wasn't so pathetic. I wouldn't recommend that a Yugo be fixed in that manner, let alone a 30+ year old Corvette. My opinion is that the magazine lost all credibility by publishing such an article.........the key phrase being "MY OPINION".

LAvetteman

:iagree:

vettfixr

Don't know, never had to replace one. But if you think of the work and refinishing and cost of a repair the cost of the bonding strip tends to be minor in the long run. I wouldn't try a substitute.

CF6873

Gary, Yes you can make your own or depending on what you are replacing or fixing you may not even need one. The reason the factory used them was for speed of production by doing minimal bodywork and to make panels more easily replaceable. If you are doing a small splice you can glass it together with resin and matte as long as you can hold it in place while the resin cures. Craig