| Re: Door panel repair advice? |
Subject: Re: Door panel repair advice? by BillH on 2012/8/1 14:08:08 Quote:
When you first posted this in chat, I thought you were talking about the mounting holes in the door itself (fiberglass). The door pannel is definately not glass, it's plastic. The least expensive way to determine if it's ABS would be to get some ABS cement at Home D. It's the stuff ised with the black plumbing pipe. Cut a sliver off one of the cracks or somewhere and dab some of the cement on it. It should melt the plastic somewhat before it hardens. If it does melt, this cement will give you the best repair. There's a lot of plastic, 2 part automotive adhesives out there but they usually run $35+ per tube, JB even has a plastic epoxy but I've never seen it in stores - gotta internet it. What I would do is first take the $6 gamble trying the HD ABS cement. Also mix a tiny bit of your JB and dab it on a clean part of the plastic to see if it holds when cured (probably will). The repair: Grind off all the epoxy in the cracks. V-grind (or sand) the crack edges to about 1/8 in. or so. Clean all the areas with alcohol of brakeclean on a rag then, Scuff up anywhere you will be using adhesive. The cracks should have a backup strip (about 1 in. wide), you can use ABS or aluminum. I think HD has ABS, the alum - I keep a roll of alum roof flashing in the shop, it's handy. If you can't get ABS, let me know, I'll mail you some strips. The crack and the bonding strips must be done at the same time. You may need to put some weight on the bonding strips if the door panel is slightly curved, won't take much weight, just enough to hold the strips. masking tape on the weight will prevent any sticking. The r/a metal tab - JB - Put a bunch of JB between the metal and the panel. It would be best to lightly clamp it. And you need to use more JB on the 3 edges of the metal piece and into the JB that's squeezing from clamping. This will will give the repair a lot more strength. Clamping that small part and still getting to the edges will be tricky. You may be able to use a small socket as a standoff to get the clamp head up out of the way. Put masking tape on the socket so that it won't get any adhesive on it. |
